She shook her head.

"Thank you, but" -- She swung around on Jamie.

"Jamie, you can't--they could get killed here!"

"Well, ma'am, I'm not planning on getting killed," Malachi told her,

tipping back his hat.

"I'm not planning on it at all. You see, we came to kill them if need

be."

"You don't know von Heusen." "Oh," Kristin said cheerfully, "we have

known men a great deal like him." She smiled, stepping forward.

"We're family, Tess. And that's what it's all about." She flashed Jamie

a quick grin.

"My brother-in-law was always there when I needed him," she said.

"Oh!" Shannon said suddenly.

"Smell that! Oh, no, Jamie and Miss. Stuart have come home at last, and

it seems we've let dinner burn!"

She swung around, then looked back.

"Well, isn't anyone hungry?"

And Tess realized she was starved.

She glanced at Jamie. She was still amazed, still in shock. But Kristin

Slater set a hand upon her arm.

"Come on! I promise you, things will start to look more reasonable after

a good dinner and a full night's sleep!"

Jamie shrugged.

Tess felt herself gently pulled along. Dinner. The perfect end to the.

perfect day?

Chapter Thirteen.

They had just reached the table when Jon Red Feather came in with Hank.

Tess let out a startled, joyful cry and raced to Jori, giving him a

fierce hug.

"You did come back! You made it out, and you came back!"

"Of course," he told her.

"Someone had to be here to welcome the Slaters. I mean, this is

practically a tribe. Have you realized that yet?"

"A tribe!" Kristin said indignantly.

"Sit down, Jon, and watch your tongue, if you will. Jamie, by the way,

you should marry this girl before you find out that you've got

competition on your hands."

Jon laughed, and Tess flushed. She wasn't sure about Jamie's reaction.

Kristin Slater started calmly doling out food into the numerous plates

on the table. It was a good thing it was a big house.

Uncle Joe, you would have loved to have seen this! she thought.

"If everyone would come sit down," Malachi said, pouting wine into the

glasses around the table, "I think that Jon has something to tell Tess

and Jamie."

"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact." Jon walked to the table and picked up

a glass of wine. He smiled at Tess and Jamie. "Cheers," he said, raising

his glass to his lips.

"Will you all please sit!" Cole said emphatically.

Tess sat at her own dining table--as she had been so politely orderedl

Jamie sat beside her, and they stared at Jon, who looked at them.

"I have discovered why von Heusen is so particularly eager to seize hold

of your land, Miss. Stuart."

Tess gasped, and she and Jamie stood.

"Why?" Tess demanded.

Jon smiled, swirling his wine.

"The railroad." "Oh, my God!" Jamie said, sinking into his chair.

Tess stared at him. He obviously understood completely what was going

on, but she didn't have the least idea.

"What?"

"Miss. Stuart," Cole Slater told her, drawing out a chair and sitting

back in it, "the railroad is coming through here.

That means that this property is going to go sky-high in value. If you

wanted to sell some land straight, it would be worth a small fortune."

"But there's more," Jon Red Feather told her softly.

"If 9ou do sell just the necessary land, the rest of your property will

still go sky-rocketing in value--you'll be able to send your produce

right out from your own doorstep. Tess, you're sitting on the best land

this side of the Mississippi. And that's why von Heusen has been so

desperate to get rid of you. With this property in his hands, he could

really control a good percentage of western Texas."

Tess smiled slowly, looking at Jamie.

"But--but he can't touch any of it now. He must know that! Half of it is

in your name, and even if we hadn't returned" -- "Ownership would have

come to Cole and me and our families," Malachi supplied for her.

"Well, he must know that."

"He does know that," Jon said. Gabe was sitting beside him, and he

tousled the lad's brown hair to be rewarded with a fascinated smile. Jon

smiled in turn, then gave Tess his attention again.

"I let it be known that Jamie had found you and that he'd be bringing

you home. I also went to see Edward Clancy and had him print up the

arrival of Cole and Malachi--and I stressed the ability of the Slater

brothers with their small arms."

"A couple of von Heusen's men rode out here the other day. But we

uninvited them quickly," ICRISTIN said, heaping mashed potatoes on a

plate to pass to Jori. "Cole or Malachi scared them away?" Tess asked.

"Oh, no, Shannon did," Kfistin said.

"She's an ace."

"I'm a decent shot," Shannon said demurely.

"She can hit a fly's eye at a hundred yards," Malachi said drily.

They all laughed, but' Cole sobered quickly and spoke to Jamie in low,

even tones.

"The point is, this von Heusen knows that scare tactics aren't going to

work with Miss. Stuart anymore. No one can quite fathom what he'll pull

next."

"Well, he'll have more to worry about after tomorrow," Tess said firmly.

"I'm going to go to the paper and I'm going to give Clancy another

front-page story. It's going to be all about David and Jeremiah and Mr.

yon Heusen's orders to see that I never returned."

"There might be a few problems with that," Jon advised her.

"Why?"

" Tess asked.

"Because Clancy and your printer gave in at last. Someone shot a few

windows yesterday, and by last night, Clancy had thrown in the towel. He

wanted you to know that he was sorry."

Tess inhaled and exhaled.

"I can do it myself," she said. "You won't have to do it yourself,"

Kristin corrected her, sitting at last with her own plate.

"Dolly and Jane can keep the children here, and Shannon and I will come

in and help you with the press. If you give us directions, we can surely

follow them. The three of us will go into town first thing in the

morning" -- "NOV' Jamie said emphatically.

"I have to," Tess began, turning, ready to give battle. "Jamie, I've

told you" -- "The three of you aren't going anywhere alone," he

intempted harshly.

"It isn't safe. Dammr to hell, Tess! Don't you understand yet?"

"I understand that the newspaper has always been my maj or weapon."

"But right now it isn't enough. Okay, we'll go. You'll do your damned

article, but we'll go together. Tess, what do I have to say to get

through to you? When yon Heusen attacks again, it's going to be all-out

war."

She wanted to retort. She was furious. He was right, of course, but she

still wanted to yell at him.

Fighting desperately to hold her tongue, she looked at Jon.

"How did you find all this out?"

He shrugged.

"I was still in buckskins when I came back, and I didn't change before I

made a visit into town. Von Heusen had one of his guns follow me. I knew

it, so I doubled back and got hold of him. As it happened, Cole and

Malachi had been riding in to meet me." "And," Malachi said, grinning,

"Jon just happened to be dressed for the occasion."

Tess was still confused. Kristin sighed and explained. "Cole and Malachi

convinced von Heusen's hired goon that Jon was scarcely more than a raw

savage and that he actually delighted in human flesh. Between the three

of them they barely had to touch the fellow before he was spilling

everything he had ever known in his life."

Tess smiled and glanced at Jamie.

He was not smiling. She looked away quickly, pushing a piece of roast

around on her plate. They were a lot alike, the Slater brothers. Cole

was the darkest, with golden eyes--his little boy had those eyes, even

though he had his mother's soft blond hair. Malachi was a golden blond

with blue eyes, and Jamie was sandy-haired with his smoke gray and

silver eyes. But the planes of their faces were similar, strong and hard

and weathered. She realized suddenly that she would trust any of the

brothers with anything she had.

And she didn't really mean to keep fighting Jamie. It just kept coming

out that way.

He stood up suddenly, his chair scraping back.

"That was a fine meal, Kristin, Shannon--Dolly?"

"We all contributed," Kristin told him.

"Well, thank you, but I think I need a little air. You got a good

cheroot on you anywhere, Cole?"

"Sure," said his brother, rising as well. He stopped by his wife's chair

and kissed her tenderly at the base of the neck before following Jamie

out.

"Seems like we're splitting up here," Malachi said. "Well, don't stay on

my account!" Shannon told him.

He laughed, shrugged at Jon, and the two of them left. Hank followed

them and the women were left--Jane, who had barely said a word, Dolly,

who was unbelievably quiet, and Shannon and Kristin and Tess.

"All this to make a meal, and then it's just wolfed down, and then

everyone runs" -- "Ma," Gabe suddenly interrupted from the end of the

table.

"I cleaned my plate. Can I go join Pa?"

Kristin threw up her hands, and Tess felt some of the tension leave her

as she laughed.

"Go!" Kristin told her son.

He smiled, excused hun self politely to Tess and ran out of the house.

"We might as well pick up," Shannon said. "Might as well."

Things went quickly with five of them to do the clearing, the scraping,

the washing and the drying. Shannon asked Tess what it had been like

with the Apache, and by the time she finished with her story about Jon

and Jamie appearing at just the fight time, they had finished the

dishes. Jane and Dolly kissed Tess again and went to bed. Shannon and

Kristin and Tess made tea and then sat around the kitchen table, staring

at one another.

"And then this Nalte let you go--just because Jamie asked for you? He

let you go to Jamie?" Kfistin said.

Tess felt herself flush, wondering how to avoid saying the very thing

the Indian chief had so clearly understood.

"He, uh, he ..."

"Oh, for God's sake, Kristin, they've been sleeping together and this

Nalte man knew it!" Shannon exclaimed.

"Shannon!" gris ting protested.

"Well, all right, I'm terribly sorry, but Ktistin and I both married

Slater men. I know. They're so easy to want to shoot, but at the same

time ..." Her voice trailed away and she was really beautiful as she

grinned.

"Well, they are easy to sleep with. Seductive."

Tess knew she had to be a thousand shades of crimson. Kristin sighed.

"He's very much in love with you. I'm sure We'll see a wedding any day."

"I'm not terribly sure about that."

"He called us here. To protect your interests. He must love you."

"I've turned over half the property to him. It's his own property he's

protecting." "Urn. Did he bargain for anything else?" Kristin asked her.

She didn't know why she was being so honest except that somehow she felt

she had known the two women all her life.

Maybe it was because they had all become involved with Slater men.

"Maybe they just don't marry easily," Shannon suggested.

"But you're both married," Tess began.

"Cole had to marry me," gris ting said.

"Oh, the baby?"

"No!" gris ting 'laughed.

"There was a horrible, horrible man after me.

The war was going on and the only way he could count on some protection

from some old acquaintances was to be able to say that I was his wife.

He fell in love with me slowly; it took him a long time." She smiled

sweetly at Shannon.

"And Malachi had to marry Shannon."

"Well, he didn't have to," Shannon protdsted. "The twins?" Tess asked.

"No, a shotgun," Shannon explained ruefully. They both laughed, and

Shannon took a deep breath and tried to explain that Kristin was her

sister, and that Kfistin had been in trouble.