"Have you ever heard the name Clayhill?"

"No. Why?"

"There's an Adam Clayhill in Junction City who has a son that looks a lot like Henry. If he's the brother-in-law your aunt is seeking, she'll not like him. He's a real tyrant."

"Do you know him?"

"I know him." He gave her a long thoughtful look. "He was married to my mother."

"Was?"

"She died quite a few years ago." They rode along quietly for a little while. "I'll not say anything to Mrs. Hill about Adam Clayhill. I could be wrong."

"Aunt Ellie has a picture of Henry's father. Henry looks a lot like him. She said Adam Hill will know Henry is his nephew because he has his father's crooked forefinger. The bent finger is a family legacy pa.s.sed down for generations."

Something that was almost a scowl changed Kain's expression, and when he looked at her his eyes were thoughtful. "I'm afraid Ellie is in for a disappointment, but there's no point worrying her about it now."

Kain frowned to remember those times Adam Clayhill's crooked finger had stabbed him in the chest as he swore at him for doing something he disapproved of. The loneliness he had felt as a callow youth had been even more painful than the loneliness he felt now. He shook his head, sadly remembering those long-ago sessions and the man he despised above all others.

"Aunt Ellie is worried about what will happen to Henry later on. I've told her that he'll always have a place with me, but she feels that's unfair. She's of the opinion that it's the duty of the male members of the family to look after the females and the weak." She gave a little laugh, then sobered. "She's had to endure so many disappointments. I hope that Henry's unclea"and cousins if he has anya"will not be unkind to him."

"If Henry's uncle is Adam Clayhill, you can count on him being unkinda"downright mean will be more like it."

"Poor Aunt Ellie."

"How about you, Vanessa? Was it hard for you to leave your home and come west?"

She thought for a moment before she answered. "Yes and no. I hated to leave Papa and Mama's graves and the house he built for her. But it was best for all of us to start a life in a new place. Places change, people change. Neighbors Papa thought were his friends and people he had doctored without pay turned against him when he came back from the war a shattered man. He was called sawbones, butcher, and things even worse. There were stories about surgeons who cut off arms and legs and fed them to the hogs. Some of the men who returned without limbs blamed the doctor. Papa drank a lot, and when he was drunk he would try to defend what he'd done, and he'd become belligerent . . ."

"I can understand that," Kain said.

"Ozark hill folk are suspicious, and many of them are narrow in their thinking," Vanessa said with a deep sigh. "Some were sure that Henry was Papa's son, and that G.o.d punished Papa by making Henry simpleminded. I guess Aunt Ellie and I needed a reason to pull up stakes and leave."

"I'm glad."

Kain said the words simply, and Vanessa turned to look at him. She was surprised to see a deep sadness in his golden brown eyes, and a flood of tenderness and longing swept through her body. The smile she gave him had warmth, almost affection.

On seeing that smile, Kain felt the full pain of his regret. If only he could lean over and lift her from the saddle to sit across his thighs, if only he could tell her she was everything he had ever dreamed of, and that he wished to spend the rest of his life with her. If only. . . .

Chapter Seven.

The two wagons reached Fort Lyon in the early afternoon of a windy day, and camped a half a mile down the trail from where dozens of wagons dotted the campground. Kain thought it best, and John agreed, that they keep to themselves as long as they had decided to travel alone. They could make faster time, and time was important now that the nights were getting increasingly cooler and the elevation higher. With most of the afternoon at their disposal, the women took the opportunity to do their washing, and John repaired a wheel on the caravan. Kain and Henry rode to the fort with a list of supplies written in Ellie's neat hand.

A town of sorts had sprung up around a stage station outside the fort. Wind and weather had taken a toll on the unpainted structure, reducing it to a nondescript gray. Several more buildings were in the vicinity, a saloon, a post office and a general store. The store was a low building with an awning supported by posts sunk into the ground. Three or four loafers squatted on their heels under the awning that fronted the store, and tired, dusty horses crowded the hitching rail. Kain and Henry moved on past the store and dismounted in front of the stage station. They tied their horses to a sagging rail, and Kain led the way back to the store. He eyed the men on the porch without seeming to before going inside. Henry followed on his heels as he made his way through a clutter of goods to the counter that supported a huge scale with a bra.s.s scoop and an elaborately painted, big-wheeled coffee grinder.

The man behind the counter looked as if he could wrestle a bear and not work up a sweat. He also looked as if he rarely washed or shaved. His sandy walrus mustache was stained by snuff or tobacco, and his high, thick shoulders were stooped, crossed by suspenders over a faded, red flannel undershirt. He had a double-barreled shotgun on a shelf behind him, as if he expected every man who came through the door to give him trouble.

Kain took the list from his shirt pocket and handed it to the storekeeper. He s.n.a.t.c.hed it from Kain's hand with a snort, scanned it, then looked up with hard suspicious eyes.

"Let's see the color a yore coin." Kain took a gold piece from his pocket and bounced it on the counter. The man looked at it, but let it lie. "It'll do," he said and reached for a can of baking powder. Silently and swiftly, he went about the task of filling the list, setting each item on the counter with a loud thump as if he were angry.

Henry had wandered to the back of the store but soon was back tugging on Kain's sleeve. Kain followed him to a shelf that held several spools of ribbon and a stack of dusty straw hats trimmed with flowers and bits of lace.

"I got a dollar, Kain. Do you reckon I could buy something for Mary Ben? She doesn't have any ribbons or things like Ma and Vanessa." He fingered a length of pink satin ribbon and watched Kain's face anxiously.

"It would be right nice to give Mary Ben a present. What do you have in mind?"

"I could get her a hat, or some ribbon."

Kain looked at the dusty hats. He suspected that most of them had been brought in by travelers and traded for goods when they ran out of cash.

"Women kind of like to pick out their own hats, Henry. I think she'd like the ribbon."

"She could tie it in her hair. She's got awful pretty hair."

"Maybe you should get some for your mother and Vanessa, too."

"I'm going to get this for Mary Ben." Henry took the spool of pink ribbon from the shelf. "Why don't you get the blue for Van, Kain? She likes blue."

"All right. Now pick out one for your mother." Kain was suddenly pleased with the suggestion and the fact that Henry had coupled him with Vanessa in somewhat the same way he had matched himself with Mary Ben. It had been obvious to him for some time that Henry had strong feelings for the young girl.

"Mama likes pink," Henry said with a puzzled frown. "But I wanted to give Mary Ben the pink."

"Then get something else for your mother. Ladies like things that smell good."

"Yeah!" Henry said buoyantly. He selected a bar of scented soap, then carefully scrutinized the bottles of toilet water and chose one painted with small pink flowers. "Do I have enough money for all this, Kain?"

"I'm sure you do, but if you don't, I'll lend you some and you can pay me later."

Kain took the bolt of blue ribbon with him when he returned to the counter and requested the clerk to cut off a couple of yards.

Henry had more than enough money to pay for his presents. The clerk grunted and handed them to Henry after Kain asked him to wrap them separate from the other purchases.

They were almost ready to leave when the door swung open and four men came in. Kain glanced at them briefly and saw trouble. Two were young rowdies, loudmouthed and swaggering. One looked as if he might have been run over by a freight wagon. His nose wasn't exactly centered in his face, he had bruised and cut cheeks and a dark circle around his eye. It was the kid Vanessa had worked over, first with the shovel, and then the b.u.t.t of her shotgun. The other two men were older. One was a Mexican.

"Hey," the kid yelled. "Jist looky what's here! If'n it ain't the dummy what likes to bash heads 'n the dude who thinks his s.h.i.t don't stink." The kid came toward the counter and elbowed Henry out of the way. "Get outta my way, dummy. Gimme some sh.e.l.ls," he demanded of the storekeeper.

Anger rose up in Kain. Was it anger because Henry let this c.o.c.ky, little b.a.s.t.a.r.d push him out of the way or because this tough kid was going to live when Kain knew he was going to die? He decided the reason he was going to hit him wasn't importanta"he just knew he was going to.

"The clerk's waiting on us you little s.h.i.thead," Kain said roughly. "Take your turn."

The kid turned like a spitting cat. "Who do ya think yo're callin'a""

He never completed the sentence. Kain's fist lashed out and struck viciously. The punch caught the rowdy flush on his chin. He hit the floor as if struck down by a mallet.

Kain looked across the fallen man to the three who were with him. "There's more if you're dealing yourselves in."

The young drover looked down at his fallen companion with something like disgust on his face. "You are a stupid s.h.i.thead!" he said to his friend. "You ain't got no more sense 'n a p.i.s.sant."

"Ya hit hard," one of the older men said from just inside the door. "How are ya with a gun?"

Kain didn't answer immediately. He looked the man up and down, his amber eyes fierce and probing. "You're wearing one. If you want to know, you'll have to pay to find out." He spoke with deceptive mildness.

"Jist askin'." The careful way the man used his voice revealed his awareness of the ticklish situation in which he found himself.

There had been no move from the kid on the floor. "Is he dead?" The younger man prodded him with the toe of his boot.

"I doubt it," Kain said dryly.

"Get 'em outta here," the man behind the counter said in a loud and commanding voice, his words followed by the unmistakable sound of the shotgun behind c.o.c.ked.

The Mexican walked over, lifted the boy's head and let it fall back to the floor with a thump. The boy blinked, rolled his head and groaned.

"Ya'd better take his gun," the clerk said. "Son of a b.i.t.c.hin' kids ain't got no sense a'tall. Think they be all b.a.l.l.s 'n rawhide."

"Let him keep it," Kain said. "If he pulls it on me I'll do what I have to do."

The Mexican pulled the boy to his feet. He blinked, put his hand to his jaw, then stared around him, suddenly remembering. He stood swaying uncertainly.

"If you've got it in mind to use that gun," Kain said coldly, "get at it or get the h.e.l.l out of here."

He looked at Kain for a moment, trying to focus his blurry eyes, then turned and stumbled toward the door. Kain followed and watched until the four rode away. He went back to the counter.

"Ya don't take much proddin', do ya?" The clerk put the shotgun back on the shelf.

"Not from a mouthy a.s.shole like that. That's the third time I've had a run-in with the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The next time I'll break his d.a.m.n neck." He glanced over his shoulder. Henry was still watching out the door. "You got any laudanum?" Kain's eyes met the clerk's squarely.

"Only fer sick folks." He fixed his gaze on Kain's face.

"I'm not an addict, if that's what you're thinking. It's for a man with a cancer."

He looked at Kain for a long moment, then nodded. "It's reason enough." He went to the end of the counter and opened a padlock with a key he took from his pocket. He returned with a small bottle wrapped in paper and handed it to Kain. "Five dollars."

Kain put the bottle in his pocket, dropped a gold piece on the counter and picked up the supplies. The buzz of voices on the porch stopped when he and Henry walked through the door. Kain's sharp eyes scanned the dusty street. The four riders were nowhere in sight. The only movement was a dust devil dancing in the distance and tumbleweeds rolling aimlessly toward the open prairie.

"I just didn't know what to do, Kain. I just didn't know what to do," Henry said with a worried frown when they had left the town and were walking the loaded horses toward camp.

"As it turned out you didn't have to do anything. But if the chips were down, I was counting on you to take care of the other kid while I got the two at the door."

"You mean you'd shoot them?"

"That would depend on whether or not they were going to shoot me."

"But, Kain, I don't know if I could have helped any. That other fellow had a gun, too."

"If you had spun around real fast and swung your foot, you could have kicked him in the b.a.l.l.s with the toe of your boot. He'd have doubled up and forgotten all about the gun, and you could have knocked him out with a blow on the back of his head. Remember? I showed you how to do that. Always do what they least expect you to do and you'll have the advantage."

"That would've hurt him something awful."

"He'd have done the same to you, Henry."

"I know. I've never had a friend like you, Kain. I'm glad we left that old farm. I've got you for a friend and I've got Mary Ben. Kain?" His voice dropped as if he feared someone would hear him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Henry."

"Sometimes when I'm with Mary Ben," he looked Kain full in the face without a trace of embarra.s.sment, "I want to kiss her awful bad, and I get all hard and have a terrible ache . . . you know where. I just have to go off by myself until it quits. Ma told me a long time ago when I was little that I mustn't touch it when it gets big like that. She said it made people go crazy. I've been worrying about it, cause I did it . . . once."

"Don't worry about it, Henry. I've heard it said that people go insane if theya"ah, touch their privates, but if it were true there would be an awful lot of crazy people in the world."

"Do you ever wake up at night like that?"

"A time or two."

"What do you do?"

The question jolted Kain, and he thought over several answers before he selected one.

"I usually turn over on it and try to go back to sleep."

"Do you ever get that way when you're with Van? You like her, don't you? I've seen you looking at her a lot."

"Yes, I like her. She's a beautiful woman and sometimes I ache to mate with her. It's natural for a man to feel like that when he's around a pretty girl that he likes."

"What do you think Mary Ben would do if I kissed her?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should ask her."

"She's nice. I'm glad they're going to Junction City with us. Mary Ben said she'd help Ma and Van with the bakery if they wanted her to."

They rode silently for awhile. In one way Kain was glad Henry's questions had stopped, in another way he was glad that their relationship was so open Henry felt free to ask him things he felt he couldn't discuss with his mother or Vanessa. As long as they were on the subject of s.e.x, Kain thought, it was a good opportunity to bring up a subject he'd never talked about before, but something he thought should be impressed on this simple, naive boy in a man's body. Knowing he had to put what he wanted to say to Henry in the simplest terms, he thought out carefully what he wanted to say.

"Henry, you say you want to kiss Mary Ben?"

"Yes, I do. I put my arm around her once, but she pulled away like she was scared."

"She might have been mistreated by a man at some time. Women aren't as strong as we are and must be treated gently. Go easy with her at first. Hold her hand and ask her if you can kiss her. Never force yourself on a woman, Henry. If she says no you back off. Understand?"

"I think so."

"Men have strong urges that are hard to control sometimes. G.o.d made us like that so that there would always be people on the earth. That doesn't mean that we force a woman if she isn't willing," he added hastily. "If you do it's called rape, and a man can be hung for doing it."