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you need to ride in at night?”
    “Because the man who took it over has been trying to kill me since I sent word I was coming home.”
    Rosie gasped. “Trying to kill you?”
    “Yep. I was running from a posse on trumped-up charges when I found you. Twice before, I had a near miss with a stray bullet, only I don’t think it was so stray. I sent Flint Greer a letter, all legal and proper, throwing him off my land. Now I’ve got to show up and make a lawless murderer obey a signed document. I expect there to be gunplay involved.”

    “And that’s why you’re going in at night?” She shook her head again as if she thought maybe she wasn’t awake at all.
    “I might not make it down Main Street if I rode in during the day. I expect he’s got a lot more friends in this town than I do. I’ve done a lot of listening since I headed for home, and I’ve heard Broken Wheel has fallen on hard times since Greer cornered all the ranch land in the area not held by Indians. I think if I can just live long enough to make sure everyone knows I’m the true legal owner of the S Bar S and I’ve named my heirs, I can win this fight without much shooting trouble.”
    “Much?”
    “Life hasn’t been such that I look on the sunny side of things, and Broken Wheel is a wide-open town. Bullets fly on occasion.”
    “And you think I’ll b-be able to find a j-job in such a town?”
    Luke shrugged a shoulder. “They hadn’t oughta hurt a woman, Rosie.”
    “My name is Ruthy.” She must have decided it was safe to tell, but he’d already kinda gotten to like the sound of Rosie.
    He decided not to change. “I’ve got a lawman who knows I’m on my way, and friends in town who have come to fight by my side. If they’ve all gotten here, we can claim my property. I need to go in and make sure things are set, but no one needs to see me until we’re ready to make our move. I’ll wait till the lights go out, and then we’ll slip in and talk to Dare.”
    “He’s one of your friends? And you’re sure you can trust him?”
    “If I can’t trust Darius Riker, then I want someone toshoot me.” He said it, but he hadn’t seen Dare since about a year ago when he drifted through Dare’s home in Indiana. And Luke had no wish to catch a bullet in the back for trusting the wrong man. But Dare was one of them. A Regulator. In Andersonville Prison, they’d done the dirty work everyone wanted done but no one wanted to do. It was a friendship woven with blood and honor.
    Yes, he’d trust Dare Riker with his life. For the hundredth time.
    His jaw clenched as he watched the lights in town wink out one by one.
    The quiet eased his tension and he realized Rosie had fallen asleep where she sat. The woman had lived through a few long, hard days, no doubt about it. And what was he going to do with her in this wild town?
    In the cool night, the sound of a tinny piano echoed out of the one building still lit up. Occasional outbursts of laughter were carried along with the music. Duffy’s Tavern was still in business.
    There was one other lit-up place on this side of town—Dare’s house. Two lanterns burning in a first-floor window. The house was on the edge of town, far enough away from the saloon that Luke didn’t need to wait for that rowdy mob to quiet down. But there might be men out and about on their way to and from the saloon, so he kept his eyes and ears open.
    Looking down at Rosie, Luke felt a moment’s regret at waking her. But it was time to go, and she’d be safer inside Dare’s house anyway. He hoped.
    Crouching, he gently shook her shoulder, rocking her awake.
    She moaned in her sleep, and he quickly covered hermouth with his hand. Her eyes shot open and she struggled, but when her eyes focused on him, the fear drained out of her on a sigh. He lifted his hand, conscious of the warmth of her breath, then gently touched her slender shoulders, mindful of the one she’d hurt. “Sorry.”
    She nodded in silent acknowledgment of