have been Eve’s bad influence.»
Reno’s mouth thinned even more beneath the black stubble that covered his cheeks.
Rafe pretended not to notice his brother’s grim reaction each time Eve was mentioned.
«We hooked up with Wolfe and Jessi on the far side of that mesa you blazed a trail over,» Rafe continued. «One of Wolfe’s Indian friends had told him you were in too much trouble to shoot your way out of alone, so Wolfe and Jessi came on the run.»
Reno barely heard. He was too busy trying to shut out the sound of laughter coming from the meadow where Wolfe and Jessi enjoyed the sunlight and the day and each other.
The rippling music of feminine laughter haunted Reno, reminding him of everything he wanted to forget.
«…Caleb came on Slater’s guards just after they were changed,» Rafe said. «No sooner had he taken care of them than he heard someone go by. Turned out it was Eve, on her way to spy on Slater’s camp.»
Abruptly Reno started to get up.
Rafe uncoiled. A single swift motion of his foot brought his brother down. The blow was as unexpected as it was precise.
Reno looked at his brother in shock.
«Settle down, baby brother,» Rafe said flatly. «You’re not going anywhere until I’ve had my say. You want to fight about it, you go right ahead. I’ll beat you, and you know it.»
«You and those damned Chinese wrestling tricks,» Reno said angrily.
«I’ll teach you every one of them when you’re well. But right now you’re going to listen to me.»
Reno looked into the icy gray eyes that were so like his own. Though none of the coiled readiness left Reno’s body, he nodded curtly.
Rafe backed away with a lazy motion and sat on his heels with the saddlebags beside him. The appearance of being relaxed didn’t fool Reno. If he showed any sign of getting up again, he would be brought down just as swiftly as he had been the first time.
«Cal snagged Eve before Slater saw her,» Rafe said. «Seems she had some damn fool notion about taking Slater at gunpoint and offering him gold if his men dug you out.»
«Is that was she told Cal?»
Rafe nodded.
«And he believed it?» Reno asked sarcastically.
Rafe nodded again.
A mockery of a smile curved Reno’s mouth.
«Marriage has softened Cal’s brain,» Reno said in a flat voice. «That little saloon girl was going to trade forherlife, not mine.»
«The less you say, the fewer words you’ll have to eat,» Rafe retorted. «But don’t let that stop you from running off at the mouth. When you get tired of eating your words, I’m looking forward to feeding them to you one by one.»
Green eyes narrowed into glittering slits, but Reno said no more. He was in no shape at the moment to take on his brother, no matter how badly he wanted to. Both of them knew it.
«After we took care of Slater’s gang, we went to the mine,» Rafe said. «Eve stood there covered with dirt from head to heels, cut and scraped and bleeding from trying to dig you out. She refused to let Wolfe or Caleb go into the mine. Said it was too dangerous.»
Tension began to steal through Reno’s body once more as he listened.
«She said she wouldn’t have minded killing Comancheros to dig you out,» Rafe drawled coolly, «but she wouldn’t risk family men. Said she was going to do it herself, because she had no family waiting for her.»
«You didn’t let her go back in the mine, did you?» Reno asked in a harsh voice.
«She was the only one who knew where you were,» Rafe said flatly. «She led me to the cavein, and I dug like hell burning, not knowing if you were alive or dead, and that goddamned ceiling kept coming down on me like a hard rain.»
Reno gripped his brother’s arm. «Christ! You should have gotten out. The rock in that coyote hole was as rotten as fruitcake!»
«Would you have gotten out if I were stuck down in some godforsaken hole?» retorted Rafe.
Reno shook his head. «Not a chance.»
Rafe’s expression softened for a moment. Of all his brothers, he had been closest to Reno.
«I finally opened up a hole a cat would have had trouble getting through,» Rafe said. «I saw light, but you didn’t answer my yells. Every time I tried to make the hole bigger, the ceiling came down.»
«Then how did you get to me?»
«I didn’t. Eve did.»
«What?»
«Somehow she shoved herself through that little hole. She started uncovering you, and then the whole damn shooting match started groaning and grinding. I yelled at her to leave you and save herself.»
Reno’s hand clenched on his brother’s arm hard enough to leave bruises.
«But she didn’t,» Rafe continued harshly. «Somehow she managed to drag you out of the rubble before the wall caved in. When I got to her, she was still pulling on you, crying your name, trying to save your life and to hell with her own.»
Reno opened his mouth, but no words came through the constriction in his throat.
«You may have found that girl in a saloon,» Rafe continued in a savage voice, «but she’s worth more than any gold you ever dug out of the ground.»
Eyes closed, Reno fought for control.
«She hung around long enough to hear you run off at the mouth about cheating saloon girls,» Rafe said. «Then she washed up, put on a fancy red dress, and took that lineback dun out of here like its heels were on fire.»
Reno put his head in his hands. He had thought he could hurt no more than the moment when he had learned of Eve’s betrayal.
He had been wrong.
But Rafe was still talking, and Reno was still learning how much he could hurt.
«She left you a message,» Rafe said.
With a deceptively easy motion, Rafe upended the saddlebags he had brought with him. Gold bars tumbled out and clashed to the ground.
«Here’s your gold, brother. You can count on it.»
The agonized expression on Reno’s face made Rafe regret his harshness. He reached toward his brother, but Reno was already on his feet, walking away from the gleaming gold bars.
«Where are you going?» Rafe asked.
Reno didn’t answer.
«What about the gold?» Rafe called.
«To hell with it,» Reno said savagely. «There’s more where it came from.»
But there was only one woman who had ever loved him more than she loved her own comfort, and he had lost her.
«PLEASE stay in the big house tonight,» Willow said. «That little cabin is so drafty.»
«Thank you, but no,» Eve said. «I’ve put you to enough trouble. I’ll be on my way in the morning.»
«You’ve been no trouble at all,» countered Willow quickly. «I enjoy having another woman around.»
Eve turned to Caleb. «I wish you would let me pay you for —»
«Evelyn Starr Johnson,» Caleb interrupted, «if you weren’t already hurting so much, I’d turn you over my knee for bringing that up again.»
A wan smile flickered over Eve’s face. She stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss over his cheek.
«You’re a kind man, Caleb Black,» she whispered.
«That will come as news to a lot of folks,» he said dryly. «Since you’re so all-fired set on leaving, we’ll go at first light. Otherwise you’ll go off alone, and this is no country for a woman alone.»
«Thank you.»
