Chapter 1

I returned to Texas after three years away.

The air was thick with dust and heat, the familiar scent of home. But I wasn't here for a happy reunion. I was here because my mother, Maria, had begged me to go.

Three years ago, a powerful U.S. Senator, a close family friend, had fallen gravely ill. He needed a discreet, full-time caretaker at his remote Wyoming retreat, someone completely trustworthy. The duty was meant for my cousin, Gabrielle Chavez, or Gabby, as everyone called her.

But my mother had cried, telling me Gabby was too fragile, too delicate for such a harsh, isolated life.

"Jocelyn, you're strong," she had pleaded, her voice thick with tears. "You can handle it. Please, do this for your sister."

So I went. I put my life on hold for Gabby. For my mother.

I pulled my dusty truck up the long drive to the main house. The place was buzzing with activity, cars lining the path, music drifting on the air. It looked like a party.

I walked in, still in my travel-worn jeans and boots, and stopped dead.

The main hall was packed with the Texas elite, a sea of expensive suits and silk dresses. And at the center of it all stood my mother, beaming, with Gabby at her side. Gabby was wearing a stunning white dress, a diamond sparkling on her left hand.

Next to her was Ethan Scott, a charismatic oil tycoon whose family was the definition of new money.

My mother raised a champagne flute. "To the happy couple! To the union of the Fuller and Scott families! To my daughter, the Fuller heiress, and her fiancé, Ethan Scott!"

The crowd roared its approval. My daughter? The Fuller heiress? That was me.

An assistant stepped forward, holding a leather-bound deed. "A special gift to celebrate this engagement," my mother announced. "The deed to the Black Creek parcel, a joint investment from the most powerful families in Texas, a symbol of our shared future!"

The Black Creek parcel. The most valuable, oil-rich piece of land our family co-owned. It was my birthright, part of my dowry.

Gabby, her face a mask of sweet delight, reached for the deed.

I moved before I could think. I strode through the stunned crowd, pushed past the table, and snatched the deed from the assistant's hand, just before Gabby' s fingers could touch it.

"This doesn't belong to you," I said, my voice low and hard.

Chaos erupted.

Gabby gasped, her eyes widening. "Jocelyn? Cousin, what are you doing?" She turned to my mother, her voice trembling. "Mom, make her stop."

My mother, Maria, rushed over, her face a storm of fury. "Jocelyn Fuller! Look at you! Covered in dirt, ruining your sister's big day!"

She grabbed my arm, trying to pull me away from the center of the room. "What are you doing here? You're embarrassing us!"

"My sister?" I pulled my arm free. "My engagement? What is going on, Mother?"

Gabby burst into tears, a masterful performance. "She's always been like this!" she cried out to the guests. "Always trying to take what's mine! And now she wants to steal my fiancé, the man I love!"

"That's enough!" my mother shouted. She turned to the ranch foreman, a man named Hank. "This is a disruption. Teach her a lesson. Use the riding crop."

In front of everyone.

Hank hesitated, but my mother's glare was steel. He unhooked the crop from his belt and raised it.

As it sliced down through the air, another figure lunged forward. Old Man Hemlock, the cowboy who taught me to ride, threw himself in front of me, taking the blow across his back. He winced but stood firm.

"Mrs. Fuller, please," he begged. "She's your daughter."

"She is not!" Maria shrieked, her face contorted with rage. "This girl is just a troubled niece we took in! Gabrielle is my daughter! My only daughter!"

She pointed a shaking finger at both of us. "Punish them both! Now!"