When she straightened, her expression was completely serious.

"And he wanted you, Jenna. Don't ever doubt that."

He wanted you. The words echoed in Jenna's head, giving birth to that hope that battled common sense.

"Wanting isn't loving."

"To a McKinnely it is," Mara said that with the certainty of a preacher declaring sin.

"There are things you don't know that affect Clint's feelings."

"Bulls.h.i.t." Mara stopped and turned, her fingers on Jenna's cloak, catching her arm, forcing her to stop and look at her."Clint and Cougar are as close as brothers, share the same values, and have that McKinnely tenacity to a fault so I know, absolutely know, there is nothing in your past, present, or future that can ever turn that man from your side."

"Cougar loves you."

"And Clint loves you." There wasn't a smidgeon of doubt in her tone. "I know everyone's been giving you well-meaning advice and I'm probably no more welcome than the rest, but my guess is that whatever kept Clint from claiming you immediately, is the same thing holding him back from saying that he loves you."

An interesting theory but so d.a.m.ned unlikely.

"He could just not love me." Jenna stepped to the left as the mercantile door jangled a warning. Mara stepped right with her, chin coming up in a way that screamed stubborn.

"He loves you."

She wanted to believe that so d.a.m.ned much.

"Mrs. Hennesey," a woman's voice interrupted.

"Could I have a moment?"

Jenna had heard that cold, controlled voice too many times not to tense as it came from behind her. Meetings with the mayor's wife were never pleasant. Today, when her nerves were stretched tight and her stomach nauseated, promised to be worse than usual."Good afternoon, Mrs. Salisbury." She turned, nodding to the taller, well-dressed woman standing just outside the mercantile door.

"Afternoon Shirley." Mara nodded, demonstrating none of Jenna's instinctive deference. "And that would be Mrs. McKinnely now."

"So I heard." With a nod so slight it didn't even disturb the garish bird perched in the turned-up brim of her lavish hat, Shirley acknowledged Mara. The sniff that punctuated the remark conveyed as strongly as the bitter lines beside her thin mouth just how she felt about Jenna's marriage. "I hope you don't expect to immediately become part of our community just because you married Clint McKinnely."

Jenna's stomach churned acid. She hated confrontations like this. Bri, sensing her tension began to whimper. Her "Of course not" was drowned out by Mara's "She's already part of our community".

"Hardly." The look Shirley shot Mara contained more venom than politeness. "And if you continue to be seen in her company, you may find your own tenuous position threatened."

Jenna closed her eyes briefly against the waves of hostility battering them. She tried to edge between Mara and the woman, to deflect some of her anger. It was a waste of effort. While she'd heard tell of Mara's temper,she'd never actually believed the tiny woman capable of even a harsh word. She'd been wrong.

With an "Excuse me" that had Jenna blinking twice at its coldness, Mara stepped in front of her. She didn't stop there, either. She went two steps further, until the hem of her fashionable green dress pushed aside the hem of Shirley's matronly navy blue one.

"Did you just threaten me?" The question was asked in a flat monotone that was eerily calm for all the energy it contained. Jenna wasn't surprised when Shirley inched toward the edge of the walk. Mara was a very scary woman when riled. And she was riled. Her cinnamon colored eyes seemed to glow in her tight face as she matched Shirley step for step. "Did you?"

"I merely pointed out the facts."

"Mara, it's okay." Jenna touched Mara's arm while trying to gently bounce Bri from her own bad mood.

"Like h.e.l.l it is." Mara's chin came up and her shoulders squared. She never took her eyes off of Shirley.

"Let me point out a few facts of my own, Mrs. Salisbury.

Jenna is a McKinnely. We are thrilled to have her in the family and any slight against her is a slight against us all."

"All, meaning you?" Shirley sneered, disdain dripping from every pore. "A wh.o.r.e from the most notorious wh.o.r.ehouse in the territory? I'm supposed toworry about offending you?"

The twitch in Mara's fingers gave away the fact that the shot had found its mark, and the panic in Jenna's stomach solidified to a hard knot of anger that exploded outward in violent driving waves.

"How dare you say something so filthy?"

"It's the truth and no amount of whitewashing will remove the stench." Shirley didn't even blink.

Mara leapt forward. Jenna caught her arm and shoved her behind her, advancing on Shirley, fury battling with reason.

"You vindictive, evil woman. You are so twisted with jealousy that you think you're ent.i.tled to spew your venom everywhere." Jenna stepped closer, forcing the woman back, for once glad of her size. "But you're not.

It's not okay at all. I've let you spew on me for years because I felt sorry for you, always trying to put the best face forward when you had to be so unhappy the way your husband treated you, and because, quite frankly, I thought I was somehow deserving. But you will not,"

she shoved her face in Shirley's, so close that she could see the fine grains of powder she used on her complexion, "ever say a word against me or mine again."

"Or what?" Shirley snapped, not totally backing down.

She was never so glad for her years with Jack. Onething she knew was how to deliver a threat. She lowered her voice, settled her weight onto her feet, and smiled the coldest smile she knew how to imitate. "Or I'll use every evil, twisted, painful torture my dead husband taught me to make you scream with regret."

"You wouldn't dare!" Shirley took another step back.

"She's daring all kinds of things lately, Shirley,"

Mara offered, "so I wouldn't bet your health on that."

Bri's whimpers turned to wails. Shirley cut the baby a hate-filled glance.

"It shouldn't have been you," she whispered.

"What?"

"If you hadn't interfered, wh.o.r.ed your way into his bed, played on his sympathy, Clint would have married my Rebecca."

"Is that what this is all about? You thought Clint was interested in Rebecca?" Jenna blinked, pulling back a step as the pieces fell into place.

"You stole him from her."

"It wouldn't have worked," she said over Bri's wails.

"They never would have been happy." Jenna shook her head, the anger draining from her as understanding took its place.

"At least she wouldn't have stuck him with that filthy brat."The rage surged free from deep inside Jenna, welling out of nowhere, years of swallowing it back just giving it more force, coloring her vision red, and giving her strength that she didn't know she had. With a hard push, Jenna sent the woman toppling backward off the raised walk straight into the horse trough. The cracking of ice punctuated Shirley's shriek as water splashed over the sides of the rough wood and closed over her head.

Mara's "d.a.m.n" drifted through the red haze surrounding her as Jenna stepped down to the trough where Shirley floundered on her back, her teeth already chattering from the frigid cold. With her free hand, she pulled the older woman's face clear of the dirty water.

Powder ran off her face in pale streaks as Jenna held her suspended.

"If you ever say a word against my children again, I'll hunt you down and kill you."

"And when she gets done with you, it'll be my turn."

The swish of Mara's skirts preceded her step into view.

Sunlight glinted off the knife she held in her hand.

Shirley tore her gaze from Jenna's to the knife in Mara's hand and back to Jenna's face. Her pale face grew paler, blue mixing with the white. Her mouth opened and closed twice, and then she started to scream. Loud, earsplitting shrieks that grated. Jenna let her drop back into the water, and turned away, feeling shaky as thefury slowly subsided. Looking around, she noted townsperson after townsperson staring, their expressions in various stages of shock.

Her knees grew weak, and she started to shake.

"Well, one thing's for sure, we're going to be either heroes or villains in everyone's eyes by the end of the day," Mara muttered as she grabbed Jenna's elbow and hurried her out of the crowd.

"Heroes?"

"Don't you fall apart on me now," Mara ordered as Jenna stumbled. "There are a lot of people who would love to have the courage to dunk that old b.i.t.c.h."

"Oh G.o.d, I pushed the mayor's wife into the horse trough!" The realization of what she'd done began to sink in.

"Yes. You did."

"I need to sit down." She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. Her hand was shaking. Her whole body was shaking with the enormity of the potential consequences.

"Not right now you don't," Mara said, casting a glance over her shoulder.

"Oh G.o.d, Clint is going to hate me." Jenna followed the trajectory of her gaze. A crowd was gathered in front of the mercantile and from the gesturing, it was an angry one."Considering the woman called your daughter filthy and a brat, you're not the one he's going to hate."

"I'd better go apologize." Jenna tugged against Mara's grip. Mara dug in her heels and hauled Jenna along.

"What we'd better do is get ourselves to the livery and then home to our husbands."

"Is Cougar going to be mad at you because of me?"

Jenna didn't need another person suffering because of her.

Mara shook her head and laughed. "He'll probably want to know why we didn't hold her under longer."

"I didn't even know I had a temper."

"Well, you do, and as a witness to what you're like when you get going, I'd say a pretty fierce one."

"I don't know what to tell Clint." Pain in her leg took her breath. She had to work to get the words even.

"The truth is good." Mara steadied her as she tripped in a rut.

"He'll be angry."

"And that's a d.a.m.n impressive man to get riled. The mayor is going to wish he'd sent his wife back East like he planned last spring."

"He's not going to be happy with me either."

"No doubt we'll both get the full lecture about notendangering ourselves," Mara said as they darted around a wagon. She tugged harder on Jenna's arm, jostling Bri, who hiccupped mid-cry and then paused to see if she liked the new sensation.

"I'll give you a hint," Mara grunted as she hopped a frozen puddle. "If you start undoing b.u.t.tons about halfway through, they lose steam fast."

Jenna smiled. She couldn't help it. She could just see the irrepressible Mara using feminine wiles against her big husband to get out of a lecture.

"I might try that."

The glance Mara cut her was wry. "Since you've got a heck of a lot more ammunition in your pack than I do, you might get away with only having to listen to a quarter of the lecture."

Jenna wasn't sure about that. Her foot twisted in a rut and her leg gave out. She fell, pulling Mara off balance as she did. Bri, contrary as always, gurgled with laughter as they landed in a pile of skirts.

"You ladies ought to learn to take advantage of the alleys."

Jenna froze. She knew that voice...that tone. She slowly looked up. Sunlight flashing off Mark's badge streaked her vision.

"Jenna Hennesey, you need to come with me."Every nightmare she'd suppressed suddenly screamed for recognition, stealing her breath and her strength until alI she could do was sit there on the ground in a cold sweat, pinned by memories that were no longer willing to be denied.

Mara scrambled to her feet, and glared at Mark.

"That's Jenna McKinnely and she's not going anywhere with you."

"The mayor appointed me deputy while the sheriff is gone, so that pretty much means she goes where I say."

It wasn't what Mark said, but more the way he said it that sent chills down Jenna's spine. Mark could be very unpredictable-to the point that she'd often questioned his sanity. It wasn't wise to provoke him the way Mara was doing.

"It's okay, Mara," Jenna said, getting her good leg under her and standing slowly. She was Clint McKinnely's wife. Mark wouldn't dare touch her. "I'll be fine."

"You're darned right you will because you're going home to your husband." Mara reached for her hand.

Mark grabbed Jenna's upper arm and with a bruising yank, lifted her up and back, out of Mara's reach.

"If Clint wants to see his wife, he can look for her over in the jail." He jerked his chin in the direction of the small, windowless structure set back in the alley besidethe livery. "She'll be staying there waiting for a trial."

"Trial?" Jenna stared at the dark, square building.

They were going to try her?

"For what?" Mara demanded.

"Mrs. Salisbury is charging her with attempted murder."

"I just pushed her in a horse trough."