Another shot echoed in the hall as the front door flew open as if it had been rammed. All weapons turned to the entrance.
A leather-dressed body rolled into the office like a huge cannonball and slammed into a bookcase, sending books flying.
“Wes!” Adam and Nick shouted at once.
Wes came out of his roll with his gun ready. After a moment, he cut his gaze to the others in the room. “Hell of a doorbell, brother.”
“Someone’s shooting at us.” Rose repeated her bobbing motion between each window until she reached Wes. “They’re trying to kill us all.”
“No lie. Couldn’t you tell them I don’t live here, I’m just visiting?” He glanced at Adam and sobered. “Everyone all right?”
Another shot hit the wall between two windows. Everyone in the room took cover once more. This time Rose didn’t run from the room, but found her cover behind Wes.
Wes checked his guns to see that they were fully loaded. He couldn’t help the smile of excitement that reached all the way to his scar. “I heard about the deputy losing the raiders we caught. One of my men was late leaving town this morning and rode back with the story. So a few of the boys and I rode in. I told them to meet me here, but they’ll hear the shots and take cover.”
Another bullet splintered wood on the porch as footsteps thundered down the stairs.
“This can’t be happening! I can’t stand it!” Bergette screamed as she entered the room in a cloud of peach lace and silk. “Someone simply can
“All right, darlin’,” Wes volunteered. “It isn’t happening. Happy now?”
Bergette twirled around to look at Wes and pressed her lips together so hard they disappeared completely. “This is your fault,” she decided, staring at the newest arrival. “What are you doing here?”
“I followed you, darlin’. I couldn’t stand being parted. When I heard you were going to marry my brother, there was nowhere else for my heart to go but Texas.” His words were as false as a two-bit actor playing to an empty hall. “I was just praying I got here in time to change your mind.” Wes turned his scarred cheek directly toward her and winked.
“Stop calling me darling, Wes McLain, and go stand in front of the window!” Bergette shot him a look that plainly wished him dead as he laughed at her.
“Adam, can’t you do something?” Bergette whined as she turned to the younger brother.
Adam looked bothered. “About which request, the shooting, Wes calling you darling, or getting him to stand in front of the window?”
“About the shooting, you fool.” Bergette looked around her as if she’d been forced into a cage with monkeys. “This is the middle of town. How can someone be firing shots at us and no one be doing anything about it? I ordered Charles to stop it, but he’s proven himself a coward. He said he’d work as a cook on a cattle drive before he’d leave this house in a rain of bullets.” She stomped her foot. “I’ve had it with the lot of you men.”
Another shot rang out. Wes raised a hand and jerked Bergette to her knees. “Stay down,” he ordered as he moved to the side of the window, “or you’ll have a bullet in that powdered chest of yours.”
She squealed in embarrassment and crawled to cover beneath the desk.
Adam watched the street closely. When the next shot was fired, both he and Nichole returned the volley.
Several blasts bombarded the porch in answer. When the ringing stopped, a loud voice shouted, “Send the woman out by sunset, or you’re all dead!”
“What woman?” Adam yelled back.
“Figure it out, Doc, or you’ll be worm meat by dark.” The shooter punctuated his sentence with a bullet.
For several minutes everyone in the room was still, not even breathing.
“I’ll go,” Sister Cel said quietly.
“No.” Adam shook his head. “They don’t want just anyone.”
“But what I’ve done was a terrible crime.” She stood proudly as she confessed her sin. “My brother was Nance’s father’s partner. When I visited him in prison, he told me they killed Jamison and he’d be next. I brought him a weapon. He killed a guard escaping.”
Everyone in the room looked surprised by her words except Nance.
“I’m responsible for a man dying,” she admitted. “I’ve been part of a crime.”
Adam let out a long breath. “Dead men don’t come back to shoot at you, Sister. And if the law wanted you, they’d knock, not fire.”
“They want Nichole,” Wes whispered, “but they’ll have to go through me to get her.”
“And me,” Adam added.
“And me.” Nance nodded once as he joined the men.
“Who’s Nichole?” Bergette looked around the room and noticed the tall woman in men’s clothing for the first time.
Wes couldn’t resist. “She’s the woman who slept in my arms just before dawn.”
Bergette opened her mouth in shock that he’d say such a thing in mixed company, and that it might be true.
“I’m the woman who didn’t sleep while in Adam’s arms all morning.” Nichole looked directly at Bergette, making sure the lady got her point.
Adam closed the distance between them and spread his hand around Nichole’s waist. His smile told much more than any words.
Bergette let out another little cry of horror.
“You’ve all lost your minds!” Bergette shouted. “I’m getting out of here. I’m sure whoever is shooting at us will listen when money talks.”
She stood, shoving away Wes’s offer to help. “You disgust me.” She slapped his offered hand away. “And you, Adam. I never expected you to behave so. I no longer believe you to be a gentleman.”
Adam moved his nose softly over Nichole’s hair without looking at Bergette. “It really doesn’t matter what you think of me, Bergette. I can’t live my life in fear of rumors you might spread. There are some things in life you can’t buy at any price.”
Nichole smiled and spread her hand over his at her waist.
Bergette turned and ran up the stairs. Five minutes later, she placed a white flag at her window and screamed continually while it was shot down.
Before the echoing from the bullets stopped, she thundered down the stairs, shouting, “Send her out before they kill us all! Send her out!”
No one even bothered to answer her.
Time passed slowly through the afternoon. Rose couldn’t sit still and finally left her knives in favor of cooking. Lily abandoned her post at the back to take care of Bergette. But Charles stood his ground. Everyone else took a shift in the office watching the front of the house.
Nichole walked around, checking each opening, hoping to catch sight of the shooter. She and Wes discussed all the options. Everyone in town must have heard the shots. Surely they’d come. But as the day passed and no relief showed up, Nichole knew there was only one way to ensure the others’ safety.
She crossed into her little corner of the study off Adam’s bedroom and dressed in black. With the windows boarded, she had to light the lamp to find her way back through Adam’s room. Carefully, she lifted his scissors from his shaving tray and stepped in front of the tiny mirror where he shaved. Silently, she pulled the curls from her neckline and began to cut.
Ebony locks fell like tears around her. “It’ll be a long time before I wear the ribbons,” she whispered as she prepared for what she must do.
TWENTY-THREE
ADAM STOOD AT the doorway of his room and stared at the circle of light around Nichole. She was dressed in
