"Exactly what I said. " She didn't move, just stared at him. He sighed and gave her the truth. "I'm a possessive man, Jenna. I don't like the idea of any man taking a shine to you, married or not."

"I think you're pretty safe." Her cheeks pinkened upagain, and she ducked her chin.

"If you promise not to get a swelled head, I'll fill you in on a little fact." He was safer letting her think no man found her desirable, but every woman deserved to know she was special, and his Jenna more so than most.

Her only response was a barely discernible, "What?"

and a flash of blue in the corner of her eye. He put them back into motion.

"You are the talk of all the men at the saloon."

"They think I'm loose?" She stiffened and came to a halt. He shook his head at her, t.i.tled her chin up, and kissed her cold lips.

"They thought you were too beautiful to resist." Her mouth formed a startled "Oh". He traced it with his tongue before he whispered, "And I had to b.l.o.o.d.y more than one nose when talk wandered into disrespectful."

"Other men think I'm pretty?"

She acted as if she couldn't get her mind around the fact. He was surely shooting himself in the foot, but it galled him that she didn't see herself the way he saw her.

"Men get hard just at the mention of your name."

That had her turning a brilliant red.

She caught his hand in hers. "No one ever approached me."

"You were in mourning, and didn't need a bunch ofhungry men pestering you."

"You kept them away?" Her soft blue eyes searched his.

"Yes." d.a.m.n, she was quick. He braced himself for her anger. Her fingers squeezed his.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"I wouldn't have liked men courting me then."

Meaning she would now?

"You married me."

"Yes." She smiled just enough to have her dimples flirting in and out of view and resumed walking.

Which told him nothing.

"This house is very impressive." She paused at the foot of the steps to the porch, looking up at the ornate network of beams supporting the roof.

He'd rather talk about that "Yes" and how she felt about marrying him.

"Cougar was in a mood when he built it."

"What kind of mood?"

"A 'kick 'em in the teeth' kind of mood."

She stared at him, then at the building, and then back at him. "Who'd he want to kick?"

"Everyone who ever spit on him or looked down onhim because of his blood."

She frowned. "Did you ever have a mood?"

"Nah." She was obviously not going back to the men subject. He took her elbow and helped her up the first step. "But it was different for me. Cougar's pa dragged him from pillar to post, whereas I grew up here, back when things were so small that everyone within spitting distance was kin."

"So you grew up happy?"

"Yes."

"And Cougar?"

"He grew up mean." The tension in her arm told him he'd chosen the wrong term. "Cougar hasn't had it easy, Jenna, but for all he can gut a man without blinking an eye, he's a man you can count on, and the man I turn to when I need someone to watch my back."

"I won't offend him."

"Good." The tension didn't leave her muscles. He squeezed her elbow. She took a step. He tugged her around. She fell against his chest with a startled cry. "If you ever need help, Jenna, and you can't find me, you go to Cougar."

She blinked. "I'm sure it won't be necessary."

"Promise me, Jenna." He didn't have the patience for evasion. Not on this. She glanced over her shoulder atthe door and then back at him. He had to wait for her to make up her mind.

"I promise." She said it in that s.e.xy, husky voice of hers that had him hard in an instant. He set her carefully away. If he walked through the door with a hard-on, Cougar wouldn't let him hear the end of it for a month of Sundays.

"Good."

She turned, back straight, and marched up the step.

He admired the sway of her skirts as she reached the top, adjusting his denims as his c.o.c.k thickened and stretched down his thigh. Four more days until her woman's time was over and he could have her again. She brushed her hands over her hips, smoothing her skirt, making his palms itch to smooth over the softer fullness of her b.u.t.tocks.

Son of a b.i.t.c.h, he was never going to make it. He came up beside her and pinched her b.u.t.t through her cloak. As she jumped, he opened the door, ushering her into the warmth of the house, feeling an equal warmth spreading out from inside as he entered his cousin's house for the first time as a married man.* * * * *

"You still planning on keeping her?" Cougar asked as he pa.s.sed Clint a cup of coffee an hour later.

Clint took the cup and glanced across the big room to where Jenna sat with Mara, exclaiming over Brianna's latest trick, which appeared to be waving her arm aimlessly over her head.

"Seeing as we're married, I don't see where that's relevant."

"You can always have the marriage annulled."

"The marriage has been consummated." Clint took a cautious sip of the hot coffee.

"Throw enough money at a problem, and anything can be fixed." Reading between the lines, Clint knew that meant Cougar would bankrupt himself if necessary to free Clint. Cougar smiled and shrugged as he settled back in the red leather chair.

"I'm happy with my marriage."

"Then why the long face?"

"Wasn't aware that it was."

"Uh-huh."He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and let the coffee dangle between them. "I think that husband of hers was a bigger son of a b.i.t.c.h than either of us guessed."

"Why?" The laziness left Cougar's posture as he sat up.

"She's been whipped."

"Jesus!"

"Yeah, that was about my thought."

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d husband of hers died too quickly."

"At the time I was more interested in expediency than revenge." Clint tightened his grip on his cup and beat back the residual anger.

The corners of Cougar's lips curved in a lethal mockery of a smile. "A d.a.m.ned pity you can't call a do over and put him in the grave twice. This time not so fast, and not so clean."

"I'm not sure that would solve anything." Except maybe give him an outlet for the rage that kept creeping up on his blind side."

"You don't think he did it?"

"I'm not sure."

"Why not?"

He looked up, meeting Cougar's amber gaze with his own. "Because Jenna won't say so."Cougar grunted and then asked, "Any chance her father did it? I heard he was a real Bible-thumper with some strange notions and a penchant for drink."

"Maybe." Clint shrugged.

"But you don't believe it?"

"No." Feeling like he was betraying a confidence he gave Cougar the unvarnished truth. "The scars are on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s."

"d.a.m.n." After a pause Cougar said, "A lover would be the type to take revenge that way."

"That occurred to me." More than once.

"Rumor was Jenna wasn't the most faithful of wives."

"Don't go there, Cougar."

Cougar lifted his brow at the warning, shrugged his broad shoulders, and added, "It's not as if a man could blame her if she did stray."

"If you don't want us coming to blows, you're going to have to trust me on this. Jenna isn't the type to step out on a man, no matter how bad the marriage." Clint tightened his grip on the cup, keeping his head down until the need to mess up Cougar's face was under control.

"My apologies."

"Apology accepted."

"So you think whoever did it is still out there?""Yes." Clint took a long pull of coffee, welcoming its scalding heat.

"d.a.m.n." Cougar took a pull on his own coffee and glanced over at the women. "It would drive me crazy to know Mara was in danger and not knowing from what, or who."

"I'm not the most serene right now." Clint watched as Jenna talked with Mara, clearly enjoying the start of a friendship, but still on edge. The set of her shoulders was stiff, as if expecting the moment to come crashing down on her. d.a.m.n, he wished she could just relax and let herself go.

"It'd be easiest if you could get her to tell you."

"That's not going to happen anytime soon."

Jenna smiled shyly at something Mara said, her dimples appearing and disappearing in her cheeks. His c.o.c.k surged to attention, eagerly awaiting another glimpse.

Cougar chuckled and shook his head. "I know what that's like. Took me a good month to coax Mara around to my way of thinking."

Clint shot Cougar a disbelieving glance. "The way I remember it, Mara was the one who did the coaxing."

"Which reminds me. I've been waiting for the opportunity to pay you back." Cougar set his cup on thelow oak table between them. His long hair swung over his shoulder as he again arched his brow at him.

"For what?" Clint sat back in his chair and feigned innocence.

Cougar paused before he let go of the cup. "For teaching the woman how to tie knots."

"What in h.e.l.l did you expect me to do? She came to me for help."

"You could have sent her home."

"From what I understood, you weren't letting her come home, and that's what she intended to set to rights."

"It wasn't any of your business."

"You were being an a.s.s."

"Almost as much of an a.s.s as I'm sure you're being now." Cougar sat back in his chair and motioned in the direction of the women.

"All I've done is marry the woman."

"Uh-huh. On the outside that would appear to be so, but Clint, I've known you since you were twelve, and nothing is ever that simple with you."

It was Clint's turn to say, "Uh-huh."

"As a matter of fact," Cougar continued, "it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that you've been hankering for Jenna all along and just looking for an excuse to hitchyour wagon to hers."

"She's a good woman, and she needs help." d.a.m.n, Cougar knew him too well.