Leather snapped against leather as Reno tied off the mare’s cinch with smooth, strong motions.
«Willow was one thing,» Reno said finally. «Eve is a horse of an entirely different color.»
«Not that different. Sure, her hair is darker than Willow’s, and her eyes are gold rather than hazel, but —»
«That’s not what I’m talking about,» Reno interrupted curtly.
«You remind me of a mustang stud feeling a rope for the first time in his wild life,» Caleb said.
Amusement rippled plainly in his voice.
Reno grunted.
Laughing aloud, Caleb settled a pack saddle onto a wiry little bay. The bay’s thick mane fell to its shoulders, and the tail was so long it left marks on the dusty ground.
Another bay mustang stood patiently beside the first. The two animals were twins. Because it was hard to tell them apart, they were simply called Shaggy One and Shaggy Two, depending on which horse was closer to the speaker at the time. The geldings were inseparable. Where one went, the other followed.
The second Shaggy was already fully loaded. In addition to the usual trail gear, there were large, empty canteens and two small barrels of black powder tied on either side of the pack saddle.
«Surly as a fresh-caught stud,» Caleb continued cheerfully. «Wolfe was the same way at first. He came around, though. Smart men know when they’ve got something good.»
Reno acted as though he hadn’t heard.
«Take my word for it,» Caleb said, «whatever you think you have now isn’t a candle against the sun to what a good woman will give you.»
Reno smacked his mustang on her warm haunch.
«Stand on your own feet, Darlin’,» he muttered. «Mine have their work cut out as it is.»
«She can cook, too,» Caleb pointed out. «That apple pie was like eating a slice of summer.»
«No,» Reno said curtly.
«Bull. If you didn’t like it, why did you have thirds?»
«Damn it, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.»
«Then what did you mean?» Caleb asked wryly.
Reno swore beneath his breath. He ducked under Darlin’s neck and went to the last horse in line, a dun-colored mare with black socks, black mane and tail, and a black line down her spine.
Now the two men were working so closely they were all but stepping on each other, which made it harder for Reno to pretend that he wasn’t hearing Caleb’s low, casual voice. Working quickly, as though anxious to be on the trail, Reno curried the lineback dun with muscular sweeps of his arm.
Just as Eve thought it would be safe to walk into the lantern’s ring of light, Caleb started speaking again.
«Willow likes Eve. Ethan took to her right away, and he’s cool with strangers.»
Reno froze with the brush just above the dun’s barrel. The mare snorted and nudged him, wanting more of the currying.
«She’s bright and she’s spirited,» Caleb said. He laughed softly. «She’ll be a real handful, and that’s a fact.»
«The dun? Maybe I better use her as a packhorse and give one of the Shaggies to Eve to ride.»
Caleb’s grin flashed. «She’d run rings around most men, but she’s a good match for you.»
«I like Darlin’ better.»
Caleb chuckled. «I thought my two horses were my best friends. Then Willow taught me that —»
«Eve isn’t like Willow,» Reno interrupted, his voice cold.
«That’s it, boy. You just keep on fighting that silk rope.»
Reno said something brutal under his breath.
«Fighting won’t do you any good,» Caleb said, «but no man worth his salt ever gives up without a fight.»
With a hissed curse, Reno turned and faced Caleb.
«I should be whipped for bringing Eve into my sister’s house,» Reno said flatly.
A chill settled over Eve. She knew what Reno would be saying next. She didn’t want to hear it.
But even more, she didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping, no matter how innocently. She began retreating one slow step at a time, praying that she would make no sound to give her away.
«You asked me how I met Eve, and I ducked the question,» Reno said. «Well, I’m through ducking.»
«Glad to hear it.»
«I met her in a Canyon City saloon.»
Caleb’s smile vanished. «What?»
«You heard me. She was dealing cards at the Gold Dust. Slater and a gunnie called Raleigh King were at the table.»
Reno stopped talking, walked around the lineback dun, and began brushing away dust.
«And?» Caleb prodded.
«I took cards.»
The only sound in the next minute was that made by the brush moving over sleek hide. Then came the muted bawling of cattle as dawn slowly began stealing stars from the sky.
«Keep talking,» Caleb said finally.
«She was cold-decking and bottom-dealing.»
Again Caleb waited.
Reno was silent.
«Christ, it’s like pulling teeth,» Caleb muttered. «Spit it all out.»
«You’ve got the meat of it.»
«Like blazing hell I do. I know you, Reno. You wouldn’t bring a whore into your sister’s house.»
«I said Eve was peeling cards, not men.»
There was a taut silence followed by the snap of a saddle blanket as Reno shook it out.
«Talk,» Caleb said bluntly.
«When it came time for Eve to deal, she gave me a pat hand.»
Caleb whistled through his teeth.
«When Raleigh went for his gun, I dumped the table in his lap. Eve grabbed the pot and ran out the back, leaving me in a shoot-out with Raleigh and Slater.»
«Crooked Bear’s whore said nothing about Slater being dead. Just Raleigh King and Steamer.»
«Slater didn’t draw on me. They did.»
Shaking his head, Caleb said, «Be damned. Eve doesn’t look like a saloon girl.»
«She’s a card cheat and a thief, and she set me up to die.»
«If any man but you said that, I’d call him a liar.»
Without warning Reno turned and looked into the darkness beyond the lamplight.
«Tell him, saloon girl.»
Eve froze in the act of taking a step backward. After a sharp struggle with herself, she controlled the impulse to turn and flee, but there was nothing she could do to put color in a face gone as pale as salt. Head high, she walked into the circle of lantern light.
«I’m not what you think I am,» she said.
Reno grabbed the saddlebags Eve was holding, opened one of them, and yanked out the dress she had worn in Canyon Qty. It hung from his fist in scarlet condemnation.
«Not as heart-tugging as a dress made of flour sacks, but a damn sight more truthful,» Reno said to Caleb.
Color returned to Eve’s cheeks in a crimson tide.
«I was a bond servant,» she said in a thin voice. «I wore what I was given.»
«So you say, gata. So you say. You were wearing this in a saloon when I met you, and your bond masters were dead.»
Reno jammed the dress back into the saddlebag, flipped the joined bags over the corral rail, and went back to saddling the lineback dun.
«Have you eaten?» Caleb asked Eve.
She shook her head, not trusting her voice. Nor could she look Caleb in the eye. He had taken her into his house, and what he must think of her now that he knew the truth made her wish to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.
«Is Willow up yet?» Caleb asked.
Eve shook her head again.
«Not surprising,» Caleb said easily. «Ethan was cranky all last night.»
«Teething.»
The word was barely a whisper, but Caleb understood.
Reno swore under his breath. That, too, carried in the stillness of dawn.
«Cloves,» Eve whispered a moment later.
«Beg pardon?» Caleb said.
Eve cleared her throat painfully. «Oil of cloves. On his gums. It will sweeten his temper.»
«I’d a hell of a lot rather kick his butt around the barn,» Caleb said, «and I don’t mean Ethan.»