"You two," Mae said, "don't need to worry about fitting in, because you're just where you belong. Vance, there's a bit of supper left, and if you don't have some soon, Kate's likely to take after you with a knife."

"I just need to get washed up," Vance said, wishing she could kiss her, but wanting to be fresher before she did.

Mae solved her dilemma by crossing the porch, curling an arm around Vance's neck, and kissing her soundly on the mouth.

Jessie looked hastily away and sidled toward the door. "I'll just...

ah...be going. Help Kate...do something."

"Jed's been fussing about getting back to work," Mae called after Jessie, her arms still around Vance's neck. "If you tell him to stay in bed, he might just mind."

"How is he doing?" Vance decided that if Mae didn't mind the way she smelled, she might as well enjoy herself, so she leaned back against the post rail and snugged Mae into the curve of her body.

"We couldn't get even the smallest bit of cloth into that hole in his back today," Mae said with satisfaction. "I think he's healed."

"You've both done an excellent job with him." Vance sighed with contentment and rested her chin lightly on Mae's shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm so late."

"You make it hard for me to fuss at you when I'm so glad to see you," Mae murmured. She kissed Vance's neck. "And when you feel so good."

"With any luck, there won't be any calls waiting for me and I can stay the night with you."

"I don't care if there're a dozen calls, you're going to bed tonight."

Mae frowned. "You'll not do anyone any good if you run yourself into the ground."

Vance laughed. "I'm fine. I've been known to take a nap beneath a tree while waiting for a baby to be born."

Mae smiled. "I bet that's a sight. But I still want you in bed with me tonight. Come by around one."

"Mae," Vance said carefully. "You told me once that you don't need to entertain very often because there are only a few customers you still see. How did that come about?"

"I think it would be better if we didn't speak of these things," Mae said quietly, her cheek against Vance's shoulder. "If it doesn't touch us, it can't drive us apar--"

"Nothing is going to come between us, my dearest Mae," Vance said. "Certainly not this."

Mae sighed. "Is it important?"

"I think so, yes."

"After I'd been here a few months, a gentleman from town told me one evening that he'd made an arrangement so that I would be available to him whenever he wanted."

"And you agreed?"

Mae laughed. "It's not a question of agreeing or not. He was polite, didn't come around very often, and made it clear that he would be generous with his money. He also made it clear that I was not to speak of our arrangement. He always uses the back entrance."

Vance remained perfectly still while Mae explained the arrangements, allowing none of her growing jealousy to show. "So he's the only one?"

"On occasion there are others, friends of his. Not very often."

"Who is he?"

"Oh, Vance, if you have a face, a name, to think about, I'm afraid that it will work on you. I don't want you to look at me and see him touching me, when he's nothin--"

"I love you," Vance said firmly. "I love to look at you, I love to touch you. I love it when you touch me. Nothing will ever change that."

Tenderly, Vance skimmed her fingers over Mae's face and down her neck. She cupped her chin and kissed her softly. "When I look at you, I see my greatest fortune. I see my deepest hopes. All my dreams rest in your eyes." She pressed her cheek to Mae's and held her tightly.

Against her ear she murmured, "I don't want to spend a day of my life without you. Please let me help you be safe."

"You make it hard to say no," Mae whispered. "Promise me you won't do anything foolish."

"You have my word," Vance said immediately.

"Wallace Fitzpatrick."

"The lumberman?"

"Yes."

"And you think he owns the Nugget?"

Mae shook her head. "I don't think so. But I think one of the others does. One of his friends."

"Who are they?"

Vance wasn't surprised when Mae named two of the men whom Jessie had suggested had the means to own the establishment. At least now she could concentrate her efforts on them. If she couldn't track Hanrahan, she could watch them. She kissed Mae again. "Thank you."

"I can't seem to say no to you." Mae shook her head. "I'm not sure yet if that's a good thing."

Vance laughed. "I should get inside before Kate comes searching for me. I can't have the two of you after me at once."

"You needn't worry," Mae said, linking her arm through Vance's.

"If anyone's going to be taking after you, it will be me."

"Then I shall consider myself lucky."

v "Mary Willows asked me to bring my camera with me the next time I visit," Kate said. She sat at the table finishing her tea while Vance ate the supper she had saved for her. "To photograph the baby."

Vance smiled. "I have a feeling that's going to be a very frequent request."

"You're going to need a bigger buggy," Jessie teased.

"I love taking family pictures, but there are so many beautiful things about our life out here. I was wondering," Kate said shyly, watching Vance carefully, "if you would sit for me."

"Me?" Vance colored and cast about for some excuse. "Why, I hardly think there's anything about me--"

"I think that's a fine idea," Mae said firmly. "I'd like one of her, Kate."

"Actually," Kate said, "I've seen sketches in newspapers done from photographs. I'd like to try that for my father's paper. You're a new doctor in the territory, and a woman, and that seems like something people would be interested in knowing about."

Vance groaned. "I can't think why, and even if they did, I--"

"You might as well just agree, Vance," Jessie said. "Because you're going to sooner or later."

Kate cast her lover a stern glance, but her laughing eyes betrayed her amusement.

"I suppose it's the least I can do after all the nights you've fed me." Vance smiled at Kate. "Just tell me when you--"

The clatter of hoofbeats and the sound of someone riding hard interrupted her, and everyone glanced toward the kitchen door. Vance rose quickly as both she and Jessie automatically gripped their revolvers, and then she stepped between Mae and the window. When Jessie edged open the door to look outside, Vance started toward her, saying to Mae, "Stay inside."

Mae turned to Kate. "Where's the rifle?"

"By the fireplace." Kate opened a drawer, withdrew a revolver, and cocked it. "It's probably nothing, but ever since Jed--"

"I know," Mae said grimly, opening the door, the rifle resting in the crook of her arm. She could see shapes in the yard but not much else. She lifted the rifle as a figure approached, then lowered it again when she recognized Jessie's distinctive form. "What is it?"

Jessie strode inside, followed a few seconds later by Vance.

"Charlie's outside. He said there are strangers following one of the herds. He thinks they're getting ready to cut the young horses out." She glanced at Kate. "I have to go."

"I want to come."

Jessie shook her head. "You can't, Kate. We're going to be riding hard. Charlie thinks we can reach their location before dawn."

"I'll need a horse and saddlebags for my equipment," Vance said.

"I'll also need extra ammunition. I don't carry much when I'm out on calls."

"I appreciate it," Jessie said to Vance, "but there's no need for you to come."

"With Jed still down, you're short a gun." Vance grinned. "And I'm a good one."

Jessie studied Vance's face, saw the steady sureness in her eyes.

"Okay, then."

Kate turned to Mae as Jessie and Vance hurried back outside.

"Isn't there something we can do?"

"If I could think of a reason that made sense for them not to go, I'd say so." Mae frowned and set the rifle on the table. "But they're doing what needs to be done, and though I hate to admit it, they're the ones to do it."

As much as Kate didn't like the idea of staying behind, she knew that Mae and Jessie were right. She just had to believe that Jessie would come home unharmed.


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Just before dawn, Vance pulled her horse even with Jessie's.

She, Jessie, and the ranch hands had been climbing steadily into the foothills through the night, and the air was noticeably thinner and colder than on the ranch. The terrain was rocky and the scattering of junipers and sagebrush fairly sparse, so there wasn't much in the way of cover. The openness made Vance more than a little uneasy.

She was used to fighting in the woods and fields of Pennsylvania and Virginia, where trees and thickets provided plentiful shields. The sound of horses' hooves clattering on rock split the air like gunshots, and each time she heard it, her stomach tightened painfully. She knew where she was, and she knew that Lee's army did not wait over the crest of the next ridge. Still, the anticipation of battle was as familiar as the beat of her own heart. "How much farther, do you think?"

"We're pretty close to the line shack where Charlie and Johnny were staying when they saw the strangers following the herd," Jessie said.

"It might be better to leave most of the men back a ways, because fifteen riders are going to make a racket going up that last slope," Vance said, nodding toward the rocky ridge in front of them. "It will also prevent us from being flanked to have your guns at our back."