"Seems like we're splitting up here," Malachi said. "Well, don't stay on

my account!" Shannon told him.

He laughed, shrugged at Jon, and the two of them left. Hank followed

them and the women were left--Jane, who had barely said a word, Dolly,

who was unbelievably quiet, and Shannon and Kristin and Tess.

"All this to make a meal, and then it's just wolfed down, and then

everyone runs" -- "Ma," Gabe suddenly interrupted from the end of the

table.

"I cleaned my plate. Can I go join Pa?"

Kristin threw up her hands, and Tess felt some of the tension leave her

as she laughed.

"Go!" Kristin told her son.

He smiled, excused hun self politely to Tess and ran out of the house.

"We might as well pick up," Shannon said. "Might as well."

Things went quickly with five of them to do the clearing, the scraping,

the washing and the drying. Shannon asked Tess what it had been like

with the Apache, and by the time she finished with her story about Jon

and Jamie appearing at just the fight time, they had finished the

dishes. Jane and Dolly kissed Tess again and went to bed. Shannon and

Kristin and Tess made tea and then sat around the kitchen table, staring

at one another.

"And then this Nalte let you go--just because Jamie asked for you? He

let you go to Jamie?" Kfistin said.

Tess felt herself flush, wondering how to avoid saying the very thing

the Indian chief had so clearly understood.

"He, uh, he ..."

"Oh, for God's sake, Kristin, they've been sleeping together and this

Nalte man knew it!" Shannon exclaimed.

"Shannon!" gris ting protested.

"Well, all right, I'm terribly sorry, but Ktistin and I both married

Slater men. I know. They're so easy to want to shoot, but at the same

time ..." Her voice trailed away and she was really beautiful as she

grinned.

"Well, they are easy to sleep with. Seductive."

Tess knew she had to be a thousand shades of crimson. Kristin sighed.

"He's very much in love with you. I'm sure We'll see a wedding any day."

"I'm not terribly sure about that."

"He called us here. To protect your interests. He must love you."

"I've turned over half the property to him. It's his own property he's

protecting." "Urn. Did he bargain for anything else?" Kristin asked her.

She didn't know why she was being so honest except that somehow she felt

she had known the two women all her life.

Maybe it was because they had all become involved with Slater men.

"Maybe they just don't marry easily," Shannon suggested.

"But you're both married," Tess began.

"Cole had to marry me," gris ting said.

"Oh, the baby?"

"No!" gris ting 'laughed.

"There was a horrible, horrible man after me.

The war was going on and the only way he could count on some protection

from some old acquaintances was to be able to say that I was his wife.

He fell in love with me slowly; it took him a long time." She smiled

sweetly at Shannon.

"And Malachi had to marry Shannon."

"Well, he didn't have to," Shannon protdsted. "The twins?" Tess asked.

"No, a shotgun," Shannon explained ruefully. They both laughed, and

Shannon took a deep breath and tried to explain that Kristin was her

sister, and that Kfistin had been in trouble.

She and Malachi had gone after her, and a kindly old couple had derided

the two of them had to be married. "But they'd been in' love for years.

They wouldn't admit it, of course, because they were too busy gouging

one another's eyes out."

"Oh, it never was that bad!" Shannon protested. "No, it was worse!"

Kristin said. She stood up.

"I think that we need a drop of brandy to go with this, too. Girls?"

Shannon and Tess both agreed. Then Tess yawned and complained that her

buckskins were filthy and that she felt as if half of Texas was covering

her.

The sisters quickly had the hip tub out and filled, and Shannon was

racing upstairs for French bath oil, and before she knew it Kristin was

presenting her with a lilac nightgown that matched her eyes. "I can't

take these things!" Tess protested.

"But you can. It's all in the family," Shannon told her. Tess shook her

head.

"I heard Jamie once. He said that no one would ever make him get

married." Kristin shrugged.

"They can't force him--but he just might choose to do so on his own."

' "Do you want him?" Shannon asked her.

Tess f~it her heart beat hard and she closed her eyes. Yes! Yes, she

wanted Jamie desperately. She had wanted him his eyes had first fallen

upon her, since he had killed since he had told her in a soft voice that

she was Since that day by the stream before the nightmare had begun and

he had touched her and said, "I think I'm falling in love with you ..."

But that had been before they had nearly been destroyea, before he had

lost his beloved cavalry mount to retrieve her.

She was trouble. He had told her that again and again. He had walked out

at dinner because he had been so furious with her that he hadn't been

able to stay at the table. "Do you?"

Shannon persisted.

"Yes," Tess admitted softly.

"I want him. For keeps."

"Then forget the arguments. Even forget the fact that you'll probably

never get along. I have," Shannon said cheerily.

"Forget von Heusen, forget everything, and cherish what time you have

together in peace."

"And get in the tub with the rose oil," Kristin suggested drily.

"There's just nothing like a very sweet smell."

"And a see-through lilac gown to match your eyes! Aren't they beautiful

eyes, Kristin?" "And she's not jealous often," Kristin said, laughing.

Feeling loved and protected, Tess stepped into the water and felt the

steam surround her. It was good to be home.

"I'm more worried now that I know just what this man is after," Jamie

said.

He was sitting on the rocker on the porch. Jori was perched on the

railing with Cole, and Malachi was seated across from him on the swing.

It creaked slowly in the night air.

Jamie exhaled. He looked at his brothers.

"Thanks for coming. I'm just wishing right now that I hadn't had you

bring Kristin and Shannon."

"Jamie, you've known the McCahy girls a long time," Cole said drily.

"And you should know at this point that they wouldn't have it any other

way."

"I just don't know what this man might plan. I do know that he keeps

twenty to thirty hired guns on his property at all times."

"We've met up with bad odds~ before Malachi reminded him.

"God damn it, don't you understand what I'm trying to say? I don't want

you, your wives or your children killed on my account."

Gabe came out then. He glanced at his father and it was obvious he had

heard some of what had been said. He went straight up to his Uncle Jamie

and took his trail-toughened face into his hands.

"There's right and wrong, Uncle Jamie, and you know that. And my pa and

my ma, they say you have to fight what's wrong, because if you just give

in, it'll bury you in the end.

I don't mind fighting. Not if it's the right thing to do."

Jamie lifted his nephew and hugged him tightly. Cole smiled.

"I rest my case."

"Malachi, those twins of yours aren't quite three years old. You think

they feel the same way?"

"Jamie, we're here, and that's it," Malachi said flatly. "Now, what

about Tess?"

"What about her?" Jamie scowled.

"She's the hardest creature to tangle with I have ever encountered,

Yanks and Indians and rattlers included." "Think you're going to marry

her?" Malachi asked pleasantly.

"If he doesn't do so soon," Jon Red Feather supplied, "I

"Damn you, Jon" -- I'll have to, to keep the poor woman honest." ,~

Jamie ou know the lot of you, you may be but I'm " She's beautiful, very

bright and has the will of a wildcat. Besides that, she's worth a damned

fortune. He's already absconded with half her property," Malachi said."

Wait a damned minute!" Jamie protested.

"The least you could do is marry her," Cole said. Jamie threw up his

hands.

"Thank you, one and all, for coming. And now I'll thank you, one and

all, to mind your own damned bus' mess Good night."

He set Gabe on the rocker and headed into the house. He was halfway up

the stairs before he realized he didn't know if he had a room in the

house. His brothers and Kristin and Shannon and even the kids seemed

very happily moved in.

But where the hell he was supposed to be, he didn't know. He headed for

Tess's room, wondering what her reaction was going to be. If she

threatened to scream and bring the house down he thought he'd throttle

her.

He tapped on her door, then pushed it open.

"Tess?" "Jamie?" She said his name softly, sweetly. Her voice touched

the air like the fragrance of roses that seemed to be all around the

room, light as stardust. Her whisper was sultry, as if he had awakened

her.

He strode across the room then paused, seeing how the moon entered

through the window and glowed upon bet.

Her hair was shining with greater splendor than any sunset, and it was

spread out behind her as if each strand were a glorious ray of the sun.