She kept repeating that to herself, like a mantra. It wasn’t working.

But dammit, I will not be herded into something, no matter who thinks it would be good for me! She buried her face in her hands and massaged her temples. You know, if the folks would just back off, it would be so much easier. He’s a nice guy. He’s more than a nice guy. I’ve got the hots for him like I’ve never had the hots for anyone else. I never lost the hots for him. If they’d leave me alone, I could make up my mind about him, one way or another. If I could just think about this without the pressure. …

And if pigs could fly.

David finished entering the last of his data into Jennie’s computer, and did a backup before turning it off. Things had been markedly less strained between them since he’d been acting more like a big brother than anything else, but they’d really improved over the past couple of days. She had stopped wincing every time the phone rang.

It looked as if her folks had gotten the message. Finally.

Mooncrow promised he’d talk to Jennie’s father and get him to back off, he thought, taking a quick glance at her. I guess he got through to them.

He’d basically given up on getting back together with her when he’d had that little talk with Mooncrow, asking if the old man would get Jennie’s family to leave her alone. He’d already cooled his own jets. Things had been getting so strained that he was afraid she was going to tell him to get lost just to get her family off her back. And when it all came down to it—this Calligan thing was bigger than either of them. She was the only one who had all the right connections to put it all together. He was afraid that she needed help she wouldn’t get if he had to make tracks.

So in order to make sure the job got done, his own desires needed to go on the back burner. Forever, if that was what it took.

The last thing I want is to screw things up for her all over again, he had decided. We make a good working team on this, and maybe I’m assuming too much, but I think she needs me if she’s going to crack this case without breaking, herself She needs two pairs of legs, two sets of eyes, and indirect contacts to Calligan’s crew. I think she can do it alone, but it’ll put her in the hospital. She needs somebody she can delegate work to, and somebody she can bounce ideas off of.

And if he couldn’t have anything else, he still wanted her as a friend and a Medicine mentor. He didn’t have so many people he called “friend” that he could afford to lose any of them, much less lose one over something as stupid as her family trying to play matchmaker.