Riding on the passenger side of the truck, Patience pressed her cell phone a little closer to her ear. Shari was driving, making the first leg of the trip across New Mexico to the Lea County Fair and Rodeo in Lovington.

"Thanks, Mabel. I really appreciate it. If you come up with anything, no matter how small, please let me know."

"I'm glad you called." Mabel Thompson's voice echoed a little on the other end of the line. "I've never worked on anything quite like this before. It's going to be fun-kind of like trying to uncover the real Jack the Ripper."

"Maybe not quite that exciting. Lucky Sims might not have been murdered at all. And even if she was, the chance that the man who did it killed another of the rodeo women is probably pretty small."

"Maybe not. I watch those shows on TV all the time, you know, like Law and Order and CSI? If the guy was like those creeps on TV, they get real stoked up. They work in patterns and they kill again and again."

"I guess we'll see. Maybe something will turn up." Patience pressed the end button and stuck the cell phone back in her purse.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Shari said, her eyes fixed on the black strip of asphalt up ahead. "But I think it's really cool."

Patience shrugged her shoulders. "Research is one of the things I do best. I don't like the idea that my great-grandmother's best friend might have been murdered. I like it even less that the guy might have gotten away with it."

"So you're thinking that if he did it again, you might be able to track him down?"

"I'm not exactly sure. Something like that, I guess. I called a friend at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and a couple of other people I know who are experts in the field. I called my dad, too. He's a real authority on the West. He got kind of excited about it. It's hard to believe but they held one of those early rodeos right there in Boston each year. As far as I know, Addie Holmes never traveled that far east, but Dad said he'd dig around in the Boston archives, see what he could come up with."

"With all that help, maybe someone will find out something."

"That's what I'm hoping. When we get to Hobbs-that's the biggest town around here-I'm going to try to get on the Internet, do a little surfing, see what I might find out."

Shari slowed for a truck up ahead, then pulled out and went around it. "So what's your dad like? He sounds like someone I'd like."

"I think you would. I know he'd like you. He's in his early fifties, handsome, dark-haired, athletic. He and my stepmom have a really happy marriage. She works in the administration department at B.U. That's where she and my father met. They live in a nice two-story house not far from the campus. Tracy's kind of a homebody and since they got married, so is my dad."

"That's the kind of life I'd like to have," Shari said wistfully. "I'm tired of traveling around all the time. I'm ready to settle down."

Shari was beginning to sound depressed and when Patience thought about Dallas, she began to feel that way, too. She turned her attention to the passing landscape, let the vast open spaces and miles of blue sky clear her head.

They were following Charlie and the Circle C stock trucks. Since they'd left Cottonwood Creek, Charlie had made no more mention of the stolen money, accepting it as he did most things, determined to put it behind him.

It was late in the afternoon when they arrived at the fairgrounds and pulled into an area behind the Jake McClure Arena. There were pens for the bulls and a barn for the bucking horses, and the stock trucks headed that way. Patience and Shari stopped to dump their RV holding tanks, refill the water supply, and restock their limited supply of food before traveling the rest of the way to the rodeo grounds.

Patience hoped when they got there she would see Dallas. The summer was almost over and though part of her knew it would only make leaving him more difficult, another part wanted to make every last second count.

But Dallas was busy helping Charlie. She didn't see him the rest of the day. He was busy that evening, as well. She and Shari went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called La Fiesta, but it wasn't much fun. The two men missing from their lives left an odd hole in the evening.

Both of them were feeling a little lonely by the time they returned to the trailer. They read for a while, then turned off the lights and went to bed.

Unfortunately, Patience couldn't sleep.

After tossing and turning till well past midnight, she finally gave up, pulled on jeans and a thin cotton sweater, and went for a walk around the grounds. Since the rodeo didn't start until tomorrow afternoon, most of the cowboys wouldn't show up until morning.

As she wandered across the open, grassy fields, she could see Dallas's shiny black rig in the distance. She wondered if he was avoiding her and had a suspicion that he was. Perhaps he was feeling the same mix of emotions she was.

Turning in the opposite direction, she strolled off toward the arena. There wasn't much of a moon, but enough to find her way. She could hear the bulls swishing their tails, luffing and snorting and pawing the ground.

She meandered toward the horse barns. They weren't full that night, so Button, Lobo, and Stormy's horse Gus, all had their own separate stalls. Button raised his head and whinnied softly as she walked in. She had been riding him more and more. With Shari's coaching, she had even started working him around the practice barrels before the rodeo started.

"Hello, sweetheart." She reached up and scratched his ears, stoked his soft muzzle. The barn smelled of alfalfa, old wood, and dust, not an unpleasant smell. She checked Button's water and feed, wandered over to check on Lobo and Gus, then left the building.

Still wide awake, she walked a short distance along the deserted road bordering the fairgrounds, then turned back the way she had come. Up ahead, she thought she saw a shadow in the darkness and thinking of Tyler, her senses went on alert, but when she looked again, she realized it was just her imagination. Tired at last, she continued back along the road toward home.

She had almost reached the horse barns when she spotted the first curl of smoke. It crept across the roof, leaked out from under the eaves, curled and rolled skyward, a gray coil reaching up through the darkness. More smoke drifted out through the open barn doors and her chest squeezed with fear. A shot of adrenaline jolted her into action and Patience started to run.

"Fire! Fire in the horse barns!" Her feet pounded over the grass as she headed for Dallas's rig, which sat in the field ahead. Charlie's second string of bucking horses were stabled in the barn. She needed help if the animals were going to get out before the fire swept over them, trapping them inside.

Racing up to the RV, she hammered madly on Dallas's door and a sleepy-eyed Stormy pulled it open.

"There's a fire in the barns!" Turning, she raced off toward the production trailer, but the Circle C crew was already on its feet, pouring out of campers and trailers, the backseats of pickups and cars. As soon as she saw that help was on its way, Patience raced back toward the barn and started opening gates.

The blaze had spread faster than she imagined it would. Long tongues of orange-red flames scorched through the wooden roof in several places, licking relentlessly down toward the animals below. The horses were frantic, neighing wildly, rolling their eyes and rearing, kicking against the sides of their stalls.

Dallas rushed past her, along with half a dozen other cowboys. They raced inside the barn beneath the flaming roof, barefoot and waving their hats, trying to get the animals out of their stalls.

It should have been easy, but the horses were frightened and confused, running in circles, fighting their lead ropes when the men tried to lead them to safety. Thinking of Button, Lobo, and Gus, Patience ran toward the far end of the barn. The flames burned there, too, the fire beginning to eat its way through the ceiling above the horses' stalls. Small bits of burning wood floated down from the rafters, singeing the animals' coats.

"Easy, sweetheart, I'm going to get you out of here." Her hands were shaking as she opened Button's stall and the horse raced out. Shari came running out of the darkness just as the horse bolted past.

"Button!" She turned and ran after him, worried that he might be hurt.

Gus's stall was right next door. Patience ran in that direction. She led him out when he refused to leave on his own, and once he reached the open doorway, he shot out of the barn to safety.

A burning chunk of roof fell down, landed just a few feet away. She needed to get out of the barn before one of the heavy pieces fell on top of her, but Lobo whinnied just then. She could just make out his golden coat in the light of the flame and the whites of his eyes as he rolled them in terror. Coughing, she bent forward and ran toward his stall.

Dallas spotted Shari leading Button away from the fire and hurried toward her. "Button all right?"

"His coat is singed in a couple of places, but otherwise he's fine."

"Where's Patience?"

"She was right behind me. She was bringing Gus out."

Dallas's heart began to beat faster than it was already. "I thought Stormy brought Gus and Lobo out."

Shari shook her head. "Patience went after Gus. I saw him run out behind Button." Shari glanced toward the building, rapidly engulfing itself in flames. "Oh, God, you don't think she went back in after Lobo? You don't think she could still be inside?"

Both of them started to run.

"Have you seen Patience?" Dallas shouted at Stormy above the roar of the fire.

"No! Gus and Button are out! Where's Lobo?"

"I thought you got him out!"

"I thought you did!" Stormy jerked his head toward the barn.

Dallas's gut was twisting. Stormy hadn't brought Lobo out and if the horse was still in the barn and Patience went in to get him...

"Give me your handkerchief!" he yelled to Stormy, the crackle of the flames and the shouting of the men making it nearly impossible to hear. Stormy jerked a red bandana out of his back pocket and Dallas grabbed it. "You two stay here."

"You're not going in there?"

"I'll be right back." His pulse was going crazy. He knew she was in there-he knew it. Bending low, he pressed the handkerchief over his mouth and ran into the burning barn. The smoke was so thick he couldn't see. He closed his eyes and tried to remember where Lobo's stall was, but he was disoriented by the darkness and the billowing wall of black. He closed his eyes, got his bearings as best he could, then aimed his steps in what he hoped was the right direction.

He thought of Patience and fear clawed at him, leaving his insides raw. If she was in here, if she was hurt in the fire or even killed...He blocked the thought and stumbled blindly on. He had almost reached Lobo's stall when the big palomino came bolting out of the smoke like a fire-breathing dragon.

Lobo ran past him, toward the open barn door, but there was no one with him. "Patience! Patience are you in here?" Fighting for air, he started deeper into the barn, then spotted her stumbling toward him. She was coughing, unsteady on her feet, blinded by the smoke and trying to find her way out.

"Over here!" He caught up with her, hauled her against his side, and together they ran toward the door of the barn. The wooden door frame was blazing. Fire raced across the ceiling overhead and he could hear the crack and snap of burning timbers. They ran toward the bright orange glow, stumbled through the opening, and out into the night.

He didn't stop until they were safely away from the blaze, then they both went down on their knees in the dew-damp grass and dragged in great gulps of air.

In the distance, he could hear the blare of sirens, see the whirling red lights of a stream of fire engines racing along the road. Next to him, Patience shuddered as if she were cold though her skin still felt warm from the blaze.

"Are you all right?" Terrified she had been burned, he turned her face from side to side, checked each of her arms and legs, then her neck and shoulders. She was covered with soot, head to toe, her blond hair streaked with oily smudge. She coughed and so did he.

"I'm okay," she croaked out of a throat rusty with ash and smoke. Still not satisfied, he grabbed her hands and turned them over to check her palms, saw with relief that she really hadn't been hurt.

"Did Lobo get out all right?" she asked.

Dallas closed his eyes. She was worried about his goddamned horse. His chest still ached from his paralyzing fear when he realized she had gone into the burning barn.

"Lobo's fine," he said gruffly. "We got all of the horses out safely-thanks to you."

Shari and Stormy raced up just then. "Oh, God, are you two all right?" Shari knelt beside them, Stormy on the opposite side.

"We're fine," Dallas said a little more harshly than he meant to.

Stormy looked at Patience. "I thought the horses were already out. I thought Dallas had gotten them to safety. Apparently, he thought I had. I'm sorry you went in there." He gave her a crooked smile. "But since you're okay and so is Gus, I'm damned glad you did."

Dallas cast him a glance. "Yeah, well, I'm not." He turned a hard look on Patience. "Dammit, you could have been killed!"

She straightened, pulled a little away. "I got the horses out, didn't I? You would have done the same thing."

Stormy caught the fierce glint in Dallas's eye, tipped his head toward Shari, and both of them slipped away.

Dallas stood up and drew Patience up beside him, held on to her for a long moment. "Come on. We'll stop by your trailer and you can grab some clean clothes. There's a motel just down the street. I've got a room there. I wasn't in the mood to hear Stormy whining about Shari all night. You can stay there tonight with me."

She looked as if she might argue, then sighed and simply nodded. She was exhausted, drained by the adrenaline rush and her earlier fear. He wanted to hold her, make sure that she was all right. He wanted to gather her close and take care of her.

And in some strange way, he needed her tonight in a way he never had before.

In less than twenty minutes they walked into his room at the Pueblo Motel and he set her overnight bag on the floor beside the door. They both smelled of smoke and were covered with soot. It didn't matter. When she turned to face him, Dallas caught the nape of her neck and dragged her mouth up to his for a hard, ravishing kiss.

"You could have died tonight," he said. "You could have been killed in that barn."

Her arms went around his neck and she kissed him back, opening her mouth to accept his tongue, sliding her own over his. As tired as she was, her fatigue seemed to fall away, replaced by the same burning need that Dallas felt.

Cradling the back of her head, kissing her one way and then another, he walked her backward, over to the bed. Her knees hit the edge and she tumbled back, sprawling across the mattress. Dallas came down on top of her, took her mouth again, and savaged it until she moaned.

He wanted her. Now. He needed to be inside her with an urgency that was nearly overwhelming. Unzipping her jeans, he lifted her hips and yanked them down to her knees along with her panties. He parted her legs, positioned himself, and drove himself deep inside.

Patience moaned as her body tightened around him, gloving him so sweetly he nearly lost control. He took her fast and hard, thrusting into her again and again. Something had happened to him tonight when he had seen her in that burning barn. Besides the fear, a primal instinct had arisen, an overwhelming urge to protect her. Now that she was safe, he needed to make her his, to imprint himself on her in some way.

Their coupling was wild and intense. Patience tossed her head and dug her nails into his back. She reached a powerful climax and an instant later, so did he. He waited only a moment, then pulled himself free. Lifting her up, he carried her into the bathroom and set her on her feet. She didn't protest when he started the shower, stripped away her clothes and his own, then helped her in and climbed in to join her.

They soaped each other down and shampooed each others' hair, then rinsed and soaped each other again. Her slim, smooth body felt incredible beneath his hands. He was hard again, but she was exhausted from her brush with death. He meant to carry her straight to bed, curl up beside her and watch her sleep, but her hands closed over his hardness and she began to stroke him.

"I need you," she said, coming up on her toes to kiss him, water sloshing over her face onto his. The tap was getting cold or he would have taken her there, up against the shower wall. Instead he turned off the nozzle and slid back the curtain, dried both of them off, and carried her over to the bed.

She reached for him again, kneaded him, cupped him, and Dallas groaned.

He didn't hurry this time. He wanted to make it good for her, to show her how much she meant to him. He kissed her and kissed her, tasted the inside of her mouth, nibbled his way over her collarbone, made his way down to her breasts, then sucked the fullness between his teeth. Patience wound her fingers in his hair and arched upward, giving him better access. Her skin felt smooth and silky. The smell of some flowery shampoo drifted up from her damp blond hair.

He was hard and throbbing, his body clenching with the need to be inside her. Instead, he returned to kissing her breasts, slid his hand up her thigh, and began to stroke her. He didn't stop until he had her sobbing his name, making soft little mewling sounds in her throat. He parted her legs and slid himself inside her, heard her breath catch in pleasure.

Propped on his elbows, he looked into her face and thought how beautiful she was. He thought of her in the blazing barn and a shudder ran through him. He drove himself deeper, filling her completely, and her eyes met his, heavy-lidded with desire. The stiff peaks of her breasts pressed into his chest and her legs slid over his, forcing him deeper still.

"I want you," she said. "You can't imagine how much."

The words turned his shaft to steel. The blood in his veins burned hotter than the fire they had escaped in the barn. He couldn't get enough of her, and knowing that, he faced another truth.

He was in love with her. Crazy in love.

He hadn't meant for it to happen, wished with all his heart it hadn't. For the sad fact was, loving her didn't change a thing.

"Dallas...please..."

It was a plea he understood. He started to move, sliding out and then in, stroking deeply, slowly, letting the pleasure build. Patience moaned and arched beneath him and he moved a little faster, a little harder. His muscles strained as he fought for control. Bending his head, he kissed her, felt her soft mouth sinking into his, tasted her on his tongue. He thrust deeper, faster, felt her nails digging into his shoulders, surged again and again until she came.

His own release followed, swift and hard, and seemed to go on forever. Maybe loving someone made it better. He had always thought maybe it would.

Time slipped past. He wasn't sure how long they lay entwined on the bed. Relaxed at last, he moved to her side, reached for her, and eased her into his arms.

He was in love with her, but they couldn't marry. He would only make her unhappy-and himself.

Dallas closed his eyes. He wondered how long it would take him to fall asleep.

Dallas awoke feeling groggy, his throat scratchy, and a pounding in his head. The pounding turned out to be someone knocking at the door. He dragged himself from under the covers and pulled on a clean pair of jeans, then walked over to see who it was.

He opened the door a crack. Behind him, Patience sat up in bed, looking as if she had just been tumbled, which an hour earlier she had.

"You Dallas Kingman?" The man on the other side of the door wore the light beige shirt and dark pants of a county sheriff. He was thin, mid-forties, his hair sandy blond and butched very short.

"Yeah, that's right."