A heavy, dirty hand grabbed a fold of her hem.

«By God, I haven’t felt anything this soft since Atlanta. Bet it’s even softer underneath.»

Several men laughed. The sound was as coarse as the muddy street.

The few townspeople brave enough to walk past Main Street’s raucous saloon saw what was happening, but hesitated to interfere. The eight men around the wagon were heavily armed and drunk enough to be ugly without being incapacitated in the least. They made a formidable gang.

Nor was Jessica known to the townspeople as other than the wife of ahalfbreed. It wasn’t a high personal recommendation in the raw frontier town, where Indians were thought to be worth a lot less than a good coon hound.

«A sawbuck says she’s wearing silk underwear,» called one of the men.

Ralph’s hand tightened on Jessica’s skirt. «Well, sugarplum, is you is or is youain’t?»

That witticism sent one man laughing until he could barely stand without the help of the wagon.

«Come on,» Ralph said. «Show a little leg to the lads.»

Jessica ignored him.

«Look at me when I talk to you,» he snarled. «Any slut that lies down with ahalfbreed should be damn grateful that a white man will even touch her.»

When Jessica felt her skirt shift, she wrenched the wagon whip free and brought its heavy stock down across the bridge of Ralph’s nose with all the force of her small body. Bellowing with rage and pain, Ralph let go of the skirt and grabbed his face. Blood spurted between his fingers. Before Jessica could turn to face the rest of her attackers, Ralph grabbed her wrist, pulling her off balance.

There was a sound like a pistol shot, followed by a high scream. The grip on her arm loosened. From the corner of her eye, Jessica sawRafe running toward her, wielding the supple bullwhip with lethal skill. As she watched, his left arm moved slightly and the long bullwhip leaped forward. The odd, pistol-like sound came again. Close to her, one of the attacker’s hats seemed to leap up and fell away in two pieces. Blood poured from a gash over the man’s eye.

Suddenly, the men were reaching beneath their coats.

«They have guns!» Jessica yelled.

She brought the buggy whip down as hard as she could on the closest man, but knew it wouldn’t be enough. There were five men left untouched, four more were running from the saloon, and they were all armed.

«Get down!» Rafe yelled.

Jessica ignored him, for she was too busy laying about with the buggy whip.

Rafe’sbullwhip sang out again, but this time it wrapped very gently around Jessica’s waist. The yankRafe gave wasn’t gentle at all. It pulled her right out of the wagon and into his arms as gunfire erupted around them. Pressed between the side of the wagon andRafe’s big body, Jessica saw little of the fight.

What she did see astonished her. Wolfe was down the street in front of the stable, two hundred yards away, and he was picking off men just as fast as he could lever bullets into the firing chamber. Lead whined and crashed around the wagon. The withering hail of bullets sent the men scattering.

All that prevented every one of the attackers from being killed was the fact that Jessica was in the middle of the fracas.

«Son of a bitch, but that man can shoot,» Rafe said reverently.

A lull came in the firing.

«Jessi!» yelled Wolfe.

«I’m all right!» she called back.

«If I were you, boys,» Rafe said in a normal tone, «I’d see how far down into that mud I could get beforeLonetree reloads.»

The wisdom ofRafe’s advice became apparent as Wolfe swapped rifle for carbine and opened fire again. The men who hadn’t fallen already threw themselves full length onto the soggy ground.

«Hang onto the wagon, ma’am,» Rafe said.

Blindly, Jessica grabbed the rough wood.

Rafestepped back until he could see all of the men.

«Keep your heads down, boys, or you’ll lose them.»

It was the only thingRafe said. It was all he had to say, for the whip in his hand was like a living thing, flicking restlessly over the fallen men, plucking at their hats and coats, nipping at fingers that crept closer to hidden guns. No sharppistolsounds came from the bullwhip now, simply an unnerving hissing and seething as leather licked lightly over flesh.

One of the men moaned and crossed himself.

«That’s the idea,» Rafe said encouragingly. «Never too late for a man to get religion.»

Wolfe arrived at a dead run, carbine in hand. Behind him came the boy from the dry-goods store, carrying the empty rifle. One by one Wolfe went to the frightened men, rolled them over with his boot, and memorized their faces. They stared back at him and knew they had never come closer to dying.

When the last man had been memorized, Wolfe stepped back. «If I see any of you near my wife again, I’ll kill you.»

Jessica looked at Wolfe and had no doubt of it. Even as she told herself she should be appalled, she wasn’t. She sensed she would have been brutally treated by men who knew nothing of her but her name and her sex.

«I’m counting to ten,» Wolfe said in a neutral tone that was more threatening than a shout. As he spoke, he began feeding cartridges into the carbine. «Anyone who is in sight when I’m finished had better be shooting. One. Two. Three. Four.»

There was a frantic scrambling as men came up out of the mud and stumbled down the street. Most were limping. Several could use only one arm.

One man didn’t move at all.

Somehow, Jessica wasn’t surprised that it was the man called Ralph who had died. Neither wasRafe. He looked from themohonless man to Wolfe and nodded.

«Good job, Lonetree. You’re everything I’ve heard you were. But you’re still only one man and if s a long way to Cal’s spread.»

There was nothing friendly in Wolfe’s blue-black eyes as he levered a cartridge into the firing chamber and turned onRafe.

«What the hell business of yours is it where we’re going?»

9

«Rafe is the paragon’s brother,» Jessica said quickly, stepping between the two men.

There was a tense silence before Wolfe spoke.

«Willow’s brother?» he asked, looking over Jessica’s head at the handsome blond man.

Rafenodded.

A subtle change came over Wolfe as understanding began to sink through the adrenaline of battle. There was a visible lessening of the predatory readiness that had radiated from him when he sawRafe standing so close to Jessica. For the space of several breaths, Wolfe looked intently at the big man who used a whip with chilling skill. Finally, Wolfe nodded slowly.

Jessica let out a slow breath and stepped aside once more.

«I should have guessed,» Wolfe said. «Same honey-licking drawl, same hair, same catlike shape to the eyes.» He smiled atRafe for the first time, uncocked the carbine, and held out his right hand. «Willow’s a damn sight prettier, though.»

«I’d hope to shout.»Rafe smiled slowly and shook Wolfe’s hand. «I suppose you’ve heard this before, but you’re one hell of a shot with a long gun.»

Jessica watched the two men shake hands and felt the last of the tightness ease inside her. HavingRafe and Wolfe eyeing one another as potential enemies had been like having knives scraping over her nerves.

«You’re the devil himself with that bullwhip,» Wolfe said, as he helped Jessica aboard the wagon. «Never seen anything like it. Are you a teamster?»

«I’m ajackaroo, among other things. That’s Australian for a cow chaser. They use stockman’s whips and heeler dogs down there.»Rafe paused and added, «Normally I travel alone, but I suspect we’re headed the same place, and too many people know about the raw gold in that poke of yours.»

Wolfe nodded slowly. «I usually travel alone, too, but with Jessica along…» He shrugged. «Frankly, I’d been wishing that Caleb or Reno was around. I’d be pleased to have a good man at my back.»

«You’ve got one.»

«Yes, I believe I do.» Wolfe grinned. «Climb aboard, Rafe Moran, and welcome.»

Wolfe gestured to the boy from the mercantile, who came running up with the gold-inlaid rifle.

«Lordy, mister, Iain’t never seen noshootin ’ like that nowhere! And that bullwhip,» he said, turning toRafe. «Lordy, lordy. Like to make me believe in the Devil.»

«Better to believe in God,» Rafe said. «The Devil has enough takers.»

Wolfe fished a ragged gold nugget out of his leather poke. «Thanks for coming to the stable after me. You ever need help, you put out word for WolfeLonetree. I’ll come running. Count on it.»

The boy flushed. «You don’t have to pay me, mister. I just was worried about the lady.»

«She’s a worry to us all.»

Jessica shot Wolfe a look, but smiled warmly at the boy.

«Son?» Rafe said quietly.

The boy tore his glance away from Jessica.Rafe flipped him a heavy silver coin. The boy caught it automatically.

«See that somebody reads over the corpse,» Rafe said, flicking the bullwhip in the direction of the dead man. «Too late to do any good, I suppose, but I’m told an immortal soul is a resilient thing and our God is a forgiving god.»

«That’s not what PreacherCorman says,» the boy muttered, hefting the coin.

«Get a better brand of preacher,» Rafe advised dryly. «Life is hard enough without black-coated vultures croaking over you.»

The boy snickered. «Yessir.»

The coin glittered and spun in a rapid arc as the youth threw it, caught it, and then pocketed it with a wide grin. He trotted across the street toward the mercantile, eager to share his adventure with the people who were watching from the safety of closed doors.