ThE BUCKHORN LEGACY

She turned to B.B. and hugged him close. Several seconds passed, and Casey knew she was weighing her words. “It took almost a week before B.B. was healthy again. I hung out there, staying by his side as much as they’d let me.”

The images flooding his mind were too agonizing to bear. “What happened?”

“They…figured out my situation when I couldn’t pay the bill and offered to let me work it off instead.”

“They realized that you were homeless?” Casey wanted to hear all the details about where she’d slept, how she’d stayed safe. When the dog was sick, she’d been alone more than ever.

But one thought kept overriding all others. How bad had it been for her in Buckhorn that she’d rather sleep alone in a park with no one for company except an abandoned dog? What the hell had happened to make her run away?

Emma gave a small nod. “I couldn’t leave B.B. and they wouldn’t let me have him without explaining. I was afraid they’d turn me in and send me back home. But when I told them everything, they surprised me.”

“Everything?”

She glanced at him, then away. Skipping his question, she said, “They took me in and they’ve treated me like family ever since. Parker even helped me to get my G.E.D. and to find a job I love. Life now is…great.”

She’d left out everything painful, either to spare him or because she couldn’t bear to talk about it. Casey didn’t know which, and neither was acceptable. He suddenly wanted her to be his friend again, that young girl with the enormous soft eyes always filled with invitation. The girl who always came to him with open admiration and her heart on her sleeve. The girl who’d wanted him—and only him.

His decisions, his feelings for her back then, had seemed so simple and straightforward. He’d liked controlling things, only letting her so close, giving her only as much as he wanted and holding back everything else.

Or so he’d thought.

But somehow Emma had crawled under his skin and into his head, his heart. He hadn’t known until she was gone that she’d taken more than he’d ever meant to give her. He hadn’t known until she was gone, and a big piece of him was missing. Being apart from her while becoming a man hadn’t changed how he felt. It had only complicated it.

Disturbed by his reaction to her, he teased her by tugging on a lock of her hair. “That story is so full of holes I could use it for a sieve.”

“No, I’ve told you everything that’s important.”

“Em…”

“Thanks to Parker and Damon, I did fine,” she insisted. She smiled a little, and her eyes glinted with humor. “In fact, I might owe them even more than I owe you.”

Annoyance fought with tenderness, making his voice gruff. “You don’t owe me a damn thing and you know it.”