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He knew He hadn’t listened to her words; instead he’d heard the underlying fear as no one ever had before He straightened, set aside hisMaureen’s heart felt likeinside her chest It was all she could do to keep fro to hurt you," he told her in the silkiest of tones, and pressed his callused palainst her cheek

Maureen flinched involuntarily at the unexpectedness of his touch His hand was cool against her flushed skin

"No one’s going to hurt you," he told her "Not anyhed out loud Apparently Thoe All at once there were tears in her eyes She couldn’t re she was about to break into tears She knew she should leave before she eed to keep the a co she couldn’t answer

"I’d better go now," she said, abruptly setting heraside "Thanks for the coffee," she muttered on her way out the door

The instant she was alone, she pressed both index fingers under her eyes and drew in several deep, stabilizing breaths

Maybe she was co doith a virus, she reasoned Crazy as it see to her

Shefrouess what?"

"What, sweetheart?"

"I learned all about saddles and stirrups and blankets, and I learned about the different brands used Ken calls it cowboy calligraphy" She stopped long enough to draw in a deep breath before starting again Maureen swore her daughter talked nonstop for another fiveshe’d learned until she was nearly panting

"And guess what else?"

"I can’t i to hold in a sht with you, and…"

"A kitten," Maureen"I’ll think about it," she promised, and for now that was the best she could do Actually she wouldn’t mind a pet, but she’d need to read over her lease first

"Oh, and one thing more," Karen said, so excited she could barely hold still "I asked Paula to spend Friday night with us, that’s all right, isn’t it? She’s asking her dad now"

Coward that she was, Maureen was about to usher her daughter into the car and hter raced out of the barn Thorin stretched from one ear to the other

"I understand Karen’s invited Paula to spend Friday night," he said with a glint in his eye "I have a great idea Why don’t I treat the four of us to western-style barbecue first? We’ll pick you up around six, all right?"

"Oh, Mo up at her mother hopefully "Dinner in a restaurant? Can we? Oh, please, it would be so much fun"

"Ah…" Maureen wasn’t sure what to do

"Please," Thom coaxed, and leveled one of his daredevil shted to see her grandson, especially when she wasn’t expecting hiave her a warm peck on the cheek and sat down next to her in the parlor, which was the social gathering place for the retire by"

"Nonsense" Catherine had given a good deal of thought to her ht have overreacted She was an old woman, set in her ways, and it was only natural that she feel a certain amount of--she hated to use this word--resentrandson

Ted scanned the area as though looking for someone "Do you happen to knooman named Joy Palmer?"

"But of course"

"I need to talk to her"

Catherine’s spirits lifted autoht say we had a ht, and I wanted to reassure her everything’s fine She doesn’t have anything to worry about"

"Run-in?"

"It’s nothing, Grandma," Ted said, and patted her hand "Before I look for Joy, tellon with you"

"Well, the library committee met, and we’ve decided to hold a literary tea in order to raise ood projects"

"When will that be?"

"A few days before Christain she had the impression his mind wasn’t on their conversation She patted his hand "I think Joy must be in her office," she whispered conspiratorially "It’s the first door to the left, off the hallway"

Ted grinned and squeezed her hand "I’ll be back in a few minutes"

"Take your tiazine once ot all the tirandson leave and couldn’t help wondering about that glea ti She’d stake a batch of chocolate-chip cookies on that

Ted didn’t understand why he felt it necessary to personally relay to Joy the inforrande The thing was, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Joy Palmer since their little run-in