Jamie, bare-chested, in only his boots and jeans, was shaving. His

mirror was leaning against the steps at the front of the wagon, his

shaving mug was on the second step, and he was wielding a straight razor

against his cheeks.

Apparently he caught sight of her in the mirror. He nicked himself and

scowled deeply at her. She should have walked by. She could not. She

smiled, enjoying the sight of him so. He had wonderful shoulders, broad

and very bronze. He was nearly as dark as Jori, with powerfully bunched

muscles in his arms and chest, and hard, unyielding ones at his lean

waist. She swallowed suddenly. She'd seen lots of men bare-chested. The

hands often stripped off their shirts after a long day and doused

themselves with water at the troughs. Jamie Slater's chest was

different. She couldn't look at him and wonder if the herd was doing

well. She looked at him and wondered what his flesh would feel like

beneath her fingers.

Maybe he read her mind. Maybe her thoughts were obvious in her eyes.

They were still locked with his in the mirfof.

Her smile faded and she felt a crimson blush rising to her cheeks.

She prayed for motion then and she managed to move her feet and hurry

past him to the fire. "Fish!" she said delightedly.

"Freshwater fish, just wonderful," Dolly supplied happily.

"Jon, you're wonderful!" Tess claimed.

"Oh, I didn't catch these. Jamie did," he told her casually.

Dolly passed Tess a plate.

"I'm taking a walk to the brook with a few of the utensils. I'll be

right back." "Thanks, Dolly," Tess said. Dolly winked. Jon smiled at

Tess as she hungrily ate her fish.

"Coffee?" he asked her.

"Please." He handed her a mug, then said something about finishing the

harness.

She was left alone with a beautiful, early morning sun and the delicious

food and coffee. She set down her plate and took a long swallow of

coffee.

She closed her eyes, inhaled the aroma and felt the heat. When she

opened her eyes, Jamie was standing before her.

"Miss. Stuart, you might want to hurry along a little. The rest of us

have been up a while now, and I'm ready to ride.

We can make Wiltshire by tomorrow if we keep moving." She gazed up at

his newly shaven face. All the planes and angles were handsome, smooth

and rugged all at once-- masculine ... and still belligerent. It was

war, she thought.

She sighed softly.

"Why, Lieutenant, I, at least, am fully clothed.

And I do promise that I can finish this coffee and the fish before you

can be dressed and ready to ride."

" Then let's see it, huh?"

He started to walk by her.

"Oh, Lieutenant," she called. "What?"

"You're bleeding, sir. There seems to be a--a gash right at the tip of

your chin. Have you been Shaving long, sir?"

"Longer than you've been wearing a corset, Miss. Stuart. A whole lot

longer," he told her pleasantly. That time, when he stepped by, she

quickly leaped to her feet, finished her coffee and, as quickly and

delicately as possible, peeled the last of her fish from the bone. She

glanced over her shoulder.

He was buttoning the last button of his shirt.

She cast the last drop of coffee and bit of food into the ashes of the

camp fire and raced for the steps to the driver's seat of the wagon.

She made it just as he rode up on his roan.

"I won," she told him.

"At best--and that's if I'm in the mood to be cavalier-- it was a tie,

Miss. Stuart."

"At best for you, Lieutenant."

He smiled.

"Half of your acreage, Tess."

"A quarter."

"That remains to be seen," he told her, riding close.

"But then, a lot of things remain to be seen, don't they?" He nudged

Lucifer and rode to the rear of the wagon.

"Jon, you ready?

Where's Dolly?"

"Here, here, I am coming, I do declare, the rush you boys get yourselves

into! I was just down at the brook, cleaning up the pans, and there you

are, riding off without me."

"Dolly! We'd never ride off without you!" Jamie promised her solemnly.

"Never," Jon echoed.

"But times awastin', Dolly," Jamie said.

"And suddenly, I'm just darned eager to reach Wiltshire."

Dolly climbed onto the wagon. Tess lifted the reins against the mules,

and they were under way again.

By late afternoon of the following day they had reached the outskirts of

Wiltshire. Then Tess gave the directions to her home, a large ranch

outside of town.

Tess held the reins. As the house came into view, she saw Jamie pull in

on his big roan and stare. He glanced her way.

"That's it? That's your--ranch?"

"That's it."

He started to laugh suddenly, looking at Jon. Then he spurred the roan

and raced toward the house. Tess flicked the reins and hurried after him

with the rumbling wagon. The house was magnificent. Joe had put years

and years of work into the sprawling, two-story ranch house. There were

two large barns to the left and a large red carriage house to the right.

The vegetable garden, lush with summer, could be seen behind the house.

The paddocks, stretching before and behind, seemed to go on forever.

Horses, her uncle's prize thoroughbreds, roamed in the paddocks, the

yeaifs foals seeming to dance alongside their mothers.

Tess knew about the weathered paint on the fine old house, however.

Since the war, nothing much had been done. They had considered

themselves lucky to hang on to the property once the battles had ended

and the dust had died down. There were floorboards on the blue~-gray

porch that needed to be mended, and Tess thought that if Jamie Slater

looked long and hard at the velvet drapes in the parlor, he would see

the material was old and fraying.

In the past few years, all their efforts had gone into their battles

with von Heusen.

She drove the wagon hetwcen the paddocks toward the house. Jamie and Jon

were far ahead of her. They'd reached the clearing before the house, and

Jamie was turning around on the huge roan, looking at everything around

him.

He was still amusd. A--and pleased.

He must have thought I was a potato farmer and that he bartered himself

for a few dusty acres! Tess decided. Well, he should be pleased.

The front door burst open as the wagon reached the clearing. Hank Riley,

Joe's foreman, came hurrying down the st~s, followed by Janey Holloway,

who had worked for them since Tess had begun to work at the paper. Hank

was as tall and skinny as a young oak sapling, with a weathered face so

browned and crinkled that he sometimes looked like an Indian. Janey was

young and plump and pretty, with sandy hair and soft gray eyes.

Jane stared from Jamie to the wagon, then screamed with joy, clutching

her heart when she saw Tess. Hank didn't make a sound. He came hurrying

down the steps of the porch and over to the wagon and reached right up,

catching hold of Tess and swinging her down. He lifted her up and swung

her around again, a smile crinkling his face to 119 even greater depths.

"Tess! The Lord be praised, but that man told us you were dead!"

"I'm not dead, Hank, I'm fine." Hank had set her down. Jane was crying

softly.

"Jane!" Tess took the young woman in her arms to comfort her.

"It's all right! I'm here. I'm alive, I'm well!"

"Oh, Miss. Tess! Miss. Tess, it's just so wonderful to see you! He said

he was coming back tonight~ and at first we thought that you were him

coming back a little early. He had the sheriff with him, you see, and he

said as how everyone had heard that both you and your uncle had been

killed in an Indian raid, and that the land would go up for public

auction. Hank and me and the hands were to clear out. Well, the hands

could stay on until the actual auction, but" She paused, gasping for

breath.

Hank, casting a curious glance toward Jamie and Jori, continued the

story indignantly.

"He said that since Jane and I might think ourselves too close to the

family, we'd have to get out before we started stealing property from

the deceased!"

"He--who the hell is he?" Jamie demanded, dismounting.

Hank frowned, not about to answer the question until he had a signal

from Tess.

"Well, Miss. Tess, I'll answer him about who the hell he is--once this

fellow tells me who the hell he is himself!"

Jamie's eyes narrowed, and his face started to look like thunder.

"Hank," Tess said quickly.

"This is Lieutenant Jamie Slater, he's with the cavalry. And Mr. Jon Red

Feather..

Hank, they've been gracious enough to see me home"--" Then Joe really is

dead," Hank said miserably.

She nodded.

He swallowed hard, looking into the distance.

"I'd kinda hoped, seeing you and all ... Then he really did get it from

the Indians."

"No. From von Heusen."

"Him again," Hank muttered.

"He--him," Jamie interjected.

"Axe we, or are we not, talking about von Heusen all the way around

here?"

"Of course!" Tess stated firmly.

"You mean to tell me," Jamie said, striding toward Hank, "that this yon

Heusen has already been here, telling you that the property is going to