hating him so fiercely that she should have been able to have willed him

dead. It was lost now.

All lost. The house, Joe's house. The press.

It didn't even seem to bother yon Heusen that he would slaughter all the

horses.

Then suddenly, in the midst of yon Heusen's triumph and her own despair,

a commotion sounded from the direction of the carriage house. There was

still smoke issuing from it--no sign of fire yet.

But men suddenly spilled out of it. Four of them, their hands held high

above their heads. They nearly tripped as they walked, for someone had

apparently ordered them to lower their breeches, and their pants were

tight around their ankles.

Three of them wore long johns; the fourth must have been buck naked.

Tess only caught a glimpse of his bare legs, as he managed to stay

behind the other three.

"Tarnation!" yon Heusen swore.

"You fools! What in bloody hell is going on" -- He broke off and never

finished his question. From the smoke of the carriage house, another man

appeared.

Tess felt her heart catch.

It was Jamie. He had a single gun trained on the men and he followed

them out with the casual air yon Heusen had had.

The men kept walking forward. The half-naked one paused, and Jamie

nudged him forward.

"Ladies, do excuse me," Jamie apologized, "but they seemed to be a

little more docile and trustworthy in this fashion."

"I'll kill you yet!" one of them muttered. "Well, I don't doubt that you

intend to try," Jamie assured him. Then he stared at the men still

mounted upon their horses.

"Which one of you is yon Heusen?"

"I am Richard von Heusen. Who the hell are you?"

"Jamie Slater. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that I own

part of this spread now. And I'll thank you kindly to keep yourself and

your half-sawed ruffians off my property, is that understood?"

"Your property" -- yon Heusen began.

"My property, yes. Now, take your arsonist friends here and move."

"You must be mistaken. Why would my men set fire to anything here?"

"Who knows why? But that was what they were doing. Ordinarily, of

course, I'd want to get to know my new neighbors. But since you and the

Stuarts don't seem to be very good friends, I really don't think you

should stay. I bet dinner is on. Tess, is dinner on?"

"yes!"

"Something good?"

His eyes touched hers across the dusky night. She nodded, fighting for

speech.

"Turkey. Dressing. Squash. All sorts of things."

"And getting cold. I do declare. Gentlemen, good night," Jamie said

firmly.

He prodded the men.

"Move 'em, now, von Heusen, or they'll start turning into corpses."

"We're nine to one, you fool" -- "Nine to two. See my friend there? He

could hit the hair in a man's nose at a thousand yards, and he's faster

than greased lightning. You're out manned and outnumbered, you just

don't know it yet." "We'll see about that," von Heusen said angrily.

"Get those half-naked idiots up on your horses!" he ordered his mounted

men.

He jerked his mount around to face Tess and pointed a long finger at

her.

"You'll pay for this, Miss. Stuart. You'll pay dearly. I promise you."

He swung around again, and his men followed. They raced off into the

darkness, the horses' hooves pounding on the dry earth.

Silence and stillness fell over the small group on the porch. Jon Red

Feather slowly lowered his rifle. He stared at Jamie.

"What the hell took you so long?"

"Well, there were four of them in the carriage house!"

Jamie announced indignantly. He strode up the stairs. Tess was still

staring at him blankly when he tweaked her cheek and walked past her.

She managed to turn and follow him. He walked over't the table and sat,

then pulled off a turkey leg and bit into it hungrily. Looking up, he

saw Tess staring at him, Dolly and Jane on either side of her, and Jon

and Hank on either side of the women. He paused in mid bite

"Do you all mind?"

Tess stood in front of him.

"Where did you go? How did you happen to come back right then?"

He chewed before answering her.

"I left the saloon as soon as I met a few friendly people--and a few not

so friendly people. I knew he was coming out here. I didn't know he

intended to burn you out." He paused, looking past Tess to Jon.

"Seems strange, doesn't it? The man wants this property, but he doesn't

seem to care if he destroys it.

Makes you think, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

"Makes you think what?" Tess asked irritably. "Tess, think about it.

It needs a little paint, a little shoring up here and there--but this is

a darned nice house. Solid, sound, big.

Then you've got the outbuildings, the carriages--and the horses. I

haven't seen enough to really make an estimate on the value of the

stock, but I imagine that we're talking hundreds and hundreds of dollars

in horseflesh alone.

And von Heusen doesn't care. He wants the property, but he doesn't care

if he burns it to the ground."

" He's a vile son of a bitch, that's why!" Tess stated.

"Well, yes," Jamie acknowledged with a wry grin.

"But there's more to it than that, I think."

Dolly took a seat at the table again and spooned up a mouthful of

squash.

"Vile, certainly! Why, our dinner has gone quite cold!"

"That's the spirit, Dolly," Jamie told her.

"Jori, sit. The turkey may be cold, but it's delicious."

"That's it?" Tess demanded heatedly.

"What do you mean, that's it?"

"Where did you go? What were you doing? You were supposed to be here!"

"Jon was here," Jamie said evenly.

"But" -- Jamie was buttering a roll. Jane and Hank and Jon sat and

picked up their forks. Jamie's butter knife went still and his eyes were

slightly narrowed as he stared at her.

"Miss. Stuart, I don't like the tone of this conversation. I came back

in time to save your hide."

"You wouldn't have had to rush back if you'd been here--where you should

have been! You want to be paid so highly, and you can't even stick

around!" He stood suddenly. His knife clattered against a dish.

"I

don't argue like this in front of others, Miss. Stuart."

" There is no argument!" she snapped.

"No, there isn't. I'll make it simple. Wherever I choose to go is my own

business, Miss. Stuart. You are not my keeper. And as to payment, hell,

yes.

Tomorrow we'll go into town and you'll turn over half interest in this

place to me."

She gasped aloud, stunned.

"Jamie, she doesn't understand what you're doing," Jon said, ignoring

the rising tensions and reaching for a roll himself.

"If you just explained" -- "Explained! Hell, I feel as if I'm up before

the judge and jury!"

"Judge and jury! I really don't give a damn what you do with your time,

but"

"You begged me to come here, Tess."

"Begged!"

"Begged!"

"Oh!" she cried. Then she wound her fingers tightly together.

"I don't argue in public either, Lieutenant!" she snapped. She was

shaking, she realized. She'd been so damned amazed and grateful to see

him, but she'd also been scared, and now she was furious and shaking and

she wasn't even sure what she did want. She turned, having no taste left

for dinner.

Angrily she began to stride for the door. "Tess!" He was on his feet,

calling to her. He really expected her to stop because he had commanded

her to. She didn't stop, she didn't turn, she didn't even pause. She

sailed straight for the front door. She would go to the carriage house

to make sure the fire von Heusen's men had started had been stamped out.

"Jamie, give her a minute," Dolly suggested.

"The hell I will!" Jamie snapped.

Before Tess heard the door slam in her wake, she thought she heard

Jamie's chair hit the floor as he pushed it over.

She started running toward the carriage house, anxious to reach it

before he could see her. She was at the side door when she heard the

front door to the house slam. She slipped into the eaniage house. She

inhaled and exhaled, but couldn't smell any smoke. All she could smell

was the fresh scent of the alfalfa hay that was being stored behind the

chaise.

She fumbled in the darkness to light the gas lamp by the door. When the

glow filled the carriage house, she went to check the wagon and the

printing press. She crawled into the wagon and gave a soft sigh of

relief as she saw that the printing press was fine. She sank down on one

of the bunks. "Tess!

Where are you!"

Jamie was obviously angry. She clenched her teeth and tried to ignore

him.

She stepped from the wagon and went to the buckboard. No flames had

lapped against it. The chaise, too, seemed untouched. Walking around,

she discovered a half burned bale of hay. It had been dragged into the

center of the room and lit. Von Heusen had meant it to be a slow fire.

He had really meant to be long gone when the place burned.

She moved away from the hay and from the faint, acrid smell of fire that

remained.

"Tess!"

He was still calling her, like a drill sergeant. With a sigh she