She started, and almost dropped the saddle. "Sorry, boss. Sorry." She rushed out the door with the saddle over her shoulder, almost tripped and fell down the steps in her rush.

Darby put out a hand and pulled Mallory around. His blue eyes were blazing. "Lay off," he said in a menacing tone. "The girl's had enough for one day."

Mallory shook off the hand and glared at his foreman. "Don't push me."

"Then don't push her," Darby said. "Look at her, for God's sake!"

He didn't want to, but he did. She was fumbling with the saddle. Her hands were shaking. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. Mallory felt it through his heart, like a knife. He grimaced.

"If I was her, I'd quit right now," Darby said shortly. "And when she comes back tonight, that's what I'm going to advise her to do. I know a couple of ranchers who need help...."

"You'll keep your mouth shut, or you'll be the one leaving," Mallory told him angrily. "Don't interfere."

"Then you stop treating her like the black plague" came the short reply. "Honest to God, what's wrong with you? I've never seen you treat a kid like that!"

"She's no kid," Mallory said angrily. "She's a woman." He knew it far better than Darby.

"Well, maybe so," he conceded. "Still, she's twice the woman that blond headache you take around with you is," he told the boss. "You're letting her warp your idea of Morie. She's making you suspicious. Now you're picking holes in everything Morie does. All because you and your brothers were taken in by Vanessa Wilkes. It's your pride, hurting and making you suspect everybody. Even poor old Harry. He never stole that drill. Your girlfriend was in the bunkhouse just before she told you she'd seen him take it. She framed him, and you let her."

"That's enough," Mallory said. He looked dangerous. "He was guilty."

"He wasn't, but he knew he'd never convince you as long as Gelly was around. Now she's trying to do the same to Morie, to make you run her off." He straightened. "I've seen good people and I've seen bad people. I warned you about Vanessa and you wouldn't listen. Now I'm telling you, Morie isn't like that. She's pure gold. If you aren't careful, you'll ruin her life. Maybe your own, too."

"She's not what she seems," Mallory said.

"Who is?" Darby smiled gently. "But she's not devious. She's running from something. I don't know what. But she had no idea how to do ranch work, I'll tell you that."

"What!"

"She was desperate for a job," Darby said. "So I taught her how to do the chores, how to dip cattle, how to help brand, how to stack hay and ride fence and pull calves. You have to admit, she's turned into one of the best hires we've ever had. Works all hours, never complains about anything." His eyes narrowed and the smile thinned. "And you think someone like that could be dishonest? Wouldn't she be complaining at every turn and trying to get out of hard work?"

"I don't know," Mallory confessed. "Vanessa made me question my judgment. I'm not certain about anyone anymore."

"If you want to distrust somebody, you take a hard look at that Bruner woman," Darby said. "Something's not right there. I'd bet money on it."

"She's just a friend," Mallory muttered.

"She doesn't think that. She wants you. And she'll find a way to get rid of Morie, you mark my words. She's not going to let her stay here."

"It's my ranch. I hire and fire."

"Think so? We'll see. Meanwhile, how about easing up on Morie?" he added. "God knows what that child's been through in her life to make her end up here, doing a job she was never intended to do. Hurts me to see that deep scratch on her face. Flawless complexion. She could have been a model."

Mallory frowned. He hadn't considered her complexion or her background. He'd only been concerned that she might be a con artist. He'd have to take a better look at her. On the one hand, he was suspicious. On the other, he trusted Darby's judgment when he couldn't trust his own.

He patted the old man on the shoulder. "Never could take back talk from anybody but you, you old pirate."

Darby grinned. "You'll always get the truth from me. Even if you don't want to hear it."

Mallory sighed. He was looking after Morie. She'd gone galloping off, still crying. He felt like a villain. "Think I'll take a ride."

Darby smiled. "Good idea. You do that."

MORIE STOPPED AT THE CREEK and got off the horse. She bathed her face in the clean water and used her only handkerchief to mop up her tears. Ridiculous, letting that awful man make her cry. She should have kicked him and told him what he could do with his job. That's what her father would have done. He'd never have gone off crying. She tried to picture that and it made her smile.

She heard a horse coming up and turned, expecting Darby. But it was the boss. He looked oddly contrite, watching her with one arm crossed over the pommel, his dark eyes keen on her tearstained face.

"Maybe I could have chosen my words better," he said stiffly.

She shrugged and looked away. "I work here. You're the boss."

"Yes, but..." He drew in an angry breath. "Why didn't you fight back? Why did you run?"

She glared at him. "I've caused enough trouble for one day," she said flatly. She drew in a long breath. "Listen, I should quit...."

"No!"

He was out of the saddle in a heartbeat and standing over her the next. He took her by the shoulders. In the silence of the woods, she could hear her own heart beating as he looked into her eyes and didn't look away for so long that her heart ran wild. She had to part her full lips to breathe. Her heartbeat was strangling her.

He saw that helpless reaction and it touched him. She couldn't have faked her attraction to him. It was far too visible.

His hands relaxed and became caressing. They ran up and down her arms in the long-sleeved cotton T-shirt. "You puzzle me," he said, his voice deep and slow, like velvet. "I don't like it."

Her hands pressed against the soft cotton of his shirt. Underneath it she felt cushy, thick hair and hard muscle. She smelled the woodsy cologne and the masculine soap that clung to his skin. He made her tingle all over, just by standing close to her. She looked up at his wide, sensuous mouth and remembered how it felt to kiss him. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted it, so much!

"Damn it," he ground out, because he knew. He could sense her hunger, even before her rapt gaze on his lips proved it to him.

Before she could question the sudden curse, his mouth went down on hers. He kissed her hungrily. His arms lifted her into the instantly hard contours of his powerful body and pulled her into him. His hand went to the base of her spine, insistent as he demonstrated the force of his desire for her.

She tried to protest, but her own body betrayed her. She moaned and pressed close against him, her mouth twisting under his, provoking, pleading, begging for more.

She felt him move, felt the ground suddenly under her back and the weight and warmth of his body melting down into hers. She felt his long leg parting both of hers as his hips moved down between them.

"Dear...God!" he bit off reverently as he felt the pleasure wash over him.

His hands were under her shirt, under her bra. He felt the softness of her small, firm breasts with their hard tips first against his fingers, and then, as he pushed the shirt up out of his way, under his mouth.

He suckled her, hard, feeling her arch under him and cry out. He thought he was hurting her in his ardor and started to lift his head, but her hands pulled, pleaded, dragged his mouth back down.

She tasted like honey. He was drowning in need. He pressed against her in a slow, sensuous rhythm that grew more insistent by the minute. His hand lifted her hips, pulled them against the hardness of him.

He worked feverishly at the buttons of his shirt and opened it so that he could feel her breasts under the crush of his bare chest. His mouth invaded hers. He was desperate to have her. He couldn't bear to stop, not now!

Neither could she. It was the most passionate interlude of her young life. She wasn't able to protest. She wanted to know him, as a man, as a lover. She wanted to feel him deep inside her, feel him taking her, possessing her. She wanted...a child...!

She hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud until he suddenly dragged himself away from her, rolled over in an agonized state of denial and groaned as if all the devils in purgatory were pummeling him.