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men after you to try to wreck the coach as you came down from the pass, could he have sent other men ahead to set up an ambush in case the first bunch failed?”
    Emily and Bess glanced worriedly at each other.
    Ace thought the possibility he had just brought up probably hadn’t occurred to them. But now that he had mentioned it, they didn’t like the idea.
    â€œWe do have to go through Shoshone Gap,” Bess said.
    â€œAnd it’s a good spot for a bushwhackin’,” Emily agreed. “We’ll have to be careful.”
    â€œAnd we’ll ride along with you,” Chance said, “just in case of trouble.”
    â€œNobody asked you to do that.”
    â€œNope,” Ace said. “That’s why we’re volunteering.”
    Even though it was Chance’s idea, it was a good one, Ace thought. There was at least a chance something else might happen on the way to Bleak Creek, and although the Corcoran sisters seemed plenty competent, it wouldn’t hurt for them to have some allies along.
    Of course, they didn’t know the full story behind the clash between the Corcorans and this mining magnate named Eagleton. Things might not be as clear-cut as Emily and Bess made it seem.
    It was possible, Ace mused, that he and his brother were jumping into this mess feetfirst simply because the Corcoran sisters were a couple mighty pretty girls. Well, there were worse reasons for doing things, he supposed as Bess got the team moving again and the stagecoach lurched into motion.
    He and Chance turned their mounts and fell in alongside it, one on each side.

    â€œYou girls don’t happen to be twins, do you?” Chance asked after they had gone a mile or two across the valley. He rode on Emily’s side of the coach.
    â€œDo we look like twins?” Emily responded.
    â€œWell, Ace and I are twins.”
    Bess said, “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
    â€œFraternal twins, they call it,” Ace said. “We look alike, but more like regular brothers would.”
    â€œYes, I can see that. Emily and I are two years apart, though.”
    â€œI’m the oldest,” Emily said. “That means I’m the boss.”
    â€œThat’s what you’ve always thought, anyway,” Bess said sweetly.
    Ace chuckled. It sounded like these two scrapped about as much as he and Chance did, even if they weren’t twins. “Is this the first trouble you’ve had with Eagleton?” he asked as they continued toward the mountains on the other side of the valley.
    â€œNo, he made an offer to Pa to buy out the stage line almost a year ago,” Bess said. “Pa turned him down, of course. Mr. Eagleton warned him then that he didn’t like being said no to.”
    â€œThat wasn’t the smartest tack to take with Pa,” Emily put in. “Once he gets his back up, he’s about the stubbornest old pelican you ever saw.”
    â€œEmily!” her sister scolded her. “That’s no way to talk about our father.”
    â€œIt’s true, ain’t it?”
    â€œWell, yes, but . . .” Bess took a deep breath and went on. “Anyway, after Pa refused Mr. Eagleton’s offer, things started happening. Breakdowns with the coaches. Shipments of grain for the horses that got lost. Damaged harnesses. Even a few shots out of the blue. That scared some of our drivers. Others got jumped and beaten up. It’s gotten bad enough that nobody wants to work for us, so Emily and I have been taking the runs through ourselves.”
    â€œSort of odd to find a couple gals driving a stagecoach and riding shotgun, isn’t it?” Chance asked.
    â€œOur father’s worked on stage lines all of our lives,” Bess said. “We were raised around them.”
    â€œYou ought to hear her cuss when she gets mad.” Emily grinned. “She can put a lot of those old jehus to shame.”
    Bess’s face turned pink under