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For a time Trey was fascinated by all the noise and action at the pool table But his own restless natureWithin minutes he wanted down The instant his feet touched the floor, he made a dash for the pool table and the cache of balls that had fallen into the pockets

“Sorry, guy” Ty scooped him back up

As usual, Trey simply looked around for another distraction and settled for the rhythyrations of the people on the dance floor Several more minutes passed before Ty noticed that Ballard and the brunette were no longer a the spectators at the pool table Too soon the fasttook its place, too slow to interest Trey

Idly Ty ran his glance around the area There was no sign of Ballard in the i his way toward the bar area

He touched Quint’s shoulder “Here comes your dad It must be time for us to head back to the table”

“Okay” With a barely perceptible sigh of resignation, Quint dragged his gaze from the pool table and moved away from the wall

Ty shifted Trey to his left hip and followed behind Quint Near the bar, they hooked up with Logan The jaan led the ith Quint sandwiched between the two men

Their route took theht a burly mineworker slapped one of his coht into Ty’s path Ty stepped quickly to the side to avoid running into the man and bumped one of the couples on the dance floor

“Sorry,” he began then found hilance revealed that his partner wasn’t the shapely brunette Ty had seen him with earlier, or Emily Trumbo This one was a bleached blonde Ty shot Ballard a look of disgust “Why can’t you be satisfied with just one woman?”

Ballard’s eyes narrowed briefly Then a faintly taunting smile curved his mouth “At least I’m not married like you”

In the fraction of an instant that it took the words to register, Ty realized that Ballard had seen that innocent kiss between himself and Tara—seen it and put his own construction on it

Furious, Ty let his fist fly, slaainst Ballard’s jaw The force of the impact jarred his whole arm and knocked Ballard sideways into other dancers, where he stumbled, lost his balance, and fell

Oneto shake off the effects of the blow; and in the next, Logan blocked his view, stepping between them

“That’s enough!” He shot Ty a look of sharp warning

It wasn’t necessary That one Ty loosened thehis fingers wide, all the while conscious of the aura of stillness and expectancy that surrounded hi voices as Ballard got to his feet, rubbing his jaw