A MAN RAN INTO THE saloon. “Colton, you’d better come quick! You know the man you were talking to in here not long ago?”

Colton nodded as he clenched his fists at his sides, fearing the worst.

“Well, he was harassing a lady out there! He had his hands on her, and I’m afraid of what will happen,” the man continued. “And not just any woman... the lady who is to marry Dallas King. Boy, if Mr. King finds out, he’s a dead man!”

Colton’s heart sank as he ran out of the saloon and looked both ways down the dirt road, looking for Gunner. He saw him staggering on the wooden walkway across the street, but there was no sign of Ella. Colton’s spurs jingled as he crossed the street, headed toward Gunner. If he was the same man he used to be, he would have shot him dead and asked questions later.

Two ladies stepped off the walkway, giving Gunner a wide berth as he tipped his hat at them. Colton grabbed him by the shirt and turned him around. “What did you do to her? Where is she?”

Gunner’s eyes opened wide in shock. “I didn’t do anything to her!” A sly smile appeared on his face. “We didn’t get to finish our dance in New York, so I was collecting.”

Colton shook his shoulders. “Where is she?” he demanded.

Gunner nodded down the street, headed out of town. “That way!”

Colton twisted his arm around his back and walked him toward the sheriff’s office. “You’re under arrest!”

“What for?” Gunner asked as Colton pushed him toward the jail.

“Well, for harassing a lady, for public intoxication, and for scaring the townsfolk to start. I’ll think of more later.” When they walked into the sheriff’s office, Colton marched him over to the jail cells, opened the door to one, threw him in, and quickly shut the door and locked it.

Gunner gripped the bars. “Hey! You can’t arrest me for that!”

“The hell I can’t! You’re going to stay in there for as long as it takes for you to sober up and then get out of town,” Colton asserted as he walked out, leaving Gunner yelling and screaming behind him.

Sheriff Clark walked up on the walkway.

“I just arrested Gunner Nelson, a troublemaker from back East,” Colton stated matter-of-factly.

“Hey, Sheriff! Some lady just stole my horse!” Cole Stanford, a local farmer, yelled as he rushed toward them.

Colton’s head snapped up. “What lady?”

Cole let out a deep breath as he placed his hands on his hips. “Dallas King’s fiancée.” He shook his head. “You’d think that she’d wait a few days. After they’re married, she can buy any horse she wants! Now she’ll be hanged as a horse thief.”

“No one’s going to be hanged... except maybe Gunner,” Colton mused.

“I don’t want to see her hang, but what about my horse? That was the new painted horse I just bought from Richard Byer, and it cost me a fortune!” Cole demanded.

The sheriff narrowed his eyes at Colton. “What’s going on?”

Colton clasped his shoulder. “I’ll explain when I get back.” He turned to Cole. “Which way did she go?”

He pointed out of town. “That way. She was headed toward the bluffs.”

Colton’s heart sank. “Don’t worry about your horse. I’ll bring it back.” Colton rushed toward his black stallion and swung up into the saddle. “Yah!” he yelled as he leaned forward and headed toward the bluffs.

The horse flew down the road, shaded by green branches that stretched across it before it opened up to the bluffs. His heart beat hard within his chest as he looked down the bluffs, desperate to find her, hoping that he wasn’t too late. Suddenly, he spotted her, standing on the edge of a cliff as her skirts and her blonde hair billowed behind her in the breeze.

“Ella,” he whispered as he leaned forward in the saddle. “Yah!” he yelled, and the horse leapt into a dead run, headed toward Ella. She took a step closer to the cliff’s edge. “Ella!” he yelled as he pushed his horse faster.

When she turned around, tears were streaming down her face, a look of hopelessness in her eyes, breaking his heart.

“Ella,” he cooed as he pulled his horse to a stop and jumped off, careful to keep his distance. “Ella, don’t do this.” He took a step closer, but stopped a safe distance away, not wanting to scare her. “I know I don’t have a right to speak, but you need to hear me out.” He scrubbed a hand across his face, and then looked into her eyes. “Dallas King is a fool, and I don’t like the way he’s been treating you. Do you really want to be treated like that for the rest of your life? You’re better than that.”

Without a word, Ella turned back to face the cliff.

“Ella, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I love you,” he breathed, tempted to pull her into his arms and away from the cliff, but he didn’t dare. “If King really respected you, then you could tell him about your past and it wouldn’t matter. If you were my wife, your past wouldn’t matter at all to me.” He laughed without humor. “Hell. I have a past, too. Who doesn’t?” He took a step closer. “I fell in love with you when I first saw you in the Breckenridge Saloon. You had fight in you, and morals. You’re a good woman, Ella.” He took another step closer, now able to see the jagged rocks over the cliff’s edge. “If you were mine, I’d love and cherish you for the rest of my life... and I’d always treat you like a lady.”

Ella looked at him, conflicted, so Colton did the only thing that he could think of; he reached out and pulled her into his arms, and his lips descended upon hers as passion filled his soul. He moved his hand to the back of her head, deepening the kiss as he moved her away from the edge of the cliff. Then, he pulled back, leaving her breathless as she opened her beautiful eyes.

“Goodbye, my love. I hope you find happiness, but you won’t find it... if you kill yourself,” he said as he slowly backed away. He looked into her stunned eyes one last time as he mounted his horse, turned, and rode away.