"I can't believe he found me," she said softly. "I can't believe he came all this way."

"I don't like this," Dallas said. "This guy just can't seem to get the message."

"I think maybe he did this time."

"Why is that?"

"'Cause when he showed up again the next morning, Shari called the police. She told them about the restraining order Patience had against him and that he had followed her all the way from Boston. They don't cotton to guys like that around here. They pulled him over a ways down the highway and hauled his ass in."

"They put him in jail?" Patience asked in disbelief.

"Overnight, I guess. He posted bail the next day. When he got out, they drove him straight to the airport."

"So Stanfield's back in Boston," Dallas said with relief.

"Sure is. And he's in a passel of trouble. I don't think he'll be bothering P.J. again."

Patience sighed. "Tyler may be a little obsessed, but he's not crazy enough to get too far on Daddy's bad side. I think Stormy may be right. After his bout with the police, he'll be worried what his father might do. I don't think he'll be giving me any more trouble." She managed a smile, but Dallas thought she looked even more exhausted than she had when they arrived.

"Come on. My trailer's empty. We can still get a couple more hours sleep."

"I need to call my dad first. Let him know what's going on. He can keep us posted on what's happening with Tyler."

She used the new cell she had gotten in Stormy's name in Cheyenne. When she finished the call, they walked arm-in-arm to his trailer. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, sleep was no longer on his mind. Maybe it was Stanfield showing up, or just that he hadn't actually slept with her since their trip to Houston, not in a bed at any rate.

He was hard by the time they reached the door. Dallas told himself she needed to get some rest, but Patience started kissing him the minute they stepped inside, apparently of the same mind as he.

Afterward they snuggled together, Patience curled next to him on the narrow bunk, and he thought how good it felt to have her there beside him. He thought of Tyler Stanfield and his hand unconsciously fisted. The bastard had better not come near her again.

But Patience wouldn't be around much longer. In a few more weeks, she would be leaving, returning to her life in Boston, and he wouldn't be around to protect her. She'd be on her own, gone for good, and knowing that, he'd be a fool to let himself get anymore involved with her than he was already. He might be attracted to her, but that was as far as he could afford to let it go.

It was time he started thinking with the head on his shoulders instead of the one in his jeans, time he started reining in his emotions before he got sucked in any deeper than he was already.

But looking down to where Patience slept nestled so sweetly against him, feeling the brush of her hair against his cheek, Dallas wasn't all that sure he could.

The show went well that Sunday afternoon. Patience watched nervously as Dallas rode a horse called Fan Dancer, worried he might reinjure his knee, but the ride went smoothly and he scored a nice solid eighty-eight points, enough to win him third place money that day. He should have been happy, but instead he seemed moody and out of sorts.

He was worried about Charlie, and Tyler's arrival had only added to the strain. She prayed Tyler had learned his lesson and she thought that after his night in jail, maybe he actually had.

The truck sabotage preyed heavily on everyone's mind. So far Sheriff Harden in Cheyenne hadn't turned up any leads. Dallas was disappointed, but at least nothing new had happened during the week that they had been gone. The Circle C crew was headed for New Mexico. Dallas kept in close touch with Charlie via his cell phone, and they would be joining him as soon as the Pikes Peak Rodeo was over.

Once they reached the next town and got settled in, Patience planned to finish her thesis, which she had been away from far too long. Fortunately, the paper was basically done. She needed to review her research, go over her writing a final time and make any last minute changes, but she hoped to have it finished and ready to submit by FedEx the end of next week. Three weeks after that, she would be eligible to take her final oral exam and apply for graduation in September.

By then she would be back in Boston, teaching her first class at Evergreen College.

Her chest felt heavy. By then, her adventure would be over and Dallas would no longer be part of her life. She told herself it was for the best. Dallas was the wrong man for her and she was definitely the wrong woman for him. It was a fact they had both accepted from the start.

Patience sighed as she drove the pickup and trailer that afternoon the last few miles to Cottonwood Creek. Beside her, Shari seemed equally lost in thought.

"So what did you guys do while we were in Texas?" Patience asked. She hadn't really had a chance to talk to her roommate since she and Dallas had gotten back from the ranch.

Shari turned away from the window. The New Mexico landscape was harsh and forbidding, but also starkly beautiful. Miles of shifting sand and sage, magnificent flat-topped buttes rising hundreds of feet up out of the desert floor, blue skies that went on forever.

"Stormy's got a friend in Colorado. A bull rider named Pete Mathers. Pete asked us to come to his wedding. Since we had a little time before we went to Colorado Springs, we decided to go."

"That sounds like fun."

"I suppose it was. It was only a very small wedding, immediate family and a few close friends, but it was outside in a pretty spot that overlooked the river."

"Nice people, I suppose."

"Real nice. But Marla-that's the girl Pete married-has a couple of kids from a previous marriage. All four of them are living in a single-wide trailer." Shari looked over at Patience. "Of course Pete says it'll only be for a little while longer. He busted his leg real bad at Calgary this year and hasn't been able to ride, but according to Pete, he's going to win big next year."

There was disbelief in Shari's voice.

"I take it you aren't convinced," Patience said.

"You know how cowboys are. The next rodeo is always going to be the big one."

Patience made no reply. After a summer of traveling the rodeo circuit, she knew exactly how cowboys were.

The thought was somehow depressing.

"So what about this guy, Tyler Stanfield?" Shari asked. "How'd he find you?"

"He's got a friend who's into computers. I hear they can track down practically anything these days."

"You think he'll stay in Boston?"

"Actually, I do. His father will have a fit when he finds out Tyler followed me out here. Since Daddy holds the purse strings, I think he'll make sure his son's ridiculous obsession rapidly comes to an end."

Shari didn't say more and neither did Patience. They continued along the road and arrived in Cottonwood Creek late afternoon, Dallas and Stormy having altered their schedule to make more Circle C shows. The first performance didn't start till tomorrow night, but Dallas wanted to be there to help Charlie set up for the rodeo. He'd been edgy all day and oddly withdrawn. Patience figured it was worry over Charlie and left him alone.

It was early the following morning that she finally sat down at her laptop in the cramped little dining area of the trailer, determined to get the final work done on her thesis. Shari was in the bathroom when the phone rang, her dad calling to say Tyler was definitely in Boston and it looked as if he was going to stay there.

She hung up feeling relieved and able to settle into her work, checking and rechecking her research. Then the bathroom door cracked open and Shari stepped out. For the first time, Patience noticed how pale she was, that there were faint purple smudges beneath her eyes.

"Shari? What's happened? What's wrong?"

She gave out a brittle little laugh. "Is it really that obvious? What's wrong is that last night Stormy asked me to marry him."

"Wow! That's terrific!" Patience grinned. "Congratulations."

"Are you kidding? I told him no. I'm not going to marry him. I couldn't possibly do that."

Patience sat up a little straighter in the booth. "Why not? Stormy loves you and you love him. Any idiot can see that."

Tears filled Shari's eyes. "It doesn't make any difference." She scrubbed at the wetness escaping down her cheek. "I don't want to marry a cowboy. I don't want to spend my life in a single-wide trailer or live out of a suitcase for months at a time. I don't want to sit home while my husband's on the road half the year."

Patience couldn't help feeling sympathetic. It wasn't the sort of life for her, either.

"In three weeks, I'm going home to Oklahoma," Shari continued. "I'm starting back to school, just the way I planned."

Patience didn't know exactly what to say. In three weeks, she would be leaving, too, returning to Boston, beginning the life she had worked so hard for all these years.

In the meantime, she and Shari were living in a crowded trailer, traveling every week. It was fun for a summer, but she couldn't imagine that kind of life with a husband and kids. And she wouldn't want to be left behind, either.

Patience reached over and squeezed Shari's hand. "I wish I could say something that would make you feel better. The truth is, I can't. I'll be leaving, as well, going back to my life in Boston. I understand exactly why you feel the way you do."

Shari sniffed and wiped away the last of her tears. "I'm really glad we traveled together this summer. I'm lucky to have you for a friend."

Patience reached up and hugged her, but neither of the women said more. They were there for each other. Both of them knew it, accepted it without question. No matter what happened when summer was over, Patience had made a lifelong friend.

The Cottonwood Creek Rodeo was an old-fashioned, small-town show, not even Pro-Rodeo sanctioned, which meant that the purse was small and even if Dallas won, it wouldn't count toward his yearly total.

Originally he had planned to compete in the big Caldwell, Idaho, rodeo, which had a much larger purse, but he kept thinking of the sabotaged trailer and seeing dead horses, and as much as he needed to add to his winnings, he had decided against it.

At least Cottonwood Creek was a more relaxed show, with lots of locals competing and less pressure than a PRCA rodeo. Volunteers did much of the work, including the check-in and getting the necessary signatures on the liability waver forms from people moving around behind the chutes.

Charlie wound up handling the entry fee money, locking it in a small, fireproof safe in the production trailer. He didn't like the responsibility, Dallas knew, but in rodeos like this one, the rules were made up as they went along.

The rodeo went well, an outdoor night show warmed by the evening summer heat. Big flat-topped buttes surrounded the arena, which nestled at the base of a mountain that had once been the home of ancient Acoma Indians. Ruins of the pueblo remained, their haunting shadows phantom-like in the orange rays of sunset.

Cottonwood Creek was the kind of rodeo Dallas had always loved, the kind you did mostly for fun, but he was a professional rodeo cowboy now and he rarely had time for small shows like this one. It felt good to be there and perhaps that was the reason he won, making a splashy ride on a big spotted horse called Red Dawn. He calf roped well, but not good enough win any money.

As he rode out of the arena, he scanned the contestants' bleachers for Patience but didn't see her. He rode Lobo over to his trailer and unsaddled him, then went in search of her. He was headed for her little RV when he spotted her talking to Charlie near the production trailer. In the circle of yellow light beside the door, Dallas caught the grim look on Charlie's face and knew that something was wrong.

"What's going on?" he asked as he walked up, his adrenaline kicking in.

Charlie's jaw hardened. "Someone broke into the trailer. They stole the entry fee money-over ten thousand dollars."

"Sonofabitch!" Dallas blew out a breath and shoved back his hat. "Anybody see anything? Somebody going in or out of the trailer?"

"I've been asking around," Patience said. "So far no one's seen a thing."

"How'd they get in?" Dallas glanced up the metal stairs to the trailer door.

"Crowbar, looks like. Bent the latch pretty good. Noise from the crowd would have covered the sound."

Patience walked over to where they stood. "I'm going to keep asking around. Someone must have seen something."

Dallas watched her walk away, wishing he didn't like the view so much, his mood sliding even farther downhill. "Will your insurance cover this?"

Charlie shook his head. "It wasn't my money, so no, it's not covered."

Dallas muttered a curse. Another problem for Charlie. More money he would have to come up with. Coincidence? There was always the chance. But Dallas didn't think so. "You called the sheriff yet?"

Charlie nodded. "Got on my cell as soon as I saw the door pried open."

Both of them climbed the stairs to inspect the broken latch, then opened the door and went in. The fireproof safe appeared to be the only thing missing. It was heavy, but not so heavy a man couldn't haul it out.

"Probably threw something over it and just carried it down the stairs," Charlie said.

"I can't believe no one saw him."

"Hey, guys!" Patience's voice rang from the bottom of the stairs.

Dallas headed in that direction, Charlie close on his heels.

"I think maybe we got lucky." Patience turned to a slender young woman who stood beside her. "This is Rae Ann Bonner. She lives here in Cottonwood Creek. She was one of the contestants in the barrel racing tonight. Rae Ann was leading her horse back to her truck when she saw a man coming out of the production trailer."

"That's right." Rae Ann was no more than twenty, with light brown hair pulled back in a coil at her nape that fit neatly under the brim of her straw cowboy hat. "The guy was carrying something heavy, but I couldn't see what it was. It was covered by a canvas tarp that hung down over the sides."

"Would you recognize this guy if you saw him?" Charlie asked.

"Yes...no...not exactly. I mean I saw him real clear and all, but he was wearing baggy pants and grease paint. It was one of the rodeo clowns."

Dallas's adrenaline shot up. Charlie flicked him a meaningful glance, thinking exactly what Dallas was.

"We'll, I'd say that narrows it down," Charlie said.

Down to Junior Reese. With the bad blood between him and Charlie, it couldn't be anyone else.

"Do you know which clown it was?" Dallas asked, hoping the woman could be more specific.

"I heard the announcer mention his name, but I don't remember what it was. He's the one with the smiley makeup. I remember the other one wears a painted-on frown."

Dallas couldn't believe it. Cy wore the smiling face. Junior wore the frown. "Are you absolutely sure of that?"

"That's the man I saw. It's kind of hard to forget a guy in a clown suit."

"And you're sure the clown wore a painted on smile."

"Yeah. I thought it was kind of funny, considering he was carrying such a heavy load and all."

The sheriff's car pulled up just then. The door cracked open and a short, well-built, dark-skinned deputy got out. His badge read Raul Santiago.

"Thanks for coming," Charlie said.

The entire scenario was repeated for the deputy's benefit, while the young officer took notes on a water-stained spiral notepad.

Santiago flipped the pad shut and turned to Charlie. "I guess we'd better have a talk with that clown."

"Good idea," Dallas said. He started walking next to Charlie, and Patience fell in beside him.

"Where do you think you're going?" He stopped and turned toward her, effectively blocking her way.

"I'm going with you-what did you think?"