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open and struck the interior wall. The bang was almost deafening. “Where is she? Rachel Marie!” Clothing rustled and shoe leather creaked as the crowd moved aside to clear a path. “Get back, folks. Out of my way!”
    Even in a nearsighted blur, Rachel recognized the buckskin vest, white shirt, and shiny star that were her father’s trademarks. His voice, pitched to a loud roar, was unmistakable as well. It didn’t take a genius to determine that someone had gone to fetch him when she and Matt were found inside the church.
    She rushed to finish fastening the buttons of her bodice before he saw her. She was only about halfway done when Big Jim Constantine finally managed to fight his way to the front of the crowd. He took one look at her and said, “Oh, Rachel…”
    “It’s not the way it looks, Daddy. Truly! Just give me a chance to explain!”
    Rachel had every reason to believe her father would do exactly that. He was an easygoing and fair-minded man who always asked plenty of questions and listened to the answers before he passed judgement.
    She reached up a hand. Instead of helping her up, though, her father took one look at her partially unbuttoned shirtwaist and lunged at Matt Rafferty. “You low-down miserable son of a—!”
    “Daddy!” Rachel shrieked. “What are you—oh, my God! Stop it!”
    Rachel may as well have saved her breath, for her father seemed not to hear her. A tall individual of considerable breadth and girth, he landed on the younger man like a diver doing a belly flop. Matt, evidently still feeling the effects of the valerian, fell back under the onslaught, his breath rushing from his lungs in a loud whoosh . Before he could even start to defend himself, Big Jim wrapped both hands around his throat.
    “You miserable little worm! You conscienceless son of a bitch! I’ll kill you for this. I’ll kill you with my bare hands!”
    From that point on, everything took on a nightmarish quality for Rachel. She had the oddest feeling she was hovering somewhere above herself, that she watched everything through a plate of breath-fogged glass.
    “Daddy, stop this!” She clung futilely to her father’s arm. “You have to stop this. He’s been drugged and can’t defend himself. Oh, dear God, you’ll kill him!”
    Her father tried to shake her off. “Let go, girl. Dammit, let go!”
    Nothing could have induced Rachel to do that. This was her fault. All her fault. Nearsighted though she was, she could tell Matt’s face was turning crimson. As bitter as her feelings toward him had been last night, she didn’t want him dead.
    “Daddy, for heaven’s sake! Look what you’re doing!”
    Rachel nearly wept with relief when three men rushed forward to assist her. After several attempts, the trio managed to drag Big Jim off. Judging by the way Matt choked and gasped for air afterward, he hadn’t been released a second too soon.
    The instant the three men turned her father loose, Rachel flung herself against him. “Daddy, you have to listen to me. This isn’t his fault. I swear it. Please, you have to give me a chance to explain.”
    His chest heaving with exertion, her father shrugged to straighten his shirt. “All right, so explain.”
    Before Rachel could speak, the church doors banged open again, indicating that yet another person had entered. Bodies shuffled. The next instant, Rachel heard a horrified gasp. There was no mistaking Molly’s voice, even when the noises she made were inarticulate. Rachel’s heart caught. She had meant to avenge her sister, not force her to endure yet more heartbreak.
    “Rachel?” Molly whispered, clearly aghast. “Oh, lands, what’ve you gone and done?”
    Rachel thought the answer to that was fairly obvious. She’d brought Matt Rafferty down a few notches, never mind the fact that she was going down with him.
    “Oh, Molly.” Rachel bit her lip, wishing with all her might that her sister hadn’t come into the church.
    Molly shook her head. “Oh,