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now, Catharine stood and moved toward the door.
    Jacinda insisted that it was too far to walk on such a hot day and brought a placid workhorse around from behind the house for them to ride. Josh made a stirrup with his hands and boosted Catherine onto the horse’s broad back, then pulled himself up behind her.
    He put his hands on her shoulders, the sun shone on his head and everywhere he looked there were rows of orange squash, red peppers and fields of green grass. The air was clear and clean, and he was beginning to understand how terrible it would be to lose a farm, especially one you had grown up on. The horse plodded down the dirt road as Jacinda watched from her doorway, smiling and waving her approval.
    “She likes you, in case you didn’t notice.” Catherine’s voice came from over her shoulder.
    “She likes you, too,” Josh answered. He hoped the farm was big enough so they could ride around all day like this, swaying back and forth together with the sweet smell of her hair invading his senses.
    “She likes me, but she doesn’t approve of me roaming the world without a husband. She wants me to get married before it’s too late.”
    Josh moved forward to support her back with his chest. “Do you have anything against getting married?” he asked, his lips so close he could lift her braid and kiss the back of her neck.
    “Nothing at all.” She inched forward to pat the horse between the ears and break the contact between them. “Just that I’m only interested in the kind that lasts forever. And that’s rare, in case you haven’t noticed. Take my sister who got married so she could move to town and get off the farm. She’s divorced now with two kids. And then Jacinda who’s always on my case. She’s been married three times, all miners and every one was arranged. It’s not her fault that she’s outlived them all. But I can’t make her understand that I’m just as self-sufficient as she is. And I’ve got plans that will keep me busy for the next five years. The funny thing is that I came here to help them with all my theories and my hybrid potato stock. But do you know what’s happened? I’ve learned more from them than in four years of agriculture school.”
    He ran his hand lightly along her shoulder blades, fighting a nearly uncontrollable urge to loosen the braid to see her hair tumble down her back. Her shoulders trembled, and she dug her heels in and urged the horse forward.
    “So you can see why I want to do something for them,” she said deliberately, “and leave something behind when I go.”
    He tensed. “The truck?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then let me find a donor for you.”
    She turned the horse toward a grove of mango trees. “You don’t understand. You think that will solve all our problems. But the truck is only part of it. The rest is learning what it means to take out a loan and pay it back. Accepting the responsibility is the big thing, that and the nitty-gritty, writing their names on checks, filling out deposit slips. That’s where you come in.”
    “Catherine...” he began. How was he going to tell her again that the answer was no?
    She twisted around on the horse’s broad, bare back and pressed her hand against his mouth so he couldn’t speak. He wanted to kiss her fingers, one by one, but she turned around quickly before he could do more than think about it.
    “Don’t make up your mind yet,” she said. “You just got here.”
    The horse stopped under a tree, and she slid to the ground, then stood looking up at him, her dark eyes pleading for his help. She held her hand out to help him down. He took her hand, jumped off and pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly he could feel her heart beating against his chest. She felt the way he knew she would—warm and soft and desirable.
    With one hand he reached behind her and untied the ribbon that held her braid together, and her hair fell in waves, releasing the fragrance of summer flowers. Their eyes met, and