"The rest can go to hell." "That's easy for you to say. You're a wealthy man. Scandal slides off you like water off a duck." Kelly's voice broke.
"But I'm a widow with five children trying to survive in a small town where reputation is everything. If people think I am—that we're— I can't afford to have people think badly of me, Bo." She swallowed hard. "I need this community."
"I need to be able to hold my head up in church, to have people willing to trade with me, to have my daughters able to make decent marriages someday. You've just made all of that so much harder." The truth of her words hit Bo like a physical blow. He'd been so focused on defending Kelly's honor that he hadn't stopped to think about how his actions might affect her reputation. In trying to protect her, he might have done irreparable harm.
"I'm sorry," Bo said, the words inadequate but sincere. "I didn't think. I just reacted. I'll go into town tomorrow, make it clear to everyone that nothing improper has happened here."
"I'll explain that I was supervising the harvest to protect my investment, nothing more. I'll—" "It won't matter," Kelly said tiredly. "Once people start talking, explanations don't help. They just feed the gossip." She sank down onto the porch steps, suddenly looking older than her years.
"Maybe you should go, Bo. Go back to your ranch tonight. Let me finish the harvest alone. At least then the talk will die down." "No."
"Bo—" "No," he repeated firmly. He sat down beside her on the steps, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. "I'm not leaving you to face this alone. If there's going to be talk, let it be talk about how I helped a neighbor in need."
"Let it be talk about how a wealthy rancher remembered what it was like to struggle and chose mercy over profit. Let it be talk about anything except me abandoning you when things got difficult." Kelly looked at him, tears shining in her eyes. "Why are you doing this? Why do you care what happens to me?"
Because I'm falling in love with you, Bo thought, the realization hitting him with the force of a lightning strike. Because somewhere between arriving here to collect a debt and this moment, you've become the most important person in my world. Because the thought of riding away from here and never seeing you again makes me feel like I'm being ripped in half. But he couldn't say any of that.
Saying it would make it real, would give it power, would force him to confront feelings he wasn't ready to acknowledge. So instead, he said, "Because you asked me if I was the bad man, and I'm trying very hard not to be." Kelly reached over and took his hand, carefully avoiding the bandaged blisters. "You're not the bad man, Bo."
"You're the best man I've ever known, and that terrifies me." "Why does it terrify you?" "Because I'm starting to care about you more than I should, more than is wise." Kelly's voice dropped to barely above a whisper.
"And in three days you're going to ride away from here and back to your life. And I'm going to be left with five children and a heart that hurts in a way it hasn't hurt since Samuel died." Her voice trembled. "Only this time it'll hurt worse because with Samuel I was young and stupid and thought love was enough."
"But now I'm older and I know better, and I'm choosing to care about you anyway, even though I know how this story ends." Bo squeezed her hand, his throat tight. "Kelly—" "Don't," she interrupted gently.