Buck made no move, but had she only looked up she must have noted the sudden pallor of his face. That brief touch, so unconscious, so unmeaning, had again set his pulses hammering through his body. And it had needed all his control to repress the fiery impulse that stirred him. He longed to kiss that soft white hand. He longed to take it in his own strong palms and hold it for his own, to keep it forever. But the moment passed, and when he spoke it was in the same pleasant, easy fashion.
"I kind o' thought I ought to let him go with the farm," he said, "only the Padre wouldn't think of it. He'd have made a dandy feller for you to ride."
But Joan was up in arms in a moment.
"I'd never have forgiven you if you'd parted with him," she cried. "He's--he's perfectly beautiful."
Buck nodded.
"He's a good feller." And his tone said far more than his words.
He led the beast to the door, and, giving him an affectionate slap, sent him trotting off.
"I must git busy," he said, with a laugh. "The hay needs cuttin'. Guess I'll cut till dinner. After that I've got to quit till sundown. I'll go right on cuttin' each mornin' till your 'hired' man comes along. Y' see if it ain't cut now we'll be too late. I'll just throw the harness on Kitty an' Bob an' leave 'em to git through with their feed while I see the hogs fed. Guess that old--your housekeeper can milk? I ran the cows into the corral as I came up. Seems to me she could do most things she got fixed on doing."
Joan laughed.
"She was 'fixed' on sending you about what she called 'your business,'" she said slyly.
Buck raised his brows in mock chagrin.
"Guess she succeeded, too. I sure got busy right away--until you come along, and--and got me quittin'."
"Oh!" Joan stared at him with round eyes of reproach. Then she burst out laughing. "Well, now you shall hear the truth for that, and you'll have to answer me too, Mr. Buck."
"Buck--jest plain Buck."
The girl made an impatient little movement.
"Well, then, 'Buck.' I simply came along to thank you, and to tell you that I couldn't allow your help--except as a 'hired' man. And--I'm afraid you'll think me very curious--I came to find out who you were, and how you came to find me and bring me home here. And--and I wanted to know--well, everything about my arrival. And you--you've made it all very difficult. You--insist on doing all this for me. You're--you're not so kind as I thought."