Shutting the doors behind him, the senator intentionally ignored everyone and went straight to the sideboard to pour himself a glass of wine. Anna Leigh stared at Ryder.

"My God," she said softly.

She placed a hand to her heart as if to keep it in place. Mary thought this last gesture was overdone. She regarded the younger woman skeptically. Anna Leigh's slender hand was arranged artfully over her low-cut neckline in order to bring attention to her breasts rather than hide them.

"McKay," Rivers said stiffly. His eyes went to Mary next, and his acknowledgment of her presence was equally stilted.

"Miss Dennehy." Mary noticed that with their sunshine yellow hair and striking blue eyes, Anna Leigh and Davis Rivers were like a pair of perfectly matched bookends. The lieutenant's boyishly handsome features complemented Anna Leigh's dainty beauty. It struck Mary suddenly that their attraction for each other had a great deal to do with how much each was in love with his or her own image. She was hard pressed not to comment on it. Anna Leigh's hand dropped away from her bodice as her gaze narrowed on Mary.

"So," she said, drawing out the single word thoughtfully, "you're the fallen angel who came to Ryder's aid.

You were a nun, weren't you?" She did not ask the question to encourage a response. She knew the answer. She looked Mary up and down critically.

"I don't suppose that after being without a man for so long you minded being raped by a half-breed savage." Mary didn't hesitate. She crossed the short distance to Anna Leigh in less than a second and slapped her so hard the younger woman was knocked sideways against the wall.

"You ever say anything like that again," Mary warned, "and I won't use the flat of my hand."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Lieutenant Rivers was preparing to restrain her. She leveled him with a cold stare.

"Keep your hands to yourself or I'll put you on the floor beside your bitch." The lieutenant's face flushed with color. In spite of that he drew in a breath and puffed like a banty rooster, prepared to take issue with Mary. She was not backing down.

"I.

think you'd better see to Miss Hamilton," Ryder said significantly, catching the lieutenant's eye.

"She appears to have been bloodied in the first round." Rivers hesitated, rocking on his feet slightly as he held off the forward motion that would have had him toe to toe with Mary. He let out his breath slowly as if he were finding control rather than being deflated, and went to Anna Leigh's side. Mary turned her back on the lieutenant as he drew out a handkerchief. She could see that Ryder was not pleased with her performance, but she was unapologetic. She came to stand at his side again and said quietly, "It had to be done." Still standing at the sideboard, the senator raised his glass in the direction of both couples.

"I take it that we're off to a fine start," he said.

"Salute." With the lieutenant's assistance, Anna Leigh straightened.

She pressed the handkerchief to the right corner of her mouth. The tears that made her blue eyes glisten were no artifice. Mary's slap had been a stinging blow, and her cheek felt as if it were on fire.

Anna Leigh looked to Rivers and said calmly, "Kill her."

"Oh, for God's sake," Stillwell protested.

"Haven't you any more imagination than that?"

Mary's brows rose a little at that. She could have sworn the senator was enjoying himself. What about the reporters and General Hatcher?

she wondered. Had enough time elapsed for them to be positioned on the other side of the door? Were they finding this exchange as entertaining as Senator Stillwell? Mary looked to Ryder for direction and saw nothing in his implacable calm that supported her own disquiet.

Lieutenant Rivers made no move to carry out Anna Leigh's order. He was not wearing a weapon, at least not one that was visible to the eye, but he gave no indication that he was likely to have obeyed her in any event.

"Be quiet," he said calmly, recovering some of his own presence of mind as he faced Ryder.

"What is it you want, McKay?" Ryder's answer was simple.

"The truth about Colter Canyon."

"The truth?"

Rivers scoffed.

"You were there." His eyes straying to Anna Leigh for a moment. Ryder said, "No, I wasn't." Before the lieutenant could reply, Anna Leigh interrupted, "Are you going to just let this go on?" At first Mary thought Anna Leigh was speaking to Rivers, but when the lieutenant didn't answer Mary followed the direction of her militant, expectant look.

"A little like leading sheep to the slaughter," Wilson Stillwell said almost apologetically. Mary's initial confusion was compounded as she turned and saw that the senator had exchanged his glass of wine for a gun. It was slowly borne home to her that his weapon, like his comment, was not intended for Anna Leigh and Lieutenant Rivers.

He was aiming both at her and Ryder. Wilson Stillwell jerked the Colt revolver once, indicating the lieutenant should approach Ryder.

"See if he's carrying a gun," he ordered.

"And for God's sake be careful." Rivers crossed the distance in a few strides.

Mary, who had moved protectively in front of Ryder, felt his hands gently come around her waist and move her to one side. Then he let her go and raised his arms, permitting Lieutenant Rivers to pat him down.

Rivers completed his check efficiently, then straightened and stepped back with almost comical quickness.

"There's no gun," he told Stillwell. One of the senator's brows arched as he regarded his nephew.

"I'm surprised. I expected you not to leave anything to chance."

Lowering his hands slowly, Ryder said, "We all make mistakes." He placed one hand lightly on the small of Mary's back in a gesture that was at once a warning and a protection.

"I couldn't anticipate things would go quite this way." Stillwell smiled.

"No one could, nephew. No one could."

Keeping his revolver aimed at Mary and Ryder, he said, "Show them to the cellar, Lieutenant. Anna Leigh, open the doors for them.

You may as well assist in the capture. All the glory can't be mine."

Anna Leigh removed the handkerchief from her mouth. The bloodstained cloth had hidden a superior, malicious smile. She looked from the handkerchief to Mary.

"A pleasure," she said sincerely.

"A real pleasure." Mary's only satisfaction was that Anna Leigh winced when her smile became a bit too fulsome and had to quickly bring the handkerchief back to her lips.

"This way," Davis Rivers said tersely.

"Miss Hamilton. The doors." Anna Leigh drew them open and stepped into the hallway. Rivers took a step backward and gestured for Ryder and Mary to follow Anna Leigh.

Mary didn't move until the hand at her back increased its pressure slightly and she understood that Ryder wanted her to go. Shoulders set squarely, her hands curled into fists, Mary expressed her protest with her body as she left the room. Once she was in the hallway she saw there were no reporters and no General Hatcher.

Mrs. Shanahan and the other staff had evidently left as well.

"You too," Rivers said to Ryder. Ryder paused to regard his uncle with pale, expressionless eyes. He moved on only when Wilson Stillwell was the first to look away. Anna Leigh demonstrated her familiarity with the house as she marched down the hallway and chose to open the second door on her right. Throwing the bolt, she waved Mary toward the dark entrance.

"This way. It's the wine cellar. You're not afraid of the dark, are you?" There was enough light from the hallway for Mary to make out the narrow stairs that led below. She looked over her shoulder at Ryder.

He nodded slightly.

"No," she said.

"I'm not afraid of it."