"Oh, yeah, and Bud here flies. Hey! How come if you're married to Stanford you two was sleepin'

apart?"

Leah looked at her shoe. "It's a long story," she mumbled.

"Only one way a Stanford'd marry a Simmons. He got you pregnant, didn't he? And only them Stanfords would think they'd have to marry a slut" He broke off. "Look Leah, married or not, the man don't want you. Anybody with any senseeven Bud herewould be able to see that. Why's he keepin' you in a woods, hidin' away with you?"

Abe's words were too close to how Leah actually felt. "I have to go. It'll be daylight soon," she whispered. "Wesley will miss me."

"He ain't gonna miss you. He'll be glad to get rid of a Simmons whether she's his wife or not. Come on with me now, Leah. Join us. We'll make you rich."

"Rich!" She spat. "Rich from stealing other people's goods? Those people on that trail have worked all their lives for what they have and you think I'm going to help you take it away from them? You make me ill! Worse than ill! I wonder if scum like you has a right to live!"

"Why you," he said, before lunging at her.

But one silent step forward from Bud made Abe stop.

Leah blinked her eyes in astonishment and, with her heart pounding from anger and fear, she dared greatly and put her hand on Bud's bare forearm. "Bud," she said through a closed throat, "will you lead me back to my husband? I don't know the way."

Without a sound Bud slipped away into the trees.

"Don't try to bother me again or Wesley'll make you sorry," Leah said to Abe before following the shadow of Bud.

She slipped into her sleeping pad seemingly only minutes before Wesley woke. She did her best to conceal her nervousness from him, but every sound made her jump. Wesley mentioned her dislike for the forest and told her she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Men are the real danger," he said, eyeing her. "Take those two last night."

"What about them?" she asked nervously, then calmed herself. "They weren't dangerous, were they?"

"Maybe you should answer that."

"Me? Why me? How could I know anything about them?"

He was silent for a moment. "I just thought women were supposed to know these things, that's all.

Women sometimes say they sense when people are good or bad."

Leah cursed herself for jumping at him. He didn't know the man from last night was her brother. He didn't know she'd sneaked away to talk with him. But she was acting so guilty he was going to guess something was wrong.

"Only rich women have time to guess people's motives. A Simmons like me has to take people as they are," she snapped at him.

Wesley seemed about to speak but changed his mind. "True to form," he muttered. "All right Simmons-Stanford, stay close to me." With that he began to plow through the trees quickly, leaving Leah standing.

"Damn, damn, damn!" she cursed as she followed him.

For most of the day he stayed very far ahead of her. Only now and again did she glimpse his buckskins.

Mostly she kept her head down and trudged along behind him, trying her best not to think of her brother Abe. Would he do something in revenge because she'd refused his request?

By twilight she was beginning to convince herself that Abe did have some family feeling and he wasn't

going to retaliate. Still she kept a lookout behind every tree. She half expected to be kidnapped. That would be Abe's style.

A shot rang out, echoing off the trees and hills, reverberating all around her.

"Wesley!" she cried and knew with every fiber of her body that it was Abe who'd fired that shot.

"Wesley!" she screamed and began to run.

Wesley's big body lay on the forest floor, silent, still, half sitting against the pack on his back. A great, gaping hole was in his chest.

"Wesley," Leah said with a gasp, dropping to her knees before him. "Wesley."

He didn't answer her but lay there completely still.

"He's still breathin'," came a voice over her head. "I didn't aim to kill him."

"You!" Leah hissed and launched at her brother.

Abe put his hands up to protect himself. "I told you I needed you and since you ain't got no family feelin's I had to do somethin'."

Leah stopped hitting her brother when she realized the stupidity of his words and turned back to Wesley.Bud was kneeling beside Wes, his big fingers probing at the wound."He is alive, isn't he?" she asked again going to her knees.

Bud nodded once as he removed a knife from his side.

"No!" Leah screamed, grabbing the big forearm with both her hands. "Please don't kill him. I'll do whatever you want."

Bud gave her a quick, hard look before using the knife to cut away the torn part of Wesley's shirt.

"Them boys won't kill nothin'," Abe said in disgust, rubbing his arms where Leah had struck him. "Let Bud take care of Stanford and you come with me."

"I won't leave him," Leah said stubbornly. "I'll get you for this, Abe Simmons. If my husband dies

I'll"

"He ain't gonna die. I'm a good shot and it took me all day to come up with this plan. I figured you'd do

most anythin' to keep from losin' all that Stanford money so I thought if maybe I laid him low you'd be willin' to do somethin' for me while he was healin'."

"You stupid," she began. "How could you shoot someone just to get help with your criminal

ways? Wesley, can you hear me?"

Leah was vaguely aware of the big man, Bud, as he began to feel Wesley's ribs. Leah was glad for the

help as her eyes were full of tears of rage and frustration.

"Here," Abe said, grabbing Leah's arm and pulling her upright. "Let the boys see to him. They're good at doctorin'. You and me got some talkin' to do."

"I wouldn't talk to you if."

"You want me to finish him off? It seems to me you ain't in a position to do much bargainin'. You already

showed me you ain't got no real family feelin's so I don't know why I should care about you."

"You've never cared about anybody but yourself."

Abe stood still, glaring at her. "You tell me when you're ready to listen."

"Never, I," A groan from Wesley made her turn back to him.

"Leah," he whispered, his eyes barely open. "Get out of here. Save yourself." With that, his head fell to

one side.

"No!" she cried. "He isn't?" She looked up at Bud who shook his head once.

"You got a choice, missy," Abe said. "You help me and I'll let you take care of your rich boy, but you

keep refusin' me and callin' me names and I'll let him rot right here. And you better make up your mind

fast 'cause he looks like he's about to bleed to death."

Leah didn't take more than a few seconds to make up her mind. "I'll help you," she whispered, her hand on Wesley's cool forehead. "What do I have to do?"

Chapter 16.

Leah looked down at Wesley's sleeping form. His wound was clean now and she realized it wasn't as bad as she'd thought, although he'd lost a lot of blood. He lay on a fairly clean bed in an old cabin that was hidden on the side of a mountain.

Slowly she moved from her seat on the side of the bed and took the pan of dirty water outside to empty it. Standing outside the door, silhouetted in the early dawn light like mountain guardians, were the young men, Bud and Cal. She'd been too upset about Wesley to know exactly when the brother had made his appearance, but now there were two of them, both massive, both silent, almost indistinguishable from each other. The brothers had carried the unconscious Wesley to the cabin, and without speaking a word they'd helped her wash and bandage him.

"He's sleeping," she said tiredly to the silent men, one on either side of the door. "In time I think he'll be all right."

"Told you he would be," Abe said loudly, making her jump as he slipped around the side of the cabin.

"Do you always have to sneak up on people?" She seethed at him, her eyes blazing.

"You've got to be the unfriendliest sister a man ever had. You gonna listen to me or we gonna fight over that rich man of yours?"