"What about my wife?"
That threw her. "You want to marry me? But money means nothing to you, as I recall."
"What has money got to do with it?"
What an absurd question. "Very well, suppose you tell me why marriage has entered your mind."
"Besides the obvious reasons, a man's got the right to beat his wife."
"That isn't funny!" she snapped, realizing by his sudden laughter that he had only been teasing her.
"Odious man," she muttered to herself.
"Where's that sense of humor you antagonized the Englishman with?"
"Gone to sleep, obviously, which is what I'd like to do. Are you going to ride all night?"
"You want me to stop and wait for my friends to catch up?"
His humor was getting on her nerves. "Don't forget my own people."
"Your guards are probably lost in the hills, honey. There's no trackers among them. 'Course, there's that half-breed guide of yours," he added in a speculative tone. "Would he bother to look for you?"
With the abominable way Colt had been treating her lately? "No," she said without thinking, then re-alized she should have lied. "But I wouldn't discount my guard so easily."
He chuckled in answer, which was really too much. Jocelyn started to give him a serious volley on what she thought of him, when she heard the horse approaching. With a gasp she looked behind her to see a gray blur racing toward them at a breakneck speed. Her heart nearly lodged in her throat.
"We're about to be overtaken!"
"I know."
"You — well, do something!"
He did. He stopped, turning his horse about. He even dismounted and pulled her down with him. But he didn't draw his gun, didn't reach for his rifle. She stared at him as if he were mad. She didn't wait around to see if he was. She started running, and got about fifteen yards before she was yanked oif her feet. Her frightened scream blasted across the countryside, only to be cut short when she was slammed down on another horse.
"Are you all right?"
Jocelyn blinked, doubting her ears, but it really was his voice. She looked up to confirm it, saw his fierce, beautiful face, and wailed, "Oh, Colt!"
She burst into tears for some foolish reason, bury-ing her face against his chest. He came to a stop, and then his arms wrapped more fully around her. For a moment she couldn't breathe, she was squeezed so tightly. The man obviously didn't know his own strength.
"Are you all right?" he repeated.
"Yes."
"Then why are you crying?"
"I don't know!" And she cried louder — until she heard Angel laughing in the distance. She stiffened then and demanded, "Where's your gun?"
"What for?"
"I'm going to shoot that wretched man!"
"No, you're not," Colt said laconically. "I might, but you're not."
With that he jerked his mount around and trotted back to where Angel was waiting — and still chuck-ling. Jocelyn didn't understand the man's humor, but she was infuriated by it. Didn't he realize she had been rescued, and this time really rescued? And then it dawned on her. It truly was over, now that Colt was here. He wouldn't let anything else happen to her. He might not like her anymore. who was she kidding? He had never liked her. So he might like her even less now, but he would still protect her.
And no one could make her feel quite as safe and protected as he could.
She almost felt sorry for Angel, who didn't realize his danger yet. Her annoyance with him dissolved with that thought. After all, he hadn't hurt her, had in fact kept her from harm. Colt might have gotten there in time to prevent Longnose from killing her, but he wouldn't have been in time to prevent the other.
Angel had done that.
She had to tell him, especially after that remark about his possibly shooting Angel. "Ah, Colt—"
"Not now, Duchess."
"But, Colt…"
She was too late. He dropped off his horse before it even stopped and only then, watching him, did she realize that he was furious. Angel must have realized it too. She'd seen both men draw before, and couldn't actually say who was faster.
And then Angel was being lifted off the ground, a good half foot. "If you were a little bigger, you son of a bitch, I'd beat the shit out of you!"
"Ah, come on, Colt, I did what you asked."
"Like hell you did!" That with a shake. "You were supposed to be there to help out if she was brought in, not be the one to bring her in."
"I had it covered!"
"You're damn lucky I had you covered!" Colt growled before he let Angel go with a shove.
"I figured that was you drawing their fire. When'd you get there?"
"Not soon enough to stop you from taking her over that rise," Colt said in disgust, but then sounded almost anguished when he added, "Damn you, Angel. If I'd found out about that stunt afterward, I'd prob-ably kill you now. To put her in danger like that. I still ought to beat the crap out of you."
"All right," Angel said on a conciliatory note. "Maybe it wasn't the smartest move. But it wasn't that dangerous either, Colt. IVe been with that bunch long enough to know what to expect of them. Half are nothing but cowards, and the rest wouldn't know their ass from a hole in the ground."
"But why the hell did you do it?"
"So she'd know her enemy. Everyone's got that right, Colt. He's had the advantage all this time because she wouldn't know him if she passed him in the street. Now she knows him."
"You should have just killed the bastard and saved me the trouble," Colt muttered.
"You didn't ask me to do that." Angel grinned. "Besides, I figure that's her right too."
Colt's anger burst again, hearing that. "Who the hell do you think she is, another Jessie? She's a damned duchess, for Christ's sake! They don't go around killing people when they can hire someone else to do it."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Colt Thunder," Jocelyn said in a tightly controlled voice. "Would you care to offer me your gun to find out?"
They had both obviously forgotten about her during their discourse, if their expressions were any indica-tion. Angel flinched. Colt swung around, scowling. But damned if he didn't toss her his gun. The least she could do was cock it and point it at him.
"I ought to, you know." She was seething with anger, not enough to shoot him, but enough to shout, "Why the devil didn't you tell me you had sent someone into that nest of vipers? Do you know that your blasted friend didn't once let on he was there at your request? A favor, he mentioned, but he let me think it was owed to Longnose. And do you know what he assured Longnose he would do with me? I was to be used until he tired of me; then, of course, he would kill me."
"Whaaat?" Angel complained innocently when Colt's scowl came back to him. "I had to tell him something to make him think twice about coming right after us. Did I know you were there to hold them off?"
"So why didn't you set her straight once you were out of there?"
"Well, shoot, Colt, I figured she knew it was just a bunch of hogwash I was feeding him. I teased her enough about it. I told her she had nothing to worry about. And she wasn't afraid of me. The only time she was upset at all was right after I sent that two-faced Dryden to his Maker. He really turned my stomach, handing her over to us the way he did."
Colt's gaze came back to Jocelyn then, and she had the feeling his anger changed direction too. He was now furious at her for some reason, but she couldn't imagine why.
"Well, splendid," she said on a sigh. "So now I'm at fault, am I? Care to tell me why?"
"You have to ask? You let that bastard work his lies on you, and then you have the gall to be upset over his death. I seem to recall you didn't even bat an eye when I killed one of those scum for you."
She still didn't understand what he was objecting to. "I didn't know that chap you killed. I'd never set eyes on him before. Besides, you killed to protect me.