It made a man want to measure the slender waist with his hands, and then peel off the coarse cloth to get at the silky woman beneath.

But it was better than the crimson silk saloon dress Reno had first seen on Eve. He had been afraid she would wear it in Willow’s house as a way of getting back at him for saying he wouldn’t take a fancy lady into his sister’s house.

He hadn’t meant the remark as a insult; it was simply a fact. He had too much respect and love for his sister to parade fallen women through her home.

«Oh, blast,» Willow said. «I forgot Ethan’s diaper.»

«I’ll get it,» Eve said.

«Thanks. It’s in the bedroom next to yours.»

Eve turned and saw Reno’s disapproving eyes. She straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin, and walked past him without a word.

His cold glance followed the unconscious swaying of her hips until he could see them no longer. Only then did he turn back to his sister and his nephew, who was at present being bathed near the warmth of the kitchen stove.

The baby’s whiskey-colored eyes were an exact match for Caleb’s. Though not yet six months old, Ethan Black was already bigger than most children at ten months. He made an armful for his mother as he splashed and paddled enthusiastically in a basin of warm water.

«Here,» Reno said. «Let me take care of him. You make biscuits.»

«I’ve already made a triple batch,» Willow said. «The last of them are baking right now.»

«Those are for tonight. I was talking about biscuits for the trail tomorrow.»

Laughing, Willow stepped aside.

Reno picked up the soft washrag, rubbed soap into it, and began washing his nephew. The baby made a happy sound and reached for Reno’s mustache with chubby little fingers. Reno drew back, but not quite enough. Ethan grabbed hair and pulled.

Wincing, Reno moved to disentangle the small fingers. Despite the baby’s happy yanking, Reno was careful not to truly discourage his nephew. He eased the fingers from his mustache, gave them a smacking, tickling kiss, and laughed when Ethan’s eyes widened with surprise and delight.

The baby crowed and made another grab for Reno’s mustache. This time Reno had the baby’s range and ducked successfully.

«If you don’t beat all,» Reno said as he washed his squirming, energetic nephew. «I’m gone less than a month, and your arms grow half an inch.»

Ethan’s arms windmilled, sending water every-where. Willow looked up from the flour she was sifting, saw her child’s delight, and shook her head.

«You spoil him,» she said, but there was no censure in her voice.

«One of the pleasures of my life,» Reno agreed. «That, and your biscuits.»

With a glad shriek, Ethan launched himself at Reno’s chest.

«Easy there, little man.»

Gently he restrained the baby so that Willow’s kitchen wouldn’t end up as wet and slippery as a bathhouse floor.

Ethan tried to wriggle free, but couldn’t. Just when he was clouding up for a good cry, Reno distracted him by picking up one of his little hands, pressing his mouth against the palm, and blowing hard. The fruity noises that followed delighted the baby.

No one noticed Eve standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching Reno with both disbelief and yearning in her eyes. She had never imagined that much gentleness lay beneath Reno’s hard body and lethal speed with a six-gun. Seeing him bathe his nephew made her feel as though she had stepped from one world into another one, a world where anything was possible….

Even tenderness and strength combined in the same man.

«Damn, you’re as slippery as an eel,» Reno said.

«Try rinsing him off,» Willow said without looking up.

«With what? Most of the water is on me.»

Willow laughed. «Hang on. There’s warm water on the stove. I’ll get it as soon as I finish sifting this batch of flour.»

«I’ll get it,» Eve said as she stepped into the kitchen.

A subtle change came over Reno at the sound of Eve’s voice behind him, a tightness that wasn’t there before.

Willow saw it, noted it, and wondered why Reno was so ill at ease with the girl who was his partner. There was none of the relaxation between the two of them that Willow would have expected of a couple involved in a courtship or a liaison of a more physical sort.

Nor was there any flirtation. Reno treated Eve as though she were a virtual stranger — and a male stranger, at that.

That surprised Willow, for Reno was normally both gallant and appreciative of women. Especially women with wide golden eyes, a generous smile, and a feline grace of movement that was frankly, if unintentionally, sensual.

«Thank you, Eve,» Willow said. «Ethan’s towel is warming on that peg just beyond the stove.»

From the corner of his eye, Reno watched as Eve retrieved both towel and warm rinse water for the baby. When she bent over, the worn fabric of her dress cupped her breasts with breathtaking closeness, revealing every curve.

The fierce shaft of desire that went through Reno angered him. His sexual appetite hadn’t ever been this unruly. Deliberately he looked away from Eve to the strapping, healthy baby wriggling between his hands.

«He may have Caleb’s eyes,» Reno said, studying Ethan, «but they’re set like yours. Same catlike tilt.»

«I could say the same about your eyes,» Willow said. «Lord, but the girls used to fall at your feet like overripe peaches.»

«That’s Rafe you’re thinking of.»

Willow snorted. «It’s both of you. Savannah Marie was like a donkey between two carrots.»

Silently Eve began pouring a trickle of water over the slippery baby Reno was holding.

«It wasn’t our looks,» Reno said. «It was our farm bordering her father’s that she liked.»

The steel edge buried in Reno’s voice made Willow look up from her biscuits.

«Do you think so?» she asked.

«I know so. All Savannah Marie was interested in was her own comfort. That’s all most women are interested in.»

Willow made a protesting sound.

«Except you,» Reno added. «You never were like other girls. You had a heart as big as a barn — and no more sense than a hayloft.»

Willow laughed.

When Eve looked up, she was caught by Reno’s pale green eyes. He didn’t have to say a word; she knew he included her in the category of women out for their own comfort and to hell with what anyone else needed.

«Honestly, Matt,» Willow said. «You shouldn’t say such things. Someone who doesn’t know you might believe you meant it.»

The look Reno gave Eve said she had better believe him.

«Tilt Ethan’s head back,» Eve said in a low voice.

Reno shifted his nephew until Eve could rinse his silky, dark hair without getting soap in his eyes.

When Ethan began to protest, Eve bent down and spoke to him in a soothing voice as she rinsed his hair. Her deft, skillful hands soon had his head as clean of soap as the rest of him.

«There, there, little sugar man. Don’t fuss. I’ll have you warm and dry before you know it. See? All finished.»

Eve took the towel from her shoulder, wrapped it around Ethan’s sturdy body, and lifted him from the shallow bath basin. She set him on the counter and went about drying him with an easy skill that told its own story. As she worked, she tugged gently on his toes and recited snippets of old rhymes she hadn’t thought of in years.

«…andthislittle piggy had none…»

Ethan gurgled with delight. The piggy game was one of his favorites, second only to peekaboo.

«…andthislittle piggy went wheel whee! whee! all the way home.»

Ethan laughed, and so did Eve. She wrapped the towel around him and lifted him into her arms for a hug and a kiss.

Eyes dosed, lost in memories and dreams, Eve swayed from side to side with Ethan wrapped in her arms, rocking him and remembering a time years ago when she had hungered for her own home, her own family, her own child.

After a few moments Eve realized the kitchen was very quiet. She opened her eyes to find Willow smiling gently at her. Reno was watching her as though he had never seen a woman handle a baby.

«You do that very well,» Willow said.

Eve set Ethan back on the counter and began diapering him with matter-of-fact skill.

«There were always babies at the orphanage,» Eve said. «I used to pretend they were mine…a family.»

Willow made a low sound of sympathy.

Reno’s eyes narrowed. If he could have thought of a way to prevent Eve from telling her heart-tugging lies, he would have. But it was too late. She was talking again, and Willow was listening with wide hazel eyes.

«But there were too many older children in the orphanage. Each time the orphan train left, the oldest were shipped off to the West. Finally it was my turn.»

«I’m sorry,» Willow said softly. «I didn’t mean to bring up unhappy memories.»

Eve smiled quickly at the other woman. «That’s all right. The people who bought me were kinder than most.»

«Bought…?»

Willow’s voice faded into an appalled silence.

«Isn’t it time to put Ethan to bed?» Reno asked curtly.

Willow accepted the change of subject with relief.

«Yes,» she said. «He fretted all through his nap today.»

«May I put him to bed?» Eve asked.

«Of course.»

Reno’s eyes followed Eve every step of the way out of the kitchen, promising retribution for wringing his sister’s soft heart.

7

Ethan's cry came clearly into the kitchen, where Eve and Willow were just finishing the evening dishes.