She swayed toward him as if she were about to collapse, but when he reached out and caught her elbow to steady her, she twisted away and stumbled backward, falling against a wagon loaded with straw. Sheet lightning glimmered through the open door of the barn, transfixing her pale face and wildly tangled hair with an eerie blue light. Her eyes were huge, as if she had just received a terrible shock and was about to burst into racking sobs. To Luke, this show of emotion was both puzzling and disturbing. The news of Miguel’s death should have evoked no more than a murmur of polite sympathy from this cattleman’s pampered daughter. The old man meant nothing to her. She could not possibly understand what a crushing blow his loss would be to his sons, to the ranch and to Luke himself. What was happening here? Could the woman know more than she had told him? Luke was too weary to even think about the possibilities. Steadying her weight against the wagon, she pushed herself fully erect. One hand passed across her face, her small fingers raking back the sodden tangle of her hair.
