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distractedly. “Wait a bit…”
    â€œI won’t…I can’t…” Her voice choked on the words and she averted her eyes from the long back of the man who was turned away from her. “Bye, Dad!”
    She was out the door in a flash, and within two minutes she’d loaded her cases into the trunk and opened the door. But before she could get in, Powell was towering over her.
    â€œGet a grip on yourself,” he said curtly, forcing her to look at him. “You won’t do your father any favors by landing in a ditch in the middle of nowhere!”
    She shivered at the nearness of him and deliberately backed away, her gray eyes wide, accusing.
    â€œYou look so fragile,” he said, as if the words were torn from him. “Don’t you eat?”
    â€œI eat enough.” She steadied herself on the door. “Goodbye.”
    His big hand settled beside hers on the top of the door. “Why was Dawson Rutherford here a couple of nights ago?”
    The question was totally unexpected. “Is that your business?” she asked coldly.
    He smiled mockingly. “It could be. Rutherford’s father ruined mine, or didn’t you remember? I don’t intend to let his son ruin me.”
    â€œMy father and George Rutherford were friends.”
    â€œAnd you and George were lovers.”
    She didn’t say a word. She only looked at him. “You know the truth,” she said wearily. “You just don’t want to believe it.”
    â€œGeorge paid your way through college,” he reminded her.
    â€œYes, he did,” she agreed, smiling. “And I rewarded him by graduating with honors, second in my graduating class. He was a philanthropist and the best friend my family ever had. I miss him.”
    â€œHe was a rich old man with designs on you, whether you’ll admit it or not!”
    She searched his deep-set black eyes. They never smiled. He was a hard man, and the passing years had only added to his sarcastic, harsh demeanor. He’d grown up dirt poor, looked down on in the community because of his parents. He’d struggled to get where he was, and she knew how difficult it had been. But his hard life had warped his perception of people. He looked for the worst, always. She’d known that, somehow, even when they were first engaged. And now, he was the sum of all the tragedies of his life. She’d loved him so much, she’d tried to make up to him for the love he’d never had, the life his circumstances had denied him. But even while he was courting her, he’d loved Sally most. He’d told Antonia so, when he broke their engagement and called her a streetwalker with a price tag….
    â€œYou’re staring,” he said irritably, ramming his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks.
    â€œI was remembering the way you used to be, Powell,” she said simply. “You haven’t changed. You’re still the loner who never trusted anyone, who always expected people to do their worst.”
    â€œI believed in you,” he replied solemnly.
    She smiled. “No, you didn’t. If you had, you wouldn’t have swallowed Sally’s lies without—”
    â€œDamn you!”
    He had her by both shoulders, his cigar suddenly lying in the snow at their feet. He practically shook her, and she winced, because she was willow thin and he had the grip of a horseman, developed after long years of back-breaking ranch work long before he ever made any money at it.
    She looked up into blazing eyes and wondered dimly why she wasn’t afraid of him. He looked intimidating with his black eyes flashing and his straight black hair falling down over his thick eyebrows.
    â€œSally didn’t lie!” he reiterated. “That’s the hell of it, Antonia! She was gentle and kind and she never lied to me. She cried when you had to leave town over what happened. She cried for weeks and weeks, because she