Page 24 (1/2)

She gave hiotten how sensitive he’d been to thoughtless actions of others at that age No matter how self-contained and confident Jessy appeared, she did have feelings that could be hurt

“I’m sorry, kid,” he offered

Her angry look hardened “I’m not a kid,” she declared in a clipped voice and laid the reins alongside the grulla’s neck to turn it Vaguely irritated by her failure to accept his apology, Ty let go of the bridle No one had ever apologized to him, so maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut

Jessy walked the ate while the others swung loosely in behind her She wasn’t hot all over any inside The sensation of his war with the feel of his arms around her

She wanted to touch her ht think she was crying, and she’d die before she’d have theh that all had seen how embarrassed she’d been—embarrassed and hotly disturbed

It had been her first kiss, and she’d always dreaive it to her That dreaht, but only as a joke And it had hurt to think Ty did it only to make fun of herand in front of Buzz Taylor and Bill Summers to boot By tomorrow, it would be all over the ranch and everyone would be laughing about it

Jessy held her head a little higher as the four riders traveled in a loose group toward the South Branch caradually Jessy took part in it On the surface, everything seemed to be back to normal by the time they arrived at the camp, but it wasn’t

7

With a heaving toss, Jessy threw the large suitcase in the back end of the pickup truck, then shut the tailgate The s low in the sky She shoved her bare hands into the lined pockets of her new parka and trotted around the truck to the front porch of the big log house She had one foot on the first step when the front door opened

“Hi, Mr Grayson,” she said to the forty-year-old geologist He was bundled in a pile-lined coat with a wool scarf wrapped around his cap and neck and fur-lined gloves on his hands By contrast, Jessy had no gloves or scarf, and the top buttons of her parka were unfastened She earing her good black Stetson—she alore a hat “I was just coo”

“I’loved hands together and study the gloo below forty was cold to the Texas native, and thearound that mark “I puthis head in search of it, peering through his wire-rilasses

“I’ve already loaded it in the trunk,” Jessy infor else?”

“No” He glanced expectantly toward the barn “Is your father ready to leave?”

“Dad got detained at the last minute I’ve been deputized to drive you over to The Homestead so you can catch your plane” She pulled her foot off the step and turned around to walk to the driver’s side of the pickup cab

“Shouldn’t you be in school today?” There was a faint smile on his face as he followed her to the truck In the short time he had stayed at this southern outpost of the Triple C Ranch, he’d learned that Jessy Niles had her own opinion on the relative is