"What luck that I ran into you."

"I'm not usually up this early," Mae said wryly. "But since I am, I thought I'd get breakfast at the hotel."

"Oh, let's do. I couldn't keep Jessie still long enough to feed her. All she wanted was to see Jed. Then she was going to return the buckboard we borrowed last night and meet me back here."

"I imagine she'll be hungry once her worry is settled a bit." Mae paused as they neared the hotel. "You're really not fretting that there'll be gossip about us?"

Kate stopped and regarded Mae seriously. "Of course I'm not.

You're my best friend."

"Lord, Kate," Mae said. "You're as stubborn as Jessie is. You just hide it better."

Laughing, Kate drew Mae inside. "It's a good thing I am, because between you and Jessie I've got my hands full."

They crossed the lobby, which was empty save for several worn sofas and chairs, to the dining room off to one side. To Kate's surprise, Rose Mason and her mother sat at one of the small tables having tea and biscuits. Rose's face lit up when she saw them, but Clarissa Mason's turned to stony disapproval.

"Kate!" Rose exclaimed, waving. "Come join us."

Kate saw Clarissa lean close to her daughter and whisper into her ear with some urgency, a disapproving admonishment Kate surmised.

Suppressing a smile of satisfaction at the thought of Clarissa Mason's distress, Kate nevertheless shook her head. She had no desire to put Mae in a situation where she would be uncomfortable. "Thank you, but we wouldn't want to intrude."

"We were just about to leave," Clarissa Mason said brittlely.

"Oh, Mama," Rose objected. "You know Anna said she wouldn't be ready for our fitting for at least another hour." As Kate and Mae started toward a nearby table, Rose announced, "We're having dresses made with some of the material we brought back from Denver. They're going to be in the latest style."

"That sounds wonderful," Kate said with what she hoped was an appropriate degree of enthusiasm. She thought of her plans to adjust her own clothing to suit her new activities at the ranch and how appalled Rose would be at the outcome. How much her life had changed since coming to New Hope and finding Jessie. Finding herself. Although never as interested in fashion and social dealings as her girlfriends had been, she now found such concerns frivolous in the extreme.

"You go on ahead, Mama. I know you want to talk to Mrs. Frankel at the store. I'll have tea with Kate and..." Rose stared at Mae with added interest.

"I'm so sorry for my bad manners," Kate said, turning aside for a moment to ask for tea and biscuits from the boy who had come out from the kitchen to inquire. She smiled at Rose, who hurried to join them despite a disapproving cluck from her mother. "This is my friend Mae."

"Hello," Mae said.

"I'm so happy to meet you," Rose said as she settled at the table Kate and Mae had chosen.

"Likewise, I'm sure," Mae said, one elegant eyebrow raised.

Clarissa Mason paused by the table long enough to give her daughter a hard stare, then said coolly, "Don't be long. We have a great many things to do this morning before our appointment for tea at the Millers'."

"I'll be there shortly," Rose said. As soon as her mother disappeared, Rose leaned forward conspiratorially. "I heard that there was excitement last night at Doc Melbourne's." She glanced at Kate.

"Is it true that someone from the Rising Star was shot?"

"Yes," Kate said quietly. "Our foreman, Jed."

"Did Vance take care of him?"

Mae didn't miss the eager emphasis Rose placed on Vance's name. She narrowed her eyes and studied her thoughtfully. Rose was very much like the young girls she had grown up with, the daughters of privileged families who rebelled against the restrictions imposed upon them by dabbling in what they perceived to be exotic or dangerous pursuits. Sometimes that took the form of romantic liaisons with men their parents would find unsuitable. She could imagine that Vance, being so very different from any of the women or men with whom Rose was familiar, would seem exciting and intriguing. Vance was surely handsome enough to turn any woman's eye, if only out of sheer appreciation for simple beauty. She wondered if the woman Vance had mentioned being attracted to in medical school had been anything like Rose, delicately lovely and undoubtedly eagerly passionate. She pushed the thought aside, because envisioning Vance with Rose or any other woman was more than she could tolerate under the best of circumstances. After a tempestuous night and very little sleep, she was likely to become dangerously ill-tempered.

"Yes, she did. She was wonderful," Kate enthused. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I really think we should have some kind of welcoming party for her, don't you?" Rose said. "After all, she's a very important new member of our community. I think we should let her know how much we appreciate her."

Kate glanced quickly at Mae, whose expression suggested she was contemplating violence. "I'm sure Dr. Phelps would appreciate that. Right now, I imagine she'll be very busy taking care of Jed and all her other responsibilities."

"Will Jed be recuperating here in town?" Rose asked.

Kate shook her head. "No, Jessie will want him back at the ranch as soon as possible."

"You'll need help looking after him," Rose said. "I'm sure my mother would give me permission to help you. After all, it's the neighborly thing to--"

"That's very kind of you," Mae said flatly. "I've already offered to give Kate a hand, and I've had a great deal of experience with it."

"Oh." Rose looked crestfallen and then brightened after a few seconds. "Well, I'm sure you'll be needing extra food prepared and things like that. I'll be sure to bring some out."

"That would be very nice," Kate said, carefully not looking in Mae's direction. It wouldn't do to laugh.

"Well," Rose said, rising. "I should go before my mother gets upset." She smiled at Mae. "It was very nice to meet you."

Mae found it hard not to like her naďve friendliness and smiled despite the nagging image of Rose turning her considerable charms on Vance. "Same here."

Kate waited a beat until Rose was out of earshot, then said, "You don't really have to come all the way out to the ranch to help with Jed."

"I don't mind." Mae sipped the tea that had been delivered while Rose had been scheming to find a way to see Vance. "It's difficult work."

"I'm not afraid of that."

"I know, but I might be able to show you some things."

Kate nodded. "I'd appreciate that. And you know you're always welcome at the ranch, without needing a reason." Kate reached for a biscuit and grinned at Mae. "Rose is very curious about Vance."

"I noticed that."

"Vance is very striking."

"I noticed that, too."

"I thought perhaps you had." Kate grew suddenly serious. "I think she's quite marvelous."

"So do I," Mae said softly.

"Well, then it's a good thing you'll be coming out to the ranch to help with Jed."

"I wonder when Vance will let Jessie take him home."

Kate glanced across the room. "Why don't we ask her?"

Mae looked over her shoulder and saw Vance and Jessie approaching. It was the first time she'd seen them together. They were as different as night and day, Jessie golden and radiantly vigorous, Vance dark and broodingly potent. They were of a kind, and yet completely individual. They were painfully beautiful. "Oh my."

"Yes," Kate murmured. "I always thought that Jessie was just Jessie. But it's more than that, isn't it?"

"I think so," Mae said.

"It's something wonderful."

"Yes." Mae smiled up at Vance, who stood beside her chair. "Yes, it is."


CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Hello," Mae said, noticing in the bright light of day the smudges of weariness beneath Vance's eyes. She wondered if there would ever come a time when those shadows would lift.

"Good morning." Vance nodded to Kate as she took the chair next to Mae's. She registered absently the look of open affection that Kate gave to Jessie, but her attention was completely focused on Mae.

When they'd parted some hours before, Mae had been disheveled from sleep. Beautiful in the way that women were when at their most natural.

Now, she was dressed in a midnight blue dress that was considerably less revealing than what she wore in the evenings, but she was no less striking. Her hair was piled high and held with delicate combs; here and there a twisting strand of gold fell free. Her hands were unadorned save for a single emerald ring on her wedding finger. Her hands were delicate and small, and Vance was immediately assaulted with the memory of those fingers skimming her breasts. Without being aware of it, she clenched her fist on the table, her body vibrating with tension.

"How is Jed?" Kate asked, brushing her hand down Jessie's arm as her lover settled beside her.

"Doing as well as can be expected." Jessie tilted her chin toward Vance. "Thanks to the doctor, here." She glanced at the scrawny boy who approached the table with an inquiring look on his face. "Coffee.

Vance?"

"Lots of it," Vance replied. "And the thanks are mostly due to the fact that Jed's stubborn and strong."

"Neither would do him much good," Mae pointed out gently, "if you hadn't gotten the bullet out as slick as you did."

"We got lucky there." When Mae smiled and briefly stroked the back of Vance's hand, a knot of tension coiled in the pit of Vance's stomach. She wanted to open her hand and lace her fingers through Mae's, just to feel more of her skin. She caught a whiff of spice and warm earth, and longed to press her face to Mae's neck. It was dangerous being anywhere near her, because all she wanted was to lose herself in the sensation of her. She straightened and moved her hand away.