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Pete's attention was darting from one of them to the other He looked uncomfortable

"Partly," Bordeaux said He wouldn't look at her, and that fact confirmed her suspicions

Pete turned away and his soft footsteps faded into the darkness Did Pete know? It wasn't merely chance that Bordeaux had found her He knew exactly where to look The only way he could have knoas by asking Mrs Hertz

"Well, you found me," she said coldly "What did you want to talk about?"

Bordeaux seeht flickered weakly; creating shadows on his face,his expression hard to discern Yet his silence said voluentle hand on each of her shoulders

"Cassie," he said in a controlled voice "I don't kno to tell you without just blurting it out" He sucked in a breath "Your father askedyou home if I could"

She shoved his hands from her shoulders "Why didn't you tell me that the first day?" When he re ood side"

"No," he answered flatly

Fury boiled up in her chest and poured froh "You're as bad as he is!" She hissed at hion It was all a ploy to get the ranch, and Bordeaux was right in the middle No wonder he had been so elusive He didn't care about her All he wanted was the ranch

By the tiht Quick steps whispered through the sand behind her Bordeaux wasn't giving up easily She grabbed the handle of her whip and whirled to face him

"Don't you come near me," she said, horrified when the words were torn by a sob

He glanced at the whip and his jaw muscles worked "Calm down, Cassie I just want to talk to you"

She dashed the tears froet away froht into his hands She raised the whip, choking out words through a constricted throat "I said get away from me"

He took a step closer "Cassie"

She flicked the whip so that the end of it snapped on his shoulder A warning, no more

He winced and then took a determined step in her direction The look of sheer fury on his face replaced her anger with fear Again she lashed out with the whip - this ti speed, he caught the end of the whip in his hand and jerked violently, catching her off balance and pulling her off her feet She hit the soft sand and he was instantly on top of her, wrestling the whip from her hand