"There isn't much of one, but it exists. If I were you, I'd worry about that man coming after Blade. If he is a gunfighter, I imagine he'll be anxious to get even. I would."

Royal looked furious enough to ignore all danger. A groan from Blade made him more angry still. Luke had to think of some way to stop him before he lost all sense of caution.

"Look, you want Melody and that ranch. You can get what you want by starving them out. If they call in the law, I'm leaving. I can keep that man off your back if you control Blade. If he does anything else, he's crow bait."

"They'd never find a jury that'd convict Blade. This town owes everything to me," Lantz said. "Have you forgotten that you protected Billy after he raped that girl? Folks in town hate you for that. Some of them are still convinced Blade was the other man, even though the girl couldn't identify him. I'm sure they'd like a second chance to get Blade."

Luke rolled another cigarette to give Lantz time to think. The man didn't have any sympathy for Blade's victims or care that the boy had developed evil habits. He was caught between anger that anyone would shoot his son and fear that Blade's actions might hurt him.

Luke meant to play on that fear. He didn't want to be ordered to go after Chet. He also needed to be free to do the job he'd been hired to do, find the rustlers. So far they'd proved remarkably elusive. They always seemed to know where everybody was. Clearly, they had an informant on the inside. Luke never found any trails that weren't cold. He didn't understand it, and he didn't like it. He charged a huge fee. He could do that because of his past success. He didn't want a failure to change that.

Then there was Chet. Luke had never been called upon to go up against his brother. He certainly wasn't going to do it over a spoiled, evilminded brat like Blade Royal. But there was another reason Luke couldn't do it. If he hadn't become a gunfighter, Chet would still be where he belonged, working for Jake, living with a family he'd come to love. But he had given it up to follow Luke, to protect him.

Luke had to keep Lantz from giving him a direct order. Backing down from any confrontation, no matter what the reason, would ruin his reputation and make it difficult for him to earn the kind of living he'd become used to. But he didn't have to face that possibility just yet, not as long as he could convince Lantz that his son was in danger.

"Wake up!"

Luke looked up to see Lantz shaking Blade hard.

"What?" Blade asked, his words slurred, his eyes only half open.

"Luke says that guy who shot you is a gunfighter. You stay in the house, you hear? Luke's going to stay with you. You're not to be out of his sight."

Blade fought to sit up, but his shoulder wouldn't support him. "I'm not hiding from any d.a.m.ned gunfighter. And I'm sure as h.e.l.l not letting Luke babysit me."

"You're staying here until I can figure out what to do about that gunfighter," Lantz said. "I'm not losing my only kin to some filthy gunman."

Luke felt something inside him tighten. He didn't understand why Royal thought he was so much better just because it wasn't his hand that held the gun. He listened absently while Lantz and Blade argued with each other at the top of their lungs. Blade's foolish threats about what he would do when he got up were doing more to convince Lantz he was in danger than anything Luke had said.

"You're staying here, and that's final," Lantz said. "If that man can shoot both you and Billy, he can kill you if he catches you alone."

Blade cursed. Luke wasn't much happier. He didn't like Blade, and loathed being around him. He needed freedom to find out who was behind the rustling. Most of all, he had to find a way to meet Chet and convince him to leave the area.

The whole place was in ferment by the time Chet and Sydney returned to the ranch. Neill, waiting down the trail despite his mother's orders, had seen them coming and rushed back to tell everyone. By the time Chet helped Sydney off his horse, Melody and Bernice had organized the household to receive him. Melody had also sent one of the men for the doctor. Belle was the greatest surprise. After taking one look at the blood on her son and letting out a piercing scream, she pulled herself together and started issuing orders everyone ignored. But she didn't leave his side, nor did she lose control of her emotions again.

"There's a lot of blood," Chet told Belle as he helped Sydney into the house, "but he's not seriously hurt."

"I'll get some of the men to carry you upstairs," Melody said to Sydney.

"I can walk," Sydney said, embarra.s.sed and angered at all the fuss. "I'm not going to die."

"Who did this to you?" Belle asked.

"Blade," Sydney said. "He wanted to humiliate me before he killed me."

Belle lost some color, but she retained her composure.

"I don't understand. Why would he do such a thing?"

"For the same reason he killed Tom," Chet said. "He likes killing."

They had managed to reach the top of the stairs. Sydney looked close to the end of his endurance. "Want me to carry you?" Chet asked softly.

"You're wounded yourself," Sydney replied. "I'll make it."

Chet had to give the boy credit. He had bottom. Now if he could just learn that guns weren't the answer to everything, he might make a good cattleman someday. All he really needed was someone to take him in hand, someone who wasn't his mother or his sister. Some man he could respect, try to emulate. Melody's husband. Chet refused to let his thoughts wander in that direction.

Once he had settled Sydney in the bed, he moved back to give Belle and Bernice room to work.

"Did Blade really mean to kill him?" Melody asked.

Chet drew her out into the hall.

"Don't leave," Belle called to him. "I want to know everything that happened out there."

Chet kept moving until he and Melody reached Bob Jordan's office. He motioned her inside and closed the door behind her.

"Why all the secrecy?"

"I don't want to upset Belle."

"She's already upset. So am I. What could have possessed Blade to shoot Sydney? He's just a boy."

"According to Sydney, Blade was waiting for him. He challenged him the moment he arrived, then drew on him before he was ready."

"I can't believe Blade would do anything so cowardly."

"I should have told you before. It was Blade who shot me. From behind." Melody looked as if she could hardly believe what he'd told her. "But why?"

"He likes bullying people. I don't think he sees it as wrong, just getting what he wants."

"What does he want?"

"To be the big man around here, to have everybody fear him. I don't like Lantz, but he does have some scruples. Blade doesn't. He had Sydney down on the ground. Any other man would have left things at that, even offered to take care of him. Blade was taunting him, trying to get him to draw again."

"That's practically the same as murder."

"I have a feeling Blade can't help it. I don't think he's right in his head."

"I've got to tell Lantz. He's got to do something."

"Do you think he's going to believe anything like this about his son?"

"But if his men back up what we say"

"They won't. Lantz is paying their wages, not you. Besides, they might be afraid of what Blade will do to them."

"Then I'll call the sheriff."

"Do, but don't be surprised if nothing happens. You weren't a witness."

"You were."

"I'm a stranger. n.o.body's going to believe me if Royal's hands swear otherwise. They won't believe Sydney, either. He's a boy who got in over his head. They'll figure he's just trying to get back."

Melody looked at him in disbelief. "People out here can't be so callous. I sent for the sheriff as well as the doctor. We'll see what he has to say." <><><><><><><><><><><><> She found Chet sitting under a tree behind a corral an hour later.

"The doctor said Sydney will be just fine. We're to keep him in bed for a couple of days. He just has to take it easy after that."

That was what Chet had expected to hear, but he knew that was not what Melody had come to tell him. She looked furious. She stood there as agitated as a pot at a full boil.

"That sheriff said exactly what you said he would," she finally conceded. "He's not going to do a thing about Blade." She started to pace, the turbulence of her emotions underscored by the vigorous sway and swishing sound of her skirt. "He said it would be Blade's word against Sydney's. I asked him how he explained the gunshot wound. He said Lantz had already told him Sydney was looking for trouble. He said Blade had fired in self-defense and that he had five men who would swear to it."

"So what did you do?" Chet asked.

"I told him he was a coward and a sycophant, a disgrace to Texas, the South, and every man who'd ever had the courage to fight for his convictions. I also told him"

Chet smiled. "Did he stay around to hear the rest of it?"

"No. The spineless worm said he had to talk to Belle about her lost horses. Horses! He was more concerned about four-legged animals then about my brother."

"Horses are very important in Texas."

"I should hope brothers are as well."

Chet thought of Luke working for Lantz Royal and his mood sobered. "Yes. Family is important to us, too." "What are we going to do? We can't let Blade get away with this. Who knows what he'll do next?"

"I guess you're going to have to hire the gunfighters like Tom wanted."

"That'll be the same as a declaration of war."

"Lantz wants what you have, and he means to take it with guns if necessary. You have to defend it with any means at your command. I think that's the usual definition of war."

"I can't do that. It's barbaric."

"Then hire someone to do it for you."

"I mean I can't do it at all. Can't you understand that?"

"No." He'd been brought up fighting for what he wanted. Being a gunfighter was a choice. Defending your property wasn't. "If you don't fight, people will strip you bare and despise you for letting them do it."

"How can you live like that?"

"I don't have another choice."

"Well, I do. We're supposed to help our neighbors, not pick their bones."

"You can't condemn everybody because of Lantz's greediness."

"Yes, I can. It's people with att.i.tudes like yours and the sheriff's who allow him to get away with it. This would never happen in Richmond."

"Things are different in cities, even in Texas."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Melody said. "I don't intend to stay long enough to find out. I'm going home."

"What about your share of the ranch?"

"I don't care about it anymore. I can support myself. And if I can't, I know at least one man who won't try to force me to the altar by stealing my horses or shooting my brother. How can you stand to live here?"

"It's my home."

"It'll never be mine. It's barbaric."

"There's barbarism everywhere, Melody, whether it's some banker stealing gold from poor suckers who risked their lives to grub it out of the ground, politicians stealing Indian lands and starving them on reservations, or robber barons raping the country. The only difference is that out here we're more honest about our stealing."

"Honesty among thieves. Don't you think that's a contradiction of terms?"

"Maybe, but it's true."

"Well, I can't accept it. The minute I know Sydney's all right, I'm leaving this place."

Chet watched as she turned on her heel and headed back toward the house, still talking to herself, arms flailing about as she made point after point no one else could hear. He'd grown up in Texas and expected to die in Texas. But he could see how it must be a terrible shock to someone reared in the softer traditions of a place like Richmond. Men in Virginia believed in protecting their women from the unpleasant aspects of life. Texas women had to shoulder their share of the troubles. Isabelle had managed to make the transition, but she'd been orphaned herself, then dumped into the Texas wilderness with eight homeless boys on her hands. She'd had to change, or none of them would have survived. Melody didn't have to change. She could go back to Virginia.

Chet found himself wanting to defend Texas, wanting to convince her to stay, but he kept his mouth shut. It wouldn't have been good for her. It certainly wouldn't have been good for him. Yet, he couldn't imagine never seeing Melody again. Despite the odds, he felt she belonged in his life. She belonged here. Forever.

"You can't leave," Belle exclaimed.

"I can't stand it here any longer," Melody said. "They've stolen our cows, scattered our horses, and shot Tom and Sydney. They'll probably decide to come after us next. They could kill us in our beds."

"They're not Indians."

"I could understand it better if they were."

"What will the boys and I do if you leave?"

"I'll give you my part of the ranch. I'll sign any papers you want. I don't want anything here."

"That's not what I'm talking about. What's going to happen to us if we lose the ranch?"

"You grew up here. You understand the rules. You figure out how to stop Lantz. I can't, and I don't want to try anymore."

"But Melody, you can't"

"Don't you dare say I have to marry Lantz Royal to save you. I won't be blackmailed into marrying that man, or any man out here," she declared. "They're all savages."

"I won't ask you to marry Lantz," Belle said. "I couldn't, not after what he let his son do to Sydney."

"Then why don't you want me to go back to Virginia?"