"Thanks. Ride out Sunday for the doings. We'd be glad to have you."

"I'll see if I can make it. I remember the day Logan married Rosalee Spurlock," he said looking at the envelope with Logan's name on it. "They had to sneak out the back door of the store because Clayhill had his gunmen hunting him."

"I think Clayhill has finally come up against something he's not going to crawfish out of. The woman who was in here is his legal wife, and the boy who looks like Cooper his legal son and heir. I'll telling you this because I'd not put it past the old son of a b.i.t.c.h to send someone out to kill us all. I want somebody to know the straight story. I aim to make sure Logan and Cooper know it, too."

"You don't say? Well, I swan." McCloud shook his head. "If it don't beat all what that man gets away with. The woman seemed a real nice lady, just as Mrs. Parnell is."

"She is. He deserted her and the boy, just as he deserted Cooper's ma. Pa.s.s the word around town if you want to. It'll not do Ellie any harm, because I imagine he'll be doing all he can to smear her name."

"I'll do that. Folks aren't as keen on him as they were. There's not many in town he's not had a run-in with." The storekeeper placed the envelopes on the cash register. "Now, don't worry about the letters. I know just the man who'll take Logan's. He'll be back in before he leaves town, and Cooper'll get his if I have to send my stable boy out with it."

"Much obliged, McCloud. I appreciate it."

"There was a fellow in here asking for you yesterday. He said he'd heard you were headed this way and wanted to know if you'd got here yet."

Kain had turned to go, but turned back. "Did he say who he was?"

"I don't reckon he did say a name, now that you mention it. He knew you were traveling with some women in a fancy wagon and that you had an old man and a couple of other fellers with you."

"What did he look like?"

McCloud lifted his shoulders in a noncommittal gesture. "A Mex, or part Mex. Thin, dressed in black with silver studs in his gunbelt. There was one thing kind of queer about him, though. He had a braided rope of red hair hanging around his neck with a b.u.t.ton on the end of it."

For a long moment, Kain stood gravely studying the wall behind McCloud's head, then finally he nodded. "Thanks, McCloud. I'll see you Sunday, if you can make it."

He mounted Big Red, and as soon as he left town he put the animal into a reaching trot, the easiest of all gaits. His anxiety to get to Vanessa far overshadowed the pain that throbbed in his side and the one in his stomach that was gnawing at his vitals.

So the Hookers hadn't killed Primer Ta.s.s after all. If he'd followed them to Junction City it was certain he knew they were at The House. Holy d.a.m.n! Kain had thought Vanessa was safe from that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He wasn't going to give up trying to get her as long as there was a breath left in his body. The thought of his wearing Vanessa's hair around his neck caused a kind of frustrated rage to boil up inside Kain. He was determined to see to it that that sc.u.m would not bother Vanessa after he was gone. He'd kill him on sight whether he was armed or not. What did it matter if they hanged him for it? He was dying anyway.

The fresh tracks of the buggy wheels and the prints of the trotting horse told Kain that Adam had wasted no time getting out of town and that he was probably only a few miles ahead of the wagon. He kept Big Red at a steady trot until he overtook the Wisner wagon. Then he moved to the side of the track and pulled up on the reins and rode alongside. Ellie sat between Vanessa and Mary Ben, her hands clasped in her lap and her eyes straight ahead.

"You look tired, Kain." Vanessa had taken off her bonnet and hooked her shawl up over her head because a cold wind was now coming down from the mountain.

"I am, a little. My stomach is growling for food."

"Did Mr. McCloud think he could get your letters out to your friends?"

"He said there was a man in town today from out Logan's way, and he'd see to it that Cooper got his letter, too."

"I forgot to ask you about the preacher. What did he say?"

"He said he'd be out Sunday, just as soon as church service was over. He's a pleasant fellow. Came here last winter from Ohio."

Kain caught himself before he pressed his hand to his side. He didn't want Vanessa to worry. But d.a.m.n, he would be glad to get home. The pain in his stomach was worse, and his side hurt like h.e.l.l. He was hungry for one thing. He had noticed that as long as he had a little something in his stomach it didn't bother him quite so much. If not for Ellie meeting Clayhill they could have eaten at Mable's Restaurant.

When Ellie first told him about Adam Hill, the brother of her dead husband, he had suspected that Adam Clayhill was actually both men. It was something Adam would doa"seduce a young girl and then desert her. The resemblance between Henry and Cooper was uncanny, and of course Kain had noticed Henry's crooked finger. Ellie had unknowingly outwitted Adam when she had the marriage and her son's birth recorded. She was Adam's legal wife, and Henry was his legal son. Old Adam must be about out of his mind wondering what would happen next. All his life he had done exactly as he pleased without consideration for anyone. It could be that this kind lady and her son would be his downfall. Despite his aching side, Kain had to chuckle.

It was high noon when they arrived back at the house and John pulled up to let the women out before he drove on to the barn.

"Aunt Ellie, Mary Ben and I will set out a meal if you want to lie down for awhile," Vanessa had removed her own wrap and took her aunt's shawl from her shoulders and folded it.

"Thank you, dear. I think I will. Be sure Kain drinks his milk." Her voice grew weaker and ceased altogether as she went up the stairs.

Kain came in and sat at the table. Henry had offered to take his horse to the barn and tell Jeb and Clay to come to the house. The thing foremost in Kain's mind was the danger to Vanessa from Primer Ta.s.s. Tonight he would have to tell her so she'd stay close to the house. She walked over to him carrying a cup of milk.

"Before Aunt Ellie went to her room she said to be sure you drank your milk."

She set the cup on the table and Kain pulled her down on his knee. "Thank you, sweetheart." He drank the full cup before he lowered it. "That was better than whiskey." He grinned at her frown and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Poor Aunt Ellie. Did you see her face when that man said those awful things to her?"

"Yes, honey, I did. But she's a strong woman and she'll weather this. Now, get some food on the table. Your man's hungry."

After the meal, Kain motioned for John and the Hookers to go outside. They followed him to the woodpile where he sat down on a stump, and they squatted down on their heels.

"Primer Ta.s.s isn't dead. Somehow the b.a.s.t.a.r.d lived and followed us to Junction City."

Jeb and Clay looked at each other and Clay mumbled, "Shee . . . it!"

Jeb leaned over to spit out a played-out chaw before he spoke. "If'n ya say he made it, he did. But I'll be hornswoggled if I know how he done it. The bird was jist a barely hangin' on when I seen him last."

"He had three holes in 'em, Kain. Two of 'em high up," Clay said disgustedly.

"He hung in the saddle and got to someone who patched him up."

"Warn't n.o.body 'round but a parcel a Cheyenne. I was thinkin' they'd get a easy scalp. Ya don't reckon they'd patch him up?"

"Someone did. I guess it's not important who. He was in the store asking about me. By now he knows where we are. I'm surprised he hasn't made a move."

"We ort a follered 'em, Jeb."

"Ain't no use thinkin' that now. When yo're in a tight, ya do what ya think ya ort a. We coulda follered 'em, got tangled up with a mess a Cheyenne 'n Kain could a bled to death."

"He's a mongrel cur, is what he is." John spoke for the first time. "Raised on wolf milk 'n thinks like one. Hit's my idey, he'll try 'n pick us off one at a time. It ain't his way to sneak in till he evens the odds some."

"I think you're right, John." Kain's sharp eyes surveyed the area like an army general planning to defend a position. "There's a couple of places where he could get a shot at us without our seeing him. I guess you know where, the same as I do. We'll have to watch ourselves and watch out for Henry, too."

"Hit 'pears like y're goin' to have to dig another hole, Jeb. I ain't doin' no cookin' less'n the barn's atween me 'n that clump a pine yonder." The grin Clay showed was one of pleased innocence.

Jeb was not amused. He cut off a chaw with his pocket knife, stuck it inside his jaw and gave his brother a disgusted look.

"s.h.i.tfire! Ya can't cook nohow."

Kain was seated at the table watching Vanessa prepare the evening meal when Ellie and Henry came downstairs. They had spent several hours in Ellie's room. Ellie was pale, but otherwise she was like her old self; calm and smiling. She had combed her hair and put on a fresh ap.r.o.n. She poured coffee for herself and Henry and they sat down at the table.

"Henry and I have had a long talk. I've explained everything to him." She smiled at her son and her eyes mirrored her love. "We have decided that we are the same people who left here this morning to go to town. Nothing has changed. I'll continue to carry in my heart the sweet memory of the time my son was conceived, even if the man was not what I thought he was. I must believe that for a few weeks of his life Adam Clayhill loved me in his own warped fashion. He's my husband; he's Henry's father. There is nothing we can do about it. My only regret is that I didn't find out a long time ago that he wasn't worth a single moment of those wasted years that I grieved for him. Other than that, I'd not change one moment of my life if it would mean I'd not have had Henry."

"Ellie, I'm glad you're taking it like this." Kain reached across the table and clasped her hand. "It's strange, but the mothers of Clayhill's sons were all good women. My own mother was attracted to him. The man has charm; there's no doubt of it."

"He's also evil. I told Henry that his father was not a nice man and how lucky we were that he inherited the crooked finger and not the other traits."

"I didn't like him, Ma. I wish he wasn't my pa," Henry said staunchly. "He's not ever going to hurt you, or I'll hit him again."

"Believe it or not, Henry, there is something good to come out of this," Kain told him. "You have two half brothers who feel exactly the same as you do about Adam Clayhill. Cooper Parnell and Logan Horn are two fine men, and you'll be proud they're your brothers."

"Golly! I'll have brothers? But maybe they won't like me. Maybe they'll think I'ma""

"Don't worry about that," Kain broke in.

"Oh, my. They'll be here Sunday." Ellie turned the cup around in her two hands.

"Cooper's mother will be here, too. Adam seduced her when she was sixteen. Her parents put her out and she washed clothes at an army post in order to feed herself and her son. She held up her head, and eventually married a man named Oscar Parnell who gave her son his name. When he died she and Cooper worked to build a horse ranch. Now she's married to Arnie Henderson, who works for Logan on Morning Sun."

"Poor woman. She had it harder than I did."

"Have you decided what you're going to do, Ellie?"

"I'll not ask anything of Adam Clayhill," she said quickly. "If I had the money to pursue it I'd have my marriage papers and Henry's birth recorded with the correct name of husband and father. Not that I want to use the name, but for the sake of any children Henry might have."

"Do I have your permission to talk the matter over with Logan and Cooper? One of them might have an idea of how it can be done."

"They'll not want to be bothered with us."

"I think you're wrong about that. You'll know after you meet them. They've had to fight Adam Clayhill every step of the way for what they have."

Henry's thoughts never remained long on any one subject; the mere mention of a fight was enough to divert them into a new channel.

"You know I beat that Stan Taylor today, Kain, but I've not had a chance to tell you about it. I did just what you told me. At first I was afraid, then I was afraid I'd hurt him. Mary Ben said I could do it, and if I didn't I'd not be able to face folks in town. Then he was going to kiss Mary Ben and that made me mad. He was watching my hands, Kain, and I kicked him right in the b.a.l.l.s, aha"in the rocks. Mary Ben said kick him hard, and I did. Boom! He doubled up and I hit him on the chin." Henry's arms waved as he demonstrated how he had hit Stan. Kain listened intently, nodding his head in approval.

Ellie got up from the table with her red face averted. She didn't have the heart to put a damper on her son's victory by telling him to watch his language.

Vanessa sat on the edge of the bed and unbraided her hair. Each time she unpinned the coronet from the top of her head she felt with her fingertips the short, inch-long curls at the crown where Primer Ta.s.s had cut the swath of hair. It was growing out, but slowly. She pulled the heavy ma.s.s over her shoulder so the ends lay in her lap. She stroked it with a wide-toothed comb, starting at the end and working upward until she had removed the snarls and could run the comb through the full length of the copper colored tresses.

Kain, lying on the bed behind her, marveled. She was so beautiful. His eyes feasted on her shapely head with its fiery aureole of hair, the curve of her perfect back and her slender body through her transparent thin nightdress. He shut his eyes, giving himself up to the wonder and the glory that she loved him. He took the comb from her hand and placed it on the table beside the bed.

"It's going to get all messed up anyway, sweetheart. Comb it in the morning." He tugged gently on the sleeve of her nightgown. "Why do you bother to put this thing on? You'll only have to take it off."

"Because it's what decent young ladies wear to bed." She raised her brows haughtily. "It's not easy to just suddenly throw all trace of modesty out the window."

"Modesty? With me?"

"I'm not used to parading around without my clothes on while my naked lovers lie in bed watching me." She smiled down at him with false sweetness, showing white teeth, while she tied her hair at the nape of her neck with a ribbon.

"How many naked lovers have you had, lady?" He made an angry growling sound and tugged on her arm. "Blow out the lamp. This naked lover wants to hold you, kiss you, love you, and he might wear himself out, go to sleep, and leave it on."

"Why did you cover the windows tonight? They're so high no one can see in."

"They could if they stood on something."

"Yes, but who would do that?"

"Come to bed and love me." His voice was soft and beautiful and his amber eyes were achingly anxious.

Vanessa blew out the lamp. She slid her nightdress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor before she surrendered to the arms waiting to hold her. She pressed her body's full length to his and he felt her satiny b.r.e.a.s.t.s crush against his chest, felt the down of her brush his hardening body and the warm writhing skin of her slender thighs interlace with his. He gathered her close to his long, muscular body with a tired little sigh.

"Sometimes the day is a week long while I wait for this." His hand slid down her smooth back and pulled at her body so that it fit snugly into every curve of his.

"I'm not hurting your shoulder or your side?"

"No, my pretty, little sweet-smelling, angel of a woman," he muttered thickly between kisses. "The only part of me that hurts is something I dare not name for fear it would shock my lady's modesty."

Her arms went up to hold him closer, her body straining against his. He covered her face with kisses, releasing his pent-up desire with each touch of his lips. He stroked her firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s and was struck with that irreversible progression, that steady, beating drum of blood that demanded the eternal forward beating to the final flourish. His hand moved between her thighs, stroking her soft inner skin, moving upward. She gave a m.u.f.fled, instinctive cry as his fingers found her wetness and probed gently inside.

Minutes later they were interlocked and breathlessly surrendering to a voracious hunger that found her as impatiently eager to receive him as he was to insert himself into her yielding warmth. And then they were one fierce flesh, seeking the peaks that could not be found alone. He was deep inside her and she gloried in the delicious invasion. All conscious thought left them as the maelstrom overcame them and they were swept beyond the limits of return, into a primordial wilderness that outdistanced the mind.

"I love you. Oh, I love you, Kain, darling." She held his head pillowed against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s until his breathing audibly calmed. Caught in the grip of sudden yearning, she wondered how she could possibly go on without him.

"Mmm, I could stay here forever." He placed a kiss on her breast and laid his cheek on it with a long, gusty sigh. "I've got something to tell you," he murmured. "Something unpleasant." He felt her stiffen and realized immediately she was thinking that their time together had come to an end, that he was leaving. He raised his head. "Not that! I'm sorry, sweet girl. It was stupid of me to put it that way." He moved up until his head lay on the pillow beside hers. His mouth was warm and gentle on her eyelids and came away with the taste of tears on his lips. "Don't cry, darling, please don't cry."

"I'm not."

"Sweetheart . . ." He smoothed her hair back from her damp face and spread it out on the pillow. "I never dreamed that love would be like this."

"Nor I." She moved her lips to his and they shared a deep, tender kiss. "What do you have to tell me?"

"I wish I didn't have to tell you, sweetheart, but I do. Primer Ta.s.s survived the three bullets the Hookers put in him. He was in McCloud's store asking about me."

"Oh, no! Will he come here? Is he the one who isa""

"Sweetheart, I don't think he'll give up trying to get you until he's dead. I've seen his kind before. In his warped mind he thinks you belong to him. d.a.m.n his blasted hide!"

Vanessa's arms closed tightly around Kain's shoulders. "He's trying to kill you! You knew it all along!"

"No. I didn't know he was alive until today. We'll be on the lookout for him, and I'll tell Griff, Cooper and Logan when they get here."

"You'll be careful? He's so sneaky!" She shuddered, remembering the beady black eyes and the way he turned his head, like a snake, to look at her. "Don't go out looking for him. Please, Kain."

"You can bet your life I'll be careful. I aim to get to him before he gets to me. You've got to stay close to the house, honey. Don't even go to the barn without me or John or one of the Hookers." Kain's arm tightened and she could feel the heavy thud of his heartbeat.

"I'm not worried for myself. He won't kill me. It's you, my love. He wants to kill you!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to make it easy for him. Wait until you meet Fort Griffin, honey. He would chew Primer Ta.s.s up and spit him out."

"I've never heard of anyone named Fort."