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was impossible. Then she heard a shout and the sound of horses and—improbable—the clucking of an annoyed hen and male laughter.
    Looking out the window, she saw in the moonlight some cattle moving toward the house with three men on horseback. One of them was Daniel, his white face gleaming in the darkness. Another was Billy Joe. And along the other side of the cattle rode Seth Tompkins. A chicken stuck its head out of each of Billy Joe’s saddlebags.
    As she watched Billy Joe pull the first chicken from the bag her mouth watered. When he pulled out another, her stomach growled. Then the men chased the cattle into their enclosure and pushed the gate closed. They rode to her door where she stood watching.
    Billy Joe was in the lead. “Ma’am.”
    “Take off that hat,” snapped Daniel, and Billy Joe whipped it off his head.
    “Ma’am,” he repeated. “I am sorry I done rustled your cattle.” He twisted the hat in his hand.
    “The chickens,” Daniel prompted softly. “And the meat.”
    “Oh, yes. And ma’am, I sure am sorry I took your chickens. Me and my friends done ate most of ’em and most of your smoked pork as well, so I brung you two extra head o’ cattle.”
    She didn’t know what to say. She looked over at Daniel. He looked clean and tidy compared to the other two, though there was a chicken feather in his blond hair. His hat and jacket were on the saddle before him, his rolled-up shirt sleeves revealed white muscular arms and he looked just a little dusty. Seth and Billy Joe were completely covered in dust and mud.
    “Mr. Hastings figured out where your cattle had got to and he asked me to help him get them here safe to you. Billy Joe, he didn’t give us no trouble.” Seth lowered his voice and leaned in close to her. “I think he was afraid of making both you and Mr. Hastings mad at the same time.”
    He sat up straight in the saddle, took off his hat and scratched his head. “You need to fix that there gate.” He pointed to the animal enclosure. “It’s fixin’ to fall right off, and if it does all these here cattle will be long gone, and ain’t no one woulda rustled them.”
    “Thank you, gentlemen,” Daniel said smoothly. The two cowboys took off, Seth at an amble, Billy Joe as though the devil himself were at his heels.
    Daniel leapt off his horse.
    Well, in spite of those clothes, he knows his way around a horse. And around a woman, come to think of it.
    A frisson ran down her back as she thought about the night before. She sure would like some more of that. Right now. She’d like him to take her in his arms and kiss her slow and hot and run his hands—
    “Chasing chickens and rounding up cattle is dirty work,” he said, smiling at her and interrupting her thoughts. “I’m not fit for a lady’s company. Please forgive me.”
    She brought herself back to earth. “How did you figure Billy Joe…and how did you get him to bring them back?
    Daniel smiled. “I asked around a bit and then I, er, convinced Seth to show me where he lived and I persuaded Billy Joe that it would be best if he returned your animals immediately.”
    Eliza smiled back and, stepping closer to him, reached up and removed the feather from his hair.
    “Thank you,” he said in a grave tone. “I fear moving unwilling animals from one place to another is rather dirty work. It does give me pleasure to think that you might be pleased to have them back again.”
    “I am,” she lied. At the moment she didn’t give a hoot about the animals. It was him she wanted. She wanted him to—
    “Is there a place I might wash off?”
    She gestured to the pump, and they walked over to it in silence.
    “I’ll pump,” she said, taking the handle.
    Eliza sucked in her breath. Lordy she could see the muscles of his torso ripple as he pulled off his shirt, set it on the wall that surrounded the well and put his head under the water. He rubbed at his fair hair and then turned and twisted so the water ran over his face