... Dusty's heart panged a twinge when she saw the bullwhip strapped to the saddle of one of the horses tied to the corral fence. "Why today?" she wondered. Why was her memory tarrying on that young cowhand from five years ago? ... "Well ... now," a deep, masculine voice said from behind her, "if it ain't Miss Dusty Britches!" Dusty felt the color drain from her face ... felt the blood seem to drain from the rest of her body and puddle in her feet. She felt dizzy and nauseated all at once. ... There was only one person on the whole of the earth who ever called her Dusty Britches, and that was the cowboy who gave her the nickname in the first place. ...Dusty slowly turned around to see standing before her a man whose eyes were those belonging to a boy she'd once known--a boy who had grown into a man.
