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Why was it so hard to draw breath into her lungs? Why was she so aware of his hand on her shoulder? Layers of fabric separated his fingertips and her bare skin, but still heat seemed to inundate her blood and penetrate to her bones

Angelica jerked away “And you,” she said sharply, “areyou can browbeat into subet to it Otherwise, I’d like you to leave It’s been a long day, and-”

“And it’s going to be a longer one to out to see the Gordon operation near Odessa in the ”

Angelica gritted her teeth “Why tell me? Surely, you haven’t suddenly decided to ask permission?”

“I’ve a general idea where the site is,” Cade said, ignoring the challenge, “but I need directions A map, if you have one”

“Certainly Directions Aelse?”

“Yes Be sure you remember to set your alarm clock” A smile tilted across his mouth “I’ll be at your door at six, and I don’t like to be kept waiting”

She stared after him as he turned and walked off At the last second, she called after him

“What do youjust a touch of shrillness “I’ with you to Odessa, Cade”

He paused, his hand on the doorknob, and looked at her “Of course you are,” he said gently

“Don’t be ridiculous!” She folded her ar into every corner of my life—”

“Of this coar There’s a difference”

“The point I’ed quite nicely without any help froe your mind now is—”

“Six o’clock And please dress appropriately” His eyes raked over her, then caunnysacksat Miss Palmer’s but they won’t stand up to a day out on the West Texas flats”

Angelica flushed “Just give o to Odessa with you,” she demanded

The easy laughter fled Cade’s face

“Because I say you will,” he snapped, “and because h reason for you, Angelica?”

The door sla ht, reached for Managey and hurled it into the wastebasket

Odessa was almost four hundred miles away

Hoould she and Cade Landoneach other?

At a quarter to six the nextporch of the house that had been her father’s She peered up and down the quiet street and then, with a little sigh, she sat down in an old wicker rocker, folded her hands in her lap and settled in to wait

She’d debated with herself for the past quarter hour, trying to decide if it was best to be ready when Cade arrived or if it would give her the advantage to keep hi his heels The desire to do just that had been alo

Making Cade ould only get hih without that kind of start

She rose, walked to the railing and peered up and down the street Sunrise had brought a flush of pink to the distant hills and gilded the aspens that stood like sentinels along the curb

Across the way, an elderly gentle at the first autumn leaves that waited for the touch of the rake A few houses down, a wo suit yawned, stretched, then set off at an easy trot

There was still no sign of Cade

Frowning, Angelica glanced at her watch It was almost six Maybe she should have waited inside Maybe he was the one as going to keep her waiting Maybe—

“Well, you’re prouess”

She looked up Cade was standing at the foot of the porch steps, a shiny black pickup truck parked behind hiaze flew over him The custoone Even the highly polished boots had been replaced

He was dressed, instead, in jeans that fit his long legs and narrow hips snugly, and a faded wool shirt with the sleeves rolled back to the elbows Scuffed, scarred boots showed froo of the Colorado Rockies baseball team was pulled do over his forehead

This, Angelica thought, bristling, was no way to pay a visit to a company installation Cade didn’t look professional, he didn’t look e He looked like one of the roughnecks orked the rigs, he looked—he looked…

Her ht to look

She frowned Who cared how he looked? Cade Landon could look like a stand-in for Bela Lugosi, for all it mattered to her