Chapter Fourteen.

It was really amazing when one looked around, Tess thought.

She was having a barbecue. Well, the ranch was hosting a barbecue.

Huge sides of beef were being roasted all around the property, the wine

and beer and whiskey were flowing freely and all manner of entertainment

was going on.

She was having a party--and the cavalry and the Apache and the

townspeople and even the whores from the saloon were in attendance.

Nalte was her honored guest. She and Jamie had discovered that the

Apache had never intended to leave the area, that he meant to find out

about the man who would betray so many people. It was Nalte who had

called in the cavalry, taking a tremendous chance when he had sent a

messenger to the fort.

Tess was glad of the party, and she was grateful to feel a part of a

huge family. She didn't have to be the only hostess.

Kristin, always calm and capable and serene, was handling most of the

social duties.

Still dazed from the events of the day, Tess wanclered through the

crowds rather aimlessly, welcoming the men who had been her friends

after the wagon train had been raided, keeping the peace when it seemed

that the rowdy Indians were getting too close to the rowdy whites. But

she didn't need to take care of much of that. Cole and Malachi and Jon

seemed to have a good eye on things, and Hank knew how to take care of

the place.

She had just wandered into the kitchen when Jamie caught up with her.

As always, he didn't stand on ceremony, but caught her hand and told her

bluntly that he wanted to talk to her.

"But Jamie, we've people" -- "Now, Tess."

She was alarmed when he started to drag her up the stairs, and she

tugged on his hand.

"Jamie" -- "Tess!" He groaned. She was too slow. He turned and swept her

into his arms and ran the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Damn you, Jamie Slater" -- "I told you, Tess. Things were going to go

my way today!"

They reached her room. Setting her down firmly upon her feet, he closed

and locked the door and leaned against it.

She backed away from him distrustfully. She moistened her lips. She

still hadn't really talked to him. There had been so much commotion when

she had first come to. Kristin and Shannon had insisted on taking care

of her, and she hadn't realized until tonight that they had won not just

a battle but the war.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

"You're welcome," he said briefly, striding across the room for her.

"It seemed the least I could do."

"Yes, well, it's done now."

"Damn you, stand still."

"Jamie" -- He caught her. He caught her arms and he pulled her against

him.

He buried his face against her neck and he murmured softly.

"Just think, you could be carrying a child. And it would be a fine

child.

Cute, beautiful, just like my brothers' kids."

"Jamie" -- He moved away from her, his eyes flittering silver as they

met hers.

"I told you, we're doing things my way today. And we're going to get

married."

She gasped, stunned.

"Wh-what?"

"Married. Now."

"But why?"

"Well ..." He touched her cheek, softly, gently, studying the movement

of his fingers upon her face as if he were seeing it for the first time.

"Well, for one, I'm damned afraid that if I don't, l~lalte will

determine to ride away with you again. He'd already warned me that I

really better make you my woman in truth."

She stiffened.

"Jamie, I heard you say yourself that no one could force you" -- "Then

there's Kristin and Shannon. They'll never give me a moment's peace."

"Jamie" -- "Then I'll be damned if you'll be having any children of mine

without me being present."

"But we don't even" -- "Then there's this," he said softly, and his lips

touched hers more gently and tenderly than she had ever imagined

possible, as if the moon itself touched her. She closed her eyes and she

was back, back to a beautiful valley where they had made love beneath

the moon, where their love had seemed so very right. Where magic had

touched them despite all the odds.

"And this ..."

He touched her forehead with his kiss. Then her cheeks, and her throat,

and her lips again.

"And most important, there is this. I love you, Tess. I love you. I want

to marry you. I want to be beside you from this day forth, and I want to

cherish you forever. Of course, I still want to throttle you. But most

of all, I want to love you, and I want to be loved by you. I want to kn

w your strength and even fight it sometimes,.

and I want to know your tenderness and your love and hold tight to them

forever. How is that?"

" Oh, Jamie!" she whispered. Words failed her.

She came up on her toes and kissed him. She teased his lower lip and his

upper lip with her teeth and tongue, and she met his hunger with a fever

of her own. A dizzying fire swept through her limbs, and she thought she

could sleep beside him tonight, and every night, and she could feel his

arms around her.

"Slater. Tess Slater." She sampled the name, but then tears touched her

eyes and she threw her arms around him and kissed him again.

"Oh, Jamie, I love you! I've loved you for so long now, and I thought

that I didn't dare to believe in forever" -- "But you believed in

yourself, Tess.

Now you've got to learn to believe in me, too."

"I've always believed in you!"

"Then believe in this. I love you, and I will do so forever."

"Jamie ..."

She would have lain down with him then. She would have tasted his flesh

and savored his kiss and given him all and anything he wanted. She would

always lie down with him anywhere, in any wilderness, and love him, and

feel the sun or the moon upon them. It would not matter, as long as they

were together.

But he was clutching her hand again.

"Don't tempt me!" he warned her.

"We've got to get downstairs and do this now. Before Nalte leaves."

"What?"

"We're getting married now, Tess. The chaplain is here, and Nalte is

here, and my brothers are here, and I just can't think of a better

time."

"Married? Now? Tonight?"

They were out the door and he was pulling her down the stairs.

She tugged hard upon his hand.

"Jamie!"

"What?"

"Today I promised to do things your way. I really can't promise to do

that every day."

"Fine. I'll keep you in line," he said, and tugged her again. They

reached the landing, and he shouted, "Cole!

Tell the musicians and get the chaplain. She said yes!" A rebel cry went

up from the Slater brothers. The cavalry didn't seem to mind--in fact

they joined right in. There was another sound, and T~ss recognized

Apache war whoops.

She tugged on Jamie's hand again, but he didn't notice. He kept walking.

Kristin and Shannon and the children and Dolly and Jane and Jon and

everyone were wishing her luck, and she was suddenly standing in front

of a cavalry man wearing a chaplain's insignia.

"Jamie!" she whispered.

"I'm really sorry about your horse."

"Don't be. Nalte gave him back to me as a wedding present."

"Oh! You're marrying me just to get your horse back!"

"Say, "I do," Tess."

She stared at the smiling chaplain and she heard the words but she

didn't hear them. Oh, they would be cherished in her memory forever, but

right now all she could think of was the feel of Jamie's hand upon her,

and the promise of the security of it. It was time, and she said her

vows. Then she was wearing a thin gold band, and everyone was wishing

her luck once again.

There were toasting and dancing, and she kissed Nalte, a huge sloppy

kiss on his cheek.

But then she discovered herself in her new husband's arms again, and she

was heading up the stairs again, and she didn't know if she was drunk

with champagne or with happiness or with desire for this man who had

come into her life and given her everything.

"Jamie!"

"What?"

"We've still got guests downstairs."

He groaned long and low and kicked open the door to their bedroom and

walked determinedly over to the bed after kicking the door shut behind

him.

Then he smiled wickedly.

"My way, Tess. Everything is my way today."

Then he cast himself down upon her. He ldssed her slowly and with

seductive force, and she knew that there was nowhere she would rather

be. When his silver eyes rose above her she smiled sweetly and

breathlessly.

"Your way," she promised.

And he smiled, and he kissed her again.

And indeed, the night was delightfully passed. His way.