"But my blood is up!" she said, and she pounded his shoulder with her fist. "I'll fight—I'll fight! ... I couldn't avoid Van. It was Holley who told me Van was threatening you. And when I met Van he told me how everybody said you insulted me—had been worse than a drunken rider—and that he'd beat you half to death. So I told Van Joel Creech might have seen us—I didn't doubt that—but he didn't see that I liked being hugged."
"What did Van say then?" asked Slone, all aglow with his wonderful joy.
"He wilted. He slunk away.... And so I'll tell them all."
"But, Lucy, you've always been so—so truthful."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, to say you liked being hugged that day was—was a story, wasn't it?"
"That was what made me so furious," she admitted, shyly. "I was surprised when you grabbed me off Wildfire. And my heart beat—beat—beat so when you hugged me. And when you kissed me I—I was petrified. I knew I liked it then—and I was furious with myself."
Slone drew a long, deep breath of utter enchantment. "You'll take back Wildfire?"
"Oh, Lin—don't—ask—me," she implored.
"Take him back—an' me with him."