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Ben’s before anything happens with Circe."
    "What did you mean you couldn’t be my friend
anymore?" he asked instead of answering.
    She met his eyes, for once not trying to
hide anything in hers. "I love you, Ty."
    "I love you too, little bit."
    "Not like that. Not like a friend. I want
you."
    "That’s just..."
    "Biology?" she asked, wondering if he really
believed it.
    "Yes," he gritted.
    "It’s not. Not for me anyway."
    "Frankie, don’t do this."
    "Don’t tell you the truth? I can’t live a
lie anymore, Ty."
    "So, what, you’re saying that if I don’t let
you be my girlfriend, you won’t be my best friend anymore?"
    "That’s really
oversimplified, but in essence...yes. I
can’t keep giving the best of myself to you when all you want is
one part of me . I’m sorry."
    "That’s such a human load of crap."
    She flinched from the disgust in his eyes.
"I know you’d like to believe you aren’t human, but you’re fallible
too, Ty."
    "I’m not threatening you with walking away
if you don’t do what I want."
    "Aren’t you? Haven’t you always made it
clear that if I tried to be more than a friend our friendship would
end?"
    "I never said that."
    "No, you just lied to me."
    "Never."
    "Always. You said you didn’t think of me
like that, but you want me too. Isn’t it worth trying to make a
relationship work between us?"
    "I’d get hard with any woman rubbing up
against me like that."
    "I don’t believe you."
    He opened his mouth, but a frightened whinny
cut off the rest of their conversation.
    They returned to the mare and by tacit
agreement, both of them kept their conversation to Circe’s
condition and practicing veterinary medicine.
    Mr. Delacroix arrived with Mrs. Delacroix a
couple of hours later. She insisted on feeding Ty and Frankie.
Sometime after that, a hand came into the barn to inform Ty he’d be
there to watch over the mare after the birth. Ty said nothing about
having one of them take Frankie home, so she stayed, wanting this
last chance to be with him.
    Circe foaled at six-forty-two in the
evening.
    By the time the mare had been tended to and
Ty and Frankie had cleaned up, it was almost eight and the storm
front had moved in. Frankie felt no fear at the prospect of Ty
driving her home through the heavy snow mixed with sleet. He’d been
driving in weather like this since before he was old enough to get
a permit.
    However, the car that almost hit them head
on and sent Ty’s truck swerving toward the side of the road
apparently hadn’t. Frankie didn’t scream, keeping her lips clamped
tightly together as the big truck, slid, bumped over what felt like
some very big rocks and landed nosed down in a deep ditch with the
back wheels off the ground.
    "Are you okay?" he demanded, his voice
grim.
    "Yes."
    "Idiot."
    "They left," she said,
looking out the back window. She could barely make out the red
taillights retreating slowly in the swirling white, but they were retreating.
    Ty grabbed his cell phone and flipped it
open only to utter a pithy imprecation. "It’s dead. Let me have
yours."
    "I don’t have a cell phone."
    "What? Everyone has a cell phone."
    "I don’t."
    "Why not?"
    "It’s a luxury I can’t afford on my salary
as a junior vet."
    He said something truly foul and she glared
at him.
    "Why don’t you have a CB? Every ranch truck
has one."
    "My truck’s new and I haven’t had it
installed yet." If his voice got any lower, he’d be growling.
    "Do you think we can get the truck back on
the road?"
    "Maybe."
    She went to get out when he did, but he
snapped, "Stay inside where it’s warm."
    "I can help."
    "If I can’t get it, you’re strength isn’t
going to make any difference."
    "You’re so darn arrogant sometimes, I want
to spit. I’m not a light weight."
    He smiled. "I know, little bit, but let me
try first, all right?"
    He was back sooner than she expected with
more bad news.
    "The drive line’s broken. We’re not going
anywhere."
    "We can stay inside the cab, turning