Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,233

ever experienced. That had been before Ramona came. There had been no more kisses.

"Maybe a month. I guess it takes a good week to get there, even by train. Then they're going to spend time touring Chicago, go to a concert where Pearl will be playing— then the wedding and all that. I wouldn't mind seeing a place like Chicago myself."

"Yes, it must be exciting for them. They've hardly been out of Montana since they first came here, have they?"

"No. They've been here twenty-two years. Pa doesn't even like going to Helena, let alone all the way to a place like Chicago. He'll probably worry about the ranch, knowing him. I'm glad my mother got to go, though. She'll fit right in. Pa always says she's too sophisticated for living on a ranch." He laughed lightly. "I'd like to see Pa with that fancy professor family Pearl is marrying into. I guess they've got quite a mansion over there. All they know is music and the theater. What a contrast!"

Alice smiled. "Yes! I'd like to be a little mouse and watch!"

They both laughed. Then they both suddenly felt awkward. I'm sorry, Alice, Ty wanted to tell her. I wish I could go to the social. I wish I could stop these feelings for Ramona, but I can't. I didn't expect this to happen, and I hate hurting you. "You have fun at the social," he told her aloud. "I'd better get back to filling this grocery list for Mae."

Alice swallowed. "Phillip Dewhirst wants to take me to the social. I guess... I guess you wouldn't mind then?"

Ty felt a stab of jealousy, but it was mixed with a kind of relief. At least she wouldn't be going alone. What had happened to him? It was as though he had lost all common sense, all control of himself. "That's okay," he said. "If I'm too busy to go, there's no sense in you going alone."

Suddenly she hated him! How could he stand there and say he didn't care if she went with someone else? "Fine," she told him, turning away before he could see the tears in her eyes. "I'll see you another time, then, Ty."

She hurried away, and Ty started to call out to her, but something stopped him. That something was the thought of Ramona. He had only recently decided to act on his emotions. He had to settle with himself, make up his mind who he wanted, find out if Ramona wanted him the way he suspected she did. He couldn't go on like this, leading Alice along, hurting her. He had to know.

He sighed and went back inside the supply store, deciding that as soon as he got home, he was going to have a serious talk with Ramona and tell her how he felt.

Tyler heard splashing and singing coming from Lettie's Pond, a clear pond Luke had named after his wife. It was about three miles north of the house in a grove of ancient ponderosa pines, difficult to see because of hundreds of smaller pines and shrubs that grew beneath the huge trees. Bitterroot bloomed here and there. It was a pretty place, quiet and private, a place where his parents sometimes came to talk.

He had noticed Ramona riding in this direction many times since the weather had warmed. He had always been too busy to follow, but was curious about why she came here. With Luke away in Chicago and his chores finished, there was no one to question where he was going. His desire for the pretty Indian girl had grown keener over the past year, and no matter how much he avoided her, he could not control the way he dreamed about her at night. He had fought his feelings, tried to convince himself that it was Alice Richards he should be yearning for, not an Indian woman. His parents loved Alice, and he knew they wished he would think more seriously about settling down with the right woman.

The Richardses had been to their house often to visit.

Ty thought that of all the girls in Billings, Alice was the prettiest. But ever since Ramona had come to the Double L, his thoughts had been distracted by the wild, lusty, dark-skinned beauty. He had done everything he could to fight his feelings for her, knowing that his father would be disappointed if he fell in love with a Sioux girl. It was enough that Nathan had come home with an Indian wife and