“I was silly last night, Ty,” Dusty finally said. She pulled her robe around her and tied it tightly with the sash. “And I’m sorry. It’s just the cabin … it’s gone now.” The sad memory of that fact swept through her quickly and her body trembled, the reality gathering steam.
“Yeah, I’m afraid it’s gone,” Ty agreed, joining her solemn grief. “You could rebuild on the lower rise, where it’s safer.”
“You’d let me do that?”
“Oh, there’d be a price.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’d want to smack my ass any time you want to.”
“Naw,” he shook his head. “But if you marry me, we can end all this hassle.”
“What!” She looked as though her jaw was going to drop to the floor, then she sunk down in a chair opposite him, her legs too weak to hold her.
“We can’t seem to extricate ourselves from each ot
