She ran out to greet them just as the school bus stopped at the end of the driveway.

“Gunter,” she called as the four boys started down the driveway to meet Nathan and Nora.

Gunter walked back to her while the others continued on.

“Can you watch Nathan and Nora for me tonight?” she asked when he stopped in front of her. “I’m going out for the evening and wondered if you could babysit.”

“Out?” he asked, clearly surprised. “Where?”

“Ah… I’m going up to the old cabin where you found us,” she told him, waving toward TarStone.

That surprised him even more. “What for?”

“For a night off,” she said, realizing she hadn’t completely thought out her excuse.

“I… ah… I asked Robbie if I could use the cabin. I’m bringing a book to read as a little vacation from cooking and cleaning.”

Gunter frowned. “But why the cabin? It’s a drafty old place, and you shouldn’t be up there alone.” He suddenly stiffened and got the strangest look in his eye, turning toward Robbie’s Suburban and then looking back at her. “Where’s the boss man?”

“Ah… he’s gone out for the night. That’s why I need you to watch the kids. They can get themselves ready for bed, if I’m not back in time. And you can still take them out for ice cream tonight. I left some money on the table.”

That strange look turned into a gleam, and Gunter canted his head at her. “O-kay,” he said slowly, breaking into a smile. “We’ll watch Nathan and Nora. You just go on up to the cabin, and don’t worry about anything here. We’ll take good care of the squirts.”

“And you’ll all stay out of trouble,” Catherine added, fighting the blush she felt rising up her neck. Lord, Gunter thought she was going to meet Robbie!

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Gunter assured her, walking with her to meet her children.

“Mommy, Cody told me Gunter’s going to teach him how to defend himself,” Nathan said, leaving Cody behind to run up to her. “Can I learn, too?”

Catherine looked at Gunter, only to have the young man shrug in response and tuck his hands in his pockets. She looked back at her son. “Gunter’s going to wait until Mr.

MacBain gives his approval first, Nathan,” she said, ruffling his hair.

“When are we going for ice cream, Mommy?” Nora asked. “Now?”

“No, sweetie. After supper,” Catherine told her, squatting down to her level. “And Gunter and the boys are going to babysit you guys tonight,” she added. She looked over to include Nathan. “So I want you to be good for them and do what they tell you.”

“But where are you going?” Nathan asked.

“Up to the cabin we stayed at. I probably won’t be back by the time you go to bed, but I’

ll be right here in the morning when you wake up.”

Nora clutched Catherine’s hand. “I want to go with you.”

“No, sweetie. I’ll just be sitting around and reading the whole time. It wouldn’t be any fun for you. Certainly not as much fun as going for ice cream and hanging out with the boys for the evening.”

Nathan tugged on Nora’s sleeve to get her attention. “Come on, sis. It’ll be fun,” he told her, obviously eager to be rid of his mother and be one of the boys. “Remember when Rita used to babysit us? We made popcorn and always got to stay up late.”

Gunter reached down and swept Nora into his arms. “We’ll rent a movie,” he offered.

“Ever seeThe Little Mermaid?”

Peter’s groan quickly turned into a smile when Gunter glared at him over Nora’s shoulder. “I loveThe Little Mermaid,” Peter gritted through clenched teeth.

Catherine straightened and started to the house. “Supper’s in the crockpot, and there’s salad in the fridge. Nora, you can sleep in Nathan’s room tonight, if you don’t want to go to bed alone in our room.”

“Yeah, squirt,” Rick interjected, holding the door open as Gunter carried Nora inside. “I’

ll make the popcorn.”

Nora was suddenly done with her worry. “I like it with lots of melted butter,” she told Rick over Gunter’s shoulder, smiling now. She looked at her mom. “I’m gonna sleep upstairs with the big kids,” she proclaimed.

And that was that, Catherine realized. These fourhoodlums, as everyone kept wrongly calling them, were more than mere guardian angels—they were miracle workers. Her babies were turning into happy children right before her eyes.

Catherine slipped into her jacket, went to the clock and grabbed her stick, and headed toward the door. “I’ll be here to cook breakfast,” she told them, stopping and then walking back to Gunter. She leaned up and kissed Nora on the cheek. “You be a good girl,” she whispered before going over to Nathan. She gave her son a kiss on the cheek, despite his obvious embarrassment at being kissed in front of the boys. “You be good, too,” she told him, heading for the door.

Gunter set Nora down and followed Catherine out to the barn. “You’re riding up?” he asked.

Catherine slid her stick into the rifle sheath on the saddle, unhooked Sprocket, and led him out of the barn. “I’m certainly not walking,” she told him.

“Are you an experienced rider?”

Catherine mounted up and smiled down at him. “Careful, Gunter. You’re beginning to sound like an old mother hen. I’ve been riding since I could walk. I grew up on a ranch in Idaho.”

Gunter chuckled. “When you see the boss, tell him he needs to come to school tomorrow and sign a progress report for my work-study class, would you?”

“You’ll probably see him before I will.”

“Yeah, right. I forgot,” he chuckled, turning toward the house and waving over his shoulder. “You’re going up to the cabin toread. See you tomorrow.”

Catherine opened her mouth to say something but sighed instead and urged her horse toward the pasture. Some things just weren’t worth arguing over. She spurred Sprocket into a trot, following the fence line, and finally entered the woods, keeping her eyes on the tracks in the muddy trail.

But not far into the woods, the tracks veered to the right, up a tote road that led across the mountain instead of toward the summit.

Robbie was headed to the ski resort?

Once on the tote road, Catherine moved Sprocket into a slow canter, trying to make up for the time she’d lost. She rode for about ten minutes but pulled to a stop at the sound of voices.

Darn it, he was heading back toward her. And he had someone with him.

Catherine scrambled off the tote road and into the thick forest, urging Sprocket down a steep knoll to hide behind a large boulder. She waited, breath suspended, as Robbie came riding by with a man mounted up behind him, and she immediately recognized Ian MacKeage’s voice.

“Will Daar be at the summit?” Ian asked.

“Aye,” Robbie said. “But he’ll be of little help. Have you noticed how smooth his cane has become lately?”

“I did notice that,” Ian agreed. “When he came to supper last night. Grey noticed, too, and seemed pleased. What if Grey hears the storm? He’ll know, won’t he? It’s a sound none of us can ever forget.”

“Aye. But there will be nothing he can do by the time he realizes what’s happening. And tomorrow I’ll call a meeting of both clans and explain that… ”

Darn. They had moved too far away for Catherine to hear what Robbie was going to explain to the clans. What clans? Was he talking about the MacKeages and his father’s family?

Why was he taking Ian up the mountain, especially if whatever he did up there was so dangerous?

Catherine waited another minute or so, then slowly inched Sprocket out of their hiding place, thankful the horse hadn’t nickered to its stable mate when Robbie rode past.

Returning to the tote road, Catherine kept her pace to a walk, stopping whenever she came to a straight section so they wouldn’t see her if either of them happened to look back.

What storm had Ian been talking about? She had heard a loud crack of thunder the morning she’d found Robbie, and the night before, just around sunset, she’d heard the same sound. But there hadn’t been any clouds or rain. Could it have been a gunshot? It had sounded more like a cannon, though, loud and powerful enough to shake the mountain.