Cody sighed. “I am. I always want to be your friend.”

“Then you’ll come back as soon as things are settled here?” she inquired, hope written all over her tear-streaked face.

“No, sweetie, I can’t come back.”

“Why not?” she asked.

Not sure how she was likely to react, he drew in a deep breath before admitting, “Because I found out that I have a little girl and I have to be here for her.”

Dismay darkened her eyes. “A baby?”

“Not so much a baby anymore,” he confided. “She’s over a year old.”

“And you didn’t know about her?”

“No.”

Despite herself, she was apparently fascinated. For the first time since he’d arrived home, there was a sparkle in her dark eyes.

“How come?” she asked, her expression alive with curiosity.

“It’s a long story.”

“Was that her mom in the car just now?”

Cody nodded.

“Uh-oh,” she murmured. Guilt and misery replaced the sparkle in her eyes. “I’m sorry if I messed things up for you, Cody. I really am.”

He grinned ruefully. “Oh, the list of my sins is pretty long as it is. One more thing won’t matter all that much.”

“Want me to tell her you didn’t know I was coming here?”

He had a feeling that the less Melissa saw of Janey, the better for all of them. Janey might be only fifteen, but she was a beautiful young girl who looked older than her years. It was the very fact that her body had blossomed so prematurely that had contributed to her shyness.

Ironically, he suspected she had been drawn to him for the very reason that he hadn’t acted like the oversexed teens who attended school with her. She’d felt safe with him, free to talk about her dreams, and she had magnified that feeling into a giant-size crush.

“No, sweetie, I’ll take care of Melissa. Now, let’s think about getting you back home again. How’d you get here?”

“I used my savings for a bus ticket. Then when I got to town, I called the ranch. Your dad came and got me.”

Cody shuddered when he thought of her traveling that distance alone by bus. He also suspected that Harlan had deliberately not tried to track him down when Janey turned up to give him more time with Melissa before throwing a monkey wrench into things.

“I’ll talk to Daddy about having his pilot fly you back to Wyoming,” he told her.

Her eyes lit up. “Really?”