"Something's going on out there," she commented, and Savannah, an infant over her shoulder, wandered to the window.

"Oh, they're going to go at it."

"At what?"

"Each other, what else?" She shook her head and called to Regan and Ca.s.sie, who were busy at the stove. "Our boys are about to rumble."

"Fight?" Shocked to the core, Rebecca goggled. "You mean they're going to fight with each other? But why?"

Regan walked to the kitchen door, opened it. "It's just something they like to do from time to time."

"Do you think it's early enough to stop it?" Ca.s.sie wondered out loud.

"We can- No," Regan finished as the first blow was launched.

"Too late."

With horrified eyes, Rebecca watched Shane's fist streak out and plow into Rafe's face. An instant later, they were rolling in the dirt. "But- But-"

"I'll make sure there's plenty of ice." Ca.s.sie turned away from the battle and went to the refrigerator.

"Why doesn't somebody stop them?" Regan demanded. "Jared and Devin are just standing there." "Not for long," Savannah predicted.

As if on cue, Devin reached down. If his intention was to break it up, he failed miserably. Now there were three men wrestling in the mud the rain had churned up.

"This is ridiculous." By the time Rebecca reached the kitchen door, Jared had joined in the fray.

She couldn't see how any of them could tell who was fighting whom. She certainly couldn't. All she saw were arms and fists and bodies. All she heard were grunts and curses.

Outside of movies and television, she'd never actually seen anyone brawl. It was messier than she'd imagined, and certainly looked more painful.

"Isn't one of you going to do anything? They're your husbands."

"Well." Slowly Savannah ran a hand up and down Miranda's back. "We could put some money on it. I'll take Jared for five-it's a matter of loyalty."

"Five it is," Regan agreed. "Ca.s.sie?"

"All right-but Devin was up half the night. Ally's teething."

"No handicapping," Savannah declared. "Straight odds. You want to take Shane, Rebecca? Seems fair."

Totally baffled, she stared at the women. "Why,you're as bad as they are." She straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to put a stop to this, right now."

As Rebecca marched out, Savannah slanted a look at Regan. "Toborrow Bryan's phrase, she's really stuck on him, isn't she?"

"I'm afraid so. It worries me."

"I think she's good for him." Ca.s.sie joined them at the door. "I think he's good for her, too. Both of them need someone, even if they haven't figured it out yet."

The only thing Rebecca figured as she marched toward the hay barn was that these four grown men- brothers, no less-were absolute fools.

By the time she neared the battlefield, she was soaked, her hair plastered to her head like a cap. She shook her head at the sight that met her eyes. The dogs had joined the party, racing around, occasionally leaping onto rolling bodies, then dancing away with delighted barks.

"Stop it." It halted the dogs, but not the men. Fred and Ethel sat politely, tongues hanging out, while the men continued to pummel each other. "I said stop this, right now."

Jared made the mistake of glancing over at the order and caught an elbow sharply on the chin. He retaliated by ramming a fist into the nearest belly.

Filled with righteous indignation, Rebecca slapped her hands on her hips. She didn't just hear grunts and curses now. They were laughing. Four baboons, she decided, laughing while they beat on each other.

She had a good carrying voice when she needed one. It had filled many a lecture hall. She used it now. "Stop this nonsense immediately. There are children in the house." Devin paused, his filthy hand over Rafe's filthy face. "What?"

"Get up from there, all of you. You should be ashamed.'' Eyes hot, she scalded every one of them in turn. "I said get up. You."

Choosing at random, she pointed a righteous finger at Devin.

"You're a sheriff, for G.o.d's sake. You're supposed to uphold order, and here you are rolling in the mud like a hooligan."

"Yes, ma'am." Gamely he swallowed a chuckle and disengaged himself from the tangle of limbs. "Don't know what got into me."

"And you." That valiant finger aimed at Jared. "A lawyer. What are you thinking of?"

"Nothing." He rubbed a hand over his sore jaw before he rose.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Rafe MacKade." She had the pleasure of seeing him wince. "A businessman, a pillar of the community. Husband and father.

What kind of example are you setting for your children?"

"A poor one." He cleared his throat and got to his feet. He had the feeling that if he let the laugh loose she'd put him on his b.u.t.t again.

"And you," she said, with such contempt in her voice that Shane decided to stay put in the mud. "I thought better of you."

"She sounds just like Mom," Shane murmured, and had his brothers nodding in respectful agreement. "Hey, I didn't start it."

"Typical response. Just typical. Is this how you solve your problems, your disagreements?"

He rubbed some of the dirt from his aching face. "Yeah." "That's pathetic. You're all pathetic." Her authoritative look had three men shifting their feet and Shane grinning. "Violence is never the answer. There's no problem that can't be solved with reason and communication."

"We were communicating," Shane said, and earned a withering stare.

"I expect you to settle this like rational human beings. If you can't control yourselves, you'll just have to keep your distance from each other."

"Isn't she something?" Shane said, in a tone that had all three of his brothers studying him. "Have you ever seen anybody like her?

Come on and kiss me, sweetie."

"If you think you can-" She let out a shriek as he swiped out a hand and had her sprawling on top of him. "You idiot. You brainless-"

Then she was flat on her back, covered by wet, hard male. His mouth, trembling with laughter, swooped onto hers. "She's the prettiest little thing."

He kissed her again, while mud oozed through her shirt.

"Get off me, you ape!" She bucked, wiggled and gave him a whack.

"Violence." He was shaking with laughter now, his battered, dirt-streaked face grinning down at her. "You see that?" he called out to his brothers. "She hit me. She isn't solving the problem with reason and communication." "I'll communicate, all right." Her fist grazed his ear before his mouth fused to hers again.

And then he was kissing her senseless. The rain beat down, mud slicked her hands, and there was an audience of fascinated onlookers.

She just didn't care.

As he watched, Rafe found himself grinning. "I'll be d.a.m.ned," he murmured, "She's hooked him."

"I think you're right." Devin rubbed his b.l.o.o.d.y cheek on his muddy shoulder. "I've never seen him look at any woman that way. Think he knows it?"

"I don't think either of them have a clue." Delighted, Jared swiped wet hair out of his eyes.

"It's going to be a pleasure." Rafe hooked his thumbs in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. "A real pleasure, to watch Shane MacKade take the fall."

"Should we go inside and leave them alone?" Devin angled his head as he considered. "Or should we haul him off her and pound on him some more?"

Rafe touched his fingers to his eye. Shane's first punch had been a doozy. He was going to need some of the ice he was sure his wife was readying.

"I wouldn't mind pounding him some more, but she'd just get going again."

"I don't think we should leave them out here," Jared decided."They could catch pneumonia."

"Not with all that heat." With a nod, Devin moved forward, and his brothers flanked him. Between them, they took arms and legs and hauled Shane into the air.

"Let go. You've got your own women. This one's mine." But they had him pinned, so he could only grin foolishly at Rebecca.

"Baby, you're a mess. Let's go take a shower."

Eyes narrowed, Rebecca pulled herself to her feet. She knew she had mud in places best left unmentioned. With as much dignity as possible, she swiped her hands down her ruined slacks and through her filthy hair.

"Have you got him?" she asked calmly.

"Yes, ma'am." Recognizing the look in her eyes, Devin grinned.

"I believe we do."

Shane knew the look, too, and tried to yank free. "Come on now, honey. Reason, remember? Violence isn't an answer. G.o.d, you're so pretty. I could gobble you right up. Why don't we-"

His breath whooshed out when she clenched a fist and rammed it into his stomach.

"Good one," he said weakly, then coughed and managed to draw another breath. "You show real potential."

"Idiot." With a toss of her head, she dripped her way to the house.

"Isn't she something?" Dazed with admiration and pain, Shane stared after her. "Isn't she just something?" In the end, he tried flowers. After the ch.o.r.es were done, supper was eaten and his family had gone their separate ways, Shane calculated he needed a bit of an edge. He went out in the rain, in the dark, and picked wildflowers by flashlight.

When he came back, she was working at her computer. She did glance up; it was one of those cool, killing glances she'd aimed his way all evening.

He put the wet flowers on the table beside her and crouched down. "How mad are you?"

"I'm not angry." She was embarra.s.sed, and that was worse.

"Want to hit me again?"

"Certainly not."

"It was just mud." He took her hand, brought it to his lips. "It looked good on you."

She would have tugged her hand away, but he was nibbling on it.

"I'm trying to work."

"Wasn't the term you usedavoidance?" When she turned her head to glare, he picked up the flowers and held them out. "I'm crazy about you."

She let out a sigh. What was so important about dignity, anyway? "You must be crazy to go out on a rainy night to pick flowers."

"It always worked with my mother. You reminded me of her today, when you were letting us have it. Of course, she'd havepulled us up by the scruff of the neck, and then lectured. I guess we were smaller then."

Unable to resist, Rebecca sniffed at the dripping blooms. "She must have been quite a woman."

"She was the best," Shane said simply. "They don't come any better. She and my father, well, they were terrific. You always knew somebody was there, ready to give you a kick in the b.u.t.t or a helpinghand, whichever you needed most." Reaching up, he stroked a finger over her cheek. "I guess that's why I don't really understand loneliness."

"Big families aren't always a buffer against it. It's the people in them." She sc.r.a.ped back her chair. "I'd better put these in water."

She wasn't going to tell him, he realized. She wasn't going to speak of her background, her family, unless he pushed.

"Rebecca-"

"What were you fighting with your brothers about?" She asked it quickly, as if she sensed what he'd been going to ask.

"Stuff." Then he shrugged. If he wanted her to be honest, he had to be, as well. "You."

Stunned, she turned back. "Me? You're joking."

"It wasn't a big deal. Rafe said something to tick me off. That's usually all it takes." He crossed over, bent down to take a slim old bottle out of the bottom cupboard. "They think I'm taking advantage of you."

"I see." But she didn't. She took the bottle, filled it, then began to carefully arrange the flowers. "You told them we were intimate." "I didn't have to." He had an idea of what she was imagining.

Locker-room talk, snickers, bragging and nudging elbows.

"Rebecca, I didn't talk about what's between us."

And he might have, probably would have, he realized, if it had been another woman. Frowning, he walked over to pour coffee he didn't want.