Wade Dwyer's life is turned upside down when his father dies and he learns he must marry or he and his siblings will lose the ranch. One last jab of the knife from his father. On top of that, his father's only friend knows about the stipulation and is determined to own the property by any means necessary.<br><br>He's facing the very real possibility of being the reason his family loses their home when his brother's best friend, Lance Matthews, offers to walk down the aisle with him. A faux marriage to the man he's loved for years is a torture he isn't sure he can endure.<br><br>Can he keep the ranch ... and the man of his dreams, too?

The Twisted Oak

“I’m sorry he treated you like that, Jake. But this is notbecause of you, I can promise you that. This is because we, my brothers and I, won’t sell him the land. He says my father promised it to him.”


Jake wiped at his tears and sniffled. “Yeah, I knew about that, too. He told me and the other hands all the time how he was gonna double his land and take over the Angus cattle market in Ruby.”


Wade scoffed. “Big talk from a coward.”


Appeased, Jake nodded. “He is a horrible guy. His own wife is scared of him.”


Wade didn’t doubt that. She was like a mouse now, beaten down until she meekly followed him. Everyone thought Milton hit her, but she’d never spoken a word against him. It was hard to watch, but Wade knew several people had tried to help her—to get her to leave him—but she wouldn’t. He couldn’t imagine how it must be to live in constant fear like that.


Chapter 54