"It's a custom out here in the West to cool the bridegroom off on his wedding night by dunking him in the tank."

"I'm not hot. It's so cold now I can see my breatha""

"Come on, Henry. I know a couple of ladies who will appreciate our company more than these galoots."

Chapter Nineteen.

"Mary Ben? Are you in here?" Henry opened the door to a darkened room. "Mary Ben?"

"I'm here."

"Why don't you have a light on? What are you sitting in the dark for?"

"I . . . jist wanted to."

"Are you sick or something?"

"No, silly. I'm in the bed . . . waitin' fer ya."

He stumbled against a chair as he groped in the dark for the foot of the iron bedstead. "Do you want me to light the lamp?"

"Can't ya undress in the dark?"

"I do it all the time."

"What ya been doin'?"

"Talking. Did you know that out here they put bridegrooms in the horse tank to cool them off?"

"Who tole ya that?"

"Logan."

"Ya liked 'em, didn't ya?"

"Yes. They're nice, like Kain is nice. They never laughed when I asked them something." He dropped a boot on the floor. "I can't believe the time has finally come, can you, Mary Ben?" Another boot dropped into the silence. "How long have you been up here?"

"Not long. Yore ma kissed me, 'n told me not to be scared, that you'd never, never, be mean to me. I told her I already knew that."

There was a long silence.

"Don't go to sleep now." Plunk! Something dropped and rolled across the wood floor. "Oh, shoot!"

"What was that? What dropped, Henry?"

"It was . . . something out of my pocket. Something Kain told me about." The words were m.u.f.fled through the shirt he pulled off over his head.

"What?"

"Well, I told him that you were so little, and that sometimes I got awful big with wanting you. I said I was afraid thata""

"That what?"

"That I'd not . . . that I'd hurt you."

"Why'd ya have to tell him that for?"

"Cause I wanted to know what to do."

"Ya could've asked me."

"You've not done it before. How would you know?"

"I told ya not to worry 'bout it."

"I know that, but I did anyhow. Then Kain told me about the salve."

"Salve? You mean that . . . gooey stuff your ma put on his bandage to keep it from stickin'?"

"Kain said to use it on mya""

"I don't want to hear any more of what Kain said," she said quickly. "We'll figger out what to do all by our ownselves."

"But, honey girl." Henry edged his way down the side of the bed until he felt the pillow. He got carefully into the bed, and reached out to Mary Ben lying on the far side. He pulled her to him gently, as if she would break. He didn't speak until she lay fully against him, but she could feel the wild excitement begin to build in him. "You feel so warm and soft." His lips snuggled in her hair. "What've you got on?"

"A nightdress. Your ma give it to me. It's . . . white, 'n I put the pink ribbon ya give me on it." She groped for his hand and brought it to the neck of her nightdress. "Here. Can you feel it?"

"I feel it. You're so . . . little without your clothes on, and soft, like a kitten. You smell good, too. You put on the toilet water, didn't you?"

"Uh . . . huh . . ."

His lips moved down her cheek until they found her lips and kissed her until he began to tremble. "I don't have to stop, now, do I?"

"Not if ya don't want to."

"I sure don't want to."

"Why didn't ya take off yore underpants?"

"I didn't know if I was suppose to."

"Silly."

When he turned back to her she had pulled up the nightdress and the long, throbbing hardness that lay against his bare belly was pressed tightly between them. His breath came in quick gasps and his heart thundered against her breast. The naked hunger that caught him was both sweet and violent. Every part of him that touched her carried a fiery message to the depth of his masculinity.

"My sweet . . . my own honey girl . . ."

His hands on her hips pulled her tightly to him. Her arms were around him, her lips nibbling at his. He quivered violently and unknowingly moved his hips so that the aroused part of him rubbed up and down against her soft belly. When the pressure became unbearable, he grabbed frantically at her hips, gave a little strangled cry and exploded with a pain-pleasure so intense that he spun off into a mindless void. The first fantastic sensation was closely followed by another and then another. When he emerged from the long, unbelievable release he realized what had happened and groaned.

"Oh, sweetheart! Oh, d.a.m.nit! Look what I've done. I've made you all . . . messy. I was supposed to wait, but I just couldn'ta""

"It's all right. Ya ain't to worry 'bout it, hear?"

"But I ruined ita""

"No, ya didn't," she crooned and kissed every part of his face her lips could reach. "Ya didn't ruin nothin'. We can do it lots more times. It ain't like ya was goin' to wear it out."

"Then it's all right?"

She laughed softly at the breathless, rather ridiculous question. "Course it is, my sweet man."

"I love you, Mary Ben. There's not a girl in the whole world like you. I'm so glad I got you!" There was raw emotion in his voice. He held her to him fiercely. "I'm so glad."

"I'm glad I got ya, too. Sometimes I'm jist so proud I can't hardly stand it." She whispered words of comfort and kissed away the moistness on his face.

In the bedroom downstairs, Vanessa lay close to Kain's side, her head on his shoulder. His hand moved down to her bottom and then to her thigh and pulled it up so it rested across his. His hand returned to caress the soft, rounded flesh of her hips.

"Are you sorry you didn't save yourself for your wedding night?"

"No! It gets better every time." Relaxed and dreamy, she listened to the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek and marveled that his hard muscles and angled frame could provide such a comfortable resting place.

She tilted her head to look at him, and he caught her lips. They shared a deep hungry kiss. She felt his heartbeat soar. The kiss ended and they lay quietly, her hand stroking his chest.

"I'm glad everyone could come. I think Aunt Ellie feels better about things now."

"Cooper's mother hadn't been here any time at all before she and Ellie were acting as if they'd known each other forever."

Vanessa turned her face to kiss his bare chest. "I don't think Lorna ever meets a stranger. Rosalee is harder to get to know."

"She had a hard time before she married Logan and a hard time since. Folks have this idea that because Logan is a breed she somehow sinned against G.o.d when she married him. They have a few friends but not many. If Logan were all white folks would think he was grand."

"I knew a woman back home who was part Indian. She married a haberdasher and no one thought anything of it."

"There are two sets of standards out here in the West, sweethearta"one for men and one for women. A lot of men have taken Indian women, but if a white woman takes an Indian for a husband she's ostracized."

"It doesn't seem fair."

"Many things in life are not fair," he said with a deep sigh. "I imagine that a few generations from now there will be men with Indian blood in high government positions. It will take time. You know, honey, we white people have been terribly cruel to the Indians. We've treated them as if they were less than human. Rosalee is one of the few women I know who had the courage to flout the taboos."

"She must love him very much."

"They love each other. There's no doubt about that. He's gone through obstacles that would have stopped an ordinary man in his tracks. Sometime I'll tell you how they met."

"When we met in Dodge, I never dreamed that someday we'd be married."

"You were beautiful today, sweetheart. And now you're all mine."

"I was yours before. Now I'm Vanessa DeBolt. I've not said it aloud before. Vanessa DeBolt, Mrs. Kain DeBolt. If we have a baby I'm going to name it Kain, no matter if it's a boy or a girl." Her voice broke on the last word. He felt a tear drop on his shoulder.

A low growl of protest came from his throat. "Sweetheart! Please . . . no tears! Oh, precious love," he muttered thickly. He turned her on her back, leaned over her and kissed teary eyes.

"I'm sorry. I know I promised, but sometimes it's so hard."

"I know, darling." His lips traced the rivulets to her temples.

"I keep hoping, praying something will happen and you'll not have to . . . leave me. Can't we tell Cooper and Logan and Griff? Maybe they can help."

"I've told them about Ta.s.s."

"But about the . . . other?" she pleaded.

"It wouldn't do any good. Darling, I keep hoping that you're never sorry you gave yourself to me. I hope the happiness is worth the pain."

"I'll never be sorry! These past few weeks have been the happiest and the most painful time of my life."

"Mine, too. Go to sleep now, sweetheart. If you keep kissing me, I'll have to make love to you again."

"I'd not mind it at all if you did." Her caressing hands moved down his back to his b.u.t.tocks. Her fingers dipped and squeezed.

"I'd not mind it either! Absolutely, positively . . . not mind it," he whispered just before his mouth covered hers.

Much to the relief of everyone, no one showed up to shivaree the newlyweds.

The wedding guests stayed over another day, which delighted Henry. His admiration for his new brothers grew daily. He spent as much time with them as he could. Whenever the men gathered in the yard to visit, he squatted beside them, listening intently to every word they said. They treated him with the fondness and patience they would give a younger brother. They teased him, gave advice when he asked it, and listened when he talked. He showed them the tools he used when working on leather, and gave each of them a quirt and a whip. He gave Lorna a fourteen-foot bullwhip, and she showed him how she could snap a leaf from a tree and slice in half a potato that Cooper held in his hand.

Henry said repeatedly that this was the happiest time of his life. He had Mary Ben and now he had brothers. Both Cooper and Logan made him promise to come visit and bring his bride and his mother.

Both men offered to stay until the matter with Ta.s.s was settled, but Kain knew they each had work waiting at home and declined the offer, saying it could be weeks or months before Ta.s.s made his move.

Griff and Bonnie stayed two extra days. Kain and Griff spent one afternoon looking for a sign that Ta.s.s might have been lurking around the homestead, and the next afternoon they went into town and inquired about him there. He had not been seen since the day he was in McCloud's store. Kain left word in town that Ta.s.s was dangerous and that if the man were sighted he'd appreciate it if someone rode out to tell him.

That evening Kain had a long visit with his friend, and told him that life was uncertain when he was being stalked by a man like Ta.s.s, and if something did happen to him, he would appreciate it if Griff would see that no harm came to Vanessa.

"Ya didn't have to ask. Ya know I'd do it. If'n I get my sights on Ta.s.s he'll not get a chance at ya. Ya know, Kain, ya don't stand round 'n wait fer a snake to strike. Ya kill it afore it lets its poison go."

They all stood on the porch and waved when Bonnie and Griff rode out. Mary Ben and Bonnie had become good friends, and Mary Ben had promised that she and Henry would go see the Griffins. Griff felt the need to get home. His men were breaking a herd of horses for the army, but he promised to return as soon as they were delivered.