She and Malachi had gone after her, and a kindly old couple had derided

the two of them had to be married. "But they'd been in' love for years.

They wouldn't admit it, of course, because they were too busy gouging

one another's eyes out."

"Oh, it never was that bad!" Shannon protested. "No, it was worse!"

Kristin said. She stood up.

"I think that we need a drop of brandy to go with this, too. Girls?"

Shannon and Tess both agreed. Then Tess yawned and complained that her

buckskins were filthy and that she felt as if half of Texas was covering

her.

The sisters quickly had the hip tub out and filled, and Shannon was

racing upstairs for French bath oil, and before she knew it Kristin was

presenting her with a lilac nightgown that matched her eyes. "I can't

take these things!" Tess protested.

"But you can. It's all in the family," Shannon told her. Tess shook her

head.

"I heard Jamie once. He said that no one would ever make him get

married." Kristin shrugged.

"They can't force him--but he just might choose to do so on his own."

' "Do you want him?" Shannon asked her.

Tess f~it her heart beat hard and she closed her eyes. Yes! Yes, she

wanted Jamie desperately. She had wanted him his eyes had first fallen

upon her, since he had killed since he had told her in a soft voice that

she was Since that day by the stream before the nightmare had begun and

he had touched her and said, "I think I'm falling in love with you ..."

But that had been before they had nearly been destroyea, before he had

lost his beloved cavalry mount to retrieve her.

She was trouble. He had told her that again and again. He had walked out

at dinner because he had been so furious with her that he hadn't been

able to stay at the table. "Do you?"

Shannon persisted.

"Yes," Tess admitted softly.

"I want him. For keeps."

"Then forget the arguments. Even forget the fact that you'll probably

never get along. I have," Shannon said cheerily.

"Forget von Heusen, forget everything, and cherish what time you have

together in peace."

"And get in the tub with the rose oil," Kristin suggested drily.

"There's just nothing like a very sweet smell."

"And a see-through lilac gown to match your eyes! Aren't they beautiful

eyes, Kristin?" "And she's not jealous often," Kristin said, laughing.

Feeling loved and protected, Tess stepped into the water and felt the

steam surround her. It was good to be home.

"I'm more worried now that I know just what this man is after," Jamie

said.

He was sitting on the rocker on the porch. Jori was perched on the

railing with Cole, and Malachi was seated across from him on the swing.

It creaked slowly in the night air.

Jamie exhaled. He looked at his brothers.

"Thanks for coming. I'm just wishing right now that I hadn't had you

bring Kristin and Shannon."

"Jamie, you've known the McCahy girls a long time," Cole said drily.

"And you should know at this point that they wouldn't have it any other

way."

"I just don't know what this man might plan. I do know that he keeps

twenty to thirty hired guns on his property at all times."

"We've met up with bad odds~ before Malachi reminded him.

"God damn it, don't you understand what I'm trying to say? I don't want

you, your wives or your children killed on my account."

Gabe came out then. He glanced at his father and it was obvious he had

heard some of what had been said. He went straight up to his Uncle Jamie

and took his trail-toughened face into his hands.

"There's right and wrong, Uncle Jamie, and you know that. And my pa and

my ma, they say you have to fight what's wrong, because if you just give

in, it'll bury you in the end.

I don't mind fighting. Not if it's the right thing to do."

Jamie lifted his nephew and hugged him tightly. Cole smiled.

"I rest my case."

"Malachi, those twins of yours aren't quite three years old. You think

they feel the same way?"

"Jamie, we're here, and that's it," Malachi said flatly. "Now, what

about Tess?"

"What about her?" Jamie scowled.

"She's the hardest creature to tangle with I have ever encountered,

Yanks and Indians and rattlers included." "Think you're going to marry

her?" Malachi asked pleasantly.

"If he doesn't do so soon," Jon Red Feather supplied, "I

"Damn you, Jon" -- I'll have to, to keep the poor woman honest." ,~

Jamie ou know the lot of you, you may be but I'm " She's beautiful, very

bright and has the will of a wildcat. Besides that, she's worth a damned

fortune. He's already absconded with half her property," Malachi said."

Wait a damned minute!" Jamie protested.

"The least you could do is marry her," Cole said. Jamie threw up his

hands.

"Thank you, one and all, for coming. And now I'll thank you, one and

all, to mind your own damned bus' mess Good night."

He set Gabe on the rocker and headed into the house. He was halfway up

the stairs before he realized he didn't know if he had a room in the

house. His brothers and Kristin and Shannon and even the kids seemed

very happily moved in.

But where the hell he was supposed to be, he didn't know. He headed for

Tess's room, wondering what her reaction was going to be. If she

threatened to scream and bring the house down he thought he'd throttle

her.

He tapped on her door, then pushed it open.

"Tess?" "Jamie?" She said his name softly, sweetly. Her voice touched

the air like the fragrance of roses that seemed to be all around the

room, light as stardust. Her whisper was sultry, as if he had awakened

her.

He strode across the room then paused, seeing how the moon entered

through the window and glowed upon bet.

Her hair was shining with greater splendor than any sunset, and it was

spread out behind her as if each strand were a glorious ray of the sun.

She was dressed in violet, a shade that matched her eyes in the darkness

of the night. A shade that was barely concealing, a shade that managed

to enhance every beautiful line and curve of her body.

"Tess, where the hell" -- He paused, clearing his throat, wondering why

the hell he was getting so damned angry.

"Tess, where am I supposed to--oh, the hell with it!" he growled.

He didn't see her smile as he dropped forcefully upon her, sweeping her

into his arms. He didn't really see anything 271 except the color of her

hair, entwining and tangling around him. He breathed in the clean, sweet

scent of her, and he could barely contain his longings. The Apache had

kept them apart for the last two long nights. He hadn't realized how

badly he could need her after such a short time, how much he could crave

her. She was like a sweet a man thought he tasted once, and yet wanted

more and more once he knew the exotic taste. He kissed her fiercely, and

he kissed her long, and he felt the frantic rise of her breasts against

his hand as she lost her breath. Only when she trembled and gasped did

he raise his head and stare at her.

"I'm staying here. We're doing it my way, remember?"

She returned his stare. Her arms wound around him, and she pressed her

lips to his, then she shoved him slightly away from her and started to

open his shirt buttons. Slowly, achingly slowly, she opened them one by

one, pressing her lips against his flesh. And when his shirt was east

aside she tenderly nipped and kissed his shoulders while she tugged at

his belt buckle. She inched his pants slowly down his hips. Boldly,

possessively she touched him, stroked him and trembled, her fingers

shaking as he came hard as steel to her ministrations. Then he could

stand no more of the sweet torture and she was on her back, with his

lips savoring her body beneath the gauze of the lilac gown. He tasted

her breasts and the valley between them and her navel and her upper

thighs and teased her more intimately still until she was thrashing and

calling his name to the moon-dusted night, begging that he come to her.

With the deepest pleasure, he obliged, and the feeling of being where he

belonged within her was almost as great as pure sexual excitement of

being so tightly, so erotically He shuddered with the force of his

desire, and deeper and deeper until they exploded as one. Then her

tightly into his arms, glad of her lips pressed to her head burrowed

against him.

You're mine, he longed to tell her. You were mine when I first found

you, and mine when I came to Nalte to ask for you. You are mine this

night. And if we can only survive, you will be mine forever. His

thoughts gave pause, and he added silently: even if you are the most

ornery and troublesome female in the western world.

In the morning his troublesome female was up and almost dressed by the

time he had pulled on his trousers.

"Afraid of my family?" he asked her.

Tess looked his way curiously and shook her head. No man could be a

finer lover, tender and tempestuous, but in the morning his temper

always seemed to leave something to be desired.

"I don't care what they know, if you're talking about our sleeping

arrangements."

"I see. You think my older brother will insist that we marry."

"No one will ever force you to marry, Jamie. You said so yourself."

"So you're not planning on marriage."

"I try not to plan on anything."

She was at her dresser, brushing her hair. He slipped behind her, his

chest still naked, and pulled her against him.

He whispered against her ear.

"What if you're already with child?"

She turned and faced him, looking him up and down. "You're nicely built,

intelligent, I think, and your brothers don't seem to have too many

flaws.

If I have a child, it should be a darling one." She swung around to

continue to brush her hair.

He laughed as he donned his shirt and socks and boots. "Tess, you are a

hellion," he told her.

She smiled sweetly.

"I just do the best I can with what I've got, Lieutenant. I'm going down

for breakfast. I'm sure Dolly and Jane got things started very early

with all those 273 little children to feed. And I do want to be at the

paper by eight. I've got to teach Kristin and Shannon how to work the

press."

"I'm right with you," Jamie told her. But when she would have exited the

room, he pulled her back.

"We do things my way, remember."

"I remember," she said coolly. "Everything."

"Meaning?"

"I'll tell you later," was all he said.

He stepped past her and hurried down the stairs. She followed him,

convinced that he had only stopped her to prove to her that he could be

down first.

Dolly and Jane were busy with the children, and they seemed like a

couple of doting old aunts. Dolly beamed at Jamie.

"I just can't wait until it's one of your little bundles I'm holding,

Lieutenant!" she said. Of course she wasn't really holding Shannon's

daughter--the child was squirming away, ready to chase a little string

ball that was rolling across the floor.

"Yeah, soon enough, Dolly," Jamie said sweetly. To Tess's surprise he

winked at her.

"Coffee!"

A cup was shoved into her hand by Malachi.

"Jamie," he said, "I've told Hank to tal~ Dolly and Jane and the

children down to the storm cellar once we've gone. They're invisible

there." "Fine," Jamie said.

"Dolly?"

"I understand, Lieutenant, I understand perfectly."

"I'll watch them," Hank promised.

"Me and the hands, we'll stay in and down in the cellar with the

children."

"Is everybody ready?" Jamie asked. He swallowed his coffee and set the

cup on the table, then everyone was hurrying out.

The children were taken to the cellar, and Dolly waved a cheerful hand

to Tess.

"You take care, missy, you hear?"

"Yes, Dolly, I promise! Thank you!"