A half-amused, half-feral smile crossed Reno’s mouth. «Wolfe was right about that, too.»

«What?»

«You’re an Old Testament kind of man. Was it Kid Coyote out there?»

«No. Just some no-account claim jumper from California.»

A sudden stillness came over Reno. «Claim jumper?»

«As ever was.» The smile on Caleb’s mouth was like the blade of a drawn knife. «I suppose he had a notion about some fool finding gold up here.»

Reno gave Willow a cool glance. «You told him.»

«She didn’t have to,» Caleb said curtly. «Only one reason a man risks his butt up on these peaks. The golden whore.»

«There’s nothing base about gold,» Reno countered softly, his voice low and his eyes vivid against his tanned face. «Indians believed gold came from the sun god’s tears. I’m inclined to agree with them.»

Caleb made a disgusted sound. «More likely the water came from lower down the body.» He looked at Willow. «Sorry, honey. I know you’re tired, but we better find another camp. I stripped the claim jumper’s horse and sent it off on down the mountain at a run, but Jed Slater is a good tracker. Sooner or later he’ll catch us unless we keep moving or a good rain comes.»

«It won’t rain tonight,» Reno said.

«Maybe by morning,» Caleb said, looking at the sky.

«Maybe.» Reno shrugged. «Nothing to do for it either way except get out of here. I have a camp nearby. We’ll wait for Wolfe there.»

«What’s Wolfe doing up here?»

«He got to fretting about the odds against you,» Reno said. «About three weeks ago he turned up at my camp and told me you were bringing my ‘wife’ to me and might need all the help you could get.»

Silently Caleb absorbed the fact that Wolfe had known where Matt Moran was holed up and had said nothing to Caleb.

You’re too evenly matched.

Grimly, Caleb admitted that Wolfe had been right about that. Reno was as quick and cool on the draw as any man Caleb had ever seen. The chance of either one of them surviving a duel in any shape to help Willow get out of the mountains was damned slim.

And if they died, she died. Only not quickly, not cleanly. Willow would die cruelly at the hands of outlaws who cared nothing for her laughter, her quick wit, her courage.

«Where’s Wolfe now?» Caleb asked.

«Out there, dogging Slater. Wolfe figured if Slater found you before I did, you’d need help. If he’d known that you were going to take advantage of Willow’s innocence…» Reno bit back an ugly word and looked at the gun in his hand. «Wolfe would have come looking for you with a whip. He was so sure you were an honorable, decent man. First time I’ve known him to be wrong.»

Willow’s breath came in harshly, but before she could speak, Caleb did.

«You’ve got no call throwing stones on the subject of seducing innocent girls and you goddamned well know it,» Caleb said savagely to Reno. «Now, are we going to get out of here or are you planning on waiting for Slater to find us and start shooting us like fish in a barrel? Or maybe you’re planning on using that gun on me right now and to hell with Willow’s safety?»

Reno returned the six-gun to its holster with an effortless motion. «I’ll wait. Slater won’t. Let’s ride.»

RENO’S temporary camp was so well concealed by the land itself that Willow wondered how he had ever found it in the first place. The narrow, spruce-and aspen-choked ravine that opened onto a swiftly racing creek looked impassable. Nor was there any obvious reason to force a passage into the ravine. There were many such blind gullies on the mountainside, places where water flowed only at the peak of the snowmelt or after an especially heavy storm. There was nothing about this particular ravine that looked any different. There was certainly no reason to think that it eventually opened onto a high, small bench where part of the mountainside had slumped away from the main mass of stone.

Before entering the ravine, they had walked the horses in the icy mountain stream for more than a quarter mile, hoping to throw off any trackers. Nothing could entirely conceal the passage of the eight horses, however, except time and a good rain.

There was no trail into the ravine, no broken brush or scarred trees to mark the passage of man. Reno dismounted from his horse and went to the mouth of the ravine. There he untied thongs that had been subtly weaving together two spruce trees. The trunks of the spruce grew almost parallel to the ground, legacy of the crushing weight of winter’s deep snow. As soon as the thongs were released, branches sprang apart, revealing a dim passageway into the ravine.

«You’ll have to walk the rest of the way,» Reno said.

Caleb dismounted and went to help Willow. Before he could, Reno had already handed her down from the saddle. It wasn’t the first time Reno had moved to stand between his sister and the man who was obviously her lover rather than her husband.

Caleb’s mouth thinned to a grim line, but he said nothing. He didn’t want Willow to be present when he and Reno thrashed out the subject of sisters and seducers.

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Unfortunately, the rough justice in the situation didn’t make Caleb feel any better about his position as a seducer.

I’m begging you now, Caleb. Don’t stop. If you stop touching me I’ll die.

He wondered if it had been that way for Rebecca, a hunger so deep that she begged for Reno. Had Reno tried to pull back from Rebecca, only to find that he could not?

Willow. Push me away. Oh, God. Willow, don’t.

I can’t help it. I’ve needed you all my life and didn’t know it. I love you, Caleb. I love you.

Caleb closed his eyes and bowed his head as memories sleeted through him, heaven and Hell entwined.

Am I hurting you?

No. It’s good — so good. Like flying. Like riding fire. Don’t stop — don’t ever stop.

And he hadn’t.

When his eyes opened, Reno was watching him, noting Caleb’s fist clenched so hard on the reins that the leather buckled, seeing the savage, whiskey-colored eyes where ecstasy and anguish were inter-locked like flame and shadow.

Curtly, Reno gestured for Caleb to begin leading the horses through the narrow passage.

When all the horses were in the tiny valley, Caleb and Reno returned to remove what evidence they could of the passage of so many horses. By the time they got back to camp, it was dusk. Willow was just picketing the last horse in the valley’s deep grass. When Caleb and Reno walked into camp, she was struck by the similarity between the two men. Both were broad-shouldered, both were long-limbed, and both moved with the muscular coordination of healthy animals.

The memory of Reno’s speed with a gun returned to Willow, telling her that the two men were alike in one other way as well. They both were dangerous.

It frightened her.

«Caleb,» Willow said, «I’m worried about the shoes on my Arabians. Would you check them for me?»

Surprise showed briefly on Caleb’s face, but he said nothing. Although he always helped with Willow’s horses, it was the first time she had asked him to do so.

«Sure.» Caleb glanced swiftly at Reno, then returned his attention to Willow. He smoothed the back of his fingers lightly down her cheek. «I won’t be far, honey. If you get tired of the company, come and get me.»

She smiled despite her fear. «I’ll be all right.»

Reno waited until Caleb was out of earshot before he turned to his sister.

«All right, Willy. What the hell happened?»

The icy green of her brother’s eyes told Willow how much of his rage he had been concealing. Numbly, she wondered how to begin.

«Remember the summer evenings?» Willow asked finally, her voice low and husky. «Remember the dinners when the table was crowded with food and the air was filled with talking, and you andRafe would see which one of you could make me giggle first? Remember the sound of crickets and the smell of new-mown hay?»

«Willy —»

She continued talking right over Reno’s attempt to interrupt. «Remember the warm nights when the men of the family sat on the veranda and talked about blooded horses and field crops and faraway places and I would sneak out and sit and listen and everyone would pretend I wasn’t there because girls weren’t supposed to care about horses and crops and faraway places?»

«What does that have to do with —»

«Do you remember?» Willow asked in a voice that trembled with suppressed emotion.

«Hell, yes, I remember.»

«That’s all I had. Remembering. Memories and a box full of Yankee notes and Confederate scrip that was worthless except for starting fires. The moon still rose, but the hayfields and white-fenced paddocks were gone. The veranda and house burned one winter night. The little church where Mama and Papa were married and we were allbaptised burned, too, nothing left but crooked headstones looking like ghosts rising out of the weeds.»

«Willy,» Reno began unhappily, but she wouldn’t let him talk.

«No. Let me finish, Matthew. I couldn’t live on memories. I’m a girl, but I have dreams, too. I’d saved all your letters. When the last one came, asking for help, I sold what was left of the ruined land, wrote to Mr. Edwards, and headed West. There was just enough money for the trip. Caleb Black agreed to be my guide to the SanJuans.» She smiled sadly. «But I can’t pay him the fifty dollars I promised.»

«Is that what happened? Did you sell yourself just to —» Reno began, his voice harsh.

«No!» Willow interrupted. Then, more calmly, «No.» She closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them and faced her brother unflinchingly. «I wish Caleb could have come courting me on a West Virginia farm. He would have complimented Papa on his blooded horses and Mama on her spinet playing and me on my pies. After dinner Caleb would have sat on the veranda to talk with my brothers about crops and horses and weather…»