LITMIR.BIZ

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Toby.

      “Where have you been?” she asked.

      He stepped up on the porch, but he didn’t show any enthusiasm about joining her.

      “Out at the barn.”

      “Your horses all right?”

      “Yeah, fine.”

      She couldn’t think of anything else to say. They used to talk nonstop when they were younger. But as she’d noted earlier, Toby had changed. “What made you decide to drop out of rodeo and come home?”

      “It wasn’t because I was losing,” he said, “like Caroline said.”

      She raised her eyebrows. “Caro was teasing. She brags about you all the time. She has tons of friends because they’re hoping she’ll introduce them to you.”

      His cheeks darkened, just barely visible. It was a charming part of Toby. He was unimpressed with his achievements.

      She watched him shrug his shoulders instead of answer her original question. “Aren’t you going to tell me?”

      “Why should I? We don’t share secrets anymore. You certainly haven’t said why you’re marrying that idiot! I thought you were supposed to get smarter in college, not take leave of your senses.”

      The abrupt attack stunned Elizabeth. “How dare you call me dumb! I have a right to my own choices! You don’t even know Cleve.” Why was she defending the man when she had no intention of marrying him? But it was only fair to tell him first, not Toby. Especially not Toby when he was insulting her intelligence.

      “I know him more than I ever want to. He’s an accountant and he thinks he’s superior to us?” Toby’s scorn was evident.

      “Uncle Brett is an accountant. It’s a perfectly good job.”

      “Uncle Brett is a rancher. He does accounting for the family. That’s different.”

      “So Bill Johnson is—”

      “I’m not arguing this,” he muttered, walking past her to reach the back door.

      “What’s the matter? Afraid you’ll lose?”

      Her taunting had the desired effect. He pulled to a halt and turned around to stare at her. “You’ve certainly changed, Elizabeth. I don’t remember you being so difficult.”

      “I’m surprised you remember me at all, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I used to— I guess you’ve been more interested in…other things than your family.”

      He stared at her, his breathing rough. Then, much to her disappointment, he muttered, “I guess I have.”

      Before she could say anything else, he disappeared into the house.

      A single tear escaped her eye to flow silently down her cheek. She remembered a picture in a cowboy magazine of Toby surrounded by beautiful women putting their hands all over him. She’d hated that picture, told herself it didn’t represent Toby’s real life. He probably didn’t know any of those women. They were just models.

      Now she wasn’t so sure.

      Maybe he was biding his time before he brought one of them home as his wife. Or maybe he intended to cut a wide swath through Rawhide and the surrounding ranches with all the single women. She immediately started making a mental list of women he would discover.

      As she went back in the house to go to bed, she didn’t give her engagement to Cleve a thought. What Toby was going to do was much more important.

      THOUGH ALL the male cousins had moved to the Pad, they always ate their meals with the family. Toby figured he wouldn’t have to worry about seeing Elizabeth at breakfast. After all, schools didn’t start until eight in the morning. He’d have been in the saddle for at least an hour by then.

      He came into the kitchen the next morning at six-thirty, the normal time, and discovered Elizabeth helping Mildred to set the table.

      Mildred sang out, “Morning! So good to see you here, Toby!”

      “Hey, now,” Russ called, “no giving Toby more food than us.”

      Mildred grinned. “Might be a good idea. I think you’re puttin’ on weight, Russ.”

      Though he was tall and lean, Russ pretended to be wounded by Mildred’s teasing. With laughter, the guys sat down. Their fathers would come a few minutes later. Red called it the second wave.

      It was the younger Randalls’ job to have the horses saddled when their fathers finished eating. Jake called it the privilege of rank.

      “What are you doing up?” Toby asked Elizabeth abruptly.

      “I leave for school at seven,” she replied, not looking at him.

      “Do Drew and Casey ride with you?” He noticed the two boys weren’t there for breakfast.

      “No, they like to wait until seven-thirty before they go. Drew takes a truck.” She didn’t know why it mattered. Drew was a senior, certainly old enough to drive.

      Red nudged Toby toward the table. “I’m serving your eggs, boy. Sit down and eat.”

      Toby did so, but his mind seemed to be on Elizabeth since he continued talking to her. “In winter it’s going to be dark at seven. I don’t think you should drive alone when it’s dark.”

      Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Toby.

      Jim, her brother, spoke up before Elizabeth did. She was too stunned by Toby’s words.

      “It’s only ten or twelve miles, Toby. Elizabeth is a good driver.”

      “But—” Toby began, but Elizabeth found her voice.

      “It doesn’t matter what you think, Toby. If my father doesn’t have a problem with my behavior, I think you can stop worrying.”

      “What does Cleve think about it?” he asked.

      Since last night he’d called Cleve dumb, she didn’t understand why Toby would care about his attitude. And she wasn’t about to tell him that Cleve didn’t want her to teach at all. Maybe both men were more macho than she’d thought.

      “Didn’t your mother work in the winter? I believe she’s gone out in the dark to work on dangerous animals. And Anna goes out to deliver babies at all hours of the day and night.”

      “Yeah, but Uncle Brett goes with her after dark,” Rich pointed out.

      Elizabeth glared at her helpful cousin.

      Red interrupted. “Eat your breakfasts. I hear boots on the stairway.”

      “And mind your own business,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath to Toby. She wasn’t about to let him tell her what to do when he wouldn’t even speak to her nicely.

      The rest of the meal was a fast scramble as the guys gobbled down their breakfasts and carried their plates to the sink just as the older generation entered the room.

      Elizabeth was glad Toby left the kitchen as the others took their places, only exchanging a few words with his father. He wouldn’t discuss her going to school alone with his father, she was sure.

      When Toby left the house, Jake sighed with a big grin on his face. “Man, it’s good to have him back home.” He looked at B.J. “Isn’t it, sweetheart?”

      “Of course.”

      “What did he say last night when you talked to him?” Pete asked.

      “How’d you know I talked to him?” Jake demanded.

      Pete shrugged his shoulders. “’Cause I know you. The boy’s the biggest success in rodeo in years. I think he was on track for another Cowboy of the Year. Do you think he’s running away from a broken heart?”

      Elizabeth

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