He had ridden for Belllounds for years, and was a cowboy because he loved cattle well and horses better, and above all a life in the open.

Unlike most cowboys, he had been to school; he had a family in Denver that objected to his wild range life, and often importuned him to come home; he seemed aloof sometimes and not readily understood.
While many thoughts whirled through Columbine's mind she watched the cowboy ride slowly down to her, and she became more concerned with a sudden restraint.

How was Wilson going to take the news of this forced change about to come in her life?
That thought leaped up.

It gave her a strange pang.

But she and he were only good friends.