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. Fin