He began unbuttoning his shirt while Jessie stared in surprise.
"What are you doing?"
"You need a little help washing your back."
He removed the rest of his clothes, picked up the soap and knelt beside her.
She felt the laughter bubbling up inside her as he began making lazy circles on her stomach.
Slowly she felt her skin begin to tingle from his touch.
He continued washing her until he felt the subtle change in her.
He saw the way her eyes darkened with desire.
Dropping the soap, he started to stand.
"Maybe you're right. A gentleman ought to leave a lady alone in the bath."
"Don't you dare."
She caught his hand and pulled him down until his face was inches from hers.
"Do you think we can both fit in that little tub?"
She pressed her lips to his throat.
"We can certainly try."
Without warning, he lifted her and covered her mouth in a searing kiss.
He began carrying her toward the bed.
"Cole, I'm soaking wet."
"Don't worry, love, I'll dry you."
He reached for an embroidered linen towel and wrapped it about her before pulling back the coverlet and laying her gently on the bed.
Surrounded by the softness of down and filled with the fragrance of crashed roses, their lovemaking took on a tenderness they had never before experienced.
"Is it really me?"
Jessie twirled about the room and studied her reflection in the oval mirror.
The bodice of her modest gown molded her high firm breasts.
The skirt had rows of ruffles that swept the floor, completely covering her worn, dusty boots.
At her waist was a sash of pale blue, complementing the blue of her eyes.
Cole's gaze feasted on the vision in white.
Never had he seen a more beautiful woman.
Her hair had been brushed into soft waves that fell nearly to her waist.
Her skin was sun kissed from the long weeks on the trail.
Her eyes sparkled as she circled the room, dancing with excitement.
"Jess."
At the pounding on her door, both Jessie and Cole looked up.
"Hey, Jess. Let us in."
"Sounds like the boys are awake and ready to see the town."
Cole strode across the room and threw open the door.
Danny and Thad were dressed in dark blue pants and suspenders.
Their shirts were crisp white linen.
Their hair had been cut and parted in the middle and slicked back behind their ears.
"Oh, my. Don't you look grand."
"Cole bought these," Thad said proudly.
Danny was speechless, staring at Jessie with a look of surprise and admiration.
"Where'd you get that dress?"
"Cole bought it."
She twirled.
"Like it?"
"Gosh, Jess. You look beautiful. You look--" he swallowed "--just like Ma."
Danny's voice was hushed.
For a moment Jessie felt thunderstruck.
Knowing her brother's love for their mother, this was the highest compliment he could pay her.
"I don't remember Ma, but you look as pretty as one of those ladies in Ma's books," Thad said.
"Thank you. Thank you both."
She bent and hugged her little brother, then brushed a kiss on Danny's cheek.
"Come on," Cole said, breaking the spell.
"It's time you saw Fort Worth."
With his arm around Jessie's waist, he led them from the room and down the stairs.
As they passed through the lobby of the hotel, Jessie noticed dozens of cowboys milling about.
Several stopped talking when they caught sight of her.
She felt Cole's arm tighten at her waist, and she experienced a warm flutter of happiness.
Cole's woman, her heart whispered.
With Cole she felt warm and safe.
A man across the room was studying Jessie in a way that · made Cole want to throttle him.
And yet Cole couldn't blame him.
In this gown she looked more beautiful than any bride.
What man could help but stare at a woman like Jessie?
Es especially if he'd been out on the trail for weeks or months?
Cole led them across the dusty road and into a large wooden house where they ordered steak, lamb chops, roast beef and pork, all with potatoes, two vegetables, bread and butter, milk and tea, and for dessert, apple turnovers hot from the oven.
All around them were drovers, freshly bathed, in stiff, uncomfortable shirts, their hats and gun belts hanging on pegs about the room.
Though some of the cowboys smoked, Jessie noticed that their conversations were muted, and a prominent sign requested no swearing.
At her impish grin, Cole turned, noted the sign and burst into a low rumble of laughter.
They ate until, replete, Cole paid the woman twenty cents apiece.
They headed toward the noise and tinny music of the casinos.
Behind them a man blended into the shadows, keeping them always in his sight.
Cole felt the prickly feeling of being watched, and he turned to scan the crowds.
Although no one seemed to be paying them any special attention the feeling persisted.
At Thad's urging, Cole took them to a variety theater where for a dime they watched a woman sing in a warbly voice about the pleasures and pain of lost love.
Several of the cowboys were moved to tears by her words.
Then a man in tight-fitting breeches and a woman in a gown of red satin danced to the tinny sounds of a piano.
Several cowboys in the audience began booing, and when the rest of the crowd joined in, the couple beat a hasty retreat from the stage.
At last they were treated to the act Thad had wanted to see.
The juggler came on stage tossing horseshoes that glinted in the bright glow of lanterns.
To much applause he began juggling woven baskets until there were so many in the air they couldn't be counted.
He never missed one, and when he had finally caught the last, the crowd roared its approval.
Now he brought out his showstopper.
He began juggling pistols, catching every third pistol and firing it before tossing it up to join the others.
He continued this dazzling display until everyone in the audience was certain his arms would fall off from the exertion.
By the time he finished his juggling act, the audience was on its feet, clapping and whistling.
When a fat lady came on stage playing the spoons, Cole herded them from the theater.
"Pretty soon now," he whispered, leading them from the darkened room, "those cowboys are going to grow mean. And when they do, you don't want to be around."
Even before they were outside, they heard the sound of booing and the roar of gunfire.
Two sheriff s deputies charged past them to calm the crowd.
As Cole watched them, he saw a man duck back into the shadows.
For a moment he thought about going back to investigate, but Thad stifled a yawn, distracting him.
"I think we've seen enough for tonight."
Cole bent and lifted the boy into his arms.
Thad promptly rested his chin on Cole's shoulder and closed his eyes.
At the hotel entrance stood a cowboy who stared up at the balcony, then scratched a match across his boot and held the light to a cigar.
As Cole and Jessie brushed past him, he turned toward them with an evil leer.
Instinctively Cole dropped a protective arm about Jessie's waist.
As they passed a cluster of strangers, one of the men said, "Mighty fine-looking wife and family, mister."
"Thank you."
Cole felt an unexpected surge of pride at the man's words.
Jessie couldn't believe her ears.
Cole had made
no move to correct the man.
It gave her a strange heady feeling to think that she and Cole could be mistaken for husband and wife.
Beside them, Danny stood a little taller.
He wondered when he'd be tall enough to look Cole in the eye, man to man.
And though Thad had been nearly asleep, the words had instantly registered in his mind.
Someone had mistaken Cole for his pa.
He felt a strange lump in his throat and tried to swallow it down.
Pa.
When were they ever going to find him?
He sighed, a sound so sad and haunting that Cole found himself cradling the boy with great tenderness.
They were all smiling dreamily as they made their way to the door of Jessie's room.
"We'll see you safely in first," Cole was saying.
"And then we'll Kim in."
Still holding little Thad, he opened the door to her room. On the dresser top a lantern cast a yellow glow across the room.
And as Jessie stepped further inside, she let out a The room had been completely torn apart.
Bed covers strewn in a heap in the corner of the room.
The soft fe mattress had been slashed.
Feathers floated everywhere.
she's saddlebags had been rifled, her meager belongings to: about.
Dresser drawers were lying upside down.
Cole set Thad on his feet and strode to the room next d As he opened the door, a similar sight greeted him.
l rooms had been completely ransacked.
He let out a savage string of oaths.
Fool.
He had seen the signs, but he'd been too blinded by thoughts of pleasing Jessie and her brothers to pay attention.
And now he had them straight into danger that could cost them all their lives. Jessie and the boys stared about the room, taking in empty drawers, the slashed saddlebags and spilled conten!
In a whispered voice Jessie asked, "Who would do t Cole? Why?"
His mouth was a tight grim line of anger.
"Get your things together. We're leaving. Now."
Jessie watched as the boys began gathering their saddles and clothes.
"Thad asked how there could possibly be danger in a civilized town like Fort Worth."
"Civilized?"
Cole bent and retrieved the medical book h bought for Danny.
The pages had been torn from the bind and tossed about like dry leaves.
"Not all the wolves are on the desert, Jessie. Some of them go about masquerading men."
Chapter Nineteen
All night their horses trudged north while they alternately dozed in the saddle and looked over their shoulders toward the lights of Fort Worth.
The beautiful gossamer gown was rolled into a ball and stuffed into Jessie's saddlebag.
Once again she wore her brother's cast-off britches and rough woolen shirt.
Danny, Thad and Cole had removed their fine new clothes, as well, replacing them with more rugged pants and heavy shirts.
Cole chose their campsites carefully, scouting for sheltered areas beneath rock ledges that could be approached from only one direction.
That way, one of them could sit watch while the others slept.
They lingered only long enough to refresh themselves before pushing on.
Northward.
Always northward.
At last they reached Doan's Store, which stood on the banks of the Red River.
"We'll take on supplies here," Cole said, swinging from the saddle.
Jessie noticed that his hand hovered above his gun as he : led them inside the general store.
He looked around, scanning the face of every man before relaxing.
"This is the last outpost in Texas," Cole explained as they stared about it at the fully stocked shelves.
"The drovers know that they won't find anything more until they reach Kansas."
As Jessie eyed the sacks of flour and sugar, he cautioned, "We want to move fast, Jessie. Take only what we can carry in our saddlebags."
She nodded and began assembling the necessary supplies.
Outside they parceled the items among the four horses.
As they mounted, Cole added, "Remember, we're leaving the protection of Texas behind. Where we' re about to go, the only law is the law of the Indian."
As they forded the Red River, Jessie turned in the saddle for a final look at the shore.
Texas.
More than anything, she wanted to return to its shores with Pa.
She wouldn't think about the dangers that lay ahead.
She would hold only to the thought that somewhere in Abilene she would find her pa.
And they would return as a family.
Between Red River and Caldwell, Kansas, lay a stretch of rugged, desolate land that exacted a toll from longhorn and drover alike.
Indian Territory.
Here the Indian law prevailed for there were no lawmen around.
Many of the Indians seeking refuge here had been driven from their ancestral lands by the invasion of whites.
White men who crossed Indian Territory did so at their own peril.
As their horses scrambled up the grassy bank of the Red River, Cole checked his rifle and pistol before returning the rifle to its boot.
Though it was his nature to anticipate trouble, he was even more cautious now.
The incident at Fort Worth had left him more shaken than he cared to admit.
He couldn't afford to be careless again.
He glanced at Jessie and saw that she too was checking her pistol and rifle.
Beside her, Danny rode with the buffalo gun across his knees.
Though Cole knew that might be mistaken for a sign of hostility by the Indians, there was nothing to be done about it, "Thad," Cole said, pulling his mount beside the boy's.
"Have you ever fired a pistol?"
Thad blinked and shook his head.
"Pa was going to teach me, but he never found the time."
"Tonight, when we make camp, I'll give you a few lessons."
When he turned away, Jessie muttered, "It isn't fair, Cole. Why can't you let him be a little boy for a while longer?"
"Fair? Who told you life was fair?"
He caught her reins and held her horse when she would have turned away.
With his face close to hers he said through clenched teeth, "It wasn't ray choice to bring him along and expose him to this hell. But if you want him to live to be a man, you'd damned well better teach him how to protect himself."
She Saw the anger and frustration in his eyes and sensed that it Wasn't directed at her.
It was this place.
And the terrible helplessness.
Cole released her bridle and waited until she had passed.
Taking up the flank position, he squinted against the merciless sun and kept a tense silent vigil.
It didn't take the Indians long to discover the four whites who invaded their territory without a herd.
All through the day, clusters of Cheyenne, Kiowa, Cherokee and even Comanche warriors watched from hilltops as the four horses picked their way across the desert.
By night, as he sat the first watch, C)le felt the hair at the back of his neck rise and knew that they were being silently observed.
"Cole."
At Thad's whispered voice, he swung around.
"What is it, Half-pint?"
"You promised to teach me how to shoot."
"Yeah."
He nodded toward the darkness just beyond the glow of their fire.
"I don't think our hosts would like to hear the report of gunfire.
It might just get them riled up enough to attack. But I can at least show you how to handle a gun."
He picked up his pistol and handed it to Thad.
The boy tested its weight a moment, then lifted it, placing his finger on the trigger.
"Firing the gun's the last thing you need to learn," C
ole said, holding out his hand.
Reluctantly Thad handed it back to him.
"The first thing you must know is how to load and unload this gun, even in the dark."
Very slowly Cole of the chamber and showed the boy the bullets.
"You loa, way," he said, shoving a bullet into the chamber.
"The Army .44 is a six-shooter. That means it holds enough b to fire one every day and rest on Sunday."
At his joke, Thad grinned.
"Are you going to let m4 it?"
"Not tonight."
Again Cole nodded toward the shac "No sense provoking a fight we don't want. But if you know how to load it and aim it, there's nothing to firing it."
He handed the gun to Thad and watched as the boy loaded the gun, then carefully loaded it.
When the gun was loaded, the boy held it up, pointing it toward the outline rock in the darkness.
"Focus until you can see that the barrel of the gl pointed dead center at your target. After you've fired enough times, you'll learn how to keep your hand steady even though the gun's report nearly blows your fiagers off.
"Will it hurt?"
"You or the one you're aiming at?"
Thad laughed until he realized that Cole wasn't joking "This is a weapon of destruction," Cole said solen "Whenever you aim it at someone, you have to be pre to take his life, That's an awesome responsibility."
Thad swallowed.
He had never really thought about the sequences of firing a gun.
As he held the revolver in his s hand, he suddenly had an image of his father.
The image so real, tears stung his eyes.
Before he could stop them, tears began to flow.
"What if someone shot Pa? What if my pa's dead?"
Cole went very still.
"Sometimes I don't think we're ever going to find him." Thad looked up at Cole with such desolation it nearly b his heart." what do you think, Cole?
He touched a hand to Thad's shoulder.
"I know you're doing all you can to find your pa. Maybe that's better waiting and not knowing."
"I miss him."
Thad's voice quavered and broke.
"And sometimes I think I'll never see him again."
As the sobs broke from him, he turned away, ashamed to be caught crying.
Cole reached for him but he pushed away, trying vainly to shrug off his touch.
"I know I shouldn't cry."
"Why?"
"Pa said a man doesn't cry."
Cole's voice was husky with emotion.
"My father was the strongest, bravest man I've ever known. But when my mother and sister and brother died of the cholera, I watched him sob out all the tears he'd stored up for a lifetime. And the only comfort I could offer was to hold him.
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