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“Uh-huh”

“Where would that be?”

Madeline bit on her lower lip

“If you don’t tellI’m sorry to say my telepathic directional abilities are not what they should be”

An excellent point Madeline sighed “The old Konopka Ranch,” she said quickly, then braced herself for the reaction

“The old what?”

Crap Shelby hadn’t lived in Fool’s Gold very long She would only know it as “I’m at Jonny Blaze’s house”

Silence

“I knohat you’re thinking,” she said quickly “I know, believe et home Please”

“It’s fine Stop talking You don’t have to explain” Shelby’s voice was gentle “I’ up my keys as we speak I’ll be there in about thirty minutes”

“Thank you”

Madeline hung up, then collected her things There wasn’tShe retreated to the kitchen where she spent fifteena note On her third try, she knew she wasn’t going to possibly get it right, mostly because she didn’t knohat to say In the end, she settled on “The roads are open and I caught a ride back to town Thanks for everything”

She wanted to say more She wanted to mention how happy he’d made her as he’d held her in his arentleness and passion had helped her feel treasured and special That usually the first tie, but with him she’d been able to relax That she’d liked how he’d held her after, and that they’d laughed over dinner and, well, everything

Tingles, she told herself firles Not love She refused to fall for a guy as so afraid of losing yet again that he never offered his heart

She walked to the living room and watched out the frontWhen a familiar Subaru pulled into the circular driveway, Madeline let herself out of the house

She hurried to the car and got in Shelby, a petite blonde with the delicate bone structure of a fairy princess, looked at her

“Should I be worried?” her friend asked

“Not yet”

Shelby nodded and drove around to the main road When they reached it, she turned left, back toward town

“You know I love you,” Shelby said a couple of minutes later

“You closed the bakery and drove out here at five-thirty in thewhy,” Madeline said “Yes, I know you love me”

“You like the guy?”