Tess was almost grateful for the dark. She would rather have waited for the stage outside in the sun of course, but the poorly lit saloon of the little hotel in Truckee was the better place to be if you didn’t want to be seen or recognized, which she didn’t. And, she grimaced and moved her arm off of the sticky surface of the table, the darkness kept her from seeing how dirty things really were in the place she’d chosen to spend last night, though from what she could see, it was filthy! And she couldn’t really say she’d slept here. She’d been as unable to sleep last night, as she’d been the last three nights. She just wasn’t used to sleeping in strange places like this and, she admitted to herself with a frown, she was just too scared to fall asleep for long. Tess did not like being scared.

The drunk passed out at the next table muttered loudly in his sleep and she frowned over at him jealously for a second; drawing the hood of her cloak even closer about her face as she did. She did not want to risk the chance that the unconscious stranger might somehow recognize her and send word back to San Francisco. She would kill the man if she had to, but she was not going back! Her hands clenched into fists under the table and she forced herself to relax. Then she shook her head. If Lizzie had been there she would have laughed at her fancies. Her friend knew as well as Tess did that despite her famous temper she couldn’t kill anybody. But she would hit the idiot if he tried to take her back to San Francisco to Drago. And then she’d hit Drago. She smiled vengefully and pictured herself smashing a chair on Jonathan Drago’s head the way she’d seen a man do in a fight in a saloon in some little town the night before last.

 Her smile faded as she thought of how Drago would react; of how he had reacted the one time she had hit him. Her hand had been clenched into a proper fist and she’d used all her strength but it hadn’t fazed him at all, to her disappointment. He’d no doubt smiled coldly before exacting his revenge, looking handsome and perfect the whole time. He’d walked away laughing but the next day Tess had noticed one of his men following her around as she’d shopped in the city. There’d been one near her everyday after that as well. She’d only managed to escape them a few times. Then a few days ago, she’d thought she had escaped his watchdog for a moment only to find out later that he’d had another man watching her the whole time. She muttered angrily to herself as she remembered. That’s when she realized that she had to get away before he managed to somehow drag her into that church and his hold on her was complete.

Her hands gripped her purse tightly for a moment in remembered fear and also anger as she recalled how no one in San Francisco society but Lizzie had believed her; everyone believing him and assuming that “Terrible” Tess Parker was just throwing another of her “tantrums” just as they always did. Just as her father had. The idiots were just as stupid as she’d always said they were, she told herself comfortingly and then shuddered as she thought of how Drago was probably reacting right about now as he discovered that she’d really run away. She could see his icy black gaze even now and tried to scowl back at the image, as if this would scare it away.

She had felt his dark eyes watching her in every little town she’d passed through in the last several days and she knew that she was going to have to stop using the stage pretty soon since that made her too easy to follow and he was going to try to find her. He would not like the fact that she had gotten out of his control. She shivered even though her cloak was made of the thickest wool and it was a warm autumn morning. The drunk muttered again suddenly, snapping her out of her little nightmare.

Shaking herself, she stood up and reached in her little purse for the money to pay for the food she’d ordered.

She hadn’t eaten much. The sloppy sandwiches had not looked appetizing and her stomach couldn’t have handled food anyway, but she pulled out a few coins to give to the bartender on her way out, not really paying attention to the exact amount.

Holding her dark green cloak protectively close and keeping her head down, she headed a little blindly towards the bar and dropped off the coins without a word. The bartender tried to look under her hood curiously but she ducked her head and turned away. A few other men in the saloon had also seemed curious about why she was keeping herself hidden, and thinking of them, her mouth tightened irritably. She’d had a hard time stopping herself from yelling at them to mind their own business. Luckily -for them- her silence had apparently discouraged them.

It was nice to know that some men had some manners after all, she thought with a superior sniff, although even as she thought this one of the dirty cowboys in the corner starting calling out to the woman who had been getting a drink at the bar. Tess had a strong urge to go over and berate the idiot for his behavior.

She’d actually taken a step in his direction with her hands clenched into fists when it occurred to her that it wouldn’t do any good and it would probably take away some of the woman’s income. It would also attract attention to her that she didn’t need. Maybe there was something in this controlling her temper thing that Lizzie had nagged her about. She was still angry though, so she settled for glaring at the rude man from under her hood, although he couldn’t see it, just to make herself feel better.

The woman answered him immediately and slowly made her way over to his table with a big welcoming smile on her overly painted face. She looked tired, Tess noticed, although she doubted the men did. She sniffed again at men in general and eyed the woman’s outfit briefly, noting the short skirt and brightly colored feathers. She kind of liked it and wondered for a moment how she would look in that, with her legs showing and all.

The thought made her smile for second until she remembered that thoughts like that are exactly what had gotten her in so much trouble back home. It was probably a horribly shocking thing to be thinking although she couldn’t really see why. San Francisco was full of women like her, and the men who lived there, like the men here, seemed to have no problem in visiting them. She snorted, thinking of that. It was silly not to talk about them, in her opinion. And it was a lovely dress, quite unlike anything she would wear at home, but wearing it now would definitely attract more attention to her than she wanted.  In fact, wearing just about anything seemed to attract attention to her, she thought in exasperation, so that would definitely be a problem. Taking one last look at the place, and the poor woman, she stepped outside.

She blinked at the bright early morning light for a moment, noting with wonder the lack of thick fog and the clear air of the mountains, and then walked across the dirty street to where the Overland Stagecoach was waiting. It was sort of pretty up here, although she didn’t really have much time to look at anything. As she approached, the driver, the same one from yesterday, greeted her with a small, nervous smile. Why he was nervous she couldn’t say, since she’d made an effort to control herself so as not to attract attention yesterday. Then he said something to the tall man standing next to the stage, making him laugh. She pulled her hood down and didn’t say anything, just nodding once as a ‘good morning’ to both of them. She looked over to make sure her luggage was still tied to the back and then opened the door and pulled herself up before the little driver had even begun to get down to help her inside.

 A large hand appeared out of nowhere to help pull her the rest of the way inside and Tess jumped away defensively before she could stop herself. Idiot, she called herself, you’re going to give yourself away! Then she took a deep breath before glaring over at whoever had been trying to help since they’d upset her.

A very big man was sitting in the opposite corner of the stage and she wondered faintly how she had missed seeing him at all. He would probably be over a head taller than her standing up and she couldn’t even think to measure how wide he was. He took up most of the space on that bench and she felt sorry for anyone else who had to share it with him. He was smiling widely and she noticed a tiny gap in his teeth. She also noticed a large, rather silly-looking hat still on his head, though he snatched it off and held it in his hands the moment he apparently realized she was looking at it. His hair stood up in several little tufts briefly before settling back down. She couldn’t tell what color it was. His eyes however were as blue and clear as the cloudless mountain sky around them. Smiling at her like he was, he looked like a really big puppy.

“Sorry if I scared you, ma’am,” he said earnestly in a loud voice and she nodded quickly so he wouldn’t apologize in that booming voice again. He bent his head for a moment as if trying to see under the hood of her cloak and her mouth tightened again. Couldn’t anyone mind their own business? “You are okay, ain’t ya, ma’am?” he asked and she sighed. She wasn’t really in the mood to put up with a bumpkin today, no matter how nice, or large, he was.

“I’m fine,” she said discouragingly as she knew how and turned her head away before checking her cloak one more time to make sure her face wasn’t visible. She looked out the window determinedly and after a while he apparently got the hint because he shrugged good-naturedly and leaned back against the coach’s interior, scratching the back of his head. It made her feel sort of guilty, although it didn’t last long since she had her reasons -good reasons- for being rude, and he didn’t seem too upset anyway.

Why weren’t they leaving? Tess tapped her foot irritably against the bottom of the bench –not the floor, her feet couldn’t reach that, she noticed in exasperation. Every second’s delay could cost her her freedom. And she felt like a kid with her feet dangling off the seat like this.

There was a crack of a whip outside and the sound of the driver saying goodbye to someone in the street, probably the tall man. Then the coach slowly lurched into motion. Tess sighed in relief that they were finally moving and that it was only going to be her and the bumpkin on this trip. The stagecoach yesterday had been too full and she hadn’t had a moment’s peace. Not to mention that it was hard to stay hidden in a small area full of nosy people eager to talk. Idiots! She yelled silently at those gossipy people from yesterday who kept trying to find about her. It should be easier to avoid conversation with the big man, since he at least seemed to know when not to press somebody to talk. She decided generously since he knew when to shut up that he was not an idiot. At least, not completely. That hat…

Truckee went by outside her window and Tess couldn’t resist the urge to lean over and look back at the town and the road, to see if anyone was following them. She didn’t see anything and settled back down in her seat with another sigh. Then she noticed the bumpkin looking at her curiously. She turned her head as if she was looking at the scenery and after a while, he sighed and put his hat back on. It was her turn to watch curiously as he tipped it forward to cover his eyes and slouched down in his seat as if he could just go to sleep like that. Seconds later, he was snoring. Despite the fact that she hadn’t wanted to talk to him and that the sleeping habits of a country bumpkin were not something that she should be worried about right now, she muttered to herself at the rudeness of this for some time. She decided that he was probably an idiot after all.

 You could barely make her out at all, buried in all of that green stuff; he looked over her thick cloak curiously. Not that there was much of her to see. She was an itty bitty little gal, he reflected and bent his head down to try to peek under her hood again. Tweren’t any good though, she was keepin’ herself good and covered.

There were a few reasons that a girl might want ta’ do something like that, accordin’ to his way of thinking, and none of them were very pleasant. He frowned briefly. Either something had happened to the bitty gal’s face or she was hidin’ from something. And considerin’ how she’d acted earlier when he’d tried to help her inside the coach, Hoss guessed that she was hidin’ from somebody. He couldn’t see why anybody would want to scare a tiny little gal like her, but people did things that Hoss didn’t understand all the time. He shrugged. Sure, she wasn’t the nicest gal he’d ever met, but that was no reason to scare a body near to death.

 Even though she had made it clear that she didn’t want no part of him during their stage ride, Hoss was glad that she’d finally relaxed. When she’d first got in, and jumped up and near hit the roof of the coach, she’d been higher strung than that full-blooded horse he and Adam bought from Kentucky a few years back. The girl, like that horse, hadn’t been able to sit still. Just watchin’ her had made him nervous. Now it looked like she had fallen asleep. And he was willin’ to bet that the little gal needed this rest too. He glanced down at the two small, pale hands resting in her lap and thought that a girl with hands like that probably wasn’t going to be able to handle whatever trouble she was going to run into on the road. And with an attitude like she had she was going to find trouble. He could almost guarantee that.

 He reached under his hat to scratch his head thoughtfully as he contemplated the funny little gal. There was just nuthin to be done, he decided with a sigh, women were just plain trouble all around. Just look at his situation. Here he was, ridin’ the stage home after a weeklong business trip for Pa in Truckee, sitting next to a girl who was probably running from something, and all because of the women trouble back home. Well, maybe not women trouble. Hoss knew enough to know that if he said that particular phrase back at the house he would find out real quick what real trouble was when Charlie and Annabelle both laid into him. But the fact was that Adam and Joe were at home on accounta them and he was out here running errands for Pa.

 He understood that Adam wouldn’t want to leave his little critters so soon to go off on a long business trip. They were cute little things, though he still couldn’t believe that his older brother had had girls. But he didn’t see why Joe got to stay home just cuz he was getting’ married soon. It wasn’t like Little Joe was helpin’ plan the dadburn thing. Annabelle and Charlie were goin’ crazy about that all on their own, buyin’ all sorts of frilly things and practically cryin’ over silly things like doilies. It was almost enough to turn a man’s stomach, all that feminine stuff. But as much as Hoss liked his brothers’ choices, he decided to keep his opinion that women were just plain trouble. He was never going to get himself in that kind of mess. He knew how to handle them female women.

 Before he’d even finished thinking this the stagecoach slowed down and then stopped. Hoss looked out his window in confusion, thinking he couldn’t have slept all the way to Reno, and sure enough, they still looked to be in the mountains, or at least the foothills. A moment later he heard a gunshot and felt that sinking feeling in his gut that meant something was up. The shot woke the girl up. He watched her shake herself quickly and then look around.

 “What…?” she started to ask and he waved his hand, tellin’ her to be quiet. He was pretty sure he heard her mutter something angrily from somewhere underneath all of that green. He ignored her and leaned out the window, with one hand on his gun. There were two men on horseback out there, both of ‘em wearin’ masks and both of ‘em pointin’ rifles right at him. Hoss frowned before sittin’ back down in his seat.

“Well?” the girl demanded. Before he could say anything one of the men outside called for them step out of the coach.

“We’re bein’ robbed,” Hoss told her with a sigh, since this was going to delay his trip home even more. “Just be real quiet and it’ll all be over soon.”

“We can’t be robbed!” she said like it was going to make a difference. Hoss shrugged and swung the door open. Then he stepped out carefully and held out a hand for the girl. She hopped down on her own and faced the two mounted men with her hands on her hips. She barely reached his chest but she didn’t look scared of the men at all. She just seemed sort of mad. Hoss looked down at her in mild astonishment.

“Your gun,” one of the men said in a voice like he thought something was funny. With another long sigh, Hoss unbuckled his gunbelt and handed it over to the waiting man. The driver was still sittin’ up on top there, sweatin’ bullets and crossin’ himself.

“You’re just going to let him?” the girl was getting’ mighty close to yellin’. She turned towards Hoss and he nodded slowly.

“A man would be a fool not to,” he answered, keepin’ his eyes on those rifles. The gal snorted like a pony.

“And whatever’s in the lady’s bag,” the other one added.

“No!” the girl declared and crossed her arms. One little foot peeked out from under her cloak and tapped the ground angrily.

“Uh, ma’am…” Hoss began as one of the men rode closer to her and snatched it out of her hands.

“But my things are in there!” she shouted like she’d never heard of such a thing. Hoss saw one her little white hands clench into a fist and quickly stepped forward.

 “Now, just a minute,” he said, trying not to frown, “but you ain’t got no call to be taking the lady’s things.”

“Well, don’t worry, friend, she’ll get it back soon enough. Just as soon as we’ve lightened her load a bit,” the one said as he took a fat roll of bank notes out of the little purse, making the other one laugh. Then he tossed the bag back to her. The girl was silent for a moment and then she reached over and punched the man in the leg so hard that he probably got a Charlie horse. Hoss wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t been there to see the whole thing, though he did almost laugh when the man hollered in pain. He only thought to move when the man kicked out and knocked the girl back. Hoss quickly moved forward to catch her. And then she didn’t thank him either; she just called the robber an idiot in a low voice that Hoss knew the man heard because he started fingering that trigger. Then suddenly, the man laughed. “I was going to let you two off if you behaved yourselves, but now I think I have a better idea.”

“No, please! No killing!” the driver shouted and Hoss looked up at the man with a frown. Something wasn’t right here. The robber turned in the saddle and exchanged a look with the other.

“I got something a little better in mind.” He turned back to them and Hoss got goosebumps all up and down his arms at his tone.

“No killing…or at least, not by me.” Before Hoss could figure that out he turned to the stage driver. “Get out of here! Now!” he ordered and fired a shot in the air. Without a look back at them, the man whipped his team and left them alone with the two bandits. The girl gasped. “I don’t think you two should head back toward Truckee, if you catch my meaning, and I don’t think you should stick around here,” he said with a nod and added, “and thanks for the money, lady,” before turning his horse around and ridin’ off into the trees. His partner followed shortly after.

 Hoss stared after them for a moment and then turned to the girl with a frown.

 “Now look what you’ve done,” she told him and he blinked in surprise. Then his frown returned.

 “What I’ve done? You did it cuz you couldn’t keep your mouth shut,” he told her firmly, sticking his jaw out, thinking of how far he was from home now. Her head snapped up but she didn’t say anything. After a moment, he nodded once, just to make sure she knew that he was right. Then he turned to get a good look at the land, trying to figure out just exactly where they were.

 “So now what? Do we wait here for the next stage?” she asked instead after clearing her throat. Hoss stared at her like she was plumb crazy. Maybe she was, punchin’ a man in leg like that. And with a rifle pointed at her!

“Ma’am, are you deaf or something? The man as good as told us not to sit around and I don’t aim to see if he was bluffin’. I’m getting out of here.”

 “But I have to keep moving!” she told him and he nodded.

 “I intend to keep moving, but I can’t do that while I’m standing here arguin’ with you. Fool woman,” he added, under his breath. He heard her gasp again and then she raised a hand to throw off her hood, almost impatiently. Hoss’ mouth dropped open.

 She was beautiful.

The kind of beautiful that you could tell from real far off and that only got better the closer you got. And he was real close. His eyes went from her hair, which looked curly and soft and almost the color of some of the red fall leaves around them, to her eyes, which were large and greener than moss, to her skin that looked soft and clean and white. She had a red mouth that Adam would have said looked like a Cupid’s bow or something like that and a few tiny freckles across her nose.

 She raised her eyebrows at him and then nodded at something before rolling her eyes.

 “I need to keep moving, don’t you understand?” she insisted, waking him up. He shut his mouth quickly. “I can’t do that without some kind of transportation!”

 He didn’t much care for her tone, no matter how she looked, and he frowned again.

 “Well that’s what I intend to do!” he told her triumphantly and took a few steps off in the direction of the trees. “On my feet!” he said with his chin in the air and her eyes widened.

“Walk? In there?” She looked to the woods.

“Yup.” He nodded again.

“But we’ll get lost and no one will find us…” Suddenly she got quiet. Hoss looked at her suspiciously. “You know your way?” she asked, tilting her head up to look at him doubtfully. After a moment he nodded. “If you get me to a town I can pay you,” she looked down at her purse, “later.”

“I don’t need no payment, ma’am. I couldn’t just leave you here,” he told her, insulted. She blinked. Then she whispered something under her breath. It sounded like, “regular knight in shining armor.” Hoss didn’t know about no knights, but he did know that it didn’t sound exactly like a compliment when she said it. He frowned at her and she smiled back like Little Joe did when he was trying ta get out of something with Pa. Only when Joe did it, it didn’t make Hoss forget what he’d been goin’ to say. He settled for something else.

“Well, let’s get goin’ then, before they change their minds and come back.”

“Yes, let’s get going,” she said firmly and walked past him towards the trees as if she knew where she was goin’. Hoss just shook his head.

Tess had taken one step into the line of trees alongside the road before she remembered the big man and realized that she ought to stop and wait for him. Well, to be honest, she hadn’t really forgotten about the big man- it would be difficult to forget anybody that size with those clear blue eyes- she had just been too angry at those men for actually robbing their stage and leaving them here to stop to wonder if he was behind her.

She really should wait for him, she thought with a sigh. Because not only did she not know where she was going, but he had seemed nice in the stage, even if he hadn’t tried to stop the robbers. Of course, Tess had learned some time ago that not everyone was really like what they appeared to be, but as long as he didn’t try to get too close to her and take her being nice as an invitation to something more they way most men seemed to, then the next few days shouldn’t be too bad. And she didn’t think a few days with the bumpkin should be too bad as long as she kept him at a distance.

She turned around and blinked in surprise to see him still standing on the other side of the road, frowning off in the direction the bandits had taken. Thinking of how he’d yelled at her about moving on before the men came back and what another delay could cost her, she felt her anger returning. She picked up the bottom of her cloak in her hands and charged back over towards the big man.

“Now what?” she asked impatiently when she reached him and he turned to look at her, still frowning thoughtfully.

“Something wasn’t right about that,” he answered slowly and she immediately thought of Drago and felt furious at the thought that somehow he might have had something to do with it. It would be like him to leave her penniless and stranded just so she could see how “helpless” she was without him. She muttered to herself about how she’d show him and then muttered again when the big man didn’t finish his thought right away.

“What do you mean?” she demanded at last, tapping her foot, and this time he frowned at her.

“Well, they didn’t ask if I had any money. They acted like they already knew that you had a lot of money. They was only interested in me cuz I was carrying a gun. You been tellin’ people about how much money you had, ma’am? Cuz I reckon that whoever you told, told them robbers about it and how you was going to be on this stage.”

“Of course I didn’t tell anyone!” she answered immediately. “Why would I go around telling people about how much I had with me? I’m not an idiot! The only people I’ve spoken to in the last few days are desk clerks, the people who work the stage ticket offices and you! Oh!” she realized something as she said this and looked up at the big man with wide eyes. “The driver, our driver, was working the ticket office when I bought my ticket two days ago and saw me pull my money out of my bag! That despicable,” she searched for words, “idiot!”

“Ain’t you got enough sense to know not to go around showing people how much money you got with you?” the bumpkin asked in disgust and shook his head like she was the idiot. She supposed she had been but he had no business thinking that. Her hands went to her hips almost on their own.

“Well how was I supposed to know that people out here couldn’t be trusted? And anyway, you’re the one who just let them take my money without doing anything!” she glared up at him.

“Ma’am, there wasn’t anything I could have done that wouldn’t have gotten my head blown off, and then you still would have been robbed. Maybe worse.” His voice rose a little and he frowned back at her, but she was a little surprised that he hadn’t gotten angrier. She had nearly called him a coward. She’d seen men fight over less. It probably wasn’t the best thing she could have said, she also realized. He could attack her or leave her here, whatever he’d said earlier, if she angered him enough. Her temper had gotten the best of her again. It was amazing the things you started to notice when you began to attempt to control yourself. Of course, it didn’t make her feel any better to acknowledge that he was right. She cleared her throat.

“So now what?” she asked instead of admitting this.

“Now…” His voice got low.

 Her eyes widened when he frowned and his light, friendly eyes became dark and hard for a moment. She had taken a step back before she realized what she’d done and by the time she’d stepped forward again his fierce look was gone.

“Now we head back to Truckee,” he finished and then nodded to himself.

“Back to Truckee?” she yelled in surprise and he looked down into her face.

“Yup,” he said shortly and she found herself sputtering, which only angered her more.

“We can’t just go back to Truckee! The man said not to and anyway, I can’t go back or…” she didn’t finish her sentence.

“First of all,” he began to list when she was silent for several seconds, “I don’t think we’ll make the walk to Reno without help and it’ll take forever and I got a family that’ll be worrying about me. Only take a day or two to get back to Truckee goin’ off the road and taking our time.”

She briefly tried to picture him with a wife and kids and a home somewhere and found that it was very easy to see him as a devoted family man. She scowled.

“Secondly, ma’am, I want to catch those men and I’m sure you need your money. And last,” he said firmly when she opened her mouth to speak, “I want my gun back.”

“I’m not going back to Truckee for a little money and I am certainly not going back for your gun!” she yelled and stamped her foot on the ground. He didn’t say anything so she tried again. “We are not going back to Truckee!” she ordered and he just stuck his jaw out.

“We are heading back that way if I have to carry you the whole way.” He frowned down at her stubbornly and she crossed her arms and frowned right back up at him.

“You wouldn’t!” she told him with her nose in the air and he grinned suddenly before taking a step towards her. She shrieked before she could stop herself, realizing again how large he was. She recovered quickly though. “You big bully!”

 He stopped and looked hurt.

“Ma’am, I ain’t no bully. I’m just trying to do what’s best for you.”

“That’s what everybody says,” she muttered and his frown returned. She decided to try something else. “But I won’t be safe in Truckee.”

“I figured as much,” he said, surprising her.  He had noticed her fear. “I’ll protect you, ma’am,” he promised earnestly and she shook her head.

“That’s very nice of you, but I don’t think you can protect me from the person I’m running from,” she said, trying to keep him from getting hurt by getting involved in her problem with Drago. He looked insulted again, raising his head and sticking his chest out, as if trying to look even bigger. It worked.

“I’ll protect you, ma’am,” he said again and she thought of that brief dangerous look in his eyes, though she had probably imagined that.

“Fine,” she surprised herself by giving in and then frowned up at him for somehow getting his way, even if he might be right. He didn’t seem to notice her look; he just shrugged and walked into the woods behind them. She leapt to follow him before he disappeared into the trees and grumbled under her breath when he moved a branch and it swung backwards to hit her in the face. She looked at him suspiciously.

“Oh, sorry, ma’am,” he ducked his head in apology and raised the next branch up as she passed.

“Why aren’t we taking the road?” she asked irritably over the loud sound of her feet crushing leaves and twigs on the ground. He made almost no noise at all as he walked and not once did he trip on a raised root or rock. He was surprisingly graceful for such a large man, she noticed and tried to observe how he moved.

While staring at his back she tripped three times. But luckily the bumpkin didn’t seem to notice.

“Reckon they’ll be checking the road,” he answered her question like the answer was obvious. Well, he did seem to know what he was talking about most of the time. He must be smarter than he looks, she thought and then realized how mean she was getting. “I sure am hungry,” he said a moment later. Tess’ stomach growled at his words, taking her mind off of her slight feeling of guilt. She could probably eat now for the first time in days. How amazing.

“What’s your name?” she asked suddenly and he stopped to tip his hat to her.

“My name’s Hoss Cartwright, ma’am.” He smiled as he said it and then turned back to blazing a trail through the trees and bushes. Tess froze for a moment before following him. She knew a Cartwright, though she doubted the two men were related. For one thing, they looked absolutely nothing alike. For another, this man would hardly move in the same circles as Adam Cartwright. Adam Cartwright always seemed amused in a distant, superior sort of way when she got into one of her famous messes. Like when she’d shoved Michael Lawrence in the fishpond at Lizzie’s house.

She’d had a good reason for doing that; Mr. Lawrence had cornered her in the gardens and had been trying to get closer than she had been willing to get. So she’d decided angrily that he’d needed to cool off and pushed him in. Since the summer weather in San Francisco was about as cold as the winter weather, he had definitely been chilled by his sudden bath. But as usual, everyone had just taken it as another example of her temper, except for Lizzie, who’d been sympathetic, and Adam Cartwright, who had just laughed. She wondered if Hoss would laugh at anybody like that.

But even if he wouldn’t, she still had to be careful in case he did know Adam Cartwright and told him of their little adventure and word got back to San Francisco.

"Theresa…O’Brien.” She gave him her mother’s maiden name.

“Pleased to meetcha, Miss Theresa.” He turned to grin at her and she felt guilty again for lying. It was so irritating.

“Everyone calls me Tess,” she added to make herself feel better and he nodded. She probably wasn’t paying enough attention to the ground because she tripped again. This time he did turn around. He didn’t look like he was laughing, although she couldn’t really tell.

“Why don’t you stay directly behind me, Miss Tess? Then you won’t fall so much,” he suggested gently but she still felt like an idiot. She even blushed. But she waited until he’s started walking again before glaring at his back. He’d probably meant to be helpful, she decided. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to follow him.

And it helped that she didn’t trip again. At least, not too obviously.

The sun was setting and the air around them, which hadn’t been all that warm to begin with, was getting colder and darker by the second. Which is why Hoss wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of stepping into the little creek that they’d been walking alongside all afternoon. But he felt close to empty inside he was so hungry and there were plenty of fish in the water to make him feel less concerned with how cold his toes were going to be in a minute.

Thinking of the cooked trout he’d be having soon as his first real meal of the day was enough to make him scrunch up his nose and step gingerly into the water. His lips were probably turning blue, but he kept on going until he stood in the center of the stream and then turned around, rolled up his sleeves and glanced over at the girl.

Miss Tess was sittin’ on the ground against a tree, close to the fire he’d built, with her green cape pulled close around her. With the fading light and all she looked even paler than usual, but that might have been on accounta how tired she was. Poor little gal probably wasn’t used to all the walking they’d done today. He would have offered to carry her part of the way, ‘specially after he’d seen her start limping a little in the late afternoon, but every time he’d come close to her she’d glared at him like he was trying steal from the collection plate at church or something.

He shrugged at female type behavior and turned his attention back to the water. Very slowly, he bent over and eased his hands into the water. It was probably too cold to be fishing this way, but he didn’t have time to make a pole and dadburnit but he was hungry. He tried to stop his shivering and stood as still as possible, so as not to frighten the fish away.

“What are you doing?” The gal spoke up suddenly just as a pretty trout swam right between his hands. Hoss moved quickly and flung the fish up onto the bank, sending a spray of water directly at Tess. She sputtered for a moment and then wiped her face off slowly with that thick cloak of hers.

“Oh, sorry, ma’am…uh…Miss Tess, I didn’t mean to get ya with the water.”

She mumbled something to herself, but Hoss had noticed earlier how if you said you was sorry for something she wouldn’t get too mad at you. Although, to be honest, that bitty little gal had the quickest temper he’d ever seen and got herself all worked up over the strangest things.

“I’m fishing” he answered her question and lowered his hands back into the water.

Tess looked over at the fish flopping around on the ground and then back to him with a strange look on her face.

“I’ve never seen anybody fish like that. Aren’t you cold?”

“Sure am. But I’m also hungry!” Hoss said with a big smile, anticipating his supper.

“What do you do?” she asked, distracting him into letting a big fat one get away. He frowned up at her and patted his grumbling stomach.

“Please be quiet, Miss Tess,” he told her and he heard her make that strange sniffing sound that Charlie and Annabelle liked to make, whatever that meant. He looked back down. A second later a smaller fish landed next to the other on the land.

“How amazing!” Tess told him with a smile that made Hoss stick his chest out proudly, even though all he’d done was catch a tiny fish. “Now what?” she said impatiently a second later and Hoss let out a deep breath.

“Now I catch some more for me. You can start cookin’ those ones if ya want.”

“Cook?” she repeated and blinked those big green eyes of hers at him.

“You know how to cook, don’t you, Miss Tess?” Hoss asked hopefully and she frowned at him.

“Why would I know how to cook?” she asked all angry-like. “And don’t call me Miss Tess. Just Tess!”

“Yes, Miss…uh…Tess,” Hoss gulped and wondered what he’d done now. “I just figured you might know how to cook.”

“Why? Not every girl learns how to cook,” she told him and nodded like she was right. He supposed she was and shrugged again.

“Course not, Tess. But even I know how to cook a little.” Not that his food was anywhere near as good as what Hop Sing could do. In fact, usually, he was the only one who could stand to eat any of it. Tess’ eyes widened at his words and he heard her make a little “oh” sound. Then she cleared her throat and looked over at the fish. He heard a growlin’ sound and this time it didn’t come from his stomach. He grinned and she gave him a look that made it all but disappear.

“So…how exactly would I go about cooking these fish?” she asked him with her eyebrows all raised and he couldn’t help grinnin’ again. He told her to put ‘em on sticks and hold ‘em over the fire. Then when he told her not to let them catch on fire or let ‘em fall into the dirt she acted like that was obvious and he was an idiot for tellin’ her that. Hoss shook his head in confusion and settled back down and got ready to catch himself some supper.

When he came out after sending four more fish up onto the shore he was near to freezin’ from the cold and faintin’ away from hunger. But it smelled like cooking meat up near their little campsite and he smiled and took a deep breath, just thinking of food. He sat down on the ground and stuck his feet toward the fire. Tess mumbled something about big smelly feet near the food before handing him a stick with a burnt fish on the end with one eyebrow raised at him like Adam did sometimes. He was almost too hungry to care and didn’t want to start another argument with her so he just nodded and took it. Though he did frown at her. His feet didn’t smell. Well, at least he didn’t think so.

She was finishin’ one of her fish and he was a little surprised to see mostly bones left on the ground next to her and grease all over her face. But when he took a bite of his she smiled at him before taking another bite. Hoss smiled back since it didn’t really taste that all that bad. It was better’n Joe’s cookin’ anyway.

“I guess I was hungry,” she said after a moment and then burped. She looked so surprised that Hoss burst out laughing. Her eyebrows went up again but after a moment she sort of smiled and didn’t yell at him or nuthin.

“Mountain air’ll do that to ya,” he told her and reached for another cooked fish that was resting on a rock nearby.

“They say that about the sea air too, but I never noticed it in San Francisco,” she answered and then jumped as if she’d said too much. Hoss glanced over at her.

“Now, I don’t mean to pry, Miss Tess, but I’m willin’ to listen if you want to talk to somebody about whatever trouble you’re in.”

She didn’t say anything and he sighed before finishing off another trout.

“San Francisco is a nice town. I been there a few times. Though one time, my Pa and my brother and I got in trouble with some dadburn criminals out to shanghai us and send us off to China.” He shook his head, remembering that.

“You were almost shanghaied?” she looked up at him curiously and he nodded.

“Sure was. It all started when Joe, that’s my brother, Miss Tess, and I, got lost on the Barbary Coast. Oh,” he looked down with a blush that he hoped she wouldn’t see in the dark. “I ain’t supposed ta mention the Coast ‘round you, am I, Miss Tess?”

“Tess!” she snapped at him and then tilted her head to the side. “You’ve been to the Coast? Is it as dangerous as they say?”

“Ain’t you seen it, Tess? You live in San Francisco, right?”

“I was never…I mean…I’m not from that part of town.”

Hoss nodded. ‘Course.

“Yup, you look more like those people up on Nob Hill.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked in that angry voice of hers and Hoss knew he was in tricky territory. Next thing you know she’d have her hands on her hips and be tappin’ her foot on the ground faster than a jackrabbit.

“Just that you have a way of expectin’ people to do what you say is all, uh, Tess.”

She sniffed again and Hoss wondered if he should offer her his handkerchief.

“For your information, my father and his…business associate would never have allowed me to do something as crazy as going to see the Coast.”

“’Course not. It’s too dangerous for a bitty gal like you,” he added and regretted it a moment later when she smacked his hand with one the sticks for cooking the fish. “Weren’t no call for that!” he howled at her and held his hand close to his chest.

“Just as bad as Drago, telling me what I should do,” she muttered and he wondered who Drago was, probably the fella she was running from, he reckoned. “And a person can get shanghaied on Nob Hill too,” she whispered, but he heard and frowned.

“Uh…Tess?” he started to ask and she cleared her throat.

“What does ‘Hoss’ mean?” she asked suddenly and he shook his head, trying to follow her.

“My Pa says it means a good man to know, but most folks just call me that cuz I’m big like a horse, I reckon.” He shrugged as he said this, not really too upset by it anymore, if he ever really had been.

“’A good man to know’. That’s nice. Isn’t it unusual though?” she asked and he shrugged self-consciously.

“Aw, my real name’s Eric, but nobody calls me that much.”

“Eric…” she repeated and smiled. “My real name’s Theresa- she was a saint- but no one ever calls me that.”

“I reckon that’s cuz you ain’t much like a saint, Miss Tess,” Hoss joked and she glared over at him, making him almost choke on a bite of fish.

“That’s right and don’t you forget it!” she told him fiercely and stood up. He watched warily as she went over to the creek and washed her face in the freezing water. She gasped but scrubbed her face clean before turning back his way. Her cheeks were all red and her freckles really stood out all of the sudden but Hoss thought she looked as pretty as ever. Ignoring his look, she settled down on the ground on the opposite side of the fire and wrapped her cloak tight around herself. “I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight, Hoss.”

He watched in amazement as she lay down as far from him, and the fire, as possible. She was going to get mighty cold later on, which he tried to tell her but she just said ‘goodnight’ in a chilly voice again and he gave up and finished his supper. He could see her shivering already and added another branch to the fire, not that it was going to do much good, her bein’ so far away. Tess sure was the strangest little gal.

She was getting better at spotting the roots and rocks and things before she tripped on them, Tess thought with a smile as she stepped lightly over a fallen log. Yesterday she must have hit just about every little stray thing on the ground as she’d struggled to keep up with Hoss. He’d been very apologetic once he’d realized –well really once she’d, politely, brought it to his attention- that she was having a hard time keeping up with his much larger steps. Today he was being very careful and going much slower, which meant that now she got to walk a little slower and actually look at their surroundings.

The mountains were beautiful in the daylight. Well, they were beautiful at night as well, but during the day the sunlight broke through the trees and chased away all the shadows where Drago had been lurking and watching her all last night. She determinedly shook her head to clear it of thoughts of her late father’s business partner and concentrated on the wonderful combination of the green of the tall pines and the bright red leaves of the smaller trees. She was going to have to ask Hoss what those were. She didn’t doubt that he would know; he seemed to know everything connected to nature. Like how to catch those fish for example. She thought of their fishing for breakfast this morning and glanced at his back with another smile.

She woke up just after Hoss probably had, because when she had first opened her eyes after she must have finally fallen asleep, and had remembered everything, she’d rolled over to see if he was still there and saw him still lying down and covering his mouth as he yawned. Then he’d looked over at her and nodded before smiling.

“Mornin’ Tess,” he’d said right before placing his big silly hat back on his head and standing up to stretch. She’d had to smile at that, even though she’d been hungry, dirty, tired, and felt sore all over from walking for miles yesterday. Evidently that silly hat was the most important part of Hoss’ wardrobe.

Then his face had turned bright red as he’d taken a step towards the trees and then glanced back at her. It had confused her until he’d spoken.

“If you’ll excuse me for a second…” he’d said and ducked his head.

“Oh,” she’s said when she understood and then hadn’t been able to not grin at him. She’d never seen a man his age blush, especially for discussing something so common as…uh.… To her disgust she’d blushed as well.

Once they’d both returned from their separate trips into the woods, Hoss had instantly been distracted by his growling stomach and had suggested another meal of fish. When she’d nodded, he’d taken off his boots and rolled up his pants with a long sigh and then walked back towards the little stream. She’d thought of how he’d looked yesterday evening when he’d just caught that fish in his hands and threw it up onto the shore and had decided right there that she wanted to try it. Lizzie would agree, she was sure. When was she going to get the chance again, she’d thought, with no one here to comment on how oddly she was behaving? And anyway, Hoss shouldn’t have to do everything on his own. Just let him try to stop her!

She’d stripped off her shoes and stockings while chasing after him and unhooked and threw her big heavy cloak impatiently aside when it got in her way.

“I’m going to help!” she’d told him with her chin in the air when he’d looked up and seen her there.

“That’s mighty nice of you, Tess, but…” he’d begun, but before he could do or say anything else to keep her away, she’d picked up her skirts and stepped into the rushing water.

 “…it’s mighty cold in here,” he’d finished but she’d been too busy shrieking in surprise at just how icy the water was to really hear. It was freezing! And it had been so pretty looking too, she would never have guessed that it would turn her toes into little icicles in a few seconds.

“Oh, why didn’t you tell me it was this cold?” she’d yelled at him the minute she could think of anything besides her freezing feet. He’d been smiling at her reaction, she’d noticed, and his grin just got bigger when she’d turned on him.

“Well, most creatures got more sense then you, to know that all the water ‘round here comes straight down from the mountains so it’s always cold, ‘specially when it comes close to wintertime!” he’d told her with a laugh and if she’d been on shore she’d would have walked over and yelled at him.

“Can we just fish now?” she’d asked instead, in what she’d hoped was an unbothered tone, but he’d just kept on smiling, revealing that tiny gap in his teeth. She’d decided once again that he was an idiot. Of course, that hadn’t stopped her from listening to his instructions with interest and copying his posture in the hope that she would catch something.

And she had caught something. Tess glanced at Hoss, walking several feet in front of her, and smiled to herself. Something better than any old trout though to her surprise she had caught one of those as well. She’d caught Hoss sneaking a look at her legs.

 She’d nearly caught a fish and had looked up at Hoss in excitement just in time to see him glancing over at her legs, which she’d realized with a start, were a bit more exposed than she’d intended them to be. He’d jumped guiltily before she could really get mad. And then she’d seen his cheeks turn red and a shy, apologetic smile come and go from his mouth before he’d stared determinedly back down at the water. So instead of tearing him up the way she would have any other man to have done such a thing, she just settled for frowning at him to let him know she’d seen it and then turning back to her fishing.

 The strange thing though, was that she hadn’t really felt like frowning. She still didn’t. In fact, it might be because of the sunshine, or her full stomach, or being out of Drago’s clutches, or because she had finally caught a tiny little trout on her own this morning and had shared a happy laugh with Hoss at her catch, but she couldn’t stop smiling.  She even felt like singing, and she hadn’t felt like that in a long time.

 She hummed quietly for a few minutes and then when she and Hoss entered a large clearing bursting with warm sunshine she just couldn’t help singing. She chose the first verse to her favorite ballad, “Lochinvar”. She’d often wished, back in San Francisco, that she’d had someone to help her fight some of her battles, the way Lochinvar and the other knights in her stories did. Not all of them of course, but she had been fending off people as far as she could remember and was getting tired.

 “O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, through all the wide border his steed was the best; and save his good broadsword he weapons had none, he rode all unarm’d, he rode all alone. So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, there never was a knight like the young Lochinvar.”

 Hoss had turned around the moment she’d started and as she finished he beamed over at her.

“That’s the beginning of my favorite song,” she explained, smiling back.

“That’s right pretty,” he told her and she nodded.

“Of course it is. It’s by Sir Walter Scott.”

“Naw, well, yeah, the words were pretty too, but I meant your voice. I mean, you don’t sing like them ladies at the opera do, but you sound sort of sweet and low, like honey pourin’ onto a biscuit.” As he finished, his blush returned and he ducked his head, as if realizing that comparing her singing to food wasn’t exactly the sort of compliment she was used to. And it wasn’t. Tess’ singing was the one thing that still got her invited to homes in San Francisco – aside from her father’s money of course- and she had been compared to birds and angels and even a bell one time. But, she decided, she’d never heard it put better than like honey, because it was obvious that Hoss really meant what he said, and she got the feeling that he probably really liked honey.

“Well, of course I’m not good enough for the opera,” she said instead of telling him this, just because she kind of liked seeing his blushes, then she tilted her head to look up at him curiously. “Would you like to hear the rest of it?” When he nodded, she gestured for him to keep on walking and began the poem again.

Once young Lochinvar had taken his love, the fair Ellen, away from her unwanted wedding to run off with him instead, and the two lovers had escaped the anger of Ellen’s family, Hoss turned back to her with another grin.

“I like the words too, Tess,” he added, then scrunched up his nose. “Women do like them romantic stories.” He seemed disgusted.

“Well, you’d like them too if you had any taste, Hoss!” she told him with her nose in the air, insulted that he’d made fun of her poem.

“Now, I didn’t say I didn’t like it. There you go again, getting all het up over some little thing.”

“I am not ‘het up’” she insisted, crossing her arms. Hoss removed his hat to scratch the top of his head.

“All right, Tess. Whatever you say,” he answered with a shake of his head, like he was completely confused. Since she couldn’t exactly argue with that, she settled for muttering to herself for a while. Hoss sighed and kept walking.

“Do you sing, Hoss?” she asked some time later. He laughed, startling her.

“Nope. My family has told me a bunch of times that I’m better off listenin’ to other folks sing.”

“Is your voice that bad?” she skipped over a large rock as she asked. He laughed again and she kind of liked that he could laugh at himself. And it was such a nice loud laugh too. Drago had no sense of humor that she knew of and most men did not like to be the object of fun that she’d noticed.

"Naw, it’s just loud. I nearly started a stampede once. ‘Course, tain’t nearly as loud as my cousin Muley’s voice. That caused a whole mess of trouble once.”

 “What happened?” She really wanted to know. He seemed to have no end of interesting stories about adventures with his family and they always ended with a smile. From what she could tell, they seemed like nice people. Maybe someday she could meet them. But not anytime soon, not with Drago coming after her and anyone who helped her.

 She frowned. She was not going to let that idiot Drago ruin her day. She returned her attention to Hoss just as he was describing how he and his cousin Muley -what was with his family and animal names? – had uncovered an illegal whiskey operation. She laughed at all those broken bottles, though she didn’t quite believe it was possible and then asked for another story.

 “Tell me about you and your brother Joe!” she demanded and gave him a bright smile that made him blush again as he began describing how persuasive his little brother could be and mumbled something about never eating another flapjack again as long as he lived. How could he not want to eat flapjacks? They were so good. She decided that she’d get that story next.

 Hoss stopped on the edge of the stream and looked ahead into the trees with a tiny grin. They were getting’ close to Truckee now. In fact, they probably would have been there by now, but he’d been keepin’ the pace slow so Tess could keep up, seeing as how she wasn’t use to hikin’ or nuthin. His grin got bigger as he turned around to look back for Tess, who had been fallin’ farther and farther behind him as the day had progressed.

 She was tired, he could tell, but what made him smile was how bound and determined she was to try to keep up on her own. Dang near bit his head off when he’d tried to offer her his arm earlier. Though he reckoned that her stubbornness wasn’t the only thing keepin’ her behind. She kept stopping to look at every single little critter that crossed their path as if she’d never seen any of ‘em before. He supposed she hadn’t at that but he was eager to get on home. Still, a little while after she’d left each critter behind she’d ask him some question about it and he’d answer as best as he knew how to, cuz Tess didn’t believe that he wouldn’t know the answer.

 Dang fool woman thought he knew everything, he thought to himself grumpily, then he tilted his head to one side with a slow grin, considering that; nobody’d ever thought that about him before that he knew of. He kind of liked it. Made him feel sort of special, like earlier that afternoon when Tess had spotted a deer and had called him over in a whisper to tell her about it. He stood up a little straighter just thinking about it.

He’d rushed right over when Tess had called him in that real urgent way, just to see her hiding behind a manzanita bush. Though to tell the truth, she had looked sort of cute trying to duck behind a few leaves. Of course, when he’d tried to ask her why she was hidin’ behind a dadburn bush she’d yanked him down with her and pointed towards a little doe several yards away before tellin’ him to shush.

 Her frown had faded by the time she’d turned back to the deer, which was nibblin’ peacefully on a little scrub.

“He’s so beautiful,” she’d whispered with a soft smile and he’d grinned at her.

“That’s a doe, Tess. That’s a she.”

“Oh,” Tess had whispered and then gave him a look out of the corner of her big mossy colored eyes. “Well, she’s still beautiful,” she said a moment later.

“Yup,” he’d agreed, because it was a pretty little thing.

“That’s the color!”  Tess had shouted suddenly, startling him near to death and making the deer tense up and raise her head warily. “Her fur, it’s the color of your hair,” she’d added in a softer voice and reached up to lift up his hat. “I’ve been trying to decide, you see, because it isn’t just brown. It’s also sort of red, but only sometimes. Just like the deer!” her voice got loud again and the doe skipped off into the woods but Hoss didn’t really notice until later. Tess let the hat fall back into place a second later but just kept staring at him with a big pleased smile and her eyes all glowin’.

They must have been that way for a while, just staring, until Tess kind of frowned and shook her head. He thought her cheeks might have been a little pink too. But when she spoke, she was all snooty again. She’d stood up and taken a few steps away before turning back to him with her hands on her hips again.

“Well, why aren’t we going?” she’d demanded and he’d stood up, shakin’ his head at female type behavior. Women were just plain trouble.

“Well, why aren’t we going?” Tess said suddenly, repeating her words from earlier. She was standin’ right in front of him with her face practically right under his nose, making him jump a little. Then he remembered the creek and realized he must have been just standin’ there. “We have a little while until sunset, right?” There she was, getting all bossy again for no good reason; her foot was even tappin’ the ground. He frowned at her and stuck his chin out as he made his point.

“The creek is changin’ direction. It must meet up with the Truckee River somewhere ‘round here, I reckon. We’re pretty close to Truckee now, but we gotta cross the creek.”

She was shaking her head before he’d even finished.

“I’m not walking across that freezing water!” she told him and crossed her arms.

“You walked in it this mornin’!” Hoss decided that women folks just did not make sense sometimes. She’d been happy enough fishing that morning.

“Well, I know better now. Can’t we go around it?”

“Yeah, if you want to go miles out of our way.” Hoss tried to keep his temper. To think of all the times he’d heard Pa say he was slow to anger. But that was all before he’d met Tess here. She just had a way of getting’ under a man’s skin, kind of like a tick. Just when you thought she was going to act with some common sense, she’d go and start actin’ silly, like now. He sighed. “We could go around but it’ll take longer and I don’t think you want to walk much more.” Then he had an idea and turned to her with sort of a nice, askin’ smile. The kind of smile that Joe or Charlie would use to get something from Pa or Adam. “If you don’t want to get your feet wet, Tess, I could carry you across. Wouldn’t be any trouble.”

Tess stared up at him for a minute before suddenly looking down and messin’ with her dress for a second. Then she tossed her head.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she asked in her snooty tone, but before he could even think of what to say about that she kept on talkin’. “Well, I guess I can let you carry me, but don’t you get any ideas.”

Hoss scrunched his nose and frowned down at her before lifting her off the ground in one movement. She shrieked and then smacked him lightly on the chest.

“Don’t you worry, Tess. That’s about the last thing on my mind,” he told her in a low voice and stepped into the water. He could feel the cold through his boots but he didn’t feel exactly as cold as he should have. It might have had something to do with Tess bein’ all up against him like she was. She had her big cloak on again, but he could still feel her. He could even tell that she was all het up and tense again.

He cleared his throat and, to his disgust, felt his cheeks get hot again. Dadburnit! Tess peeked up at him and sort of smiled. But she just raised her eyebrows and looked across to the other side of the creek. So he just smiled reassuringly like nuthin was wrong and took a cautious step forward. With Tess in his arms he couldn’t really see where he was goin’, so he had to feel his way across the creek bed with his feet. Then, just when he was startin’ to make some progress, he froze again when Tess unexpectedly relaxed a little and laid her head against his chest. He only remembered to start movin’ again when she wondered in that voice of hers if they were taking all this time crossing the Mississippi or a tiny creek?

“I don’t exactly know where the ground is, Tess, so I have to take my time.” He explained in the same low voice as before, and wondered what could make a gal act like she did all the time.

“And that’s why it’s taking us so long to get back to Truckee, even though it was only a few hour’s ride?” she asked in her snooty voice again, but the funny thing was, she was still smiling. Then Hoss nearly jumped out of his skin when she began to sort of stroke his chest with one of her little pale hands. She didn’t even seem to know she was doin’ it, smiling at him like that, though with Tess you could never really be sure. His face got warm again and that made her smile even wider, like a big sly cat. He frowned.

“You sayin’ something, Tess, just come on out and say it.”

“I’m not saying anything, Hoss.” She hummed to herself for a second and glanced up at him. He stopped a few feet from the opposite bank to look at her suspiciously. “Just that maybe you’re taking your time for some reason,” she added.

“I’m taking my time on accounta you!” he told her, close to yellin’, and she nodded.

“I thought so,” she said all smug like, still pattin’ his chest, and Hoss finally understood what she’d been getting’ at. He felt his face get all red but this time he didn’t care.

“You got some funny ideas in your head, Tess, ‘bout most people and about me especially. Seems to me that you’re kind of full of yourself,” he said and she gasped, lifting up her head, but he was getting mad now. She’d enjoyed making him blush all day and now she accusing him of slowin’ them down when he was just trying to be nice to her. “And I reckon that anybody as bothered as you by what other folks might be feelin’ must be feelin’ some things of her own, to have it in mind in the first place!” He nodded firmly at the end of his speech and she started sputterin’ again.

“How could you…? Hoss!! Put me down!” she ordered at her bossiest and he grinned before letting her go.

“Yes, ma’am,” he commented and tipped his hat.

She hit the water with a big splash that got him pretty wet too but he didn’t pay it no nevermind. He just started laughing when she landed on her backside and sat there staring up at him through her wet hair.

“I’s just doin’ what you told me to, Tess!” he told her and starting laughing again when she stood up and he saw just how wet she was. She seemed to have soaked up most of the creek water in her dress and cloak.

He stopped laughing when he saw her start to shiver. He reckoned that droppin’ her in an icy creek wasn’t exactly the nicest thing to have done, even if she wasn’t she nicest gal around most of the time. Not to mention that they probably wouldn’t be able to walk any further today. He lifted her out of the water onto the shore before she could push him away and then stood there feelin’ more than a little bad when she took off her cloak and stood there shivering and turning blue. She wasn’t sayin’ anything either, and after a few moments he decided to try to talk to her.

“Tess…” he began but stopped when she glared at him furiously. He shoulda known it would take more than a little water to stop a gal like Tess. She didn’t say anything though; she just kept on staring at him like he was the lowest thing ever to crawl out from underneath a rock. But when she kept on shivering he decided it was time to try again. “Tess, you need to get out of those wet clothes.”

She sniffed and this time he didn’t think she needed his handkerchief. But then she just turned around and stalked off into the trees.

“I’ll just build a fire,” he called out and took a step in the opposite direction to look for kindling just as something heavy and wet hit him in the back of the head. He spun around and picked up whatever it was from off the ground. Curiously, he turned it around until he thought he had it right side up. It took him several seconds to figure out exactly what it was, before he blushed and hurriedly dropped it back on the ground. Then from the trees he heard Tess start to laugh. He sighed. He’d been so close to getting home too.

She felt warm. It had been so long since Tess had felt truly warm that it was the first thing she noticed upon waking. So she didn’t stretch out immediately like usually did, she just stayed still and wondered at how she could possibly be this warm. The days on the road were quite clear in her mind, and in case she had somehow forgotten, the hard ground underneath her would have reminded her that she was sleeping outside in the mountains, not in her big soft bed back in San Francisco. Still, she was much warmer than she should have been. She frowned slightly, but still didn’t open her eyes. She had apparently really fallen asleep for the first time in days and she didn’t want to get up right away.

It was strange that she should have slept so well after Hoss threw her in the water. She frowned even more, thinking of her dunking and his laughter. How could he? This would never have happened in San Francisco, she decided and then remembered shoving Michael Lawrence into that pond in embarrassment. But that idiot had had it coming! He’d been more than rude, thinking all sorts of things and then trying all sorts of things. He’d needed to cool off. She hadn’t done anything nearly that bad to Hoss to deserve to get tossed into the creek. She’d just spoken the truth.

Well, maybe not the truth. She blushed to remember what she’d said. Maybe she was getting full of herself. After all, she had no reason to think that Hoss was thinking those things about her. He hadn’t even tried anything like the men back home were always trying. Maybe he had a soon-to-be Mrs. Hoss back home somewhere. He hadn’t mentioned one, but even with that silly hat there were bound to be women who appreciated his finer qualities.

She’d been frowning to herself until she thought of those finer qualities. Then she smiled softly and curled a little closer into the source of the warmth. His obvious concern for her and her ability to keep up as often as she’d been tripping was something that had kept her from yelling at him too much when her feet were killing her. Then there was his honest appreciation of her singing and his cute blushes. Her smile grew wider, thinking of them. And then, she sighed softly without even noticing, still partly dreaming, there were those cloudless blue eyes and those wide, strong shoulders. She remembered how he’d picked her up and carried her across the water quite clearly. It had been wonderful.

She’d felt quite safe and protected, and, at the same time, strangely excited, like she was when was angry. And warm. She’d thought she’d never been so warm as when Hoss was holding her. Still, it had been a bit unnerving to be feeling all those things at once, and so she’d tried to distract herself, but she was trying not to think about the consequences of her “distraction” right now.

Idiot, she called herself and went back in her mind to the part where she laid her head against his chest again. Then the dull, steady pounding in her ears suddenly made sense and she opened her eyes in shock. She must have fallen asleep on Hoss.

She tried to remember what had happened last night after she’d removed everything but her shift. She’d come out of the bushes, ready to tear into him, only to find her clothes hanging up to dry on a tree and Hoss starting a fire. She’d thought he was ignoring her at first, until she’d realized that he was avoiding looking at either her or her laundry. His cheeks had been red. That had made her feel a bit better, so she’d just ignored him as well and combed her wet, tangled hair with the comb from her purse. After a dinner of fish, eaten in silence, she remembered sitting off by herself and shivering at the cold air. Hoss had offered his shirt, but she’d refused.

When it had begun to get dark, he’d finally turned to her and suggested that they sleep side by side, just confirming everything she’d said to him in the creek, to her way of thinking.

She’d continued to think that way until she couldn’t hide her shivers anymore. She remembered staring at Hoss for a while, and listening to his snores just to make sure that he was sleeping. Then she’d crept on over.

With a tiny blush she froze where she was, her head on his chest and one hand resting on his stomach. Idiot, she called herself, get up! But she didn’t really want to for some reason. Finally though, she raised her head. Hoss, who had started to snore softly again, woke with a start when she moved. She watched in fascination as he smacked his lips and then opened his eyes.

“Um, good morning, Hoss,” she said and sat up. He sat up too, staring at her with a confused expression on his face. But, she was pleased to notice; she wasn’t the only one who was blushing.

“Mornin’, uh, Tess,” he answered and scratched his head. The gesture seemed to make him realize that he hadn’t yet put on his hat. He plopped it on as he had yesterday and she giggled. He frowned at her and she did her best to stop. Clearing her throat, she started to explain to him instead.

“I was cold,” she told him and then decided not to tell him anything else. Not that there was anything to tell really. For some reason, she blushed again. It really was silly, the two of them sitting out in the woods blushing at nothing.  Neither of them moved to get up though.

“We should be right up on Truckee now. Few miles is all. Then I’ll finally be getting’ some decent cookin’. Nuthin against you, Tess. Just a man gets tired of trout.” Hoss said seriously and she nodded. “I reckon you might be a bit nervous about heading into town, Tess, but whatever it is, I’ll keep you safe.” He assured her and patted her shoulder gently. He kept his hand there for a second and then snatched it back suddenly as if it just occurred to him that he ought not to be touching her there.

Tess wondered why she didn’t want to smack him upside the head, the way she had when others men had tried similar things back in San Francisco. Maybe it because he was so obviously embarrassed about it, she decided. And because he didn’t try to do anything else, whether she was willing or not, they way they seemed to. He didn’t have that strange idea in his head that he was irresistible. In fact, she frowned; he seemed to think exactly the opposite.

He noticed her frown and must have thought that she was angry because he glanced at her apologetically. His ears were even red. Looking at them, she realized that she wasn’t even close to being mad. She placed her hand on his chest for a moment and he looked back at her curiously.

“Oh, Hoss,” she heard herself say quietly and just stared into those clear eyes for a long moment. Then he suddenly raised his head and scrunched up his nose.

“Chicken!” he exclaimed and grinned from ear to ear.

“What?” she asked blankly, but frowning a little when he stood up. He held out a hand to help her up absently, his eyes looking west.

“I can smell chicken! Can’t you smell it, Tess? We must be getting close to Truckee!”

“You can’t smell chicken from miles away,” she snapped at him, suddenly angry again. She didn’t know why, she should have been laughing; he did look silly, sniffing the air like that. Idiot!

“Sure I can. Come on, let’s get goin’.” He brushed himself off and looked at her impatiently. Even though she was starving too, she wasn’t used to getting bossed around. Very slowly, she walked over to where her clothes were hanging and grabbed her petticoats. Only instead of disappearing back into the bushes to get dressed, she just gave him a look.

To her disappointment, he didn’t even blush. He just nodded and turned around. Apparently nothing could distract him once he had food on his mind. She muttered to herself for a few minutes, and then, since the air was chilly, hurriedly put them on. They weren’t stiff anymore, and were actually less white than gray, but they were dry and warmed her up a bit. Her dress didn’t look to be in any better shape. She was going to have to find something else to travel in once she got some money. Something else to beat up those thieving idiots for if she ever found them. She still didn’t put much faith in the idea of Hoss finding them; although she was he would try to protect her if he did. He was much too nice to be tracking and confronting criminals. She thought of her revenge as she reached for her stockings, then stopped when she couldn’t find them.

“Hoss?” she asked as she searched the ground. “Have you seen my stockings?”

She looked up just in time to see his ears turn red.

“I’ll just go look down by the creek, Tess,” he told her without turning around and hurried off.

“I think one of my garters is missing too!” she called out and then watched in surprise as Hoss tripped over a root that was sticking up out of the ground so obviously that even she had seen it and fell flat on his face.

“Oh, he’ll be fine. The Cartwrights get themselves injured all the time and seem to recover nicely.” The doctor was reassuring Tess again. Hoss didn’t know why; she didn’t seem in need of reassurin’ to him. She just seemed mad. It was just a twisted ankle but she wouldn’t even let him get off the bed in his hotel room without tellin’ him angrily what an idiot he was being. “Last time it was a broken collarbone, wasn’t it?” the doc asked Hoss and he nodded. That had been Adam. But Tess gave him another furious look like it had been him. Before he could explain, the doc put on his hat and said goodbye. “And don’t you worry about the bill, Hoss. I know your family will take care of it.”

“Much obliged to ya’,” Hoss answered just before Tess closed the door and rounded on him. She didn’t look angry now, just real quiet. But he knew that she was going to say something sooner or later. And knowin’ Tess, it would probably be sooner.

“Your family seems to have a lot of influence around here,” she said with her eyebrows all raised. She approached the bed and pushed him back against the pillows again. She didn’t seem to think a man could sit up with a busted ankle. But for some fool reason he let himself get pushed. “First the manager of the hotel and then the doctor.” She didn’t exactly sound impressed. But she still didn’t seem mad. Maybe she’d calmed down some, he thought hopefully. Her hands were gentle enough as she propped his foot up on a folded up blanket. “Of course,” she added and he noticed her foot tappin’ on the floor, “maybe that’s a good thing since you seem to like putting yourself in pain.”

“Now I didn’t hurt myself on purpose, Tess,” he started to say but she interrupted.

“No, but you seem to think you can ignore the fact that you’re injured!” she told him and crossed her arms. He frowned.

“It’s just a little twisted ankle. I’ve had worse,” he told her and then winced at her furious look. That might notta been the best thing to say.

“You great big stubborn idiot!” she shouted at him. “I’ll be glad to see the last of you when you go home!” Her eyes got real wide as she said that and then she looked down. Hoss looked down too. She cleared her throat and when she spoke she didn’t sound quite so angry, though she still seemed all het up. “But don’t you think you’ll be able to hurt that ankle again soon! After you talk to the sheriff, I’m still taking the stage to Reno with you and I’ll be watching you to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

To tell the truth, as annoying as she could be, Hoss hadn’t really thought about when she would be leavin’. He was thinking about it now though, and he was getting worried about how she was going to handle whatever trouble came along when she was on her own. She was so little and she didn’t seem to know much about anything useful. She’d never mentioned any family who might help her. And, he realized with a frown, he was going to miss her. She was fun when she wasn’t bein’ all high’n mighty, though even then she was fun to watch. And she was always beautiful.

“You know, Tess, you could always come and stay with my family for a while, iffin’ you need a place to stay,” he offered and she looked up and smiled. It made him feel better until she shook her head.

“I think it’s best that I keep moving, Hoss. But thank you,” she said softly and then put her long cloak back on. “I’m going to go downstairs to get you some food now,” she grinned at him and he grinned back, distracted at the thought of food. She was almost out the door when he called her back.

“Ain’t you going to eat with me, Tess? I kind of got used to having you around while I ate,” he explained and felt sort of silly, since she was probably sick to death of him. But she just smiled again, so he smiled back and reckoned that he felt silly around Tess most of the time anyway.

“Of course, as long as it isn’t fish! And don’t you move!” she called out and slipped out the door.  Hoss agreed with her about those last two and laid back against his pillows with a tired sigh. She sure was funny though. She’d stayed under his arm all the way into Truckee to help him walk even though he’d insisted he could make it a few miles on his own just fine. And she’d been complainin’ the whole time about his size, and clumsiness, and his stubbornness in trying to get rid of her. His stubbornness, he frowned and nodded to himself, as if she wasn’t the one who had refused help for the last couple of days, dadgumit. And now she was going downstairs to get him dinner even though she had to wear that cloak so no one would recognize her.

Hoss sat up suddenly and glanced in the downstairs direction. Whatever Tess said, she really was scared of whoever was chasin’ her. What if that Drago fella was in Truckee? He could even be downstairs right now, and even if he weren’t, there wasn’t ever anybody who could get themselves into trouble without even trying more than his Tess. Really nervous now, he hopped off of the bed and shuffled over to the door, stopping only to grab his hat.

He had made it halfway down the stairs leading to the hotel lobby when he heard the excited shouts. The noise was coming from the bar. Tess better not have gone in there, Dadburnit! His movements were more than a little painful, but he kept seeing bitty little Tess standing against that monster of a fella who had sent her running in the first place. He knew it must a taken a lot to get her to run and that she wouldn’t return peaceably if the fella came to take her. He reached for his gun automatically before remembering it wasn’t there and then, for one of the few times of his life, uttered a swear word stronger than his usual Dadburnit.

 Hoss burst into the room and immediately spotted Tess, in the bar, and in the middle of all the excitement. There was a large crowd gathered around but he had no problem seeing everything, seeing as how he was taller than just about everybody there. Her hood had fallen off and she was standing over this man on the ground and holdin’ a spittoon high in the air like it was a club. The man on the ground was just moaning now and holding his head. What did she think she was doin? Hoss wondered furiously. He was just about to push the people around him aside and go over to ask her that question when he saw another man sneakin’ around the crowd, like he was trying to get behind Tess.

 “There won’t be none of that,” Hoss told him in a low voice and he grabbed him by the neck and steered him back to where he could keep an eye on him then took away his gun. He heard a loud metal clang and looked up in time to see Tess bend over the man she must have just knocked cold. He couldn’t be sure, but from where he was standin’ that fella looked to be pretty big. So did the fella who was squirming in his grip. And both had been wearing guns.

 “Tess!” Hoss bellowed and everyone turned around to look at him surprise. He didn’t notice how the people around him seemed to melt away; he just frowned over at Tess and shoved the other fella to the ground.

 “Hoss!” she called out brightly and then looked up at his face. For some reason, she blinked and took a step back. “I thought I told you to stay in bed,” she said with a little frown.

“I thought someone should come down here and save your dadburn neck! What did you think you were doin?” he asked her and she suddenly smiled and pulled something out from her skirts.

“I found him, Hoss!  One of the bandits, I saw him with your gun and I heard him laugh and I knew it was him. And I got your gun for you!” She held up his gun proudly but slowly lowered her hand when he didn’t smile back. Hoss knew Pa said he was slow to anger, but truthfully, Hoss didn’t think he had ever felt so angry before in his life. He felt like something inside of his gut was going to explode.

“You dang fool woman! These men would have killed you with without a thought and you were worried about my gun!” he yelled and she seemed to shake herself and then charged over to stand toe to toe with him.

“I thought I handled it pretty well, Hoss,” she told him and she must have been standin’ on her toes since her face was dang close to his. “I caught them and I got your gun,” she said snootily.

“I don’t care about my gun! I care about you!” he told her and pointed a finger at her furiously. “If I hadn’t of come along that other fella would have killed you and you know it. You’re just too dang stubborn to admit that you should have waited and got help.”

“I’m too stubborn?” she asked furiously and poked him in the chest. “I just did you a favor.” Then her frown suddenly disappeared and she tilted her head to one side to study him. Her eyes got even bigger and greener than usual.

“A favor? Are you plumb crazy?” he asked and when she didn’t say anything, frowned and jutted his chin out. “That’s it. You obviously can’t be trusted on your own, Tess. You are comin’ to the Ponderosa with me so I can keep an eye on you.” He nodded firmly as he finished and tapped his chest with his thumb. Tess blinked again and then crossed her arms.

“Well, it’s not like I can stop you,” she said quietly with an odd little smile and he stopped abruptly and closed his mouth. He’d been about to argue with her again. To cover it, he nodded again.

“Good. It’s about time you saw sense,” he said just before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see the sheriff of Truckee looking at him curiously.

“A Cartwright, I should have known,” the man said with a grin and the people watching laughed. Hoss had forgotten about them. He felt his anger slip away to be replaced by embarrassment. Then he glanced at Tess. She had her eyebrows up again.

“Maybe I’ll go to keep an eye on you,” she whispered and smiled like a big ole cat. Hoss turned back to the sheriff.

“I was just about to come see you,” he began and Tess laughed before grabbing his arm.

“We were just about to come and see you,” she said and he must have looked pretty surprised cuz she smiled up at him and patted his arm like he was being silly. Dadburnit, Hoss thought, but didn’t really mean it. He was sort of getting used to feeling silly ‘round Tess.

“So this is your home?” Tess asked in amazement as Hoss stopped the rig they had borrowed in Virginia City in the yard in front of a large house that was almost completely surrounded by the tall trees that Hoss called Ponderosa pines. It was a bigger house than she’d expected, though not near the size of a mansion on Nob Hill. It wasn’t decorated the same either. It was plain brown and sturdy with a barn across from it and various tools left out in the yard. It looked like a place where nobody would laugh at you for getting your dress dirty or for losing your temper at people who didn’t take you seriously. Even if it hadn’t been in the middle of the most beautiful scenery she’d ever seen, she would have loved it.

She must have been staring at it funny or something though because Hoss was frowning as he got her rescued trunk of belongings out of the back of the wagon.

“Reckon it ain’t like them houses in San Francisco…” he started to say so she jumped down and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

“Are you implying that I am some sort of snob, Hoss Cartwright? Because I’ll have you know that I was just thinking how much I’m going to like it here and how beautiful it is,” she told him fiercely and watched his eyes light up and then his shy grin a moment later. “I like it, Hoss,” she added softly and then cleared her throat. “I’ll bet I’ll like the inside too.”

He jumped a little and then picked up her trunk and held it under one arm. He gestured her forward and then started walking towards the porch. Even though he was carrying what she thought was a heavy load, he opened the door for her and then bobbed his head at her as she walked inside.

“Welcome to the Ponderosa, Tess,” he said with a smile and then scared the life out of her when he dropped the trunk on the ground. He did blush though when she turned around to glare at him. But she could tell he was excited to be home because he grinning from ear to ear and was looking around eagerly for people.

“Where is everybody?” he wondered out loud and before she could suggest that maybe they were out looking for him he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, “Hey! Ain’t anybody home?” in a booming voice. There was the sound of footsteps upstairs and a moment later a slim woman appeared on the landing. She took one look at Hoss and came flying down the stairs with a big smile.

She was pretty enough, in a quiet refined sort of way, Tess supposed as she watched them hug and exchange greetings. She looked like someone who belonged on Nob Hill more than she ever had. Though unlike most society women, her whole attitude seemed gentle and quiet and happy. Happy at seeing Hoss probably, Tess thought with a frown. Funny he hadn’t mentioned her though.

“Mr. Cartwright’s been trying to act like he wasn’t worried, but we could tell that he was,” the girl was saying as the two of them finally separated. She stopped suddenly when she apparently noticed her standing there next to Hoss for the first time. She looked her over in amazement and then looked up at Hoss before saying a polite, almost stunned, hello. Tess grabbed Hoss’ arm and pressed herself to his side without quite knowing why. He started a little, but she just patted his arm and smiled across at the other girl, who frowned for a long time and then suddenly smiled brightly.

“Annabelle, this here is Miss Theresa O’Brien. Tess, this here’s Annabelle Owens, my brother Joe’s fiancée.” Hoss introduced them and then stared down at her with a confused look. Tess blushed and felt like an idiot. She relaxed her hold on Hoss a little, though she didn’t let go and really felt stupid when the girl, Annabelle, kept on smiling at her in this knowing way. Her and her temper. She held out her hand belatedly.

“Tess,” she introduced herself by that name to make up for her silliness and then decided that it was all Hoss’ fault for not telling her about Annabelle before. He obviously didn’t realize how important that kind of information was. She gave him a look that probably just confused him more and then looked back at Annabelle, who still looked sort of stunned, but also amused.

“Is that Hoss yelling down there?” another feminine voice asked from upstairs and when Annabelle called out that it was, and with a guest, a tall blond woman came walking quickly down the stairs. This woman was, well beautiful wasn’t quite how to describe her, striking fit better. Something about her reminded Tess of Lizzie. She looked very determined, though also very tired; something Tess saw when the woman got close enough. Regardless, she pulled herself close to Hoss again when the two had finished hugging each other because the other brother couldn’t be engaged too.

She’d gotten the impression that it was a bachelor household from the way Hoss talked about his brothers and father all the time. But here it was, just full of women so happy to see Hoss. She gave him a narrowed eyed look that he didn’t see, just irritating her more.

“And who is this?” the woman asked and looked her over. Tess returned the look and noted for the first time that the woman was wearing men’s clothing! The cuffs of the pants were rolled up, and so were the sleeves of the matching black shirt, but they were definitely men’s clothes. If that woman could wear those here, than maybe even her and her temper would be accepted.

“Theresa O’Brien,” Annabelle said promptly and the two women exchanged some sort of look that made them both smile.

“I’m Charlotte Cartwright, Miss O’Brien,” the blond woman said with a smile and then glanced down to where Tess was holding Hoss’ arm. Tess refused to feel silly this time, though she did manage to smile back at the older woman. She must be a sister that Hoss hadn’t mentioned, she decided with a sniff at his forgetfulness. They did both have blue eyes, though Charlotte’s were darker. At the moment those eyes were looking in Hoss’ face expectantly.

“Oh,” he said finally with an apologetic smile. “Tess and I got into some trouble on the road and now she’s going to stay here for a while,” he explained and Tess slipped her arm out of his so she could stand facing him with her hands on her hips. That’s how he explained her to his family? She didn’t know exactly what the situation was between her and Hoss, but it was definitely more than that, at least for her. And it better be the same for him or…or…she’d smack him upside his big stubborn head. She pursed her lips and stood there glaring up at him until he noticed. She forgot about his family standing there and didn’t notice their amazed expressions at all.

“Hey, whose rig is out in the yard?” someone asked before she could even think of what to say, making Hoss raise his head with smile.

“Hey, Joe!” he bellowed and grinned when a smaller man came in the house through the front door and looked around for him.

“Hoss, you’re back!” Joe smiled at his brother as he walked over to him and then clapped him on the back. “What, did you forget which stage to take?” he asked and punched Hoss lightly in the arm. Tess blinked in surprise. Was this how all brothers acted? She didn’t have siblings, so she couldn’t tell. Hoss just grinned good-naturedly and shook his head.

“I just didn’t want to come back here and watch you moon around the house anymore,” he joked and Joe looked offended for about a second. Then he noticed her.

“Who’s your friend, Hoss?” he asked curiously. There was a charming smile stuck on his face as if this were his normal reaction to meeting a woman, but he’d barely glanced at her before his eyes had gone to Annabelle and stayed there. Nevertheless, Tess suddenly found herself pulled to Hoss’ side and held there by one big arm. What in the world? she wondered as she got a better look at Joe. He was nice looking, certainly, but so were many men in San Francisco. Besides, this one had eyes only for Annabelle. She poked Hoss the ribs lightly to let him know that she didn’t exactly appreciate being manhandled and then smiled to herself and slipped her arm back through his when he loosened his grip. It was funny considering how she’d punched the mayor’s son when he’d tried something similar.

“Tess,” she introduced herself with a smile.

“I wish everyone was here to welcome you, Hoss, but your father’s out working and Adam’s out looking for you,” Charlotte said softly and Hoss frowned. “Your father kept saying how you were grown and could look after yourself so much that we knew he was worried, and to be honest we were too, so finally Adam rode out to see if there was a problem.”

“We flipped for it, he won,” Joe added, finally turning back to them.

“I think he was just avoiding diaper duty,” Annabelle commented on a laugh that Charlotte did not seem to appreciate. Tess shook her head.

“Did you say Adam?” she asked in a worried tone. Her momentary jealously of a father who apparently both loved and respected his children was replaced by fear at the mention of the older brother’s name.

“That’s my other brother,” Hoss explained.

“My husband,” Charlotte said at the same time and Tess gulped. She just knew she shouldn’t have come here, but when Hoss invited her she hadn’t been able to say no.

“Are you alright, Tess?” Hoss peered down at her in concern. She nodded but all she kept thinking was what an idiot she was. And of course, that was also Hoss’ fault; since he was the reason she was here at all. She was going to have to leave before Adam came back, whenever that was. It was just safer that way. And she didn’t want to see Hoss’ face when he found out that she was Terrible Tess Parker and that she’d lied.

“You haven’t mentioned Cass at all, who’s been going berserk without Hoss around,” Annabelle said with a teasing smile and Tess snapped out of her gloomy thoughts to frown up at Hoss. Her foot started tapping the ground on its own.

“And just who is Cass? Some other girl you neglected to mention, Hoss?” she asked and ignored that confused expression on his face. Joe started to laugh and she turned her glare on him. He choked, but he stopped. Then she turned back to Hoss.

“Dadburnit, Tess. How was I supposed to know you’d get all het up over a dog?” he demanded with a frown and she froze.

“Cass is a dog?” she asked quietly and when he nodded, and when Joe and the others let out a few giggles, she uncrossed her arms to poke him in the chest. “Well, how was I supposed to know that when you didn’t tell me?” She just knew she was blushing.

“Perhaps we can fill you in on everything at supper,” Charlotte said soothingly and Tess felt like an idiot, the way she usually did after she lost her temper. “In the mean time, why don’t you come upstairs with me and Annabelle and clean up a bit and we can get to know each other?” Her voice was pleasant enough but Tess had a strange feeling that when she said get to know each other she meant her. “Hoss and Joe can talk and you can meet the twins.”

“The twins?” she asked in confusion and Charlotte turned to Hoss.

“Didn’t you tell her anything about the family?” She tsked to herself.

“He told me about Muley,” Tess volunteered and Charlotte looked at Hoss reproachfully.

“Well, how can you expect a man to know what’s important information?” she wondered and Annabelle started to laugh at the looks on Hoss and Joe’s faces. Tess giggled too. They did look silly.

“That’s just what I was thinking,” she said to Charlotte and no one was more surprised than Tess when all three women shared a conspiratorial smile. She’d just known she was going to like Hoss’ home. How was she ever going to leave?

Hoss stopped near his seat at the table to close his eyes and take a deep breath to inhale the scent of the pork chops Hop Sing was making for dinner. His mouth was close to waterin’ just at the thought of Hop Sing’s cookin’.  He smiled widely and opened his eyes just as Tess and Annabelle came down the stairs for dinner.

Tess was wearin’ one of her fancy San Francisco dresses, one that made her look even more beautiful and elegant than she had when he’d first seen her. He forgot all about the pork chops and just watched her sort of float towards him. He didn’t really notice Joe standing next to him, watching Annabelle; he just kept looking into Tess’ big green eyes and felt glad that she didn’t look scared no more. She smiled up at him and blushed for some reason, but her smile turned into a frown soon enough when he didn’t say anything. He wanted to say something real pretty and poetic about how lovely she was, like a princess in a storybook like Adam would have, or something charmin’ like Joe, but he couldn’t think of a way to let her know what he was feelin’. Luckily Pa came in just then before he opened his mouth and said something stupid and she called him an idiot. She wouldn’t be wantin’ to hear that from him anyway.

Pa had been very emotional when he’d come home earlier to find Hoss had returned. Hoss noticed there were still some traces of it on his face when he came in the front door and saw them all standing there. But Pa just smiled widely before greeting Tess again and remarking on how well she looked. Then he walked her to her seat at the table- she was taking Adam’s place tonight- and then sat down himself. Hoss eagerly did the same, remembering the delicious supper Hop Sing was making for him. Joe and Annabelle sat down too.

“Charlotte, aren’t you going to eat?” Pa asked Charlie, who was standing over the settee, where the babies were bundled up in at least ten blankets. She looked up and frowned at him before comin’ over.

“They’re sleeping. Be quiet,” she ordered everyone and sat in her chair with a tired sigh. Hoss nodded. He’d watched the critters enough to know that when they fell asleep you wanted to keep them that way for as long as possible. Joe and Annabelle nodded too but he noticed Tess’ confused look. “I’m going to kill Adam if he doesn’t come back soon,” Charlie added and Tess jumped. Hoss frowned a little. That scared look was back in her eyes. He hoped it wasn’t because of what Charlie had said. She had to know that she was just kiddin. Charlie wouldn’t hurt Adam for the world, but maybe Tess didn’t understand about their teasin’ each other. Tell the truth, Hoss didn’t understand it much either.

Before he could say anything, Hop Sing came into the room with the chops and Hoss nearly leapt out of his seat to help the little man with the tray. He had two on his plate before he remembered his manners and his guest. Tess was looking at him with a smile on her face. Pa was smiling too. He ignored both of them. He was hungry.

“Dadburn, but I’ve missed your cookin’ Hop Sing,” he told their cook and then pointed to Tess with his fork. “Ain’t I been talkin’ about him for days, Tess?”

“Nothing but you all the way to Truckee, Hop Sing,” she told him and he nodded, not looking very pleased.

“Only Mistah Hoss appreciate Hop Sing.”

“Oh, Hop Sing that’s not true and you know it,” Annabelle said softly and Hop Song’s cheeks turned a little red. He disappeared quickly back into the kitchen. Tess blinked a few times and then looked at him. She looked confused, though he couldn’t think why.

He was reaching for his third pork chop when Pa decided it was time to open up the conversation. He turned to Tess, who was still workin’ on her first one, and smiled kindly.

“Hoss mentioned you were some sort of trouble, Miss O’Brien. If you don’t mind talking about it, we’ll see if we can’t help you in any way.” His voice was quiet, but that might have been because of the frown he got from Charlotte. Tess swallowed slowly and then glanced at him before looking back at Pa.

“There’s a man in San Francisco. He’s pressuring me to marry him and I don’t want to!” she said that last bit fiercely and then added in a whisper, “and no one would help me or believe me, so I had to run away.”

Hoss frowned to himself at that and felt that hot feeling again, like he could explode. What was wrong with folks in San Francisco? Trying to force a girl to marry someone and then lettin’ that bitty gal fend for herself. Even if it was Tess. He gripped his fork tightly. Tess needed protectin’ whether she admitted it or not, Dadburnit. She was like that girl in that dang poem of hers.

“What about your family?” Charlie asked interestedly and then looked quickly over at the little critters when one of them mewed softly.

“My mother died when I was a child.” Tess’ eyes were on her plate. Hoss’ anger disappeared as he remembered his mama, and then Marie, his other mama. He smiled over at Tess to make her feel better. “My father died several months ago and before that…well, he was more interested in his business than what I was doing,” she said quietly and Hoss exchanged a confused look with Pa. How could a father ignore his child?

“Don’t you have any friends there?” Joe asked and she nodded.

“Lizzie Wilson is my best friend, but there wasn’t really anything she could do. She loaned me money though, since I can’t get to any at the moment.” Tess frowned. “She doesn’t even know if I’m alive. She’s probably worried sick.”

“That’s why she’s here, Pa. This fella’s looking for her and she needs to stay hidden.” Hoss told his father and kept smiling reassuringly at Tess. She didn’t look too reassured though. She just looked over at Annabelle and avoided meeting his eyes.

“About that, though it’s wonderful here, it does seem a little crowded and busy here with the babies and the wedding and I don’t want to impose on you all anymore. Annabelle says I’m more than welcome to stay with her in town when she goes back tomorrow.”

“You ain’t imposin’ on nuthin’, you’re stayin’ here,” Hoss said immediately and blushed when everyone at the table stared at him. He didn’t back down though. Tess narrowed her eyes and glared at him. How was a fella supposed to protect someone who wasn’t around?

“I’m staying with Annabelle, Hoss,” she said with her nose in the air. “What did I tell you about telling me what to do?”

“You said you didn’t like it, but it seems to me that you need it sometimes for your own good. You ain’t safe in town.” He called back and realized he was bein’ loud. Charlie hadn’t told him to shut up though; she was just leanin’ back in her chair and staring at him with a smile.

“I’ll be safe enough. I’ll stay inside and anyway no one will expect me there.” Tess crossed her arms and frowned at him. He shook his head.

“I don’t like it!”

“You great big stubborn idiot! It doesn’t matter what you like, you have don’t have any claim on me,” she shouted at him and then opened her eyes wide and glanced nervously at the settee. The babies were still quiet so she looked back at him with her eyebrows raised and waited.

“Theresa, child…” Pa seemed to have something stuck in his throat. He had to clear it a bunch of times. So did Joe. Annabelle’s face looked a little pink. Tess blinked and then looked at Pa with a tiny smile.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Cartwright. My temper…” she began and turned red. Pa waved a hand and gave him a strange look. Hoss felt silly again.

“This table has seen worse arguments. But I want you to know that having you here is not an imposition, though if you want to stay with Annabelle, that is your choice. Annabelle probably gets lonely in that house, especially now that most of her things are packed up. She could probably use some company for the next few days.” He smiled at Annabelle who shared a long look with Joe and then blushed.

“Some people are so old fashioned,” Charlie commented with a grin to no one in particular and Joe glared at her. Annabelle rolled her eyes. Tess just looked confused again. She glanced around the table before finally settlin’ her eyes on him.

“So you aren’t angry with me?” she asked and sounded amazed at something.

“Of course not,” Annabelle said immediately. “Why would we be?”

“Naw, I ain’t angry, Tess,” Hoss said grumpily after a minute. “I reckon I’m just worried about you is all.”

Tess looked down at her plate and then back up at him. She smiled and then she frowned and then she smiled again. Finally she gave a little sniff and shook her head.

“Well, as long as we’re clear,” she said. Hoss nodded and looked back down at his plate at the third pork chop. It didn’t look nearly so appetizin’ now, but his stomach was still rumbling so he cut a piece and took a bite.

Why that should make her so angry was beyond her, but she knew that if Hoss hadn’t have left to go back to work on the ranch, she would have smacked him. Well, maybe not, she thought with a sigh, but she would have yelled at him like the idiot she was. Well, whatever was the matter with her was all his fault, she decided and sat down at Annabelle’s table in a slump.

She was frowning furiously and scratching the big dog’s head absently when Annabelle walked in a moment later. Her cheeks were bright pink and there was big smile on her face that did not make Tess feel any better. In fact, it was just irritating.

“What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked and sat down across from her. She took a sip of the tea that Tess had tried to make earlier and made a quick face before putting the cup back down.

“Nuthin’” Tess answered and realized a second later that she had answered like Hoss when Annabelle hid a smile.

“Missing Hoss already?” Annabelle said and gave her a sympathetic look. Tess just glared back at her. That her idiocy was obvious to the women on the ranch didn’t really bother her since, unlike the women in San Francisco, they appeared to like and trust her. That it somehow wasn’t obvious to Hoss was another matter. Maybe if she wore something that would definitely get his attention…

“Great big idiot…” she mumbled under her breath and then glanced up at Annabelle with a jealous frown. “Why are you so happy?”

“Little Joe said goodbye,” was all Annabelle said but somehow Tess understood exactly what she meant. She leaned forward interestedly.

“Oh. How did…?” she stopped and crossed her arms, annoyed at having to ask and at feeling so silly. “How did you get him to…I mean…Oh, nevermind!”

Annabelle blinked several times and then bit her lip.

“Maybe you should talk to Charlotte,” she suggested and then smiled gently. “You look very confused. I know you couldn’t ask your mother about…um…these things, but what about your friend Lizzie?”

“Lizzie wouldn’t have this problem.” Tess confessed irritably. “She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen and richer than just about everybody. She spends all her time just getting rid of unwanted suitors. Like I used to, only she doesn’t really have my temper. It must work because she always gets her way.” Tess added this last part absently, wondering how her friend did it.

“Maybe you could learn from her?” Annabelle commented, “Charlotte says it’s a skill to be valued.”

“But I already know how to fend them off and that isn’t my problem. I don’t want to fend him off!” she complained before she could stop herself. Annabelle’s eyebrows went up and Tess blushed. “Great big idiot…” she blamed Hoss again, “I never had this problem in San Francisco. No, I had to fight the idiots off for one reason or another.”

“Well, I can see why. You’re stunning,” Annabelle told her and Tess looked up with a shy smile that quickly became a frown again.

“Thank you, for all the good it does me.” She thumped the table with a fist. “I’ve never felt like this…I feel like…one of those idiots!” She glanced up and noticed Annabelle hiding another smile. She supposed it was silly. She knew she was going to have to get used to feeling silly around Hoss and she didn’t like it.

“I don’t know much about that. It wasn’t really a problem for me,” she said and Tess wondered why; Annabelle was pretty enough to turn most heads. “And, as for Joe, I did want him to kiss me that first time. Although…” she frowned delicately, “he does say that he was taking a chance there, that he wasn’t as sure of how I would respond as he acted. He only suspected that I…well,” she blushed but continued. “Maybe you should out yourself in Hoss’ position. I mean, act like one your San Francisco idiots, only less…pushy. ”

“What if he reacts like I did?” Tess worried, thinking that maybe Hoss just didn’t find her beautiful, whatever Annabelle had said.

“I don’t see how that’s possible.” Annabelle was laughing now. Tess would have been offended but she got the feeling that Annabelle didn’t mean it in a cruel way. And anyway, her mind was on something else. She was blushing furiously, but that knowledge didn’t make the image in her mind disappear.

Several minutes later she looked up into Annabelle’s sparkling eyes and knew that she’d been thinking of something similar. Then for no reason that she could explain, they both started giggling.

“I just knew I would like Hoss’ family,” Tess said finally, still smiling. She had never felt so accepted as she had spending last night at the Ponderosa, when she had met the twins and sung to them at Charlie’s invitation in front of the fireplace, and when Mr. Cartwright had wished her goodnight with a smile and said he was glad to have her with them.

“I thought I would like you when I saw you holding onto Hoss’ arm so possessively, and I knew I was going to like you when you yelled at him not to stand too long on his ankle,” Annabelle told her and pushed up her glasses. They had fallen during their bit of laughter. Tess remembered feeling like an idiot at that moment but smiled when Annabelle added that Charlotte had said much the same thing to her later. Maybe once things with Drago were settled she could come back and confess the truth to Hoss, maybe he would forgive her for her lie and maybe he wouldn’t care about her reputation in San Francisco or her money. She shared a hopeful look with Annabelle. “And, Tess, if you’re still around here in two weeks, I’d love for you to be at the wedding.” Her new friend added and Tess gasped in surprise before nodding her acceptance quickly.

When Annabelle said ‘wedding’ she got stars in her eyes and roses in her cheeks that made Tess feel curious and not a little jealous, but though she frowned she knew it wasn’t Annabelle’s fault. She’d just never associated a wedding with happiness before.

“I suppose you’ve got a lovely dress and all sorts of things planned?” she asked and Annabelle shrugged.

“Well, yes, but that isn’t what it’s about, is it?” Her smile was soft and contented.

“No,” Tess agreed and then frowned at the thought of Hoss. Big stubborn idiot.  Annabelle laughed again.

“Cheer up!” she commanded and stood up. She grabbed the teapot and indicated for Tess to get the cups and saucers. “One thing I will tell you, that definitely couldn’t hurt you where Hoss is concerned, you’re going to have to learn your way around a kitchen.”

Tess didn’t see why she should have to learn any such thing. Still, she wondered if maybe Hop Sing could at least teach her how to make tea. She asked Annabelle about it a moment later and scowled again when Annabelle started to laugh and then wouldn’t explain why. But, she decided with a sniff to ignore that and focus instead on Sunday, and what she could possibly get accomplished on that long ride around the ranch. She was going to have to leave soon she knew, because she was running out of money and time, since she couldn’t hide from Adam forever. Sunday was her last chance. After that she had to make herself leave.

“Aren’t you going to help me down?” Tess asked him with a little smile. Hoss got down off Chubb and reflected that it was mighty odd how someone as bound and determined as Tess to do things on her own couldn’t get down off a horse without help. But womenfolk were subject to strange notions all around as far as he could tell and he wasn’t going to leave her up there anyhow.

He lifted her out of the saddle and set her on the ground in front of him, waiting for her to go chargin’ off towards whatever interested her the way she usually did. Only she didn’t go anywhere, she just stood there and stared up at him like she was waiting for something too. She’d done dang near the same thing just about every time they’d stopped to look at something as he’d been showin’ her the Ponderosa so he didn’t know why he was surprised that she was doin’ it again now that the ride was over and they were back in the yard. All he did know was that Tess couldn’t possibly know how disturbin’ it was for her to be standin’ so close to him all the time and that she had no call to be frownin’ at him when he stepped away, since if he didn’t he’d probably kiss her or something silly like that and no girl as pretty as Tess would want him touchin’ her.

“I’ll just get the horses put away and settled down now,” he told her and grabbed the reins. Tess narrowed her eyes and glared at him and when he saw her foot tappin’ away on the ground he decided it was best to get out of there and let someone else find out what was botherin’ her.

“Oh, Hoss!” she said furiously and then startled him by turning right around and walking into the house. “I’m going to go see Charlotte,” she called out without looking at him and Hoss wondered if he’d imagined the wobble in her voice. It had to be, since nuthin he knew of could make his Tess cry.

Still, he was frowning in concern when he came out of the barn a while later and he’d decided that maybe he should go see if she was still worried about that Drago fella. He was halfway across the yard when he stopped at the sight of Adam, with a look of total disgust on his face, heading towards the washhouse holding a dirty diaper as far from himself as possible. Hoss wisely waited until Adam had come back out without the smelly thing before goin’ over to him.

“What time did you get back?” he asked with a smile and thought of how eager Adam must have been to hurry back from Reno so fast. He was supposed to have been gone until tomorrow. But then, because of his time looking for Hoss in Truckee he hadn’t been home all that much recently and had probably wanted to see Charlie and the critters. And for all Charlie’s talk about killin’ him if he stayed gone much longer, she’d welcomed Adam home the same way she always did when he’d been gone for a while. They’d exchange some sort of look when he’d first come in the door and then he’d say hello to everybody else and then when those were all done he’d go up to her and kiss her or sometimes he’d just hug her, which Hoss figured showed how they really felt about each other despite all their teasin’.

Little Joe and Annabelle did about the same thing whenever they’d see each other, only they didn’t stare or nuthin, they just went straight to the kissin’ until Pa or Charlotte would break it up. It had always looked sort of nice to Hoss, though he knew that for the most part things weren’t that smooth in their relationships. For the most part they was always fightin’ or teasin’ each other about as much he was always fightin’ with Tess.

“About an hour ago,” Adam answered, interrupting Hoss’ thought. “To be honest, I came back early because I wanted to see the girl that has you walking around the house with that ridiculous smile on your face all the time.” Adam smirked as he said this and Hoss frowned at him, though he really didn’t feel like it. He knew Adam was joshin’ him. “Little Joe says she’s something.”

“She is,” Hoss said proudly, and thought of how she’d beat up that bandit with a spittoon. Now that the danger was past, he could see how brave she’d been. Though she’d still been plumb crazy to even try it as far as he was concerned. She did have quite a temper.  Adam was smiling now. Probably at the smile he thought was so dadburn ridiculous.

“He also says that she’s not bad to look at either,” Adam said smoothly and they shared a grin.

“Joe never was a liar,” Hoss answered, though that made him think of Tess when she’d been standing in that mountain stream and he blushed.

“Joe also says she’s in some sort of trouble…” Adam stopped and glanced up at him. Adam didn’t sound too interested, but his eyes never left his face. Hoss frowned.

“Yup, she is. But don’t you go getting all protective, Adam. Ain’t nuthin’ for you to be worrying about.” He took a step towards Adam as he said that and for some reason Adam stepped back a bit and put both his hands in the air.

“I’m sorry, Hoss. I just give you a hard time because I worry about you.”

“Aw, I know that, Adam,” Hoss sighed and relaxed his muscles, which he realized had gotten very tense all of the sudden. He wondered if maybe that was why he always seemed to fightin’ with Tess and for a moment thought hopefully that her temper might mean that she felt the same way ‘bout him. Adam apparently had some thoughts of his own cuz they both were quiet for a while until Adam looked up with a grin.

“Hop Song has been complaining to me about your lack of appetite,” he teased. “This girl must be something.”

“I can’t believe his luck in having her to himself all those days on the road to Truckee,” Joe said as he came out onto the porch and winked at Hoss’ embarrassed frown. But when Little Joe raised his eyebrows suggestively, Hoss couldn’t stop himself from blushing.

“Joe, you forget that you are talking to a gentlemen,” Adam chided Joe as they met him on the porch and headed towards the door. “I’m sure milady’s honor was quite safe.”

Hoss scowled down at them both.

“Quit it now before I whup the both of you good,” he warned them.

“Oh, you think you can take us both?” Joe smiled mischievously. “I doubt he’d got enough strength to take Charlie, seeing as how he hasn’t even been able to finish two of Hop Sing’s pork chops lately.” He shook his head like it was a shame.

“Two?” Adam said like he was horrified and then shook his head sadly as he opened the door for them. Hoss stepped inside first, mostly to avoid the dadburn jokers behind him, and stopped to observe the sight of Tess holdin’ one of the twins with a smile. She was probably trying to help rock it to sleep and she looked peaceful and mighty pretty holdin’ it like she was and standin’ in front of the fire.

Pa was standing near her and Charlie and Annabelle were cooing over the other one, but Hoss was so absorbed in the picture that Tess made that he forgot all about Adam and Joe until Adam came into the house behind him and froze, staring at Tess.

“Terrible Tess Parker!” Adam said, sounding amazed and Tess spun around to look back at him. Her eyes were wider than he’d ever seen them. “This must be a joke!”

“Tess O’Brien,” Hoss corrected him but looked over at Tess curiously. She was frownin’ furiously over at Adam but when he spoke she looked over at him and he could have sworn that there were tears in her eyes. But Tess didn’t cry so he must be wrong. “Adam…” Hoss began in a low voice but Tess interrupted him.

“That’s right, Tess Parker the troublemaker of San Francisco!” Tess yelled at him and then turned back to Adam. “Why don’t you tell Hoss all about the messes I’ve caused, Adam.” She turned and handed the baby to Charlie, who was glaring at her husband, and then charged over to stand under Adam’s nose. Adam just looked surprised. “I’m sure he’ll find the stories as funny as most people do.” Then she turned to him and she wiped something from her face. “I’m sorry for lying to you, Hoss,” she said without looking at him, “not that I expect you to believe me.”  Then she ran outside before he could stop her. Annabelle followed her a moment later with a frantic look at Joe.

Hoss just turned to Adam and waited but he must have looked funny or something cuz Joe jumped in front of him with his arms stretched out like he was protectin’ Adam from him. Charlotte yelled out something too, something about Adam was just bein’ surprised, but Hoss barely heard her. The only he could hear was that wobble in Tess’ voice that meant she was going to cry and all he knew was that Adam had been the one to make her feel that way. His muscles tensed again and suddenly Pa was in front of him, tellin’ him to calm down.

“The girl is Tess Parker?” Adam was saying in confusion and Charlie shushed him. He turned to Hoss then and gave a sick little smile. “Hoss, that girl is one of the richest women in the country. She’s also…”

“The troublemaker of San Francisco?” Hoss finished for him a low voice and Adam shook his head.

“Engaged,” he said instead but Hoss relaxed slightly.

“She pretty much told us that, Adam,” he told his brother and Charlie nodded quickly.

“Why is she using a different name?” Pa asked and Hoss shook his head.

“Probably so her fiancée won’t find her. She seems awful afraid of him, Adam,” Hoss explained and let out his breath in one big sigh.

“I’m not exactly fond of Jonathan Drago myself,” Adam said dryly and then looked back up at him with a tiny smile. “I’m sorry I hurt her, I was just surprised to see her here. Her fiancée has just about everyone in San Francisco looking for her.”

Hoss smiled back after a long moment and Pa let out a deep breath too. Then Hoss looked out the front door and wondered if he should go after her.

“Why don’t you wait until tomorrow?” Charlotte said suddenly from right next to him. She was holdin’ both of the girls and handed him one with a smile. “You took away both of my nannies, and maybe if you’re busy watching Ariel you won’t be killing my husband.” She said all of that and then grinned. “That’s my job.” She gave Adam a furious look and then went over to him and took his hand, like she really had been worried.

“I’ll go with you tomorrow,” Adam said softly, and when Hoss frowned at him, added, “to apologize in person.”

“I don’t know that she’ll want to see me, Adam,” Hoss said sadly and then looked up in surprise when Charlotte burst out laughing. Even Pa was looking at her like she was crazy.

“She’ll be delighted to see you, Hoss. Just you wait…” she said with a smile. Hoss scratched his head. He didn’t think so, but then Charlie was usually right about women folk and their notions. Dadburnit but women were trouble, and Tess was more trouble than most. Of course, that wouldn’t keep him from seeing her tomorrow.

It was almost like singing for a large social party back in San Francisco, Tess thought with a look down at all the miners and cowboys standing around the little dais in the saloon. Except that her audience didn’t wait politely until she was finished singing before showing their appreciation and that she was a lot colder than she would have been at a fancy soiree because to sing in a saloon you apparently needed to wear a little short dress that barely covered you. She still liked the style of dress as much as she had when she’d first seen them, however she hadn’t counted on feeling so exposed. The men all had looks on their faces that she knew all too well. She decided that she’d like to wear it again if she ever got the chance, just not in front of so many people. Maybe just one. Maybe this little scrap of green satin and black lace would finally get that idiot’s attention, well, if he ever wanted to see her again.

It didn’t help her already dismal mood to be surrounded by these idiots in a dirty bar. And then there was the fact that she didn’t get to choose what she sang. This was her third time singing “Beautiful Dreamer” and she hated that song. But perhaps she really wasn’t in the mood to sing a love song today. If those idiot thieves hadn’t spent most of Lizzie’s money, she wouldn’t have needed the money for a stage ticket, and she would never have listened to Annabelle’s suggestion that she get a temporary job. Of course, Annabelle had been kidding when she’d suggested singing in a bar, she hadn’t realized that Tess would think of the woman from Truckee and decide that it might be fun, a good opportunity for fun just in case Drago did actually catch her. Annabelle had probably meant to shock her, since she hadn’t wanted her to leave at all, but she had to see that it was the only way. Just like in San Francisco, Tess had worn out her welcome with all the trouble she’d caused, however unintentionally.

She’d tried to explain that this mess wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever done, but that had been difficult to do since Tess had never felt this bad about spilling hot soup onto the lap of the territorial governor when he’d pinched her underneath the table or for starting an argument with a prominent banker about his business practices in the middle of an opera. Every time she thought about that look in Hoss’ eyes when he’d discovered her lie she felt absolutely horrible. And while she realized that she hadn’t exactly been like the saint she was named for during her time with Hoss, she knew that when he heard about how much trouble she had caused in the past he wouldn’t wait to hear her side of things, he’d just believe the stories like every other man did and would be glad to be rid of her.

She choked on a word in the middle of the song and decided that she’d had enough singing. She just ended it right there, not that the idiots in her audience seemed to notice, and gave a quick little curtsy before scooping up the money they tossed on the stage. Now she just had to get her things at Annabelle’s and take the late stage out of town. She frowned to herself at the thought of leaving, though Annabelle had made her promise to write, and then transferred her frown to the men around her who were in her way. She was pulling her leg back to kick one of them when she heard a deep voice say “Pardon me” and looked up into Hoss’ cloudless blue eyes.

“Hoss,” was all she could think to say since she hadn’t expected to see him again. Then she noticed his shy, uncertain smile.

“Why’d you stop singin’? You sounded good to me.”

“Are you angry with me?” Tess ignored the compliment and asked what she wanted to know.  He shook his head and for some reason she felt like she could sing “Beautiful Dreamer” all day at the top of her lungs. She barely noticed the blond man who had been watching her closely while she sang walk away and mutter disgustedly about how the Cartwrights had all the luck.

“Naw, you had your reasons for lyin’,” Hoss answered and then looked her over with a frown. Tess immediately felt irritated since every other man in here was drooling and he looked annoyed.

“What, you don’t like it?” she asked with her eyebrows up and inched her skirt up a little higher to reveal the garters holding up her sheer stockings. Several of the men whistled but Hoss’ ears just turned pink.

 “You look beautiful,” he said, looking at his feet, and then frowned again when he looked up. “But what are you doin’ in here?”

 “Earning some money,” she explained matter of factly and patted her purse. He scratched the back of his head.

 “Adam said you was one of the richest…” he started to say but she shushed him.

 “This isn’t the place to discuss this,” she told him and then shrieked a little when he picked her up and carried her outside without a word. When he set her down she poked him in the chest for making her scream and then crossed her arms.

 “What were you doin’ in there when Adam says you could buy the Ponderosa several times over?” he demanded, with that stubborn look that was so annoying since it meant he was going to get his way. She told the story as quickly as possible.

 “I can’t, I mean I could but I don’t have all my money. When my father died he apparently felt I couldn’t handle having all of that money on my own.” She paused to mutter something under her breath before continuing. “So he had it stipulated in his will that I don’t get all of the money until I get married. He left me a settlement in case I didn’t, but he made his business partner, Jonathan Drago, the executor. And Drago is trying to force me to marry him so he can have all of the fortune by using what money I do have to control me.”

 “You mean this danged fool Drago wants to marry you for your money and not for yourself?” Hoss asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion and then shaking his head as if disgusted. He was so wonderful; Tess thought and remembered Charlie’s advice about making your move when the time was right. It was right to her. She stepped close enough to Hoss that she was nearly touching his chest and stared up into his eyes.

 “Hoss, I…”

 “We gotta get you outta town,” he said, making her frown and step away from him furiously all at once.

 “What do you mean?” she yelled at him and felt like smacking him silly. Of course, he just frowned right back.

 “What I mean is, Adam says that this Drago fella has just about everybody looking for you and considerin’ how big a scene we made in Truckee, I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew you was in Virginia City.”

 “I was just about to leave…” she stared to say but he shook his head again and poked his finger at her.

 “You ain’t leavin’, you’re comin’ back to the ranch with me!”

 “Hoss you just can’t keep rescuing me like this, you don’t have any claim on me!” She narrowed her eyes and muttered something to herself. He was mumbling to himself too.

 “Dadburnit but you’re a lot of trouble!” he shouted a second later and she was a little surprised at how angry he seemed. Several people nearby gave them odd looks. Not that any of that stopped her from yelling back.

 “That’s me, Terrible Tess Parker, the troublemaker of San Francisco!”

 “Not anymore you ain’t. You’re going to have to make trouble on the Ponderosa where I can keep an eye on you. You might not like, but that’s the way it’s going to be!” He nodded at her once, at the end of his speech, and then appeared to be waiting for her to say something. Since she couldn’t even begin to think of how to respond to that, and was just standing there sputtering like an idiot, he just kept on going after a moment.

“Now run on to Annabelle’s and get your stuff. I gotta go find where Joe and Adam went and then I’ll be right there.”

 “I don’t take orders from you,” she managed to say and he just took a step towards her, looking more fierce than she’d ever seen him.

 “Git, or I’ll carry you there,” he said quietly and she stood there for a second, just to let him know that she didn’t appreciate his attitude, before turning around and heading towards Annabelle’s house. She knew she should feel humiliated, or angry, but she didn’t really, although she did intend to get him back later. But she knew that when Hoss said he was doing something for her own good it was because he truly cared. She barely even thought of Drago as she stepped lightly up Annabelle’s walk onto her porch and she certainly wasn’t thinking of him when she heard Cass barking furiously from inside the house. So despite Hoss’ warning she was taken by surprise when she heard a footstep behind her and turned around to see Jonathan Drago himself standing in front of her, looking over her dress with one raised eyebrow.

 “Well if it isn’t my bride?” he said pleasantly and Tess’ breath caught in her throat right before she clenched both hands into fists.

 “What do you mean she’s gone?” Hoss asked a tearful-looking Annabelle impatiently. She’d looked ready to cry since before him and Joe and Adam had shown up at her house and his tone probably hadn’t made her feel any better, but Hoss couldn’t really feel too bad about that at the moment.  He just frowned down at her until Joe gave him an angry look. Then he tried to calm himself down some.

 “She’s gone. I came home from school and she wasn’t here. I was supposed to help her pack for the afternoon stage but her trunk was still here and Cass was barking nonstop!”

 “She was fine when I saw her,” Hoss said quietly and Adam glanced at him.

 “Would she have left without her things?” he asked and after a moment Hoss shook his head. Tess had stood up against stage robbers for her things; she wouldn’t leave them unless she had to. That meant only one thing. Someone must have found her. Without sayin’ a thing to either of his brothers he turned around and headed out the door.

They were both standin’ in front of him in seconds anyway and pushin’ as hard as they could to make him stop. Since they were slowin’ him down he finally did.

 “Outta my way,” he told them both and Joe flinched at something but shook his head. None of them paid any attention to Annabelle as she ran past, yelling that she was going to get the sheriff since they were being too foolish to bother.

 “You don’t even know where to look, Hoss,” Joe said.

 “You mean you ain’t trying to stop me?” Hoss asked in disbelief and Adam smiled.

 “Of course not. Now, what would you use if you had to transport an unwilling girl?” Adam wondered out loud and Hoss looked at Joe.

 “A private carriage,” they said together and grinned at the thought of the fight ahead.

 “It hasn’t been too long, they might still be at the livery stable. And if not, we need to get our horses anyway,” Adam reasoned but before he was even done Hoss had pushed past both of them and was running toward the stable. He could hear them yellin’ behind him, but didn’t pay any attention. Ain’t nobody was going to take Tess back to San Francisco unless she wanted to go there.

 He paused outside the stable doors to pull out his gun and Adam and Joe finally caught up with him.

 “Wait…a...minute,” Adam said irritably, taking deep breaths.

 “Let us go ‘round back first and make sure you’re covered,” Joe finished for him and gave Adam an amused look. Hoss just nodded and waited impatiently for a few seconds until they’d disappeared. But when he heard a muffled shout from inside he forgot all about his brothers and pulled the door open enough so that he could slip inside.

With the doors mostly closed there wasn’t much light inside, but Hoss could a man at the far end holdin’ onto a strugglin’ Tess and trying to lead a horse outside at the same time, probably to where to his carriage was. Which was dang silly, Hoss thought absently, since Tess was a handful by herself. And sure enough, when the fella took one hand off of her to open the stable door, Tess reached around and punched him right in the stomach. The man just smoothly twisted one of Tess’ arms behind her back.

“I see that despite your new clothes you haven’t changed one bit, have you Tess?” the man laughed, not sounding upset at all. In fact, his voice was so calm it made Hoss shiver. “I should have known you’d end up dressed like that, I told your father that for years. He should have made an effort to control your more troublesome tendencies.”

Tess just ignored this and stomped down hard on the man’s foot. This time he cursed and dropped the horse’s reins. It ran right back to its stall, making Tess laugh.

“On the other hand,” the man began and grabbed a piece of rope that was hanging up nearby. “Your temper came in useful since I knew that sooner or later you would make a spectacle of yourself and I would be able to find you. And so you did in Truckee. It was so easy,” he sneered and began tying Tess’ arms behind her back. The action brought them both towards the light and Hoss got a good look at the man for the first time.

The fella had the kind of face that always got the attention of the women in the saloons and all and his suit looked like it cost more than Hoss’ gun, but he had a look in his eyes like a cattle rustler Hoss had tangled up with once. He also had what looked like a fat lip, which he supposed came from Tess. Guess his pretty face didn’t mean much to her.

“Still, I was surprised to come to Virginia City and to find my future bride not only singing in a saloon, but trying to make love to a bumpkin in the middle of the street.” His voice was edgy. Hoss so surprised at hearing any emotion from the man that it took him a second to figure out that this fella was Drago himself and that he was talkin’ about him. But he had to be mistaken, cuz Tess hadn’t been trying to do anything like that.

“Your time in the wilderness has obviously made you lose your mind completely if you’re willing to give up me and San Francisco society for the fool in the hat.”

“You leave Hoss alone!” Tess shouted and turned around to face Drago. Even with her hands tied behind her back, she looked like she could seriously harm somebody.

“You mean you really want the bumpkin?” Drago seemed surprised. “I thought you were just using him for protection. I should have known you wouldn’t be that clever, letting your emotions rule you again. Not that it matters now, we’re stopping in Reno to be married and then you are coming back to San Francisco with me. I want that money, I earned it more than you ever did.” He seemed a little out of breath, but he was calm again. He patted something in his pocket confidently and then grabbed for Tess but she jumped away.

“You can have the money now for all I care but I’m not marrying you. I’m staying here!” she yelled and Drago frowned. He suddenly looked a lot less handsome.

“With your bumpkin?” he said, sounding furious and took a step towards Tess when she nodded.

“Don’t call him that! Hoss isn’t a bumpkin, not that I’d expect an idiot like you to understand that! He’s absolutely wonderful,” she said proudly and glared up at the other man like she wasn’t afraid of nuthin.

“You’d leave me for him?” Drago asked one more time and Tess smiled and looked more beautiful than Hoss had ever seen her.

“In a second,” she declared with a little laugh that made Drago’s face turn downright ugly. The man clenched one hand into a fist and Hoss only had a second to see the momentary look of fear on Tess’ face before Drago shoved her roughly to the ground. Then he just saw red.

He charged out of the shadows and smashed Drago in the face with his gun before the man had time to blink. Drago fell to the floor with a cry and held his hands over his nose but there was already blood gushing out between his fingers. Hoss was standing over him with one hand raised angrily when Joe and Adam came rushing in through the back door, where they must have been listenin’.

“Hoss!” Joe was yellin’ and he reluctantly took his eyes off that jackass on the floor to look at his little brother. “Don’t kill him!”

“Your gun, Hoss,” Adam said seriously, “You can’t fight him if he doesn’t have a gun.”

Nodding, Hoss tossed his gun to the side and then dragged Drago to his feet. One punch had the man on the floor again in a heap several feet away. This man had made Tess afraid and then he had hurt her. He was lucky he wasn’t getting horsewhipped. Hoss walked slowly over towards him and then waited as the man stood up.

“I should have known that the bumpkin wouldn’t know how to be civilized either,” Drago sneered and spat a bit of blood onto the ground by Hoss’ boots.

“If bein’ civilized means hittin’ a gal and forcin’ her to marry me than I reckon I just ain’t as civilized as you,” Hoss answered him in a low voice and raised his fist again. Quicker than he would have thought the other man could move, Drago pulled a little knife from his coat pocket and slipped under Hoss’ arm. A second later Joe fired his pistol and Drago fell to the floor, moaning and holding his shoulder. Hoss stared for a moment in shock and surprise and then turned to Joe with a frown.

“Why did you do that, Joe?” he demanded but forgot about Joe when he saw Tess slowly getting up off the ground. He took a step towards her instead.

“Tess honey are you alright?” he asked as gently as he could and then blinked in surprise when she straightened up and came flyin’ towards him.

“Am I alright? Are you crazy? What’s the matter with you?” she yelled at him and poked him hard in chest. “I ought to strangle you! What’s wrong with you? He had a knife! He could have killed you, you great big idiot!” she shouted furiously and then confused him even more by throwin’ her arms around him and bursting into tears. Hoss suddenly didn’t feel very angry anymore, though he was still confused. He patted her back comfortingly and then turned to look at his brothers.

“Why’d you shoot him, Joe?” he asked and Joe looked at him like he was crazy before gesturing to his arm. Hoss looked down at the bleeding cut in his upper arm in confusion. Unfortunately, Tess saw that look as well and shrieked when she got a look at his wound. She wasn’t cryin’ no more, but she looked awful angry as she ripped off the garter on her arm and slipped it over the cut as a temporary bandage. She just gave him another furious look that he ignored since Drago was startin’ to move. “You’re going to leave Tess alone now,” he commanded him and then said it again until the man nodded.

“And if you try to withhold anymore of Miss Parker’s money I have some friends in San Francisco who would very interested in hearing this story. It might affect your business interests, in fact, I think it definitely would,” Adam said this last part with a smile and then added, “That is of course, if Tess doesn’t want to press charges against you for kidnapping.”

“That idiot can rot in jail for all I care,” Tess said absently and then rested her head against Hoss’ chest and hugged him tighter. Hoss remembered how he’d felt when he’d thought she’d left town and hugged her back until she squeaked. But when he tried to let go she just grabbed his vest and pulled him back.

“Tess…” he started, very confused, “about what you said to him before…”

“What?” She glared up at him with her arms crossed. Just darin’ him to make a fool of himself he reckoned, since he knew he didn’t have fancy words to tell her how he felt. So he didn’t say nuthin’, he just held her closer. It was odd how she didn’t say nuthin’ after that.

 “I think I’ll go look for Roy and Annabelle,” Joe said suddenly with a grin and disappeared out the main door. Adam kept his gun out and trained on Drago, but leaned against a pole with a little smirk of his own.

“So our hero has slain the dragon and wears his lady’s colors. What’s next in their story?” he asked in a teasing voice but Hoss didn’t pay him no nevermind.

“I’m taking her home with me,” he informed his brother with a nod but Adam just nodded. Hoss glanced down cautiously at Tess but for once she wasn’t arguin’.

“Riding off into the sunset is the standard ending,” Adam agreed and Hoss thought of that danged poem of Tess’. Not that he was no kind of knight, which he told them both as carried Tess towards Chubb. Why that would make them both laugh he didn’t know, but, he thought with smile as he pulled Tess closer, he didn’t particularly care neither.

Hoss looked very handsome in his string tie and jacket in her opinion, but Tess wasn’t quite sure she liked his hair all slicked down with pomade the way it was at the moment. But considering the time and place she supposed he couldn’t have worn his big silly hat so he’d had to do something with his hair. The lake was so beautiful that she had to agree with Joe and Annabelle’s decision to be married out here with only the green trees and blue sky as decoration despite how much she disliked the pomade smoothing down the little tufts of hair that the breeze would otherwise have stirred up.

She took one last good look at him standing up near the Reverend, next to Adam and Joe, before turning around to get a look at the many other people gathered together for the wedding. And there were quite a few. The whole town must have been invited and she got the feeling that this was not an event to be missed. Part of that feeling came from the large group of young women in the back who had been weeping steadily since they’d arrived. Apparently Joe would be missed, Tess thought with a sniff and then a grin for Annabelle. But she also knew that this wedding was special because it was already unlike any she’d ever seen before.

Her eyes went from Hoss and Adam standing in front, to the beautiful woman holding a squirming two year old in her arms standing next to a man who looked exactly like Charlie from a distance. Her brother, she’d been told earlier. He was also holding a two year old. Behind them were two very disapproving old women that she’d met and argued with earlier, about her hair of all things. They apparently did not approve of the shade, not that she cared. But now they just looked very excited to be here. Standing next to them, but not talking to them she noticed, was the sheriff and his deputy and on the other side of the aisle, surrounded by Annabelle’s giggling students, was the town doctor. The blond man from the saloon, Joe’s best friend Mitch she’d since learned, was in the back, in the middle of those very upset young women and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Also in the back were Hop Sing and his cousin, who was helping cook the refreshments for later, and Annabelle’s dog, Cass. She was sure Hop Sing would deny it, but she could have sworn she’d seen him pet Cass earlier. Hop Sing was standing protectively over the twins, sleeping peacefully in a pram. And then there were many more people that she didn’t know yet. If they had been inside the house there wouldn’t have been room to sneeze.

 Everyone got quiet all of the sudden and Tess turned around to see Charlotte walk slowly up the aisle, in a dress for once and looking beautiful. A moment later Annabelle, on Mr. Cartwright’s arm, came out of the trees to stand at the end of the aisle. She waited for the barest part of a second and then started making her way over the soft pine needles on the ground towards Joe. She was wearing a specially made white dress that made her look absolutely breathtaking and her mother’s wedding veil, which was made of expensive lace that was thin enough that just about everyone there could clearly see the look of impossible happiness on her face. Tess felt her eyes get a little wet and wiped them discreetly with her handkerchief so she could continue to watch her new friend.

 There were elaborately carved silver chopsticks in her hair that Hop Sing had loaned her for something borrowed and a cameo on a blue ribbon from Charlotte around her neck for something blue. For something new, Annabelle had appealed to her and Tess had gone into Virginia City and bought a lovely pair of silver earrings that she’d known would just go beautifully with her dress and Hop Sing’s chopsticks. There were also two bits in her shoe instead of a sixpence, but Tess figured that those couldn’t possible be comfortable. However, she reasoned with a smile, Annabelle’s thoughts were probably not on her feet.

 Annabelle looked serious as Mr. Cartwright let her go and she walked the last few feet to stand next to Joe. Tess got her first good look at Joe and noticed for the first time that he looked a little anxious. But when Annabelle got close enough that he could take her hand he suddenly looked a lot calmer. Had he been nervous? She wondered in disbelief. As if Annabelle would have left him. The two exchanged a long look that made her breath catch her throat and seemed to make the entire crowd go still. Then the Reverend cleared his throat and they both turned to face him, still holding hands. Tess sighed, though she felt silly doing it.

 Then when the Reverend actually began to speak, she felt the first tear slide down her cheek and gave up trying to stop them. There were several women around her doing the same thing anyway. A bunch of idiots, all of them. When Annabelle finally said her vows in a quiet voice there was so much muffled sobbing in the crowd that Tess wondered how Joe had heard her. But they were staring into each other’s eyes so deeply that he could probably read exactly what she was thinking. She doubted that either of them had even noticed their audience’s reaction.

 Joe’s vows were equally quiet, though there was a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth as he spoke, as if the words were very familiar. As if he’d said them to her before. Tess felt her eyes welling up again and wondered why women carried such impractical little handkerchiefs. She was going to have to borrow Hoss’ if this kept up. Joe finished speaking and then, way before he was supposed to, he lifted Annabelle’s veil and lightly kissed her mouth, making her laugh softly. Tess frowned jealously for a moment at their closeness until Adam poked Joe in the side. Hoss, like the Reverend, was blushing furiously, but as best man he pulled the ring out of his pocket and gave it to Joe with a happy smile. Joe just slipped it on her finger quickly and kissed her softly again.

 Of course, as usually happened between those two, it quickly turned into something more that made Mitch let out a holler from the back. The Reverend cleared his throat and Adam raised his eyebrows across at his wife. Hoss finally broke it up by slapping Joe roughly on the back and the couple separated and turned to the audience with sheepish smiles. Tess clapped loudly along with everyone else and was surprised to hear herself hooting at them as bad as Mitch and the rest of Joe’s friends were doing as they walked down the aisle together. She was almost grateful when Mr. Cartwright began calling out for everyone to return to the ranch for refreshments.

 Some time later she found herself alone with Charlie and Annabelle in a room at the house as they finished packing up her things for her honeymoon and helped her out of her wedding dress and into something suitable for a trip. Not that she was going far; she and Joe were simply disappearing into a simple line shack somewhere up in the mountains and the more Charlie teased her about this, the more Annabelle threatened to stay up there until spring. She had been blushing nonstop since the ceremony though and something in her mood must be spreading because Tess had had a huge smile on her face since then as well and Charlie looked fit to burst.

 Annabelle’s traveling dress was much simpler although it had a long row of buttons down the back that kept Charlie kept mentioning with little grins. Tess wasn’t quite sure what that was about, but she did know that her friend looked beautiful when they were done with her and she felt oddly proud at being there with these two women at that moment. This must have shown on her face because when Annabelle caught her eye as they prepared to go downstairs she stopped for a moment to share a hug. Charlotte hugged her then too and cleared her throat. She looked a little emotional. She had also been crying during the ceremony.

 “I’m glad you two are here,” she said in a choked voice, “Us Cartwright women have to stick together. We need all the help we can get.”

 Annabelle nodded as she finished but Tess just felt confused.

 “But I’m not a Cartwright…” she started to say and Annabelle smiled.

 “Not yet maybe,” she answered and Tess shook her head again.

 “Not ever,” she sighed and then frowned when they both started laughing. “What?” she demanded with her hands on her hips. “I’ve tried just about everything and he’d obviously not interested, the big idiot.” Her anger just increased when they laughed harder. She forgot where she was and started shouting. “It isn’t funny! I love that great lump and he doesn’t love me! What do you expect me to do?”

 There was a sudden crash downstairs and Charlotte cleared her throat again and glanced significantly in that direction.

 “We should get down to the party,” she said calmly and motioned Annabelle forward. Then she looked at Tess. “You too,” she ordered and Tess glared at her before marching down the stairs. “Perhaps you should go talk to Mitch,” she suggested suddenly and Tess spun around to look at her curiously. Then her eyes widened and she thought of how Hoss had reacted to her meeting his brother. With a slow smile, she turned back around and headed outside. She heard Annabelle mutter something about ‘poor Mitch’ but wasn’t really listening.

 Hoss was standing next to his brothers and whatever they were talking about was making his cheeks turn bright red. He looked adorable. But she just made sure he noticed her watching him and then she turned and slowly made her way over to the tables to where Mitch was standing by the punch bowl. Having never been deliberately nice to a man before, she wasn’t quite sure what to do, but she settled for smiling at him warmly and asking him for a cup of punch, which he was only too eager to provide. Then she placed one hand on his sleeve.

 “I remember you from the saloon, don’t I?” she asked and wondered why his eyes got so wide. A second later she found out why when she was lifted into the air without a word of warning and carried away. She heard Mitch complaining again about how the Cartwrights have all the luck but she wasn’t really listening. While this development was very pleasing, it was also a little embarrassing. She could see people laughing and didn’t like it. Finally she elbowed Hoss in the ribs as hard as she could and when he set her down on the side of the house she crossed her arms and stood there glaring up at him.

 “What was that about?” she asked and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. Hoss looked very apologetic and embarrassed as if he didn’t know what had come over him.

 “Sorry, Tess,” he said and she got worried that he was going to forget that this had happened.

 “Aren’t I allowed to talk to Mitch?” she asked in an angry tone and he shrugged.

 “Sorry, Tess,” he said again. “I reckon you probably prefer talkin’ to Mitch than to me.” He glanced at her hopefully as he said this and Tess muttered something under her breath before stepping up to him furiously.

 “How do you know what I’d prefer?” she asked and poked him in the chest. “How do you know that I don’t prefer you?” She poked him in the chest again as she asked this and then once more just to make sure he got the message. Big idiot! Hoss looked unbelieving and didn’t say anything for such a long time that she got a little nervous and starting fussing with her skirt. He had to love her back. When she finally did look up again there was a strange smile on his face and she noticed again the little gap in his teeth.

 “Tess…” he began slowly and then scratched his head before squaring his shoulders as if he had something really difficult to do. “Tess, I was in the house a while ago and I heard you say something that I reckoned was about someone else, but now I ain’t so sure.” His nose was all scrunched up in confusion but Tess felt like singing and decided that should she ever have a daughter she was naming her Charlotte, since Charlie must have known he was downstairs when she’d said that.

 “You really are a great idiot!” she told him angrily and realized he’d misunderstood her when his face fell. She hurriedly wrapped her arms around him and then yelled the rest of what she’d been going to say into his chest.

 “I love you, you idiot! I’ve been trying to tell you that for forever! I even like your silly hat!” she said and shrieked when he lifted her off the ground to stare at her. There was a big silly grin on his face. Of course, there was probably one on her face too. Not that she cared.

“Tess honey, you mean it?” he asked and she reached up to smack his shoulder, though not the injured one of course.

“Of course I mean it! Why wouldn’t I? You’ve got a thousand times more strength and honor and courage than any of the knights in my old storybooks!” she finished in a challenging tone but he just shook his head as if he didn’t believe that. But then he looked back into her eyes and she watched in amazement as his whole face turned pink.

“I reckon I love you too,” he said in an embarrassed whisper and her mouth dropped open.

“Really, even with my temper?” she squeaked and he frowned at her and stuck his chin out stubbornly. Then he nodded. But before he could add anything, if he was planning to, she interrupted.

“Then if you don’t kiss me sometime soon I’m going to find a chair and climb on up there and do it myself, dadburnit!” she yelled at him, since he was taking forever. She was blushing as she said it but what did that matter when he pulled her up to his face eagerly and made her toes curl up into her stockings? Several breathless minutes later he lowered her closer to the ground and raised his head as Hop Sing shouted from the front of the house that it was time for the cake. She glanced up expectantly but Hoss just shook his head.

“Plenty of time for that later,” he said with a grin to her amazement and pulled her back up. Then after several more breathless minutes he finally set her completely on the ground. His cheeks were pink and he was smiling down at her but she noticed how he kept sniffing the air and took pity on him.

“I’d love some cake. Hop Sing let me help frost it you know,” she said a smile and he nodded. Then he took her hand and walked with her back out toward the tables.

The moment they came out she noticed Mr. Cartwright and Hop Sing standing next to each other and observing the scene as Joe and Annabelle fed each other cake. She watched as Mr. Cartwright then looked over at Adam and Charlie with the twins and was completely surprised when he looked over and her and Hoss and smiled at their linked hands. When he raised his gaze she noticed that his eyes weren’t completely dry but he smiled warmly at her and she smiled back softly before pulling herself closer to Hoss. This must have been what Annabelle and Charlotte had meant, she supposed and smiled to herself.

She stayed with Hoss while he ate his cake and then went with the other women to try to catch the bouquet, though when she actually caught it and Annabelle winked at her she knew that her friend had thrown it to her on purpose. But she just winked back before looking back at Hoss meaningfully, making him gulp. She started to wonder about what Hoss would think of that dress with all the tiny buttons.

Moments later Little Joe pulled up in a carriage with ribbons and tin cans and shoes tied to the back. He was blushing to the tips of his ears as he helped Annabelle inside and she supposed it didn’t help that his friends kept calling out suggestions that would have made the women in the saloon blush. Mr. Cartwright finally quieted them though and except for Adam the crowd was quiet as the new couple rode off together. Adam was whispering something to his wife about a bet on whether or not they would make it to the cabin, which Charlie wisely did not accept.

 Everyone had just turned away, ready to really start the party now, when another carriage pulled into the yard, surprising everyone. When it stopped a tall blond woman got out and looked at the people in surprise. She was so beautiful that just about every man there got the same smile fixed on his face as they stared at her, but she just ignored them until she saw her.

 “Tess!” she called out and hopped out of the carriage. Tess ran towards her and they hugged warmly. “I arrived in the middle of something, didn’t I?” she whispered in a worried tone and before Tess could ask what she was doing here she said, “I got your telegram and had to come and see you.” As she finished, the Cartwrights gathered behind Tess and she rushed to explain.

 “Everyone, this is my friend Lizzie!” she said excitedly.

 “Any friend of Tess is of course welcome on the Ponderosa,” Mr. Cartwright announced with a smile. “But perhaps she could move her carriage…”

 “Oh, of course,” Lizzie said immediately and gestured to the driver. “Oh, my things!” she looked at the luggage strapped the back with a little frown that disappeared in a second when Joe’s friend Mitch appeared at her side with a smile.

 “Allow me,” he said and then seemed to go utterly still as he stared into her eyes. Lizzie seemed to be reacting in a similar way. Tess couldn’t see why. Mitch was nice, but he was no Hoss. Still, she introduced them like a good friend should.

 “Elizabeth Wilson, Mitch…uh…Devlin. Mitch…this is Lizzie.”

 Then she felt a familiar arm around her waist and leaned back against Hoss.

 “Your friend sure is pretty,” he commented and she jumped away to stare up at him furiously.

 “And what is that supposed to mean?” she yelled up at him and blushed when the family started laughing. Her and her temper. But other than the laughter, no one commented on her little “tantrum” and she realized again how completely accepted she was here. Forgetting her anger, she glanced up at a wary looking Hoss before throwing herself into his arms with a sigh. She decided that she was never going to leave.

Of course, she would have to get him back for that comment later.