Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,250

it all, Pa. I just want you and Mother to be happy for me, to give us your blessing, and allow us a Christian wedding. For all we know, Ramona could already be carrying my child."

"Tyler!" Lettie could hardly believe what had happened between Ty and Ramona while they had been gone.

Ty's face reddened with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. "Mother, I am twenty years old. Ramona is eighteen. We're old enough to know what we want."

Luke studied Ramona. No, she was certainly no little girl. She was a ravishing beauty with a beguiling way about her. What red-blooded twenty-year-old wouldn't be attracted to a wild, fetching thing like her? Alice Richards was also beautiful, but Ty didn't have to be around her every day, and she didn't have the sultry ways of Ramona. He sighed, leaning forward in his chair and rubbing at his eyes. This was not a situation he would have wanted to come home to, but there was no getting around it. Tyler had cornered them almost the minute they arrived, and they had all gathered in the parlor. Nathan paced at one end of the room like a nervous cat.

"I'm more upset by the fact that you and Nathan fought than I am about you wanting to marry Ramona," Luke said, his voice sounding weary.

Ty and Nathan looked at each other, each knowing the other could tell Luke the worst of it, which would only upset him even more. They both respected him too much to do that to him.

Lettie's heart ached for Luke. He had been good enough to accept Nathan back, Indian family and all, had always cared about him because he was her son. It hurt to realize what a problem all of it was causing, and she felt partially responsible. Neither of them had given a thought to Tyler becoming attracted to Ramona, and now she wondered how they could have been so foolish. "Luke, if they have already—" She felt her own face flushing. "If they have already... been together... there really is no choice here."

"I know." Luke's hands were still over his face. He thought quietly for a moment, then looked up at Ty and Ramona, who stood together in front of him. "I want you to understand, Ramona, that I don't look at you or Leena as any less important human beings than anyone else. I'm not an Indian-hater. Because of Nathan we've all grown to understand the Indian situation a lot better, and I can't say I can blame your people for fighting to keep what they consider their land. God knows I've done enough fighting and killing for the same reason." He moved his gaze to Tyler. "The only reason I'm not completely in favor of this is because no matter how you feel about Nathan, he is right. This won't be easy for you, Ty, so you make damn sure it's what you want. If you love Ramona as much as you say you do, you don't want her to be hurt. And there will be children to consider. They'll be half-breeds, and some people look on that as worse than being Indian. They'll be my grandchildren, so no one will dare insult them in my presense, but I can't be everyplace at once, Ty."

"I'll protect and defend Ramona and my children against any man!"

Luke rose, shaking his head, wondering how many more fistfights his son would get into over his wife. In his youth, Ty simply did not understand what he was getting himself into. He turned and faced all of them. "I don't consider myself any better than the next man, but you do understand what this means, don't you?"

Tyler frowned. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"What I'm getting at is that Pearl has married a fancy man who will never want anything to do with the Double L. Robbie is off studying to be a doctor, so if and when he does come back here, he'll always live in town and will also not have anything to do with the Double L. That leaves you and Katie and Nathan. Nathan is married to an Indian woman, you want to marry an Indian woman, and Katie is married to a sheep man. Are you starting to get my point?"

Tyler could not help a little grin. "Someday sheep men and Indians and half-breeds will be running the Double L."

"The very kinds of people I've been chasing off for years."

"Pa, I love the