"What do you propose to do?"

"Attack him as soon as I can get it set up." Chet turned to Melody. "Are you willing to stay here that long?"

Melody realized that question asked a great deal more than whether she was willing to stay until the confrontation was over. It asked if she understood what Chet was talking about. Quite suddenlysurprisinglyshe found she did. She understood how he felt, how her father would have felt, how she would have felt if anyone had asked the same question about Virginia. She didn't want to fight. She wanted to live peacefully with her neighbors and let the law settle all disputes. But Lantz was threatening to take away a ranch that belonged to her, and she wouldn't let him do it. She couldn't. She didn't like violence, but she would do what she must. And she wouldn't apologize or feel guilty for it ever again.

She looked him straight in the eye. "I'll do more than that. I'm going to be riding alongside you."

Chapter Fourteen.

At first Chet hadn't believed Melody meant it when she said she would ride with him. He had argued with her, then stated flatly that he wouldn't allow her to go with him. He'd even ordered the men to refuse to saddle her horse. But he was discovering that even though Melody Jordan had grown up in Richmond and preferred the softer life of that old Southern city, she was quite capable of being as stubborn as any Texan.

"This is my ranch, and the safety of the men who work for me is my responsibility," she said when Belle added her entreaties to Chet's threats.

"That's absurd," Belle had said. "No one expects women to act like men, not even in Texas."

"No self-respecting man would allow it," Chet added.

"You forget I own this place," Melody said. "I can fire you and lead the men myself." Which was proof of his folly in telling her his plans before everything was over and done with. But then, he'd never met a woman who insisted upon knowing every move he planned to make. Nor had he met one willing to put on pants and learn to ride astride. That had probably shocked him the most.

"It's indecent," Belle had protested. "It would ruin your reputation if anybody found out."

"Isn't that the whole point of mounting a raid at night?" she'd asked, turning to Chet. "That no one will see us?"

"It's to give us the advantage of surprise, not to disguise females parading around in men's clothing."

"I don't see why it shouldn't do both."

"Because you'll be in the way. You won't know what to do."

"You can teach me."

"We've got only two days."

"I thought you Texans could do anything."

He couldn't take credit for her learning to ride astride so quickly. His concentration was practically nonexistent. By the time he'd satisfied himself that Melody was capable of riding in the raid, he was almost too weak to go himself. The fact that he'd spent each night tossing in his sleep hadn't helped. He'd moved into the bunkhouse with the other men, but he'd become so sensitive to Melody that he felt her presence before he actually saw her.

He'd told himself he was a fool to stay, that honor didn't require him to hang around when there was danger from two sides. But honor did require that he not abandon two helpless women and two vulnerable boys to the greed of Lantz Royal or the madness of his son. Since Chet didn't really want to leave, it wasn't difficult to decide to be honorable.

Besides, if he was going to die anyway, this was as good a time and place as any.

"If Lantz is rounding up a herd, why aren't we?" Melody asked.

Five of them were on their way to the part of Lantz Royal's range where he was holding a herd of about five hundred steers.

"You would have been if you hadn't had all this trouble with rustlers on top of Tom getting killed."

"Shouldn't we start?"

"I will as soon as we settle with Lantz."

Chet had taken care to see everyone rode dark horses and wore dark clothing. Fortunately, heavy clouds obscured the moon. He couldn't have wanted a more perfect night for the raid. Now if he could just carry it off and get Melody back to the ranch safely . . . He swore to himself that he wouldn't let her set one foot off the place ever again.

"Now remember, we're supposed to be rustlers," Chet reminded the men when they were within sight of the herd. "We can't afford for anybody to be caught and identified."

"But I thought you wanted Lantz to know he was vulnerable," Melody said.

"I do, but I don't want him to know who did this just yet. He's got enough cowhands to burn us out any time he chooses. The longer he stays confused, the better chance we'll have to do more damage." He gathered them close. "Remember, we want to drive the herd right through the middle of their camp to cause the maximum amount of damage and to delay their pursuit as long as possible. After that, we scatter the herd as far as we can. He'll set his men to rounding them up as soon as they recapture their horses. Stay low in the saddle so they won't get a good shot at you."

He could barely see the herd in the distance. Their dark shapes blended well with the ground. He didn't know how many men were on guard duty. That was the first thing to be determined, and it was his job.

"Wait until I give the signal," he said. "Anybody being seen before then will ruin the whole thing. Do you men know where you're supposed to be?"

They nodded.

"Okay. I'll need about half an hour. Watch for my signal. You'll have exactly one minute after that. Understand?"

They nodded again.

"Okay. Move out." Melody already knew she was to stay with him. It had been the only condition under which he would allow her to ride with them. He waited while the men disappeared, walking their horses slowly to keep from making too much noise. "Follow me," he said to Melody. "No matter what happens, don't speak above a whisper."

They were to take up position on the far side of the herdafter he'd checked out the crew to make sure they were asleep, after he'd disabled any night riders.

Never before had Chet felt so nervous at a time like this, but then he'd never done anything like this with a woman at his side. He'd also never felt such an urge to repeat his cautions, to warn her of the additional dangers that occurred to him with each pa.s.sing minute. Only resolute exercise of willpower kept him quiet.

It didn't take them long to determine that Lantz had posted only one guard. That surprised Chet, considering the rustling in the area. Maybe Lantz figured no one would attempt a raid with so many of his crew present.

"Wait here while I loose the horses," Chet whispered to Melody. "If anything happens before I get back, head straight for the ranch." He didn't like leaving her for even a moment, but he didn't have a choice.

He was in luck. He found the camp quiet and asleep. The fire had burned down to coals, but it gave off enough light for him to make out a dozen or so men scattered about sleeping in their bedrolls. The horses were some distance away, held by a rope corral. Chet untied the ropes. They would scatter the moment the stampede started. It would take Lantz's crew hours to find them. Chet hurried back to where he'd left Melody.

"I feel useless," she whispered when he returned.

He refrained from saying that if she'd really wanted to be useful, she'd have stayed at the ranch. "Stay close when we approach the night rider," he said. "And remember, don't turn in the saddle no matter what you do. You don't have a man's profile."

She'd pinned her hair up under a hat, but even a coat couldn't entirely hide the outline of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Chet had already given that part of her anatomy more thought than was comfortable. If he didn't concentrate, he could make a mistake that would ruin the whole operation. He forced himself to look straight ahead. "We can't come at him from under cover," he told Melody. "He's got to see us coming, or he'll know there's something wrong."

"Are you sure he can't see our faces?"

"I can't even see your face under that hat. Just keep your horse at a steady walk. Let me do all the talking until we come alongside. Then you've got to distract him long enough for me to get close enough to knock him out without giving him a chance to raise the alarm."

"I know what to do. You've told me a hundred times."

He knew that. He just wished he felt as confident as she did that they could pull it off.

The rider saw them coming and gave a friendly wave. Chet waved back.

"I don't like this," Melody whispered. "He's an innocent bystander."

"If he had any idea what we're about to do, he'd shoot us out of the saddle right now," Chet whispered back. "Think of that, and maybe you won't feel so sorry for him."

Chet knew the critical moment would come when the man realized he didn't recognize Chet. He was banking on Lantz's crew being so big that the cowhands didn't always know each other.

"What are you doing out of your bedrolls?" the man asked when they were still twenty yards apart.

"Lantz decided you needed help," Chet said. He hoped he'd made his voice gravelly enough to make it hard to recognize. "He's worried about those rustlers."

"But I heard him say they wouldn't attack during roundup." "I guess he decided not to take a chance. He sent us to help out."

"It's not time for the shift change yet."

The man was getting suspicious. He kept looking from Chet to Melody and back again.

"We were awake, so we decided to come on."

"Who are you?" the man demanded. "I don't recognize you."

"Bob," Chet said, going for the most common name he could think of.

The cowhand drew his gun. "We don't have n.o.body named Bob. The last time we did, he was a short, fat fella. Who the h.e.l.l are you?"

Chet cursed under his breath. There was no way he could get to the man before he could raise the alarm. He didn't look like one to hesitate.

What happened next was totally unexpected. Melody pulled off her hat, shook out her hair, and spoke in a sultry voice Chet had never heard her use before.

"We're lost," she said. "We only pretended to be part of your crew so you wouldn't shoot us."

The cowhand gaped at Melody, his wits apparently unable to cope with seeing a beautiful woman in a man's clothing out on the range in the middle of the night. The gun hung useless in his hand. It was a simple matter for Chet to ride in close and bring his gun b.u.t.t down on the man's head right behind his ear.

"Hold his horse while I tie him up and gag him with his bandana," Chet said.

Once he was certain the man was in no position to raise an alarm, Chet led the man's horse to a protected pocket among some rocks, where he would be out of danger during the stampede. "What did you mean by taking off your hat?" Chet demanded.

"He had a gun in his hand," Melody said as she worked to hide her hair under her hat once more. "It was obvious you couldn't get close enough to knock him out."

"But he's going to remember you when he wakes up."

"n.o.body will believe he saw a woman," she said. Her hair was hidden again and she faced him defiantly. "They'll think he's been drinking. Let's get on with it."

Chet wasn't sure he knew the woman he'd turned loose by telling Melody Jordan she ought to have been a man. She obviously had a second side to her personality, one that could rise to any challenge. The question was, would she go back to her old self when the crisis was over? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. There was something to be said for both Melody Jordans.

They quickly moved in close to the herd. "Be careful," Chet said. "Sometimes a herd will panic at a sudden light." The steers hardly noticed when he struck a match. Only a few turned their heads when he ignited a small stick he'd earlier dipped in pitch.

"Do you think they'll be able to see that?" Melody asked. "It looks awfully small."

"It's the only light out here. They'll see it." He moved it slowly back and forth three times then extinguished it. "Get ready," he said to Melody as he tossed the stick away. "As soon as I fire the shots, ride toward the cows making as much noise as you can."

The minute seemed to drag by. Chet had mounted at least a dozen nighttime attacks before, but this one had given him the most worry. He was certain that stemmed from Melody's having come along.

"This is it," Chet warned Melody. "Let's go!"

Chet fired several shots into the air and let out an Indian yell guaranteed to raise the hair on the back of any man's neck. Immediately, on either side of him, shots and shouts reverberated though the night.

In an instant, the herd was on its feet, running.

For one moment Chet experienced the exhilaration of being on a horse, galloping through the night, the woman he loved at his side.

h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation! What a time to discover he was in love! The shock was so great he nearly lost his grip. He swayed in the saddle.

"Are you all right?" Melody called.

"Fine," he lied. "Watch out for debris when we go through the camp. Can you jump?"

He was startled to hear her laugh. It seemed unreal. No delicately nurtured Southern lady laughed as she rode a horse at a breakneck pace through the night. Certainly not a woman who had probably never even been out at night except in a carriage.

"What a time to ask that question."

"Can you?" he called back, irritated at his own lack of forethought.

"Yes! Virginians may be old-fashioned by your standards, but we take pride in our ability to ride a horse over anything in our path."

Proof of her statement followed quickly. They rode through a camp reduced to shambles by more than two thousand pounding hooves. The only thing not ground to bits was the overturned chuck wagon. Melody's horse jumped a battered cook pot. They were in and out of the camp in seconds. Melody's losing her hat was the only thing that went wrong. Since Lantz and his crew were on foot and unable to follow, Chet figured it didn't matter.

He was wrong. Lantz Royal appeared out of the night like an evil apparition.

"It's Lantz!" Chet shouted at Melody. How the h.e.l.l had he caught a horse? Chet grabbed Melody's reins. "Come on! Let's get out of here."

"It's too late," Melody shouted back. "Leave me. I can handle Lantz."

"Don't be a fool. How will you explain helping to stampede his herd?"

"I'll tell him you're rustlers and you kidnapped me. Now leave. That's what a rustler would do."

"I can't leave."

"You've got to. If you stay, there'll be a gunfight. One of you will be killed. I don't want that. Besides, he'll think I'm trying to steal his herd. He might even think I'm one of the rustlers. That would be worse still. Go!" she hissed. "Leave Lantz to me."

When he looked undecided, she jerked her reins out of his hand and veered sharply away from him. "Help!" she screamed and waved frantically at Lantz. Almost immediately Chet felt a bullet whistle past his head. Trusting that Melody hadn't overestimated her powers of persuasion, he dropped low in the saddle and rode beyond the range of Lantz's gun.

He rode hard. He meant to scatter the cattle so widely that it would take Lantz's crew a week to collect them again. Yet he couldn't stop worrying about Melody. He didn't share Melody's certainty that Lantz wouldn't harm her, no matter what he thought she had done.

Abruptly he pulled his horse up and turned around. He couldn't leave her. He'd let her play out this hand as she wanted, but he'd be watching in case things didn't go as she hoped.