"The only way I'll go with you is if you carry me kicking and screaming, and that could further damage your reputation."

Wesley turned away from her for a moment, and when he looked back his face was a study in confusion.

"Leah, I honestly don't have any idea why you're so upset. I didn't ask you not to come to this dance because I'm ashamed of you and don't want to be seen with you. Far from it. I'd like nothing better than

having you on my arm. But right now there are reasons why I'd rather have you home where I can be near you."

"What reasons?"

"I can't tell you and for once you're going to have to trust me."

She gave him a nasty little smile. "I don't have to guess why you want me to go home with you. I know. You said you hated the whole idea of being married to somebody like me."

"I said that?" Wes exclaimed. "When?"

"You told your brother Travis that, and Regan and I heard you."

Just then two overheated dancers came outside, so Wes grabbed Leah's arm and pulled her into the shadows, imprisoning her between his legs. "All right, you little wildcat, you're going to listen to me. First of all, I'm sick and tired of your telling me I'm this century's biggest snob. You are the snob, Leah. You're much more concerned with where people grew up than I've ever been. Yes, I did tell Travis I hated being married to you, but not because I couldn't bear living with a lowly Simmons."

"Hah!" Leah tried to look away but Wes pulled her face back around.

"I wanted a woman who needed me and as far as I could tell Kimberly needed me worse than any man's ever been needed. So here I was wanting a woman like Kim and instead I got one who could run a farm, raise kids, deal with a crazy fatheryou, Leah, didn't seem to need anybody or anything. You made me feel useless."

"Me?" she whispered. "How could you feel useless?"

He put his nose to hers. "Because you never ask me for a goddamn thing," he said with feeling. "You join robbers and never even mention the fact to me. Remember last week when the chimney half fell down? You fixed it by yourself. I wouldn't even have known about it except Oliver saw you hanging onto a ladder and setting stones. You could even take the ugly woman I married and make her into the beauty you are now."

Pausing, he smoothed her hair back from her face. "It took me a long time to realize that you need me more than Kimberly ever did. Kim will always land on her feet, but you, my little wife, can get into trouble on your way to the outhouse."

Leah was trying to digest this information. "But Kim's a lady and I'm."

"You're my wife and as I've told you, you're a Stanford now, so if I'm royalty, you are too."

She pulled away from him. "Then if you aren't ashamed of me, why don't you want to be seen with me at the dance? Why do you want to keep me hidden on our farm?"

The last thing Wesley wanted to do was tell Leah about a possible plot against her. No doubt Leah would stay up nights figuring out how to get involved. "You have to trust me. You have to believe that I want what is best for you."

Leah walked away into the moonlight. What he said about Kim's needing him made sense; in fact, Kim had even hinted at that. She sensed that Wesley wanted her to faint, wanted her to be helpless, and Kim had obeyed him. But Leah had just done what had come naturally to her. Could it be possible that she also made other people feel useless?

Wesley didn't speak of love, but maybe love wasn't far away if he didn't resent her being a Simmons. What was really amusing was that Leah had worked so hard not to be a burden to Wes. When the chimney had fallen, she'd first sat down and cried. Then with determination she'd repaired it herself merely because she didn't want Wesley to think she was helpless.

She turned back to him. "If I faint for you, will you sweep me into your arms and carry me to your bed?"

The look on Wesley's face was reward enough for her jest. Without a word he came to her, lifted her, and held her close to him. "Sometimes it amazes me how much I've come to love you, Leah," he whispered. "I just wish you wouldn't yell at me so often."

Leah's impulse was to push away from him because she wanted to see his eyes when he told her, this first time, that he loved her. Instead she snuggled against him. "Maybe now that I know you love me I won't be angry quite so often."

He walked with her to his horse and lifted her into the saddle. "I've sure told you often enough. It's about time it sank in."

Above all Leah didn't want to start another argument. "I guess I just didn't hear you say it the other times. Oh Wes," she said when he was mounted behind her. "I have to get my shawl."

"I'll get it tomorrow when I get your horse."

"Good heavens, no. That shawl cost Clay a fortune. It came all the way across the ocean. I'll just be a minute."

"You stay right there," he said down to her. "I'll go with you."

Leah giggled. "Can't stand me out of your sight?"

"Something like that," Wes said seriously.

Quietly Leah stood outside and waited for her husband. It wasn't easy for her to think of trusting him, but perhaps he did have a reason for not wanting her to attend the dance. It could be that he was jealous, which gave Leah a little sense of delight. If it were true that he did love her it would make sense that he was jealous. Leah certainly had been jealous of Wes and Kimberly.

Suddenly she remembered that she'd seen Corinne Stark wearing a shawl very much like hers. Wesley would never find the right one by himself.

Inside the brightly fit store everyone was dancing and laughing. Kim stood against the wall, her eyes downcast while her husband John stood near her.

As Leah searched the room, the music stopped and the laughing dancers halted. It was in this comparative silence that the woman screamed, and when Leah turned in the direction of the scream, the woman, whom she'd never seen before, was pointing at her.

"That's my aunt's brooch," the woman screeched at Leah. "You stole it from her!"

Aghast, Leah put her hand to her breast. "No," she whispered. It was like the repeat of a nightmare.

Instantly Wes was beside his wife, putting his arm about her in a protective gesture and leading her outside. "Leah," he whispered once they were outside. "Justin's going to take you home. I'm going to stay and find out what I can about this. Do you understand me?"

Numbly Leah nodded as Wes handed her up to Justin.

"Take care of her," Wes said. "I'll send word as soon as I can, but right now I want to stop this once and for all." His head came up sharply as Kimberly came outside with John. Kim was crying softly.

"Go on, get out of here," Wes said to Justin.

Leah didn't think much on the way back to the farm and only when Justin pulled her from the horse and led her inside did she realize how cold she was. She began to shiver.

Justin led her to a chair and then pulled her into his arms. "It's all right, sweetheart. Wesley will find out what's going on. No one will believe you stole the brooch."

Leah couldn't cry but just leaned stiffly against Justin.

"Where did you get the brooch, Leah?" he asked, stroking her arm. "Leah!" he commanded when she didn't answer. "Where did you get that pin?"

"Kimberly gave it to me," Leah whispered.

"Damn that selfish little bitch!" he said with a growl as he tossed Leah back against the chair and began to pace the room. "I could see her being involved with robbers. She has the morals of a whore. Pardon me, Leah, but she does. She'd sell herself or anybody else to get what she wanted. Do you think John has any idea what he married? Poor man, he probably thought there was a woman inside her pretty frame.

"Leah," he said, kneeling before her. "I'm going to see what I can find out from Kimberly. Maybe between John and me we can talk some sense into her. Wes'll probably be back soon, just as soon as he finishes talking to that woman at the dance. Oliver's in the barn. Do you think you'll be all right here by yourself?"

Absently, Leah nodded. She wanted to be alone; she didn't want anyone to see her shame.

He kissed her forehead. "Just stay here and wait for Wes. Don't go anywhere, promise?"

Again she nodded and Justin left her alone.

Leah had no idea how long she sat there because time seemed to have no meaning. Her thoughts wandered to the fact that the fireplace needed cleaning. The sun was beginning to rise when she stiffly got up from the chair and began the filthy task of cleaning it and as much of the chimney as she could reach.

Behind her the door burst open.

Slowly, disinterestedly, Leah turned to see Kim, her eyes bright, her hair tumbled about her shoulders, her muslin dress grass-stained.

"Oh Leah," Kim said breathlessly. "It was heavenly, absolutely heavenly. It was the most wonderful experience of my life. What in the world are you doing? Leah, look at you! You've absolutely ruined that beautiful dress."

Kim went forward, but as she reached Leah she pulled back. "I don't think I'll touch you. Stand up right now and get that dress off. And while you're washing I'll tell you about the most wonderful night of my life."

Kimberly gave Leah cold water to wash in because Kim wasn't about to lay a fire in Leah's bare fireplace. "Wash your ears, too," Kim commanded as Leah stood in her underwear. "It was so silly of

you to ruin your dress. Oh well, that's enough about that. Leah," she said slowly, "Justin and I made love last night."

That was the first thing that had gotten through to Leah. She paused in her washing. "You and Justin?"

"Isn't it so hard to believe? It seems that Justin has hated me from the first moment he saw me. Men don't usually hate me, but Justin did, and last night he was just furious, but later* Oh Leah, it was sheer heaven."

"Kim," Leah said. "Tell me everything from the beginning. Where did you get the brooch you gave me?"

"Well, that," Kim said with a sigh. "I guess things started a long time before last night."

"I have all day," Leah said firmly. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Breakfast? I guess so even though it's afternoon, but lovemaking does make you hungry."

Minutes later Leah was washed, dressed, and cooking. "Start," she ordered Kim.

"I guess it started with Steven. He said there were two kinds of women: ladies who didn't enjoy it and women who did."

"Kim, why don't you tell me about the brooch?"

"I will, but everything's tied together. Oh Leah, you have to swear you won't hate me when I tell you all this. You're the best friend I've ever had and some of the things I've done."

"I swear I won't hate you unless you keep delaying the story."

"As I said, Steven made me think that ladies had to behave all the time so when Wesley and I fell in loveand I really did love himI never let Wes kiss me very much. You see, I very much liked Wesley's kisses, but I was afraid that if I showed him that I liked them he would think I wasn't a lady and wouldn't marry me. Oh Leah, it was hard at times to push him away. Wesley's kisses are so nice. They're."

"Could we skip this part of the story?"

"I guess so. Leah, this is the part I don't like. When Wesley told me he was going to stay married to you, I was very, very angry. Actually, I was furious. It seemed so unfair because I'd always been holding back and being a lady while you and Wesley sneaked out at night and delivered foodoh yes, I knew about that. And, too, you'd wrestled in the mud. You hadn't been a lady at all but you'd won the man."

Pausing, she looked at Leah pleadingly. "I was so angry that I stuck a hatpin in the horse and made the wagon fall down the hill. I thought you were inside. Oh Leah," she wailed, burying her face in her hands.

"I hated you so much I wanted to kill you."

Leah put her arm around Kim's shoulders. "I had a sudden call of nature and left the wagon, so you didn't hurt me. Maybe in your place I'd have done something similar. Here, now, eat your eggs and tell me what happened next."

"John Hammond saw me stick the pin in the horse and when I faintedit's the one and only time I ever really did fainthe told me he wouldn't tell anyone. But later*"

She took a big drink of milk. "He really is a dreadful man, Leah. He said he'd tell everyone what I'd done if I didn't marry him."

"He blackmailed you?" Leah asked, aghast, as she sat down across from Kim. "But why? Why would he want to force you to marry him? He must have known you'd resent him."

"I asked myself that over and over. I didn't like him much for making me marry him and I did everything I could to make him regret marrying me." She smiled at a chunk of buttered bread. "You want to know a secret, Leah? I can cook. I never let Wesley know because Steven said real ladies didn't cook and when we were traveling you always seemed to want to do everything by yourself."

"I made you feel useless?" Leah asked softly.

"You could probably make any six people feel useless, but anyway, to punish John I refused to do anything at all. He was* very unpleasant at night and I didn't really know about lovemaking until Justin."

"What about the brooch? Doesn't that come before Justin?"

"Oh yes. It was very boring in John's house, what with him gone all day, and since I refused to do anything I was supposed to do, I had trouble occupying myself. Except that John has this study, which he keeps locked, and right after our marriage he told me never, never, never was I to go in there."

"So of course you did," Leah said with a smile.

"Every day. It didn't really matter because I didn't care if he caught me or not because I'd already sworn to spend the rest of my life with him, so what more could happen to me? It took some searching, but I found the key, used it every day, searched the room, and returned the key."

"What were you searching for?"

"For whatever he had hidden in there that he didn't want me to see. I couldn't find anything until I found his hidden closet."