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Sleeping lightly, Maggie stirred and awakened at the faint noise of so on an elbow, she reached for the switch of the bedside lamp

“Chase, is that you?” she asked as the light went on and revealed hi off his boots

“I didn’t mean to wake you” He set a boot on the floor next to itshis shirttail out of his pants to unbutton it Tiredness gave a drawn and weary look to his ruggedly masculine features There was an air of preoccupation about hiave her

“Have you been sitting up all this ti the , her pregnant body de rest

“Yes”

She felt a flash of irritation at his closeh Chase didn’t attempt to exclude her from business discussions, he still had that western tendency never to seek a woman’s counsel

“Well?” The sharpness of chal

lenge was in her voice, prodding hi because it was i when he earing that poker mask “What’s your reaction to Dyson’s proposal?”

His mouth twisted into a hard, dry smile “I’ll let you know after I’ve had a chance to run a private check on thein this for the senator, so I’m not about to take his reco he hadn’t really told her anything “As to leasing part of the ranch for drilling purposes, I’ to the presence of drilling rigs on their property have long since passed”

“So you’ve decided to decide later” Her arht, so she positioned both pillows behind her and reclined against them

“There’s no reason to rush If there is gas or oil under that grass, it’ll still be there two an e his pants pockets When he went to lay the contents on the occasional table by the chair, he noticed the s there “What’s this?”

“A report ca h she sreen eyes She knew the mental institution was the best place for her brother, but Culley was the only family she had “The doctor said there’s been soht even let him have visitors soon”

“Not until after the baby is born, Maggie” His look hardened “I don’t care if the doctor says you can see him tomorrow”

“I’ll wait” But not because he was ordering it “The doctor feels it would be unwise in this stage of Culley’s treat to have your baby And it’s a fact I can’t easily hide” The last was a weak attempt at a joke, but the hand she placed on her stoned to draw attention to her condition It was Culley’s sick, unreasoning hatred of anything associated with a Calder that had driven hie