"Damn, it's hot." Tessa said wiping the sweat from her brow. Richard agreed but chuckled.

"If you wanted cold you came to the wrong state." he replied. Tessa snorted.

"I've lived in Texas my whole life. I just usually make camp somewhere shady through the hot part of the day and travel mostly in the evening and at night." Richard looked out over the horizon and could see a little patch of trees in the distance. He could tell by how green it looked that there was a river there as well.

"We'll head that way." he said pointing. Tessa followed his gaze and nodded. They rode in silence to their destination and Richard walked over to the river to wash his face. Tessa opened the small saddlebag on her own mare to get a biscuit and was surprised to see her fathers watch inside. She pulled it out and felt tears fill her eyes as she looked over at Richard's back where he was crouched by the water.

He had kept her so busy all day that she had forgotten all about the watch and him buying it. Now, finding it in her saddlebag, she knew that he must have bought it just to give it back to her. But why would he do that after what she had done to him? He certainly didn't owe her anything.

He turned from the river and saw her standing there with the watch in her hands and tears in her eyes. He saw that she quickly blinked the tears away and so he pretended he hadn't seem them.

"Thank you." she said. He nodded as he pulled some biscuits from his own saddlebag and sat down under the shade of a tree to eat.

"Why did you do this though? I talked to that old man last night and he told me that you paid twenty dollars for it. This watch isn't worth that." she said.

"The way I got it figured. That watch is one of the last things you got of your pa's and that means it's worth any price ya gotta pay to keep it."

"Yeah but I didn't pay the price. You did." she reminded him. He waved his hand.

"Early birthday present." he said.

"My birthday was last month." she said.

 "Late birthday present." he replied. She couldn't help but laugh and she stuck the watch in her pocket.

"Once we get the bounty I'll pay you back." she promised. He just shrugged and continued eating his biscuits.

They weren't stopped for long when Richard signaled it was time to go and they were back on the trail headed south. They rode until it was near dark and Richard stopped them again.

"We'll make camp here. If we ride hard tomorrow they'll be a town we can stay in tomorrow night." he said. Tessa nodded and then started gathering sticks and brush for their fire.

They were both settled around their fire eating jerky and biscuits when Tessa stood up and started walking out of camp.

"Where are you going?" Richard asked. She turned to face him.

"I.. I uh.. I have some things I need to take care of." she said. He raised his brow.

"Things?" he asked. She stuck her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. Richard wished she'd take that damn big duster off so he could see her hips under those pants. She had had that damn thing on every single second except this morning when she'd woken up. He had been sure he was gonna lose complete control over his own damn body when she had climbed out of bed in just her shirt and pants.

Those pants had hugged her legs and her hips and her rear and he had never in his life seen a woman look so damn tempting. Add to that the long red hair that had been hanging in shining waves down her back. It was the kind of hair that seemed to scream for a man to bury his hands in it and he had been forced to make an excuse to leave the room until she had that hair tucked safely under her hat.

"Yeah things. You know the kinds of things I might want some privacy for." Recognition dawned in his eyes and he nodded.

"Just don't wander too far." he warned. She nodded.

"I won't. And I got my gun." she replied. He looked back down at the knife he was sharpening and she walked away. He didn't like her wandering alone in the dark but he had to remind himself that she had survived six weeks out here without him so she really didn't need his protection to go use the bathroom.

888

Tessa walked until she could no longer see the light from the campfire and then hid behind a bush as she relieved herself. As she crouched behind the bush she became lost in her thoughts about Richard. He was tall, dark and handsome that was for certain. He could make her angry enough to scream in one breath and then laugh out loud in the next.

She was starting to feel like she could really trust him. After all he had not abandoned her yet and had even bought her fathers watch back for her. She wondered why he was helping her? For some reason she didn't think it was only for the money. There seemed to be more to him and more to the way she had caught him looking at her off and on during the day.

Tessa was just pulling her pants up when she heard the sound of the rattle behind her. She froze in place, her heart began pounding and she felt sweat pop out on her forehead. She looked behind her and saw the largest rattlesnake she had ever seen coiled up only a few inches from her foot.

She felt panic welling up inside of her. She pulled her gun just as the snake lunged to strike her. She let out a scream and jumped and her gun went flying out into the darkness. She fell and found herself face to face with the giant rattler. She froze as she listened to the steady sound of the rattle and watched the snakes tongue flick in and out as it stared at her. She knew if she moved she was dead.

"Richard!" she managed to scream. She was five seconds away from jumping away from the snake and taking her chances on being bitten when she heard Richard's voice.

"Tessa?" he called. "Tessa, where are you?"

"I'm over here!" she replied not daring to move to wave him over. "There's a snake, Richard! A big snake!"

"Shoot it." he said as he walked toward her. She hoped he could see well enough in the moonlight. The last thing she needed was him to get himself snake bit trying to come to her rescue.

"I lost my gun." she said. She heard him chuckle.

"Just stay still or it will bite you." he said.

"Thanks. I hadn't thought of that."

"Well if you're so smart, I'll just leave ya to it then." he said.

"No please!" she begged and he could hear the fear in her voice.

"I aint' gonna leave you." Richard assured her. He walked around the bush and whistled when he saw the rattler. It was the biggest one he'd ever seen and he had seen quite a few. He pulled his revolver and aimed it at the rattlers head which was only a couple inches away from Tessa's.

"This is gonna deafen the shit out of ya." he said and he saw her close her eyes tight. He squeezed the trigger and the rattling stopped as the shot echoed in the air. Tessa was on her feet and in his arms before he even had his gun holstered. He wrapped his arms around her and held her comfortingly. He could feel her trembling and he could feel her hot tears soaking through his shirt. He rubbed her back and just held her waiting for her to calm down.

"You're okay." he said gently. She had a death grip on his neck and he felt his heart filling with tenderness toward the poor woman. Clearly she was scared to death.

"My brother." she said with a sniff. "I watched my brother die after being bitten by a rattler." Tessa remembered the way his leg had turned black and he had laid screaming in pain for days before finally dying. Richard pulled her off of him gently.

He walked over to the rattler, pulled out his knife and sliced the still deadly head off the big snake. Then he grabbed the rest of the body and threw it over his shoulder. Rattler was damn good eating.

He wrapped his arm around Tessa, finding her gun would have to wait until morning, and led her back to the campfire. She was still shaking beneath his arm.

"You're alright, Tessa." he said as they walked. Tessa took a deep breath to try to still her shaking as he sat her down beside the campfire. He pulled his knife, sat down across from her and went about skinning the snake as he told his body to stop aching to have his arms wrapped around her again. Hadn't he learned his damn lesson yet about falling in love? Not that he was in love. Because he wasn't.

"What happened?" he asked after several quiet moments. She dried her face with her hands and tossed a rock off into the distance.

"I was about to head back to camp when I heard it rattling. It was only a few inches from my foot and I was scared to move. I went to pull my gun but it struck at me and I jumped. My gun went flying and I fell face to face with the damn thing." she said. He saw a shiver run down her. He could think of one hundred things he wanted to scold her about right now like, wandering so far from the campfire, not checking the ground before using the bathroom, and dropping her gun but he decided she was too shook up and it could wait until morning.

He cut up the meat and placed it on a stick over the fire to start cooking it. He grabbed their canteens and stood up.

"You coming down to the river with me or staying here?" he asked. She jumped up and moved to his side and he couldn't 'help but smile. Then he felt like smacking himself. It shouldn't make him feel so proud that she trusted him to keep her safe. All he was coming along with her for, was to make sure the foolish woman didn't get herself killed.

Tessa couldn't explain it but with him next to her she felt safer than she had ever felt in her life. She didn't have any reason to. She didn't know if he would risk himself to keep her safe. For all she knew if a bunch of bandits showed up he would gladly shove her to them just to save his own hide.

But there was just something about this man that made her feel safe. Maybe it was the way he moved with such deadly grace. The way his bright blue eyes were always aware of everything around them. The way he had just saved her life and then held her comfortingly while she cried instead of telling her how foolish she'd been to wander so far away and then lose her gun on top of that.

He refilled their canteens at the small stream and then they walked back to the fire. They sat in silence while the snake cooked and after they had eaten, Richard laid out his bedroll on the ground. Tessa laid out hers as well on the other side of the fire.

"Goodnight Tessa." Richard said. Tessa shook her head.

"You really should call me Tom. What if you get used to calling me Tessa and then you slip in front of somebody. You were practically yelling my name earlier." she said. Richard shrugged.

"I figured with the view that snake was getting behind that bush he done knew you weren't a Tom." Tessa blushed and bit her lip and Richard felt his heart beat a little faster.

"Let's get some sleep." he said as he laid down. Tessa laid down as well and pulled her hat over her head to try to get some rest.

888

Snakes were everywhere. She could hear their rattles and she struggled to get away but there were too many. She screamed as they bit her and wrapped themselves all around her. She felt them squeezing her tighter and tighter and she fought against them for all she was worth as she screamed. She looked beside her and saw her brother lying there black and rotting and began to cry.

"Tessa honey, stop hitting me!" Richard's voice broke through her nightmare and she opened her eyes to find that it was not snakes holding her tightly but Richard's strong arms. She let herself be held as she tried to push away the horrible image of her brother's body.

She breathed in Richard's comforting scent and listened to the beat of his heart before pulling away and looking up at him.

"You called me Tessa again." she said matter-of-factly as she wiped her face. She saw him grin in the dying firelight.

"That's cuz I just didn't feel right holding a Tom in my arms." he replied. She couldn't help but laugh. "Now you ready to get some more sleep?" he asked. He could see the fear still on her face. Whatever her dream had been he knew she wasn't over it yet.

"Get up." he said and she stood quickly. He grabbed her bedrolls and moved them over beside his own. He laid down and held out his arm for her. She looked at him uncertainly. Part of her was dying to curl up in his arms and the comfort, warmth and strength they provided. But another part of her was still on the fence about how much she could trust him. What if he decided to take advantage. She already knew how powerful and strong his body was and knew there was no way she could defend herself against him if he attacked her. Richard saw the look on her face and shook his head.

"You're hurting my feelings, Tom." he said matter-of-factly. "What kind of man do you think I am anyway?" Tessa went to him then. The part of her mind that was craving his closeness quickly buried her doubts. She laid down with her head on his chest and he wrapped his arm tight around her.

Tessa felt like her entire body was on fire lying against him this way. She could feel nearly every inch of his long hard body up against hers and she knew instantly that he would not have to work too hard if he was going to take advantage of her because right now she would give in to him in a heartbeat. Her own thoughts shocked her. She had never been with a man. Had never really thought about being with one, but suddenly she couldn't stop herself from wondering what it would feel like to be with Richard.

Richards thoughts were not much different from Tessa's. He could feel the softness of her body pressed against his and he suddenly worried that he'd made a mistake. Right now his blood was on fire to have this woman but he had just got done telling her she could trust him. His own feelings toward her surprised him. Not the way his body was responding to being pushed against hers.. That was just an honest male reaction. No what surprised him was the way his heart, which was bruised and battered, was filling with more and more tenderness every single second he spent with her.

Hell, maybe he was falling in love with her. Which scared the hell out of him. His track record was not good. He had been in love twice and both times had ended with his heart being shattered apart. What if he let himself fall in love with this fiery woman and she broke his heart too? He knew that if he fell in love with her it was going to be stronger and harder than he'd ever fallen before…. And he didn't like feeling that vulnerable.

She snuggled up tighter against him and he felt his body responding. He just prayed she wouldn't notice. He put his hat over his face and pretended to go to sleep. He started trying to think about anything but her tiny body up against his and knew he wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight.