«How old is that news?»

«Just last week,» Willow said. «A drifter who had met him on the Rio Verde stopped by here yesterday.»

«He was after some of Willow’s biscuits,» Caleb added wryly. «Said he’d been told they were worth riding a hundred miles out of his way to get.»

«Damn,» Reno muttered. «I was hoping to sign Rafe on for a little gold hunting.»

Willow looked from her brother to the packhorses and the slender rider who were just now coming into the yard.

«Did you hire a boy to help you?» she asked.

The change in Reno’s expression was noted instantly by Caleb.

«Not quite,» Reno said. «That’s my, uh, partner.»

Eve was dose enough to hear Reno’s words. She reined her tired horse next to his and took over the introductions that he was plainly reluctant to make.

«My name is Eve Starr,» she said quietly. «You must be Reno’s sister.»

Willow’s cheeks pinked and she laughed. «Oh, my. I’m sorry, Miss Starr. Yes, I’m Willow Black, and I should know better than to assume everything in pants is a male. Jessi and I both wear pants when we ride.»

Caleb looked at the worn, ruffled gambler’s blouse and faded black twill pants on Eve, and knew that he would never have mistaken her for a man. There was something too essentially feminine about the shape beneath the loose clothes for any man to mistake it.

«I’m Caleb Black,» he said to Eve. «Get down and come inside. The trail over the Great Divide is long and hard on a woman.»

«Yes, do get down,» Willow said quickly. «It’s been months since I had a woman to talk to.»

Willow’s generous, welcoming smile was like a balm on Eve’s pride. Her answering smile included Caleb, who was as big as Reno but seemed a good deal more gentle, especially when he was smiling as he was now.

«Thank you,» Eve said. «It was a long ride.»

«Don’t get too comfortable,» Reno said curtly as she dismounted. «We’re only staying long enough for you to switch horses.»

Caleb’s eyes narrowed as he sensed the tension just beneath the other man’s calm voice, but he said nothing.

As always, Willow said what was on her mind.

«Matthew Moran, where are your manners? Not to mention your common sense!»

«Someone might be following us,» Reno said. «I don’t want to bring him down on you.»

«Jericho Slater?» Caleb guessed.

Reno looked surprised.

«Men don’t have much to talk about out here except other men,» Caleb said dryly. «One of my riders has a Comanchero, er, friend. Her brother is Slater’s tracker.»

«Not much gets by you, does it?» Reno muttered. «Yes, it’s probably Slater on my trail.»

The feral smile that came over Caleb’s face made Eve swiftly revise her idea of his gentle nature.

«And here I thought you’d forgotten my birthday,» Caleb said. «It’s really fine of you to bring a Slater to share around. Damn few of those boys left.»

Laughing softly, Reno shook his head and accepted the inevitable.

«All right, Cal. We’ll stay to supper.»

«You’ll do more than that,» Willow said quickly.

«Sorry, Willy,» Reno said. «We’ve got too much ground to cover.»

«What’s the rush?» Caleb asked. «Is Slater that hard on your trail?»

«No.»

Caleb’s dark eyebrows rose at the curt answer. Reno shifted in the saddle and thought of what he could say that wouldn’t be a lie and wouldn’t be the truth: he was damned uncomfortable bringing a saloon girl into his sister’s home.

«It’s late in the season to be taking on the high country,» Reno said, «and we’ve got a lot of rock desert to cross before we even get to the Abajos.»

«Abajos, huh? That’s a mighty lonesome group of mountains you’ve picked out to explore.»

«Not me. The Jesuits. At least, I assume that’s where we’re headed,» he added, looking sideways at Eve.

«You assume?» Willow asked, confused. «Don’t you know?»

«I’m not real good at making out the old-style Spanish, and I’m plumb useless when it comes to the Lyons’ private family code. That’s where my, uh, partner comes in.»

«Oh.» Willow still looked confused.

Reno looked like a man who was through making explanations.

Caleb shaded his eyes and stared across the meadow to the closest peak. High on its rugged side, a handful of aspens burned with the yellow torch of fall.

«You’ve got some time yet before the high country closes,» Caleb said easily. «Only a few of the aspens on the north-facing slopes have turned.» Reno shrugged. «I’m not betting against an early snow.»

The set of Reno’s mouth said more than his words. He wasn’t going to stay at the ranch one moment longer than he had to.

«Gold fever, huh?» Caleb said without rancor. «Been expecting it.»

Reno nodded curtly.

«Well,» Caleb said, «you might think about your partner. She looks a little frazzled to be galloping off after fool’s gold. Maybe you should leave her here to rest up while you reconnoiter.»

Though nothing in Caleb’s voice or expression suggested he thought there was something unusual about a girl riding alone through the wilderness with a man who wasn’t her husband, fiance or blood relation, Eve’s face colored.

«It’s my map,» she said.

«Not quite,» Reno retorted.

Caleb’s dark eyebrows lifted.

«It’s a long story,» Reno muttered.

«Best kind,» Caleb said, his voice bland.

«Then it will take a long time to tell, won’t it?» Willow demanded.

«Willy —» Reno began.

«Don’t you ‘Will/ me, Matthew Moran,» she interrupted, putting her hands on her hips and planting herself in front of her brother.

«Now, just a min —» Reno began.

It was no use.

«Even if you swapped saddles like a Pony Express rider and galloped until sunset,» Willow said, talking over her brother, «you wouldn’t get more than a few miles down the road. You’re staying for a time, and that’s that. If s been too long since I’ve had a woman to talk to.»

«Honey, it’s —» began Caleb.

«You stay out of this,» Willow said. «Matt’s been living on his own too long. He’s got no more manners than a wolf.»

Eve watched Willow with a combination of fascination and horror as she faced down the two large men. If Willow realized that her husband and brother were a foot taller and far stronger than she was, it didn’t slow down her tongue one bit.

Yet neither man struck Eve as the kind to step back for anyone, much less for someone who was half their weight and a third their strength.

Caleb and Reno looked sideways at each other while Willow took a breath. Caleb smiled, then began laughing softly. It took Reno longer, but in the end he gave in to his little sister.

«All right, Willy. But only one night. We’re pulling out at dawn.»

She started to object, looked at Reno’s eyes, and knew more arguing would be pointless.

«And only if you make biscuits,» Reno added, smiling as he dismounted.

Willow laughed and hugged her brother.

«Welcome home, Matt.»

Reno hugged her in return, but his eyes were shadowed as he looked beyond Willow’s blond head to the house and the meadow where livestock grazed. He was welcome, but it wasn’t his home. He had no home.

For the first time in his life, the thought bothered him.

THE kitchen smelled of Willow’s biscuits, beef stew, and the dried apple pie that Eve had insisted on making for dinner. Willow hadn’t put up much of a fight, readily accepting that Eve preferred to be treated as a neighbor or a friend rather than as a guest.

Reno hadn’t been pleased to find Eve in the kitchen when he came in from choosing horses and readying the pack saddles for an early start tomorrow, but it was too late to object. Eve and Willow were sharing the kitchen and talking together like old friends.

Eve had bathed and changed into the old dress Reno had found in her saddlebag while searching for much more valuable things. The dress was wrinkled, all but worn-out, painfully clean, and obviously had been made from flour bags. The cloth had been washed in harsh soap and dried in the sun so many times that the makers’ names had faded to an illegible wash of pink and pale blue. Either the material had shrunk over time, or the dress was a hand-me-down, for it fit too snugly across Eve’s breasts and hinted too much at the flare of her hips.