«Then why did he leave you alone so long that you forgot how to kiss a man? He should have come and gotten you when the war started,» Caleb said flatly, «and you know it as well as I do.»

There were other thoughts as well, ones he didn’t dare speakaloud. IfReno had been with Willow during the war, he wouldn’t have been in New Mexico, seducing my sister. He would have had his own fancy lady to take care of his lusts.

The condemnation in Caleb’s face was clear to Willow. She flushed, but said nothing. If she had been Matt’s wife, what Caleb said would have been true. But she was only Matt’s sister. Like his brothers, Matt had been gone more than ten years with just a few brief visits in between travels. He had no ties to North or South. He was owned by his love of the uninhabited West and the gold that winked like captured sunlight in wild mountain streams.

Silence returned until Caleb reined in abruptly, brought the spyglass to his eye, and swore viciously under his breath. He scanned the countryside all around but saw no other men. The two he had spotted cantered toward him openly, making no attempt to conceal their presence.

«What is it?» Willow asked after a moment.

«Comancheros. Two of them. Get out the shotgun. Don’t make a fuss about it, but keep it pointed between the two men. If they split up, you keep track of the one on the left. If he goes for a gun, give him both barrels and be quick about it. Hear me?»

«Yes,» Willow said tightly. «But I–I’ve never shot a man.»

Caleb’s smile was like a knife sliding from its sheath. «Don’t worry, southern lady. These aren’t men. They’re coyotes jumping around on their crooked hind legs.»

He pulled the rifle from its saddle scabbard, slipped the thong from his six-shooter, and waited. Nothing else was said while they watched the riders grow from pea-sized dots to life size. Willow thought theComancheros were going to gallop right over them, but at the last minute they reined in so sharply that their ponies sat hard on their hocks.

The ponies were small, unshod, and thin as slats. Despite that, they weren’t sweating or breathing hard from their long gallop through the meadow. Like the horses, the men were small, wiry, tough, and of mixed blood. The men were also dirty, edgy, and heavily armed. The man on the right was blond and blue-eyed beneath months of grime. The man on the leftwasmestizo.

From twenty feet away, the blue-eyed man called out, «Ola, Manfrom Yuma.»

«I see you, Nine Fingers,» Caleb said. «You’re a long way from where we last met.»

TheComanchero smiled, revealing one tooth of gold above and one black gap below. He looked at Willow. The blunt lust in his eyes made her skin cold.

«How much for her?» Nine Fingers asked.

«She’s not for sale.»

«I’ll give you a fat poke of gold.»

«No.»

Nine Fingers gave Willow another long appraisal. «Then how about I just rent her for a time?»

Caleb shifted slightly in the saddle. When Nine Fingers looked away from Willow, there was a six-shooter in Caleb’s right hand and a rifle in his left. At this range, the pistol was the more deadly of the two weapons.

«You’re a mite jumpy,» Nine Fingers said.

«Yes.»

Caleb’s voice was mild despite the rage tightening his gut. No woman, even one who was no better than she had to be, deserved what was in Nine Fingers’ pale blue eyes. The thought of theComanchero even looking at Willow, much less touching her with his filthy hands, made Caleb’s finger tighten on the six-gun’s trigger.

«Well, I guess I would be edgy, too, was I riding shotgun on a prime piece of woman-flesh and seven prime pieces of horseflesh.»

The otherComanchero spoke abruptly to Caleb. «You want Reno? I see him. I take you.»

«No thanks. I’m on another job right now.»

Nine Fingers laughed gutturally and said something to his friend about the Man from Yuma riding a yellow-haired pony harder and longer than a white-eyes fleeingComancheros.

Caleb looked quickly at Willow, wondering if she understood the mixture of coarse Spanish and Indian words. Her expression hadn’t changed.

«Seeing as howwe’reamigos, how about we ride that yellow pony for you,» offered Nine Fingers in English, spurring his horse closer as he spoke. «Then you’ll have time to chase Reno.»

The sound of the revolver being cocked was startlingly clear. Nine Fingers yanked back on the reins. The otherComanchero spoke quickly.

«You no want shoot, Yuma man. Bad men near. Ver ’ bad. Hear gun and come hell-running you bet.»

«That won’t be your problem,» Caleb said, looking at the twoComancheros. «You’ll be dead before the first echo comes back from the mountain.»

Nine Fingers smiled. «Short Dog is telling you the truth. Jed Slater is looking for you. He is purely pissed about the moniker you hung on his little brother. Kid Coyote.» Nine Fingers laughed with real amusement. «Old Jed promised to send you to Hell.»

Caleb shrugged. «He isn’t the first.»

«He’s talking about a big bounty on your scalp.»

«Coyotes talk a lot, too.»

Nine Fingers kept talking. «Not like this. Every bounty hunter between here and the Sangre deCristos will come ahelling, hoping to lift your scalp. Four hundred Yankee dollars for the man that kills you. A thousand Yankee dollars for the man who brings you to Jed alive.»

«You’re welcome to try,» Caleb said.

«Much money,» Short Dog said.

«Much trouble,» Caleb retorted. «Dead men spend no dollars.»

Nine Fingers laughed deeply and looked at his companion. «Esmuy hombre, no?»

Short Dog grunted and watched the barrel of the shotgun, which Willow had kept pointed between the twoComancheros. He urged his horse a few steps to the side. The shotgun barrel followed him.

«If Short Dog moves his hands, shoot him,» Caleb said to Willow without looking away from Nine Fingers.

She said nothing. She simply cocked the shotgun with a quick motion that spoke of familiarity. TheComancheros traded glances.

«Now don’t get your water hot,» Nine Fingers said, watching Willow intently. «We’re not hunting any tombstones. But think on this, little lady. If you come with us real easy like, we’ll be real easy like with you. If you wait until your man’s killed to be good to us, we won’t be listening to your begging. We’ll take you, strip you naked, and when we get tired of you we’ll sell you to the highest bidder between here and Sonora.»

Willow never looked away from Short Dog’s hands.

Nine Fingers smiled reluctantly. «Takes orders good, don’t she? I like that in a whore.»

«Ride or die,» Caleb said flatly.

«Adios.»

«TheComancheros spun their ponies on their hocks and galloped off in the direction they had come — the same direction Caleb and Willow had to go in order to cross over the Great Divide and pick up the trail into San Juan country.

Caleb watched until theComancheros angled across to therighthand margin of the clearing and vanished into a fold in the rolling land. As he holstered his six-gun and put the thong in place, the sound of three, closely spaced pistol shots echoed back through the park. Caleb said a savage word under his breath and waited, listening intently. The distant, flat echo of triple rifle shots came from the right. Instants later, from behind and to the right, came the faint sound of more gunfire.

«That tears it,» Caleb said. «Put the shotgun away and get ready to ride like the hounds of Hell are coming after us — because they will be as soon as Nine Fingers meets up with his friends.»