“Yes?” he said at last.

“When you drove away this morning, I…I didn’t think you heard me,” she said weakly.

Cody led the gelding over to one of his hands, removed his hat long enough to wipe his forehead, then strolled toward her as if he had all the time in the world.

Sherry found it impossible to sense what he thought, what he felt. He revealed no emotion.

“I…guess you’re not ready to talk yet,” Sherry said.

“You were the one who told me to go home.”

“I know, but I was hoping you’d have thought things out by now and realized I’d never fool around with my best friend’s husband.” Or anyone else when she was so desperately in love with Cody. It seemed as if their evening with Christina Lynn and Philip had been forgotten.

“It was Rowdy Cassidy you left with, wasn’t it?”

Sherry nodded.

“You certainly have friends in high places.”

“It’s Norah I know, not Rowdy.”

“So you left on a moment’s notice with a man who’s virtually a stranger?”

Sherry closed her eyes and prayed for patience. “Would you stop being so stubborn! If you honestly believe I’m the type of woman who’d run around with a married man, then you don’t know me at all!”

“I’m stubborn!” he exploded. “Do you realize what I’ve gone through because of you? I’ve been the butt of everyone’s jokes for weeks. My reputation with the other ranchers is in shambles—and I’m still scratching.” He removed his glove, rolled up a sleeve and scraped his fingernails across his forearm. “I’ve done everything I can to earn your love, and I’m done.”

“That’s the problem. You want my love, but you aren’t willing to give me yours. It wasn’t really romance I was looking for, Cody, it was love. I wanted you to care about me, enough that you’d be willing to do whatever it took to win my heart.” She said the words seriously, earnestly. “You never understood that. From the very first, you’ve been looking for a shortcut, because you didn’t want to be bothered. Well, guess what? No woman wants to be considered an annoyance.”

“So that’s what you think.”

“What am I supposed to think with the things you’ve been saying?”

“That’s just fine.”

He turned away as if this was the end of their conversation, as if everything that needed to be said had been said. Sherry knew a brush-off when she saw one. Anything else she might say would fall on deaf ears.

She walked over to her car, climbed in and started the engine. She’d shifted into gear and begun to drive away when she changed her mind. Easing the car into Reverse, she pulled alongside the corral fence and stuck her head out the open window, intending to shout at him—but no words came.

She drove out of the yard, tires screeching. It’d been a mistake to try to reason with Cody. Her better judgment insisted she wait several days and let him cool down before she attempted to reopen communications. She should’ve listened to her own heart instead of Mrs. Colson’s and Donna Jo’s eagerly offered advice.