Jessica hesitated, then shrugged. «It was all I knew. And I had the firth and forest to roam.» «I can’t imagine having only one child,» Willow said, shaking her head. «I want a house full of kids.»

«I imagine many women feel like that before they experience childbed.»

The barely muted horror in Jessica’s voice created a pool of silence that expanded and deepened until she realized her mistake and changed the subject with a determined smile.

«Do you like to fish, Willow?»

«Caleb is the fisherman in the family. He’s very good at it.»

Caleb gave Willow a lazy, sidelong glance and a crooked smile. Though not a word was said, her cheeks turned a revealing shade of pink.

«I’m a fair fisherman,» he admitted. «Don’t care much for fishing rods or lures, though.»

«You don’t?» Jessica asked. «What do you use, then? Nets or traps? Or do you hunt like the Eskimo, with spears?»

Caleb shook his head. «Nothing that fancy.»

«How do you catch fish, then?»

«Patience, stealth, and bare hands.»

His smile shifted as he measured the deepening color of Willow’s cheeks. His golden eyes gleamed with a frank male sensuality that surprised Jessica; up to that instant, she hadn’t thought of Caleb as a particularly passionate man. She had been wrong. The hunger in his eyes as he watched his wife was barely veiled by his half-lowered lids.

«You see,» Caleb explained in a slow, deep voice, «trout like to be stroked all over. That’s why they hold station in the fastest currents. Isn’t that right, honey? Don’t they just lie there, quivering, waiting for the moment when —»

Willow’s hands clapped over her husband’s mouth, cutting off his words.

«Caleb Winslow Black, if you weren’t too big, I’d turn you over my knee and teach you a few manners!»

Laughing, Caleb turned his head quickly aside, evading his wife’s attempts to muzzle him. Believing the caress would be hidden by Willow’s hands, he flicked the tip of his tongue between two of her fingers, stroking the sensitive skin.

But Jessica saw the secret caress, just as she saw the change in Willow’s smile and the brief, sensual glide of her fingertip over his lower lip. For an instant, something quite primitive arced between man and wife; then Caleb smiled and pulled Willow onto his lap with gentle hands.

«I’m too big for your knees, honey. You fit real nice across mine, though.»

«Caleb…»

Willow’s voice died. She flushed and glanced toward the other two people in the room.

«Hush,» Caleb said softly, pressing Willow’s cheek against his shoulder. «Wolfe andJessi are husband and wife. They won’t faint if they see you sitting in my lap.»

With a sigh, Willow relaxed against her husband. He shifted her more closely against his body, brushed a kiss over her hair, and leaned toward the boxes with their intriguing array of flies.

«You’ll probably have some luck with this one,» he said to Jessica, pointing toward something that looked like a black ant. «We have mayflies and caddis, too, so that box should fill many a frying pan.»

«Is the stream you mentioned far from here?» Jessica asked.

But the question occupied only part of her mind. She was still measuring the difference between marriage as she understood it and marriage as Willow and Caleb lived it.

Is this why Wolfe can’t be reconciled to our marriage? Did he expect of marriage what Caleb and Willow so obviously have — a union of lives rather than a merger of titles and wealth?

«The Columbine isn’t far,» Caleb said. «Wolfe knows how to get there.»

«Thank you,» Jessica said quickly, «but if it’s close, I’ll just go by myself.»

«Like hell you will,» Wolfe said. «If it’s the stream I’m thinking of, there’s a band ofUtes that winters there. They like hot springs as well as white men do.»

Caleb nodded. «There’s a small camp. No more than three or four families. Mostly old men, women, and boys. I haven’t had any trouble with them.»

«Yet,» Wolfe retorted. «You let down your guard and you’ll be missing some horses real quick.»

«Keeps a man on his toes,» Caleb agreed blandly.

Wolfe laughed. «You should have been a warrior.»

«He is,» Willow said sleepily. She yawned and burrowed closer to her husband’s strength. «If he weren’t, I’d have died a year ago.»

Long, amber eyelashes flickered down and Willow sighed, relaxing deeply against her husband, letting the rest of the world fade into the warm distance of sleep.

«Reno and Wolf j helped me,» Caleb pointed out in a dry voice.

Willow didn’t answer. She had fallen asleep. Caleb smiled and smoothed a bright lock of hair back from his wife’s face.

«You’re right about the camp,» he said quietly to Wolfe. «It’s not far from the best stretch of trout water for a hundred miles around. But as long as you keep your rifle handy, you won’t have any problems. TheUtes know Tree That Stands Alone. You’re a legend with them.»

«I’m sure Wolfe has better things to do than watch me lash a stream,» Jessica said quietly.

«That’s a fact,» Wolfe agreed.

Caleb looked from Jessica to Wolfe and bit back impatient words. Caleb didn’t know what was wrong between the two of them, but he had no doubt that something was. Normally controlled to a fault, Wolfe’s temper had become as volatile as nitroglycerin. He spent the days working like a man possessed, yet from the look of him there was no rest at night, nor any peace. Jessica looked no better. When she had arrived ten days ago, she had been exhausted from the long trip. She still looked exhausted.

«Nonsense,» Caleb said firmly. «It will do Wolfe good. He’s been working like two men.»

«Bull,» Wolfe said. «Looking after our broodmares isn’t work, it’s pleasure.»

«And digging pestholes, cleaning out springs, fencing offrockfalls and blind canyons, chopping firewood —»

«I said I don’t mind,» Wolfe said, cutting across the other man’s words.

«Do be quiet, you’ll wake Willow,» Jessica said, showing both men two rows of even white teeth.

«In any case, I won’t be leaving Willow while you’re out working all over the countryside. The babe could decide to be born at any moment. There is enough agony and terror waiting for Willow. She shouldn’t be alone in the bargain.»

«Hold your tongue,» Wolfe said coldly. «Not everyone feels as you do about bearing children.»

«Not everyone,» Jessica agreed with equal chill.

«Merely everywoman.»

«That’s enough!» Wolfe said.

«Jessica is right,» Caleb said abruptly. «God help me, she’s right about the danger. When I think of how Becky died…» His expression changed as he looked down at the woman who slept so trustingly in his arms. «Willow is my life.»

«I didn’t mean…» Jessica whispered, but no one was listening.

Caleb stood, lifting Willow with him. Without a word, he carried his wife into their bedroom. The door shut softly behind them.

Sleet rattled over the windows, breaking the silence Caleb had left behind. The howling voice of the wind curled through the room, filling all space, all silence, summoning all that Jessica had spent a lifetime trying to forget.

Hands clasped together until her fingers ached, Jessica fought not to show the fear she had lived with so long she couldn’t remember a time without it. The need to cry out was a constant aching in her throat. Hiding her fear was becoming harder each day. The nights were becoming impossible. Soon she would hear a woman’s screams mingled in awful harmony with the wind’s predatory cry.

Jessica wondered whether the screams would be Willow’s or her own.

11

«Such a fine, delicate stitch,» Willow marveled, watching Jessica embroider an ornate B on a christening gown. «I tried to learn when I was a child, but I didn’t have the patience. I still don’t.»

«I’d rather be able to make biscuits.»

«Your stew is excellent,» Willow said, suppressing a smile.

«It’s edible,» Jessica corrected wryly, «thanks to you. Without your tutoring. I’d still be trying to interest a skunk in my cooking. You’ve been very patient with me.»

«My pleasure. I’ve enjoyed having you here. I haven’t really had another woman to talk to since my mother died.»

Jessica hesitated. «You must have been lonely.»

«Not since I found Caleb.»

With a sigh, Willow settled deeper into the sofa next to Jessica.

«If there’s anything else about the domestic arts you want to know, just ask,» Willow said, yawning. «I’m going to be lazy and watch you embroider while the bread rises.»

Jessica became very still. «Do you mean that?»

«Definitely. I feel very lazy.»

«I meant about asking questions.»

«Of course.» Willow sighed and shifted her weight, trying to accommodate the baby’s restlessness. «Fire away.»

«What I need to know is very…personal.»

«That’s all right. The War Between the States made me pretty shockproof. Ask whatever you like.»

Jessica took a deep breath and said quickly, «You seem to enjoy your husband.»

«Oh, yes. Very much. He’s a wonderful man.» Willow’s hazel eyes kindled with delight and her smile became incandescent.

«No, I meanyouenjoy him. Physically. In the marriage bed.»

Willow blinked. «Yes. I do.»

«Do many women actually enjoy the marriage bed?»

For a moment, Willow looked thoughtful as she remembered her mother’s laughter and her father’s low voice murmuring through the house late at night. Willow also remembered the Widow Sorenson’s eyes lighting when she talked about the pleasure of sharing her life with a man.