'You bastard!' she hissed at him. Jon hadn't moved; he didn't dare.
If he moved the rifle a hair yon Heusen just might decide to take
advantage and shoot them all down. They stood there, locked in the
moment, yon Heusen staring at Tess with a smile, Tess staring at him,
hating him so fiercely that she should have been able to have willed him
dead. It was lost now.
All lost. The house, Joe's house. The press.
It didn't even seem to bother yon Heusen that he would slaughter all the
horses.
Then suddenly, in the midst of yon Heusen's triumph and her own despair,
a commotion sounded from the direction of the carriage house. There was
still smoke issuing from it--no sign of fire yet.
But men suddenly spilled out of it. Four of them, their hands held high
above their heads. They nearly tripped as they walked, for someone had
apparently ordered them to lower their breeches, and their pants were
tight around their ankles.
Three of them wore long johns; the fourth must have been buck naked.
Tess only caught a glimpse of his bare legs, as he managed to stay
behind the other three.
'Tarnation!' yon Heusen swore.
'You fools! What in bloody hell is going on' -- He broke off and never
finished his question. From the smoke of the carriage house, another man
appeared.
Tess felt her heart catch.
It was Jamie. He had a single gun trained on the men and he followed
them out with the casual air yon Heusen had had.
The men kept walking forward. The half-naked one paused, and Jamie
nudged him forward.
'Ladies, do excuse me,' Jamie apologized, 'but they seemed to be a
little more docile and trustworthy in this fashion.'
'I'll kill you yet!' one of them muttered. 'Well, I don't doubt that you
intend to try,' Jamie assured him. Then he stared at the men still
mounted upon their horses.
'Which one of you is yon Heusen?'
'I am Richard von Heusen. Who the hell are you?'
'Jamie Slater. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that I own
part of this spread now. And I'll thank you kindly to keep yourself and
your half-sawed ruffians off my property, is that understood?'
'Your property' -- yon Heusen began.
'My property, yes. Now, take your arsonist friends here and move.'
'You must be mistaken. Why would my men set fire to anything here?'
'Who knows why? But that was what they were doing. Ordinarily, of
course, I'd want to get to know my new neighbors. But since you and the
Stuarts don't seem to be very good friends, I really don't think you
should stay. I bet dinner is on. Tess, is dinner on?'
'yes!'
'Something good?'
His eyes touched hers across the dusky night. She nodded, fighting for
speech.
