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the Longnose istroubling you. You can’t seriously think he’s discovered our whereabouts this soon, not after all that zigzagging we did across Mexico?”
    Jocelyn had to smile at Vanessa’s assurance that there were only two things she could possibly brood about. “No, I don’t see how he could have known we sailed south, when we could just as well have returned to Europe.”
    “We don’t know how he found us in New York either, but he did. I’m beginning to wonder if he hasn’t got one of our people in his pay.”
    Green eyes flared with alarm, for if Jocelyn couldn’t trust the people she depended on, then she was in serious trouble. “No! I won’t believe that.”
    “I don’t mean any of your escort, my dear. But you know the crew keeps changing on the Jocel . In just about every port, the captain loses a number of men he has to replace each time. There were six new men on the trip from New Orleans to New York, and another ten when we sailed to Mexico. And what with the telegraph being used in more and more countries, if Longnose has access to inside information as to our whereabouts, it wouldn’t take him long to get it.”
    Surprisingly, the implications of that reasoning didn’t cause fear so much as anger. Blast the man! She had only been worrying that he might locate the ship in California before they got there. Now it was conceivable that he might know where they were at this very moment, or at least where they were heading. The only thing in their favor was that he didn’t have a ship at his command to make following them easy.
    “Well, that just settled the matter of where we’re going,” Jocelyn said in a tight voice. “It won’t be to California.”
    Vanessa raised a brow. “I was only speculating, my dear.”
    “I know. But if it’s true, it would certainly explain why he’s constantly been able to find us, even when we’ve left the ship to travel overland, and that just to throw him off the scent. I swear, Vanessa, I’ve really just about reached my limit. It was bad enough when Longnose was just trying to kidnap me, to return me to England. But since I’ve turned twenty-one, he has twice tried to kill me. Perhaps it’s time I accepted the challenge.”
    “I hesitate to ask what you mean by that.”
    “I don’t know what I mean, but I’ll think of something,” Jocelyn assured her.

Chapter Four
    “I don’ like the idear of killin’ no woman, Dewane.”
    “Wha’d’ya care? It ain’t as if’n ya’d ever get a chance at ’er yerself, Clydell. An’ she’s a fur’ner, jes’ like hisself thar. Look at ’im, calm an’ patient as ya please. He don’ dress like us, don’ act like us, don’ talk like us. An’ he claims she’s English too. So wha’d’ya care?”
    Clydell did spare a glance for the foreigner. Tall, slim, dressed in those fancy Eastern duds—or were they fancy English duds?—and a good ten years older than any one of them. The man was so out of place he stood out like a nose wart. And clean, even after sleeping out with the rest of them on the bluff last night. How did he stay so clean?
    “Still…” Clydell started again, only to glance back and catch his brother’s narrowed gaze.
    “Look, he got us outta Mexico, did’n he, when we thought fer sure we’d never scrape up enuf ta get back over the border? I don’ mind tellin’ ya I’m right glad ta be back whar a man can spit an’ piss without givin’ offense. We owe him, Clydell, ain’t no two ways ’round it. An’ ya don’ see none o’ these other boys gripin’, do ya? It’s jes’ a job, fer Gawd’s sake!”
    When Dewane took that tone, his younger brotherknew it was time to shut up. Dewane could be pressed only so far to explain why they were doing something. Robbing stages hadn’t been so bad; neither had rustling a little cattle. And of course raising hell and picking a fight or two was normal whenever they hit a town. Clydell might have complained some about that bank