‘I could shovel out stalls, but my mom won’t let me.’‘She watches over you pretty close, huh?’Will nodded. ‘All the time. I know she needs me to take care of her, because my dad died.’Matt whistled. ‘That’s a pile of responsibility.’‘She never wants to have fun any more. She used to take me places.’‘She’s got a lot of work now, a lot on her mind.’‘You mean things will be like this forever?’‘I reckon not. She’s probably got to get over missing your dad too.’‘Will I stop missing him?’‘I don’t know.’‘Will you show me how to make the horse jump?’‘Not today.’‘If you show me how to take care of the horses, Mom won’t have to worry so much.’‘She worries a lot, does she?’‘Uh-huh. Are you sure you were named after St Matthew?’‘No. I don’t think I was really named after anybody. Why?’‘Matthew means a gift from God.’Matt chuckled. ‘I’ll be hanged. Where’d you learn that, Sunday school?’‘No, I was looking up Matthew on my computer encyclopaedia.’‘Damn.’‘Excuse me?’‘Nothing. Yo

‘Well, yeah.'‘But see, you don’t know it’s because he’s got two broken legs. You really don’t know enough about him to say. You can’t make assumptions about people you don’t even know.’‘That’s different. And that was cheating, not telling he was crippled.’Sierra intervened. ‘Will, go get your clothes together. Luke and his mom will be here for you any minute.’ Sierra’s tone left no room for argument, and Will offered no resistance. But as he was leaving the room, he shot Matt a sharp parting glance.‘You’ll have to forgive him, Matt. I honestly don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s been exposed to Ben’s elitist philosophies, and Ben’s views usually fell short of compassion.’Matt kept his voice low. ‘I think I know what’s wrong. He was talking about how his father died. Must have been harder on the kid than he’ll admit.’‘Will’s suffered a lot of trauma.’‘Maybe he needs to talk about it more, get it out of his system.’‘When he’s ready. I’m sure he will.’‘Maybe he’s not sophist

‘Something happened to me, Matt. I’m not the same as I was.’‘You feel the same, taste just as sweet. Sweeter, I think. Like peppermint.’She took his face in both hands and pinned his head back. He cast her a bewildered look.‘There’s something inside me that doesn’t work right.’Now, he leaned back, folding his arms across his chest.‘I reckon you’d better be more specific.’She shot him a tentative look, then dropped her eyes.He reached for her hand, knit his big fingers through her slender ones. ‘What is it? Did something happen when you had Will?’‘No. I’m not sure when this happened. I can make love with you, Matt, I want to make love to you. But whatever happens I don’t want you to think it’s your fault. There’s nothing physically wrong. It’s in my head, some cold, hardened part of me.’When she looked up, she saw anger in his eyes. ‘What did he do to you?’She knew to whom he was referring. ‘Nothing. It’s me, not anybody else,’‘Why do you assume the failing was yours and not

‘Sierra’s a gracious woman. She’s got no call to be unfriendly to you.’Leeann chewed her bottom lip. ‘I hope she’s not bein’ overly gracious. Matt. You never mentioned you’d be workin’ out there on the weekends too. Be careful, please. I know you’ve been away a long time, but things don’t change as fast in Winter as they do everywhere else. I don’t want to see you get hurt again, not by her.’‘I can take care of myself. You have enough to worry about, Leeann.’‘I’d worry about you less if you’d find some woman who was worth your time and marry her. One of Jerry’s friends has a sister who’s single, and I could invite . . .’‘Forget it. Turtle. I’m not getting married and I’m not staying in Winter. That’s what you want, isn’t it? You’d love for me to tie myself down here.’‘I ain’t denyin’ it, Matt. It’s good havin’ you back. But I’d sooner run you out of town myself than to think that she-devil was toyin’ with you again, like a cat playing with a ball of string.’‘You overestimate Sie

‘Thirty or I’m not going to mess with it. And you’ll have seventy five per cent of nothin’.’‘Thirty,’ she conceded. Getting into her pants hadn’t softened his bargaining savvy, she observed.In one quick motion his hand caught hers, hanging between them at her side, wrapping it warmly, squeezing it. Surprised and thrilled at the contact, she looked up into his eyes, smiling. His eyes were intense and compelling, and she glimpsed the tenderness, the lingering intimacy, the silent promise of more. She felt as though he’d reached out and put his hand on her heart.He leaned closer. ‘This is business, Sierra. Onething doesn’t have anything to do with the other. I can’t afford to let it.’His tactics reminded her disturbingly of her father’s, and a thread of trepidation coiled inside her as she wondered what might happened if these two strong men ever confronted one another. Father’s statement that he’d rather see her dead than with Matt Rollins echoed in her head. William Ross wasn’t pr