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Page 217

| Ashton didn't want to admit to his friend that he always carried the dread of coming face to face with Silas Howland again. The man who once boasted of being a pillar of the community surely hated Ashton much more than Stanford Sidwell ever could. Ashton had robbed the superintendent of a comfortable future. He had only robbed Stanford Sidwell of two years of his life. |

| Ashton glanced up at the sky. The sun was lowering behind the eucalyptus trees in the distance. The birds were fluttering overhead, returning to their nightly nesting spots. "You'd best get these sheep seen to for the night and return to your post in the pasture, Rufus," he said, sighing heavily. "It's been a long dayand not one of the best." |

| Ashton spied Sasha as she stepped outside to stand on the porch. The wind lifted her hair from her shoulders, fluttering it long and free down her back. The skirt of her dress occasionally lifted above her knees with the breeze, revealing her tiny ankles and shapely legs. Seeing her, knowing that she was waiting for him, made him move in haste from his friends. |

| "Good day, mates," he said, waving at them. "I'm going to see what my lady has done all day to keep herself occupied." |

| He hurried to the porch and swept his arms around Sasha and leaned his lips close to hers. "Are you all right?" he asked, seeing that she looked pensively withdrawn. |

| "Yes, I'm fine," Sasha whispered, lowering her eyes. She could not tell Ashton that she had been worrying about not seeing Bianca again. Earlier, |

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