By then, Scully and the Appaloosa made a single figure in the distance, rapidly receding.

She ran faster and screamed his name, throwing off all dignity as she dashed over the rough ground, still dodging the occasional startled cowboy or stray steer.

Scully didn’t pause, didn’t look back. She couldn’t guess whether he hadn’t heard her calls, or he was simply ignoring her. Either way, she wasn’t going to let him get away if she could help it. She would never love another man the way she loved Scully Wainwright, that much was clear; if she was to have a husband, she wanted it to be him.

She flung herself forward, gasping and stumbling, and shouted again. “Scully! Damn you, Scully, stop!”

He slowed at last, reined his horse around, and sat there, high up in his saddle, watching her scramble toward him, over the stones and around the rabbit and gopher holes, her skirts wadded in her fists. His hat brim, pulled down low over his eyes, hid his expression.

She was breathless when she reached him, too breathless to speak, and she nearly collapsed at his feet. She stood there struggling for air, and he didn’t say a word the whole while, nor did he climb down from that infernal horse. It occurred to her—unthinkable thought—that he wouldn’t want her, even when he found out Big John had set her free by taking himself a bride in Denver. Maybe he already knew about Tessa, and had beaten a hasty retreat, hoping to escape before Evangeline caught up to him with the news.

Tears stung her eyes. If she’d made a fool of herself, so be it. “Get down off that dratted horse!” she cried. “I’m talking to you!”

He hesitated, then swung easily to the ground, but beyond that he stayed put, standing at a distance and holding the reins in one hand. Still, he didn’t speak.

Evangeline took the plunge. The major portion of her future happiness was riding on this one confrontation, after all. Might as well get it over with, for good or ill. “Big John—brought home a bride.”

Scully dropped the reins. “What?”

Evangeline let out a sob of ecstatic relief. He hadn’t known, then. He hadn’t been trying to ride away before she spoke to Big John and learned the truth. She ran at him, like a harlot, and flung both arms around his neck. That was an entirely different sort of embrace from the one she’d given Big John, after his startling announcement, her feet being clear off the ground. “Scully, Big John is married! Her name is Tessa and she’s beautiful and he met her in Denver. They’re going back there, to work her ranch. These cattle—well—they’re yours.”

Scully let out a whoop and spun Evangeline around once, with such enthusiasm that she felt swoony. Then he set her down again, bent his head, and kissed her with the same passion, the same hunger, that she felt for him. A lifetime’s worth, and then some.