"Medical school?" Patience shot up in the seat. "What are you talking about?"

"I figured you knew. I mean, the way everybody's always coming up to him and asking him for advice."

She remembered Wes asking him to take a look at Hotshot. And the day she had fallen into the pen with the bulls, he had checked her over to be sure she didn't have a concussion. Even the little girl with the broken leg had received a cursory exam.

"His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps," Shari explained. "Dallas went along with him for a while, his mother being dead and all, but he hated every minute of med school. After his second year, he just flat quit. Said he wanted to go into ranching. He had no desire to be a doctor and never would. I guess his father went completely insane."

"From what I could tell, Avery's still mad about it." A lightbulb went off in her head. "That's what Dallas's license plates mean. H P P Y N O W. Happy Now. He's happy, now that he's doing what he wants."

Shari slowed the truck and flicked on her turn signal. "The man surely does love to rodeo-and he's the best there is. He's saving his money to buy that ranch he wants. He says he won't stop until he gets it."

They made the turn into the rodeo grounds, and livestock barns and rows of horse trailers passed by outside the window. Dallas had been in med school but he had quit. He hated college. He wanted to be a cowboy. Patience loved every minute of school, loved the learning, loved the books.

Just one more difference.

She sighed as Shari pulled the truck over to their little white RV and turned off the engine.

It was Sunday night. The Casper rodeo was over. Shari had placed in the barrel racing and Stormy had taken a second in the calf roping. To celebrate, Patience was cooking Sloppy Joes. Stormy and Shari would be there any minute.

Shari opened the door of the trailer just as Patience's cell phone rang. She grabbed it up and pressed it against her ear, still stirring the sauce.

"Hello?" No answer. "Hello, is anyone there?"

"I miss you."

Her stomach instantly knotted. Her face must have gone white because Shari started to frown.

"How did you get this number?"

"I've got friends in the computer department at B.U. It wasn't all that hard. Do you really mind?"

"Of course I mind." Her hand shook as she took the wooden spoon out of the pan and set it on the counter. "Listen, Tyler. You know the way I feel. It's over between us. I don't want to see you anymore. I want you to leave me alone."

"I've started seeing someone."

"Good for you. I'm happy for you."

"I'd rather be with you."

She closed her eyes. "We've been through all this a hundred times. If you call me again, I'll get a new cell phone and it won't be under my name." She hung up and sank down on the bench in the dinette.

"Who was that?"

"Tyler Stanfield." She had never mentioned Tyler to Shari. She didn't want to think about him. But now that he had phoned, she thought her friend ought to know. "I dated him for a few weeks." She told her about his pursuit, how he had dogged her every step, sent her postcards and letters, clogged her inbox with dozens of e-mails, and finally broken in to her apartment, come into her bedroom, and threatened her in the middle of the night. "I finally got a restraining order. I was hoping the problem was over."

"Does he know where you are?"

"He knows I'm following the rodeo circuit. He doesn't have the slightest idea where I am."

"He isn't dangerous, is he?"

"I don't think so, but you never know with a guy like that. I'm not taking any chances. If he shows up, I'm calling the police."

"I don't blame you. Does Dallas know?"

"I told him I hadn't heard from Tyler in months."

"Dallas isn't going to like this."

The trailer stairs rattled just then. "It's me," Stormy said, pulling the narrow door open. He ducked his head, made his way over to the small dinette, and squeezed himself in next to Shari. He looked from one serious face to the other. "All right, what's going on?"

While Shari filled him in on the phone call and told him about Tyler Stanfield, Patience returned to stirring the Sloppy Joe sauce boiling on the little propane stove.

"So you think this guy might be a problem?" Stormy asked Patience.

She started stirring the sauce again. "I hope not."

Stormy looked over at Shari. "Dallas isn't gonna like this."

Patience almost smiled. Dallas was protective of his friends. No matter how things turned out between them, she supposed they could call themselves that.

"As a matter of fact, he just called," Stormy said. "He's flying into Casper instead of Cheyenne. He wants me to pick him up at the airport in an hour."

The spoon in her hand stopped moving. Dallas was coming back.

"I wonder why he changed his plans," Shari said.

Patience couldn't imagine. She just kept thinking, Oh, God, Dallas is coming back.

A knot tightened in her stomach. She knew the kind of life he led. He had never made any secret of it. But she wasn't the sort to share a man, and if Dallas thought he could just waltz in and expect her to hop back into bed, he had a big surprise coming.

In the week he'd been gone, she'd had plenty of time to think and most of it wasn't good. It was one thing to have a brief fling with America's top cowboy, another thing entirely to be counted among his numerous female admirers.

"I don't want you to worry about this Stanfield fella," Stormy was saying. "I'll put the word out. Anyone comes around asking questions, we'll tell him we never heard of you."

"Thanks, Stormy."

He tossed his hat on the bunk, and ran a hand through his sandy brown hair. "I'm starved. Boy, that sure smells good."

"Nothing too tough about making Sloppy Joes," she said, trying to sound cheerful as she filled them each a paper plate loaded with the tomato-hamburger concoction poured over a toasted bun.

Everyone dug in, falling silent as they enjoyed the meal. They washed the food down with Diet Cokes, eating hurriedly so Stormy could get to the airport in time for Dallas's flight.

There wasn't much clean-up, just disposing of the paper plates and washing the saucepan. As soon as they finished, Shari left to work with Button while Patience stayed behind and tried not to think of Dallas, with very little success.

What would he say? Why had he come back to Casper instead of meeting them in Cheyenne? Though he knew her cell number, he hadn't called from Salinas, and she hadn't really expected him to. Dallas had never made her any promises. In truth, it was her suggestion that they make love.

Had she really believed it would help them get over their unwanted attraction to each other?

Well, it might have worked for Dallas. It sure hadn't worked for her.

The minutes crawled past. She had to do something to keep her mind occupied. Glancing around, her gaze lit on her grandmother's journal. She picked it up, sat down in the dinette and opened it to where she'd left off. It didn't take long to become absorbed in the pages.

Sam kissed me last night. Never in my life have I ever felt anything like it. Like falling off a cloud-that's the way it felt. He's trouble-no doubt about it. But when he looks at me with those beautiful green eyes, I just can't seem to resist him.

Patience smiled. The more things changed the more they stayed the same, her father always said. There were loose pages after that, some out of sequence, Addie writing about earlier shows. Then a yellowed, tattered page caught her eye.

Lucky didn't come back to the room last night. She went out to supper with Betsy and Star, but they said she left early. Her things are still here this morning and it's time for us to leave. I'm going to see the colonel. I'm really worried about her.

The entry was dated August 7. No pages seemed to be missing, but there wasn't another entry until August 15.

No sign of Lucky. Colonel Howard spoke to the sheriff back in Cheyenne but he says she never turned up at the hotel. Probably ran off with some cowboy, the sheriff said. Said they were holding her things at his office till she got the good sense to come back and pick them up.

Lucille Sims was my best chum and I don't believe for a minute that she up and run off that way. I think something terrible bad happened to her.

A little chill slid down Patience's spine. Though she really didn't want to, she thumbed ahead in the journal. A couple more passages mentioned Lucky, but Addie never saw her again and no one ever found out what had happened to her.

Patience set the book away, feeling oddly depressed. She couldn't help wondering if there was a connection to the man who had been following the rodeo circuit and the disappearance of her grandmother's friend. It made her think of Tyler Stanfield, made her wonder how far his obsession would push him and if she were in any sort of danger.

With a sigh, she got up from the dinette and started for the door. Dusk had settled over the prairie, the sun a bright orange ball sinking behind a row of distant hills. Streaks of orange and pink fanned out through a fading blue sky and she thought that no matter what happened, she was glad she had come on this, her great adventure.

As she walked toward the rear of the trailer, she caught a glimpse of Dallas's big black Dodge. The men would have been back for at least an hour, but he hadn't made an effort to see her. It probably hadn't occurred to him. Dallas wasn't interested in a relationship with a woman. He had made that clear from the start. She told herself it was better this way, better that they'd ended the affair that morning at the airport in Houston. Apparently Dallas felt the same.

The crunch of boots on gravel alerted her. She turned to see a tall shadow walking toward her, knew it was Dallas by the long, purposeful strides and the width of his shoulders. He was wearing his usual jeans, boots, and hat, and he looked so good her heart turned over.

She took a deep breath to calm the pounding in her chest, then remembered the passage Addie had written about Sam-he's nothing but trouble.

"Hello." The soft drawl stirred a longing deep inside her.

Patience ignored it. "Hello."

"I...um...decided to come back and drive down to Cheyenne with Stormy."

"That's what he said. How was Salinas?"

In the fading light, his features subtly tightened. "Not so good."

"What happened?"

"I got bucked off. I needed to make some extra earnings so I entered both bronc riding events. Bareback is tough. You lean way back. Puts a lot of pressure on your spine. If you screw up, it's kind of like you've been in a car accident."

He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck and she realized he was hurting. Unconsciously, she moved closer, her protective instincts kicking in. Then her brain interceded and she forced herself to stay where she was. "Are you all right?"

"Just a little sore, is all. And a little pissed at myself."

"You'll do better in Cheyenne."

He nodded, looked away, out onto the endless prairie. "I...um...I thought about you a lot while I was gone."

I thought about you, too. But this isn't going to work and we both know it. "Look, Dallas. We had our little fling and now it's over. It was fun while it lasted, but-"

"Fun while it lasted?"

He was getting mad. She remembered what had happened the last time he'd gotten angry and desire slid through her.

"What I mean is, you have your life and I have mine, and they just don't fit together. I'm not interested in becoming one of your groupies. I'm not the sort of woman who is willing to share a man with a dozen other women."

Her heart was beating, thundering away, just because he was standing so close. It was terrifying to realize how much she wanted to touch him.

Dallas moved toward her, his eyes still fixed on her face. "You think I slept with someone else in Salinas."

Her chest hurt. It was exactly what she thought. "It's none of my business who you sleep with. You never made any promises. I'm just saying-"

"I didn't sleep with anyone. I wouldn't do that. Not as long as I'm involved with you."

Her head came up. She couldn't believe she had heard him correctly. "Are you? Involved, I mean."

"I must be. I tried like hell to put you out of my mind, but I couldn't make it happen."

Patience shook her head. She wasn't sure she should believe him and even if she did, what was the use? "What are you saying, Dallas? You know this...thing between us can't go anywhere. Even if I stay through the summer, once it's over, I'll be returning to Boston. We'll probably never see each other again."

He glanced down. "I suppose that's true. Even if it is, I think we should ride this thing out, enjoy what we're feeling, take advantage of the time we have together. Odds are, all this heat will start to fade and by the time you're ready to leave, we'll be able to say good-bye like good friends."

In the fading light, she could see his eyes beneath the brim of his hat, as blue as the big Wyoming sky. Maybe they could. Or maybe she would fall for him even harder and Dallas would break her heart.

"I don't know, Dallas. I need some time. I've got to think this over."

"All right. If that's the way you feel, I won't press you. Just think about it, okay?"

She nodded, wondering why she wasn't relieved. "There's something I should probably tell you."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Remember that guy I had trouble with in Boston...Tyler Stanfield?"

He straightened. "I remember. What about him?"

"Somehow he got my cell number. He called me tonight. I don't think he'll actually try to find me, but since we're all traveling together, I thought you ought to know."

She could see the faint tightening of his jaw. "What did he say?"

"He said he missed me. The usual stuff. I told him if he called me again, I'd get a new phone under someone else's name."

"That's probably a good idea. In the meantime, I'll put the word out. That guy comes near you, I'll-"

She laughed. "I know. I saw what you did to Wes McCauley."

Dallas slid a finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up. "You've got friends here, Patience. You don't have to be afraid." Bending his head he softly kissed her. "Think about what I said."