Only 03 - Only You

galloping up to the big log house where a woman wearing a white blouse and a full green skirt was just running out into the yard.
    “Matt?” she called out to the rapidly approaching rider. “Is that you?”
    “It’s me, Willy,” Reno said.
    He reined the mare to a dancing stop and added dryly, “If it weren’t, Cal would have emptied Darlin’s saddle while we were admiring your Arabian stallion.”
    “That’s a fact,” Caleb said, stepping out from the house.
    “Still being bothered by Comancheros?” Reno asked, noting the rifle in the other man’s hands.
    Caleb shrugged. “Drifters, Comancheros, gold hunters. Even had a pack of lords and ladies through while you were gone. Country’s getting too damn crowded in the summertime.”
    “Lords and ladies, huh? Bet Wolfe didn’t think much of that.”
    “Wolfe and Jessi weren’t here,” Willow said. “They’re still out seeing the sights.”
    Reno smiled. If he had been Wolfe, he would have done the same thing-taken his beautiful young bride off in the wilderness and spent a lot of time alone.
    “We heard they were over to the west,” Willow continued, “somewhere down in that maze of stone canyons. Jessi swore the honeymoon wouldn’t end until she had seen all of Wolfe’s favorite hideaways.”
    “Maybe I’ll run into them in the red rock desert,” Reno said. “What about Rafe? Is he back yet?”
    Willow shook her head, making her blond hair gleam in the high-country sunlight.
    “He’s still off yondering, looking for a way through the canyon Wolfe told him about, the one so wide and so deep only the sun can cross it,” Willow said.
    “How old is that news?”
    “Just last week,” Willow said. “A drifter who had met him on the Rio Verde stopped by here yesterday.”
    “He was after some of Willow’s biscuits,” Caleb added wryly. “Said he’d been told they were worth riding a hundred miles out of his way to get.”
    “Damn,” Reno muttered. “I was hoping to sign Rafe on for a little gold hunting.”
    Willow looked from her brother to the packhorses and the slender rider who were just now coming into the yard.
    “Did you hire a boy to help you?” she asked.
    The change in Reno’s expression was noted instantly by Caleb.
    “Not quite,” Reno said. “That’s my, uh, partner.”
    Eve was dose enough to hear Reno’s words. She reined her tired horse next to his and took over the introductions that he was plainly reluctant to make.
    “My name is Eve Starr,” she said quietly. “You must be Reno’s sister.”
    Willow’s cheeks pinked and she laughed. “Oh, my. I’m sorry, Miss Starr. Yes, I’m Willow Black, and I should know better than to assume everything in pants is a male. Jessi and I both wear pants when we ride.”
    Caleb looked at the worn, ruffled gambler’s blouse and faded black twill pants on Eve, and knew that he would never have mistaken her for a man. There was something too essentially feminine about the shape beneath the loose clothes for any man to mistake it.
    “I’m Caleb Black,” he said to Eve. “Get down and come inside. The trail over the Great Divide is long and hard on a woman.”
    “Yes, do get down,” Willow said quickly. “It’s been months since I had a woman to talk to.”
    Willow’s generous, welcoming smile was like a balm on Eve’s pride. Her answering smile included Caleb, who was as big as Reno but seemed a good deal more gentle, especially when he was smiling as he was now.
    “Thank you,” Eve said. “It was a long ride.”
    “Don’t get too comfortable,” Reno said curtly as she dismounted. “We’re only staying long enough for you to switch horses.”
    Caleb’s eyes narrowed as he sensed the tension just beneath the other man’s calm voice, but he said nothing.
    As always, Willow said what was on her mind.
    “Matthew Moran, where are your manners? Notto mention your common sense!”
    “Someone might be following us,” Reno said. “I don’t want to bring him down on you.”
    “Jericho Slater?” Caleb guessed.
    Reno looked surprised.
    “Men don’t have much to talk about out here except other men,” Caleb said dryly. “One of my riders has a Comanchero, er, friend. Her brother is Slater’s tracker.”
    “Not much gets by you, does it?” Reno muttered. “Yes, it’s probably Slater on my trail.”
    The feral smile that came over Caleb’s face made Eve swiftly revise her idea of his gentle nature.
    “And here I thought you’d forgotten my