intempted harshly.
'It isn't safe. Dammr to hell, Tess! Don't you understand yet?'
'I understand that the newspaper has always been my maj or weapon.'
'But right now it isn't enough. Okay, we'll go. You'll do your damned
article, but we'll go together. Tess, what do I have to say to get
through to you? When yon Heusen attacks again, it's going to be all-out
war.'
She wanted to retort. She was furious. He was right, of course, but she
still wanted to yell at him.
Fighting desperately to hold her tongue, she looked at Jon.
'How did you find all this out?'
He shrugged.
'I was still in buckskins when I came back, and I didn't change before I
made a visit into town. Von Heusen had one of his guns follow me. I knew
it, so I doubled back and got hold of him. As it happened, Cole and
Malachi had been riding in to meet me.' 'And,' Malachi said, grinning,
'Jon just happened to be dressed for the occasion.'
Tess was still confused. Kristin sighed and explained. 'Cole and Malachi
convinced von Heusen's hired goon that Jon was scarcely more than a raw
savage and that he actually delighted in human flesh. Between the three
of them they barely had to touch the fellow before he was spilling
everything he had ever known in his life.'
Tess smiled and glanced at Jamie.
He was not smiling. She looked away quickly, pushing a piece of roast
around on her plate. They were a lot alike, the Slater brothers. Cole
was the darkest, with golden eyes--his little boy had those eyes, even
though he had his mother's soft blond hair. Malachi was a golden blond
with blue eyes, and Jamie was sandy-haired with his smoke gray and
silver eyes. But the planes of their faces were similar, strong and hard
and weathered. She realized suddenly that she would trust any of the
brothers with anything she had.
And she didn't really mean to keep fighting Jamie. It just kept coming
out that way.
He stood up suddenly, his chair scraping back.
'That was a fine meal, Kristin, Shannon--Dolly?'
'We all contributed,' Kristin told him.
'Well, thank you, but I think I need a little air. You got a good
cheroot on you anywhere, Cole?'
'Sure,' said his brother, rising as well. He stopped by his wife's chair
and kissed her tenderly at the base of the neck before following Jamie
out.
'Seems like we're splitting up here,' Malachi said. 'Well, don't stay on
my account!' Shannon told him.
He laughed, shrugged at Jon, and the two of them left. Hank followed
them and the women were left--Jane, who had barely said a word, Dolly,
who was unbelievably quiet, and Shannon and Kristin and Tess.
'All this to make a meal, and then it's just wolfed down, and then
everyone runs' -- 'Ma,' Gabe suddenly interrupted from the end of the
table.
