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in Georgia."
    Reese contemplated Jed. "You've never mentioned a sister before."
    "You never asked."
    "And I didn't ask now."
    Cash downed the last of his drink and smacked the glass on the table. "Could we just kill us a few banditos and get the hell out of town?"
    "Here, here." Nate sipped his flask.
    Jed seemed somewhat embarrassed to have brought up a sister no one seemed to know about He went to stand on the other side of the room, and Reese let the subject drop. The more he knew about Miss Rourke, the worse he'd feel if Jed wound up dead. So Reese poured himself a drink and outlined his plans for Rock Creek. The bickering stopped, as it always did, once they got into the spirit of their task. When they were bored, they argued, just like brothers. And like brothers, if one was threatened, the others stood right behind him.
    The single thing the six did best was fight—together. Once upon a time it had been all they had.
    * * *
    Before the sun rose, Mary rolled from her bed. School started early in Rock Creek so that the children could be released just as early and help with the family businesses. Though there were ranches about the town, those folks taught their own children or brought in a tutor to do so. Rock Creek was a commerce center—or it had been until El Diablo rerouted the stage line.
    Scrubbing her face rosy with cool water and a cloth, Mary wondered when Reese would come to the school. This morning, while she taught spelling? Or perhaps this afternoon, when it was time for arithmetic?
    Glancing in the mirror to braid her hair, Mary paused. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes more blue than gray, and with her hair curling wildly about her face, she barely recognized herself. Was this the woman Reese saw when he looked at her?
    No. He saw Miss McKendrick—of the stiff spine, straight hair, and pale, thin face. That's who she was, not this stranger in the mirror.
    But if that were so, then why did he stare at her, more often than not, as if he wanted to devour her whole? And why had she dreamed all night long of his hands on her body and his mouth against hers?
    She tossed the cloth into the basin with a curse that would have earned her a good ear boxing as a child. Old maid, she was, and old maid she'd stay. Even if, by some miracle, Reese wanted to kiss her, she wouldn't let him.
    Rock Creek was her home—the one she'd always hoped to have. If she wasn't going to let El Diablo run her off, she certainly wasn't going to allow herself to be dismissed for something as simple as a kiss from a borderline outlaw. No matter how sinful he looked, no matter how delicious he might taste.
    Nevertheless, Mary dressed in her favorite green gown, which matched Reese's eyes and made her own shine bright blue. The shade also made her hair appear more blond than brown, and the cut nipped her waist to the span of a man's hands. Silly vanity, she told herself, but excused it with her need to control everything she could when faced with a man she knew she could not.
    The children behaved horridly all day. Mary wasn't sure if that was because of their excitement over the men who had come to town or their teacher's distraction with one of those men. Her gaze flicked to the door at every shift of the weathered boards that comprised the schoolhouse. From her window she had a clear view of Main Street, and she saw each of the hired guns pass by several times—except for Reese.
    Where was he?
    She finally forgot about him during a particularly harrowing moment with two of the older boys. Jackson and Franklin Sutton, twin terrors of eight, informed her that arithmetic was for anyone but them.
    "Boys, what will you do when you take over your father's store? How will you know what to charge your customers if you don't know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide?"
    "We aren't taking over Papa's store," Jack informed her with all the arrogance of eight going on thirty. "He says there won't be a store to take over soon enough. Even with