But then he had spent these last hours in a type of hell, and he would surely spend all their moments together in torment from this day forth.

"Consequences. Procreation. Infants. Sweet little people growing inside a woman's body…"

Her eyes widened. She hadn't thought about it at all, he saw, and he was right—now she would worry for days.

He kissed her on the forehead. "Good night."

She was still standing there when he walked back to the fire.

CHAPTER SEVEN

"What do you think?" Shannon murmured. It was late the next afternoon, and they had spent the day riding westward, avoiding the major roads, and had slipped quietly through the countryside.

"I think it's Kansas," Malachi replied flatly, turning toward her.

They sat on their horses looking down a cliff to a small, dusty town. On the distant rolling plains they could see farmhouses and ranches. Before them they could see a livery and a barbershop and a saloon. A sign stretching across the top of a long building advertised Mr. Haywood's Dry Goods and Mercantile, and next to it was a smaller sign, advertising Mrs. Haywood's Haywood Inn, Rooms to Let by the Day, Month, Year.

"Haywood, Kansas," Shannon murmured. She could still feel Malachi looking at her, and she couldn't bring herself to look his way. She'd had trouble looking at him ever since…

She couldn't believe what she had done. She hadn't had a single drop of liquor inside her. She hadn't been dragged, forced or coerced. She had done it all of her own free will, and if it were possible to live a thousand years, she would never be able to forget it. Or Malachi…

She could not look at him anymore and not remember everything. When his eyes touched her now she started to tremble deep inside. When she watched his hands resting on the reins, she remembered them against her body. The low male tenor of his voice moved against her now as if it touched her every time, as if it stroked the length of her back, just brushing over her flesh. And too often, way too often, she would grow hot and shivery all at once, and at the very core of her, and she would be ashamed to remember the feeling of unbelievable ecstasy that had burst upon her at the end.

She had never denied him his appeal, even in her moments of most vehement hatred. Even as the war had waged on and on, even as he dismissed her again and again as a child. And now she knew even more about him that she could not deny. That he was wonderfully muscled and sleek and bronze. His back was riddled with scars, and she knew that they were the result of cavalry battles, that he had been nicked time and again, and that he fought on, because a man just didn't walk away from a war, or from his duty as he saw it

She knew that his chest was tufted with short red and gold hair, and that the hair narrowed enticingly at his hips, and that it flared out again to frame a demanding…masculinity.

He was an attractive man.

But she should have never been attracted, and each time she thought of her own behavior, it hurt. She knew that he thought that she had wanted to see him as a substitute for Robert. But he hadn't allowed it, and by then…she hadn't cared. She could make excuses. Maybe she had been striking out against the loss. Maybe she had just felt the need to be held.

No, the need to be loved.

But there really was no excuse. They hadn't even been friends. Passionate enemies, at best. What he must really be thinking of her, deep down inside, she couldn't even imagine…

And then she suddenly knew what her greatest fear was— that it had been a swift, casual fling for him, when for her it was a nightmare that changed her entire life and left her wondering if she had any morality whatsoever. And of all men to humiliate her so, it just had to be Malachi…

She had to be mature about it. She had to learn to forget it, and she had to learn to…quit worrying. Malachi had brought up a consequence that hadn't even passed through her mind. She'd never been that innocent, not on the ranch. She always knew what men and women did to create sons and daughters. It was just that she couldn't afford to think about it. She had to put it behind her now as well. Kristin was out there, somewhere. And Shannon did need Malachi's help. She didn't know the first thing about Kansas, or the awful man, Fitz. She needed Malachi.

"We need to go down," he said slowly, reluctantly. "We need to buy some food, if there's any to be had. And I'd give a hell of a lot to see a newspaper and try to find out what's been going on in the world."

"I'll go—" Shannon began.

"Don't be a fool," he told her impatiently. "I can't let you go down alone."

"I would be perfectly safe, and you wouldn't be."

"No one is safe anywhere around here. It wasn't safe before the war, and it surely isn't safe now."

"But I'm a Yank, remember?"

"Yeah, but they may not see it like that. To some, anyone from Missouri is a bushwhacker. Anyone at all."

"So what do you suggest?"

He gazed at her, lifting a brow. "Why, we pretend like hell, Miss McCahy, what else. We go in together—man and wife. Our place has been burned out. We're looking to keep on moving westward. Don't mess up, you hear?"

She eyed his hat pointedly. "You're riding in with a lantern of truth atop your head, captain," she said sweetly.

He swept the hat from his head and looked at it for a long moment, then dismounted and walked toward some bushes. He set the hat carefully in the midst of them.

"Is this a funeral?" Shannon asked sarcastically. "Maybe we should run down and bring the preacher out to mutter a few last words."

His face was savage when his eyes lit on hers. She swallowed, wishing that she hadn't spoken. He didn't reply. He walked around and mounted the bay again and reached out for her horse's reins, holding the horse there before him. "Follow my lead, Shannon. I don't mind dyin' for Kristin, and I don't even mind dying for you—when it can't be helped. I will be bloody damned, though, if I'll die just because you can't keep a civil tongue in your body."

His words fell into silence. Shannon stared at him without a word for what seemed like an endless time. She had only been teasing him. She hadn't realized how her words might wound, and she didn't know how to explain that or apologize.

"What about your saddle?" she asked him coldly. "Are there any Confederate markings on it, or on any of the other trappings on your horse?"

"My saddle came off a dead Ohioan's plow horse," he said. "And the bridle is from your ranch. No markings at all."

"Shall we go then?" she said tautly.

He released her horse's reins and they started down the slope. "We're going to buy some supplies and get some information," he told her. "You keep careful."

"Me?" she inquired sweetly. "You should be grateful to have me along, Malachi Slater. They aren't going to take your Confederate currency here. I've got Yankee dollars."

He turned to stare at her. "You keep your Yankee dollars, Shannon."

"Oh?"

"I've got gold, Miss McCahy. Last I heard, they're still taking that stuff everywhere. Come on now, I want you close."

He continued down the slope. Their horses broke into smooth canters as they crossed the empty plain and entered the town by the single road that cut through the line of buildings. Malachi reined in, nodding to Shannon to do the same. They dismounted in front of the mercantile and tethered their horses on the wood rail that ran the length of the place, then started up the two dusty steps to the open doorway.

There was a portly, balding man behind a counter that stretched in front of a wall with rows and rows of just about everything. There were rolls of fabric, mostly cottons and linens, but there were brocades and silks and satins, too, and smaller rolls of elegant laces. There were sacks of flour and coffee and tea and sugar, and there were sewing goods and farm supplies, leather items, blankets, sheets, canteens. The whole store was composed of shelving, and Shannon saw jars of jams and preserves, pickled vegetables and smoked and dried meats. As small as this town was, it seemed to be a prosperous place.

"Howdy," the portly man said to the two of them.

Malachi grinned broadly, walking up to the man. "Howdy, sir."

"What can I do for you, young man?"

"Well, the wife and I are heading out west. We just need ourselves some food supplies."

"We can take care of that, Mr.—"

"Uh, Sloan," Malachi said.

"Gabriel," Shannon said quickly at the same time.

Malachi frowned at her, his jaw locking. The balding man looked from one of them to the other. "It's Sloan Gabriel, sir," Malachi said. He jerked Shannon over to his side. "And this is my wife, Sara."

The man looked from Malachi to Shannon. Shannon smiled and escaped Malachi's punishing grip, wandering away to look over the merchandise in the store. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gabriel."

"Likewise, I'm sure," she murmured demurely.

The man leaned toward Malachi. "My wife's got herself a little tea parlor next door, young man. Maybe the lady would like a cup?" He winked. "And you could take a walk on over to the saloon and have yourself a pint or two."

"That sounds mighty nice," Malachi told him. A saloon was always the best place to hear whatever news was passing around. He looked at Shannon.

"Sweetheart." She was looking at a roll of calico and didn't pay him the slightest heed. He walked over to her, catching her hands and spinning her around and into his arms. "Darlin'! That nice man, Mr.—"

"Haywood," the balding man supplied.

"That nice Mr. Haywood says his wife has a little tea shop next door. Wouldn't you like to have a cup of tea, complete with milk and sugar? It's been a long, hard road."

She smiled sweetly. "Are you going to have a cup of tea, darlin'?" she asked him. She came up on her toes, slipping her arms around his neck.

"I had reckoned that I might have a beer across the way," he told her, his jaw twisting. Her smile had been dazzling, and her eyes were absurdly large and innocent. Her body was pressed tight to his and he could feel all the curves and soft slopes that he had recently come to know so well.

His eyes narrowed. "Careful!" he mouthed. She couldn't be that innocent. She had to know what she was doing to him.

"Why, darlin'," she drawled sweetly. "I don't mind. I'll come over to the saloon with you." She wrinkled her nose up prettily. "I don't rightly care for that nasty old beer, but—"

He untangled her arms from around his neck. "Sweetheart," he said firmly, "you go on and have tea. It might be a rough place. There might be some…talk…I don't want you to hear."

"If you're there, my love, I'm sure that I'll be safe."

"You'll be much safer, sweetheart, having tea."

"But I don't mind hearing talk, beloved."

He was losing control. There was a definite note of irritation in his voice. "Honey love, sometimes a man just don't talk as freely when there's a lady present. You'll have tea."

"But, darlin', I—"

He didn't let her finish. He could hear Mr. Haywood snickering behind him, and he'd had about enough. She was the one pressing it. He pulled her even closer and slammed his lips down hard upon hers in a bruising, punishing kiss. He held her so tightly that she could barely breathe, and that was what he had intended. When he released her, she was silent, gasping for breath. He spun her around so that his back was toward Mr. Haywood and he whispered with vehemence. "Go over and have tea. Now. You ruin this—"

"But I want to hear, too—"

"Go. Now. Smile, kiss me sweetly, and damn you, go have a cup of tea. I mean it, Shannon."

He could hear her teeth grinding, but she went still. Mala-chi spun around. "Next door, you say, Mr. Haywood?"

"Sure thing. The little lady can go right through this door here."

Shannon didn't see a door. Then she realized that even the door was lined with shelves that were filled with merchandise.

"See you soon, sweetheart." Malachi pulled her into his arms, kissing her on the forehead. She longed to slap him, hard. She smiled instead, and threw her arms around him again, rising up on her toes, and quickly threading her fingers through the hair at his nape. She kissed him…

She kissed him with purpose…and with menace, pressing her lips fully against his, and teasing his lip with the thrust of her tongue. Startled, he gave way. She pressed her tongue fully into his mouth, slowly, provocatively, filling it.