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“Of course not.”

“I don’t believe you.” Another long swallow of beer cooled Dean’s parched throat.

“Oh, Dean, let’s not argue. It’s so pointless. What happened between Brig and me is part of the past. He took care of that.”

Dean noticed the wistful sigh that accompanied her argument. “Then why did you run back to Brig’s father when you needed the loan?”

Becca’s full lips pursed. “We’ve been through this a hundred times. I had no other choice. No bank in the country would loan me ten thousand dollars, much less fifty thousand.”

“Exactly. Because Brig Chambers ruined your reputation as a horse breeder.” His knowing eyes glittered.

Becca ignored Dean’s snide comment. “Jason Chambers was my only chance . . .ouronly chance.”

Dean drained his beer and crushed the can in his fist. He tossed it toward the wastebasket and missed. The can rolled noisily across the floor to stop near the worn couch. “Well, Becca, you had better wake up and face facts. Our ‘only chance,’ as you refer to old man Chambers, isdead.And now, for all we know, his son, or whoever’s still alive, practically owns our Thoroughbred. The only thing we’ve got going in our favor is that no one knows about the loan or the horse. That is right, isn’t it? Jason Chambers was the only person who knew about Gypsy Wind?”

“I think so. He’s the only one at Chambers Oil who would have been interested.”

“Good! I guess we can count ourselves lucky that the local press hasn’t shown much interest in her. Maybe we’ll get a break yet. If our luck holds, the attorneys for Chambers Oil will be too busy with the rest of the Chambers empire to worry about our note for the fifty grand. Maybe they won’t even find it. The old man could have hidden it.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why? He wanted to avoid the publicity as much as we did.”

“That was before he died. I don’t know what you’re suggesting, Dean, but I don’t like it. There’s no way we can hide that horse and I wouldn’t want to try. The Chambers family has to be advised that the collateral for that note is Gypsy Wind. That’s only fair, Dean.”

“That’s not fair, Becca, it’s damned near crazy! How can you even think about being fair with the likes of Chambers? What’s going to happen is that we’ll lose our horse! The last six years of work will go down the drain! Take my advice and keep quiet about the Gypsy.”

“I can’t! You know that. Keeping quiet would only make things worse in the long run. Sooner or later someone in the Chambers family is going to find the note and realize that we owe that money. And what about the horse? Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t hide Gypsy. For one thing, she’s insured. Soon she’ll start racing. One way or another the Chambers family is going to find out about her.”

Dean muttered an oath to himself. “Okay, Sis, so where does that leave us? Back at square one? Just like we were six years ago? What the hell are we going to do?”

The headache that had been building between Becca’s temples pounded relentlessly against her eardrums. To relieve some of her tension, she tugged at the leather thong restraining her hair and pulled the thick golden strands free of their bond. Absently she rubbed her temples and ran her fingers through her long, sun-streaked tresses. “I wish I could answer you, Dean, but I can’t. Not right now. Maybe later—”

Dean ground his teeth together. “We can’t wait until you pull yourself together, damn it! We haven’t got the time!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that we have to find out if Brig Chambers is still alive! You’ve got to call Chambers Oil—”

“No,” Becca blurted. “I . . . can’t.”

Dean bit his lower lip and shook his hands in the air. “You have to, Becca. We’ve got to know if Brig was a passenger on that plane. We have to know if he went down with his father.”

“No!” Becca’s face once again drained of color. Caught in the storm of emotions raging within her, she dropped her forehead into her palm. “We’ll find out soon enough,” she murmured.

“What are you afraid of?”

Becca’s green eyes, when she raised them, pleaded with her brother to understand. “I’m not ready, Dean. Not yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever be . . . able to face the fact that Brig might be dead,” she admitted.

“So I was right. You are still in love with him.” Dean’s mouth pulled into a disgusted frown. “Damn it, Becca, when are you going to realize that Brig Chambers is the one man responsible for nearly ruining your life?”

The tears that Becca had been struggling against began once again to pool, but she held her head proudly as she faced her reproachful older brother. Why couldn’t Dean understand the pain she was going through? How could he remain so bitter? Her voice was low when she replied. “I know better than anyone what Brig did to me, and it hurt for a very long time. But I cared for that man, more than anything in my life . . . and I can’t forget that. It’s been over for a long time, but once he was everything to me.”

“You’re dreaming,” Dean said icily.

“Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Dean demanded as he stretched and paced restlessly in the confining room.