" Montana isn't a state," Douglas explained.

"Yes," Harrison said. "I'd forgotten that fact. Do you believe the area will become a state soon?"

"It's only a matter of time," Douglas told him.

He was going to expound further on the topic of statehood, but Travis cut him off. "So why did you come all this way?"

They had come full circle once again. Harrison could barely hide his smile.

"I wanted to see the land. I believe I already mentioned that fact, Travis."

"Please quit pestering him," Mary Rose pleaded. She leaned forward then, with her elbow on the table and her chin resting in the palm of her hand, and smiled at Harrison.

"What do you think of our home?" she asked.

Harrison watched Adam while he answered her question. The oldest brother hadn't said a word for quite some time. He looked half asleep, and Harrison was beginning to think he wasn't even paying attention to the conversation, yet the second his sister put her elbow on the table, he slowly reached over and touched her arm with one hand. It was a very subtle reminder. Mary Rose instinctively turned to her brother to find out what he wanted. Adam didn't explain. Harrison knew he didn't want to draw any attention to her breach in manners. He must have applied a little pressure on her arm, however, because she suddenly straightened up in her chair and put her hands in her lap.

Then she smiled at Adam. He winked back at her.

Harrison pretended he hadn't noticed what had just happened.

He moved his cup from one spot on the table to another and shifted his position in the hard-backed chair.

"Your home is beautiful," he remarked.

"You haven't seen all that much of it," Douglas protested.

"He saw the first floor," Cole interjected. "And that's all he's ever going to see. The upstairs is off limits, Harrison."

"There are just bedrooms up there," Mary Rose hastily added. She frowned at Cole for sounding so rude, then looked at their guest once again.

Harrison smiled at her. "The house took me by surprise. I didn't expect…"

Cole cut him off. "Did you expect us to live like barbarians?"

Harrison had taken about all he was going to take from the abrasive man. He decided to goad him just enough to make him lose his temper.

"Do you believe I would think you live like barbarians because you occasionally act like one?"

Cole started to stand up, but Mary Rose changed his mind.

"He didn't mean to insult you," she told her brother. "You can be intimidating. Some might even call you a bully."

"They do call him a bully," Travis said. "At least in town they probably do."

Cole shook his head. "I can't take the credit for something that isn't true," he said. "People think I'm antisocial, Harrison. Unfortunately I still haven't earned the nickname of bully. I'm working on it."

Cole turned to his sister. "Thanks anyway, Mary Rose."

She let him see her exasperation. Then she explained to Harrison. "Out here, being a bully does have certain advantages. People tend to leave you alone, and Cole likes that. Therefore, your remark that Cole acted barbaric was actually a note of praise. Do you see?"

"Are you telling me I just gave him a compliment?" He tried not to sound incredulous, but knew he'd failed when the brothers smiled at him.

Mary Rose wasn't smiling. "Yes, actually you did," she said.

He wanted to vehemently disagree. Yet she had sounded so earnest and was now looking so worried he wouldn't go along with her outrageous fabrication to placate her brother, he decided to play along.

"Then I guess I did."

He didn't choke on the words. He thought that was a laudable effort on his part. She looked relieved, and Harrison decided that swallowing his pride had been well worth the effort.

"What surprised you?" Travis asked.

He couldn't remember what they'd originally been talking about. It was Mary Rose's fault, of course. She was so happy he was trying to get along with Cole, she smiled at him. Harrison didn't believe she was flirting with him or trying to act coy, but she was still twisting his mind into knots all the same. She was so damned sweet and pretty. Provocative too. He couldn't stop himself from imagining what she would feel like in his arms.

" Harrison?" Douglas called his name.

"Yes?" he said. "What did you just ask me?"

"I didn't ask you anything," Douglas replied. "Travis asked."

"If you'd quit staring at our sister, you might be able to concentrate," Cole said.

Travis told his brother to quit baiting their guest and then repeated his question. "I wondered what surprised you about the house."

"It looks very modest from the outside," Harrison explained. "Yet inside…"

"It's just as modest," Cole told him.

"If you aren't really looking, I suppose," he agreed. "But I always notice the details."

"And?" Cole asked.

"The attention given to the details surprised me," Harrison admitted. He was careful to keep his gaze away from Mary Rose. He refused to even glance in her direction. "The moldings in the entry are spectacular, and the detail on the staircase is just as impressive."

"Moldings?" Travis repeated.

"The border, or edging, between your ceilings and your walls," Harrison explained.

"I know what they are," Travis returned. "I was just surprised you noticed such a detail."

"I didn't expect to find so many rooms. You have a large parlor, this dining room, of course, and a library filled to the rafters with books you certainly didn't purchase around here."

"Cole designed the house," Mary Rose boasted. "All the brothers helped build it. It took them years."

"He wouldn't let us help with the banister or the walls in the entry though. That's all his work," Travis said.

"You've just given Cole another compliment, Harrison," Mary Rose said.

Harrison was sorry to hear it. He didn't want to find anything impressive about Cole Clayborne. The man had the manners of a boar. Still, his craftsmanship was superior, and Harrison knew it must have taken him months of painstaking work. He had to admire the man's talent and his discipline.

"What else surprised you?" Douglas asked.

Harrison wanted to smile again. From the expressions on the brother's faces, he knew they weren't simply curious about his opinion of their home. They seemed eager to hear praise.

"You have a piano in the parlor. I noticed it right away."

"Of course you noticed it," Cole said. "It's the only thing in there."

"It's a Steinway," Douglas announced. "We got it when Mary Rose was old enough to learn how to play."

"Who taught her?" Harrison asked.

"The piano came with a teacher," Douglas explained. He grinned at Travis before adding, "Sort of anyway."

Harrison didn't know what he was supposed to conclude from that odd remark. He decided not to ask. He would save his questions for more important issues.

"How old were you when you began your lessons?" he asked Mary Rose.

She wasn't certain. She turned to Adam to find out. "She was six," he answered.

"I was seven," Harrison said.

"You play the piano?" Mary Rose looked thrilled over the notion.

"Yes."

"Of course he plays the piano," Cole scoffed. "He can't fight or shoot, but, by God, he can play the piano. Well, piano playing isn't going to keep you alive out here."

"He could play in Billie's saloon," Douglas said.

"And get himself shot in the back like the last one?" Travis argued.

"Why'd he get shot?" Harrison asked the question in spite of his decision not to make inquiries unless the answers gave him information about the family.

"Someone didn't like what he was playing," Cole told him.

Harrison nodded. "I see," he said, though in truth he really didn't understand.

"Why did you learn how to play the piano? That seems peculiar to me," Cole said.

"It was all part of my education," Harrison explained. He wasn't offended by Cole's attitude. He was actually a little amused. The brother seemed to think that playing the piano was something men didn't do.

"Then you were sorely educated," Cole said. "Girls play the piano. Not boys. Didn't your father ever take you out back and teach you how to use your fists?"

"No," Harrison answered. "Did yours?"

Cole started to answer the question, then changed his mind. He leaned back in his chair and shrugged.

"Have you ever heard of Chopin or Mozart, Cole? They were composers," Harrison said. "They wrote music and they played it… on the piano."

Cole shrugged again. He obviously wasn't swayed by Harrison 's argument. Harrison decided to change the topic. "Where did you get this china?"

"There are only six cups, and two don't match. We don't even have plates. I got the cups in St. Louis so Mary Rose could have tea parties."

"I was much younger then," she said. "Serving tea was part of my education."

"And who taught you?" Harrison asked, smiling over the picture of Mary Rose as a little girl learning how to be a proper lady.

" Douglas did," she answered.

"We all had to take turns," Douglas hastily added.

From the look Douglas gave his sister, Harrison surmised he wasn't at all pleased she had told him about their tea parties. Mary Rose pretended she hadn't noticed Douglas 's glare.

"Our fascination with your reaction to our home must seem odd to you," she said. "We don't usually ask our guests to tell us what they think, but you're very worldly and sophisticated."

He raised an eyebrow over her opinion of him. She interpreted his look to mean he didn't agree.

"You are sophisticated," she insisted. "The way you speak and the way you look at things tells me so. You have obviously been raised in a refined atmosphere."

"You seem the type who would appreciate quality," Douglas said. He was damned thankful they had gotten away from the subject of tea parties. "Most of the people around here don't care about the finer things in life. I don't fault them. They're busy carving out a living."

" Hammond is becoming refined," Travis said. "We get the rejects here in Blue Belle."

"Because it's lawless out here," Cole interjected.

Everyone nodded. "I guess we wondered if you thought we measured up," Travis said. " Douglas is right. The folks around here haven't even looked inside our library, and they sure haven't asked to borrow any books. Adam would let them, but they don't seem to have the time or the interest."

"Have you read all the books in your library?" Harrison asked.

"Of course we have," Cole said.

"Travis failed to mention that the majority of our neighbors don't know how to read, and that's why they haven't asked to borrow any books," Mary Rose said.

Harrison nodded before turning to Travis again. "You asked me if I thought you measured up," he reminded the brother. "To what standard? Yours or mine? If you filled your house with treasures for the sole purpose of impressing others, then no, in my opinion, you haven't measured up to any standard. But you didn't begin with that goal in mind, did you?"

"How do you know we didn't?" Cole asked.

"Simple deduction," Harrison replied. "The piano isn't in the parlor collecting dust and admiration. You purchased it with the intent of training your sister. You could have used the money to buy other things, but you chose a piano instead. You all wanted your sister to have an appreciation for music, and that tells me you understand and value education in all forms. Admitting you've read the books in your library is another indication. As for being sophisticated or cultured, well I think perhaps you're far more sophisticated than you want anyone to believe. Without a doubt, you're all well educated. The titles you've chosen to read told me that."

"None of us went to a university the way you did," Douglas pointed out.

"Going to university is only one avenue to gain knowledge. There are others. A degree isn't insurance against ignorance. Some of my colleagues have proven that."

"You're complimenting us, aren't you?" Travis asked.

"Yes, I suppose I am."

Mary Rose sighed loudly enough for everyone to hear. Harrison turned to smile at her. She immediately smiled back.

"The piano is my favorite possession," she said. "Did you have one special thing back home you hated to leave?"