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Page 103
quired that he ride ahead, but that was before their father's illness and Abby's disappearance. Abby pursed her lips. Perhaps pushy Emmaline Woolcott was using this way to be noticed by Arlen.
The wagons of her vision passed the spot where Abby stood. In a moment, all she could see was the cloud of sand they had kicked up. The gritty taste lingered in her mouth.
Now she knew her family did not need her. More important, she was suddenly certain that she was not to leave the future until her task here was fulfilled. But first she needed to learn why she had been drawn through the years to this timeto Mike Danziger.
She opened her eyes and smiled as he raced around the bend in the wash she had just passed.
"Abby!" he called, then stopped.
His face had been twisted in a mask resembling anguish, even more gaunt as the hollows in his cheeks deepened, and for just a moment she sensed the vulnerability and loneliness in him that made her want to reach out to him.
But after he saw her, his face changed, lightening for a brief moment, then tightening into a frown of anger. He rushed toward her, storming, "Abby, why the devil did you . . . ?" Only then did he seem to notice that she knelt on the ground. "Are you hurt?" His voice seemed taut with concern as he fell to his knees beside her.
She shook her head while his eyes assessed her as though looking for an injury. She smelled the slightly salty, pleasantly masculine scent of him

 
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