closed her pausing for a moment, smelling the ink on Harry's Then she

smiled and started to type. She described the small wagon train, then

she described the attack. She described the attackers, who had looked

like white men painted up to look like Comanche. She wrote about being

saved by the cavalry, then she wrote about Chief Running River and how

he had sworn his people had not had anything to do with the attack. Then

she wrote that she knew she was an eyewitness. and a survivor. She ended

the piece with a bold accusation.

"Certain tyrants in this town will stoop to any means to bring about

their chosen results. This town has been mercilessly se'tzed upon. We've

seen our friends and neighbors disappear. Some say it was the war, but

the war has ended, and all good men are trying to repair broken fences

and lend a helping hand. In this town, however, we have been met by

evil. Yes, my friends, evil lives in man. The evil that killed a man

like Joe Stuart. Joe Stuart's death must not be in vain. We must band

together and fight the evil. It does not come from the war. It comes

from a man, and no matter how he threatens, we can beat him--if we stand

together." She left it at that. She hesitated for a moment, searching

for better words, then shrugged. She had said what she wanted to say.

She pulled the sheet of paper from the machine and handed it to Edward.

"Read this over for me, will you, Ed?"

His eyes were already racing over the piece. He was a swift.

proofreader, and he quickly came to her final paragraph.

His fingers trembled, and the paper wavered within them. "Tess" -- "I

want it out tomorrow," she said.

"Tess, he'll come after you lock, stock and barrel" -- "He already left

me for dead once," she said.

"But, Tess" -- "Print it, please. And now tell me--what happened at the

saloon the other night?"

Edward stared, trying to change his train of thought quickly as she was

changing the conversation.

"The 169 night? Why, Miss. Tess, I was just in a little need of

companionship-"

"Not that, Clancy, not that! I want to hear about the lieutenant."

"The lieutenant?"

"Slater, Edward Clancy! Jamie Slater and the yon Heusen men and the

blazing guns."

"Oh, it was something, Tess. Honest to God, but it was something!"

"Something? Fine. What? Tell me about it, please!"

"Why, he just-come into the bar, and we all kind of greeted him" --

"Everyone in the place stared at him, wondering if he was : dangerous or

not "

"Right, right. Doc and I were playing cards and we invited him over for

a whiskey. He started asking questions right away, then yon Heusen's

guns came in. One of them had Hardy the bartender by the throat when

Jamie Slater him to stop. The man laughed. Then they were all

threatening to shoot up Slater, but that Slater, he had their number!

Before you know it--one, two, three, four! All of were lying on the

floor and choking and crying and on like babes. And Slater just stepped

over them, as a cucumber, and walked over to the barber and got a shave

and a bath.

"Well, of course, yon Heusen's fellers, they were threat- right and

left, but those boys lit out of town as as Doc patched them up, lit

straight out of town, they Don't know if they went back to yon Heusen or

if they away for good. I ain't seen a one of them since. Of one young

feller, he ain't gonna be ridin' anywhere a while, he kind of took his

shot in the posterior sec- if you know what I mean." I think I know what

you mean," Tess said. She gave Ed kiss on the cheek.

"You take care now. I'll be in tomorrow morning. You make sure my piece

goes on the front page."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Tess left the office and walked slowly down the street toward Mr.

Barrymon~'s office.

What had she gotten?

She'd wanted a hired gun. And she'd gotten one. She railed against Jamie

for leaving the ranch when he'd been finding out what he could--and

shooting it out with some of yon Heusen's toughs at the same time.

And gaining quite a reputation as he did so. She shivered suddenly.

She'd seen him shoot the snake. She'd known that he was fast and good.

She shouldn't have been surprised to hear that he had knocked down four

of yon Hensen's men in a matter of seconds. Then he'd humiliated yon

Heusen at the ranch. Von Heusen was going to be mad, and he was going to

be thirsting for blood. Her blood.

But she'd known she had to fight him. And she had Jamie. She'd wanted

the gun.

And she'd wanted the man.

And now she had both.

She tightened her fingers around the drawstring of her little purse and

stopped walking to lean against a wooden wall as a fierce trembling

swelled within her. hard and inhaled deeply as she remembered the

previous night.

She couldn't have been so brazen. Or so wanton. or so decadent. or so

searingly intimate.

But she had been. He had warned her away. He had given her every

opportunity. He had told her that she should be with a man who cared. He

implied that he didn't care. Surely that wasn't true. He liked her.

There were about her he loved.

But it didn't mean anything. That was the rub. It mean anything at all.

She was just a woman, a warming body. Just like Eliza. She had thrown

herself at him.

And one day he'd turn away from her, just as he had turned from Eliza.

She inhaled, exhaled, then forced herself to walk. She must not let it

happen again. Even if it had been more than she had ever dreamed. She'd

never imagined that making love could be so erotic, so wonderful. She'd

never imagined that it was possible to feel so excited,- so cherished,

so ~ explosive and so sated. She'd never imagined that a man's hands

could do what his had done, or that a man's kiss could awaken everything

in her body, or that a man could 'join with a woman so completely and

bring about such splendor.

It could quickly become addictive. But he didn't intend to stay. Even if

he bought her land and settled down, he had made it clear that he didn't

intend to stay with her.

She had taken care to sound independent, too. And now. Now she wanted to

lie down beside him again. She wanted ~to laugh and feel his touch and

explore his shoulders and his chest and his long, muscled legs and .

everything. Even the parts of the body that she couldn't quite bring

herself to name aloud. She had wanted him. never deny that. But now she

was afraid of the long that seemed to have escalated since she had known

his touch.

Having him hadn't quenched the desire at all.

It had set it all afire. She was in front of the lawyer's office. She

set her hand knob and twisted it and walked in. Mr. Barrymo~e finishing

copying out a second set of papers. Jamie directed him as to what he

should write.

timing," Jamie said, applauding her.

"We need ~ " Shouldn't I read the documents?"

"Be my guest."

Tess took the papers from Mr. Barrymore, but she couldn't quite manage

to read. She pretended to, skimming the words. They all swam before her.

"We need a witness," Mr. Barrymore said. "No problem," Jamie told him.

He stepped outside. A moment later, he was back with Doe. He signed one

set of papers, then Mr. Barrymore and Doe signed as witnesses. Then Tess

signed, not having the least idea of what was really on the papers, and

her signature was witnessed, too.

"That's that, then!" Jamie said, pleased. He counted out gold coins to

Mr. Barrymore, who seemed very pleased. So much was being done in paper

currency lately. "Let's go, Tess," Jamie said.

"Good day, Mr. Barrymore, Doe. Thank you," she told the lawyer. But

Barrymore and Doe were hardly able to respond before Jamie had his hand

on her elbow and was leading her out.

When they reached the wooden sidewalk, she wrenched her hand free.

"Jamie, I just might not be ready to head home."

"We're not heading home," he told her.

"We're going to talk."

"What if I had something to do?" she demanded. "It would have to wait."

"It wouldn't!"

"Today, Tess," he insisted, "it would." The brim of his hat was pulled

low over his eyes, hands were firmly on his hips.

"Now, listen" -- "You listen," he told her, wagging a finger beneath

nose.

"I'm not going to live like this. We're straighten out the

relationship."

"There is no" -- "The hell there isn't. Now get in the wagon, or I'll

put you in it."

"You wouldn't" -- He took a step toward her. Before she knew it she was

off her feet, then she was sitting in the wagon. She swung around, but

he was beside her in an instant, and the reins were in his hands, and he

was clucking to-the thoroughbred that pulled the small conveyance.

Tess crossed her arms over her chest, staring straight ahead.

"You are intolerable!" she told him.

"I just don't like a bunch of bull, that's all."

"Bull" -- "The way you're acting."

"I'm not acting" -- "I hope to hell you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about." They were already out of town.

He was silent for a moment.