He finished his bath and went downstairs to make coffee, as usual. Shortly thereafter he was joined by Honey, fresh from her bath and looking even more alluring with her hair curling in damp tendrils around her face. She was wearing the same man's robe she had worn the first day he had arrived. He wondered if she had done it on purpose, to remind him that she had belonged to another man. He wanted to cross the room and pull her into his arms, but the wary look on her face held him apart.

"I started coffee," he said, to break the uncertain silence.

"How about eggs and bacon this morning?" she asked, heading for the refrigerator.

He let her pass by him without reaching out, but his nostrils flared as he caught the scent of honeysuckle from her hair. He watched her do all the normal things she had done for the past three weeks, as though nothing momentous had happened between them in the bed upstairs.

Then he saw her hands were trembling and realized she wasn't as calm as she wanted him to believe. He didn't think, just closed the distance between them. He had put his hands on her shoulders when a noise behind him froze them both.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Jack said belligerently, shoving open the kitchen door and letting himself in.

Jesse turned to face Honey's older son, but he didn't take his hands from her shoulders. "Your mom's making breakfast."

"That's not what I mean and you know it," Jack retorted.

Jesse saw the tension in the boy's shoulders, the suspicion in his eyes. There was no purpose to be served by aggravating him. He let go of Honey's shoulders, picked up the pot of coffee from the stove and returned to the table to pour himself a cup.

Jack watched with hostile eyes from the doorway, then marched over to stand before the hired hand.

Jessie had been expecting Jack to confront him, but he wasn't prepared for the bluntness of the boy's attack.

"You stay away from my mother. She doesn't want anything to do with you."

"That's her decision, isn't it?"

' 'I can take care of things around here now that school's out!" the boy said. "We don't need you."

Jesse heard the pain beneath the defiant words. "From what I've seen, your mother can use another helping hand."

"You can never replace my father!" Jack said. "He was a Texas Ranger, a hero. You're nothing, just some drifter who rolled in like tumbleweed. Why don't you go back where you came from?"

"Jack!" Honey was appalled at Jack's attack on Jesse. "Apologize," she ordered.

"I won't!" Jack said. "I meant every word I said. We don't need him here."

"But we do need him," Honey contradicted. "I can't do it all, Jack. Even though you're a big help, there are jobs you can't do, either. We need a man's help. That's why Jesse is here."

Honey realized immediately that she had used the wrong appeal with her son. He was a youth on the verge of manhood, and she had reminded him that despite the change in his voice and his tall lanky body, he was not yet a man.

"Fine!" he retorted. "Keep your hired hand. But don't expect me to like it!"

With that he shoved his way out the screen door and headed for the barn. Without breakfast. Which, knowing Jack's appetite, gave Honey some idea just how upset he was.

Honey felt the tears glaze her eyes. "I'm sorry that happened."

Jesse put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. "He'll be all right."

"I wish I could be as sure of that as you seem to be."

"Don't worry, Honey. Everything will work out fine. You'll see."

But as he lay in the bunk in the barn, he felt a knot in his stomach at all the hurdles that would have to be crossed if he was ever to claim this woman as his own.

Six

Jesse found Jack in the barn brushing General. He stuck a boot on the bottom rail of the stall door and leaned his forearms on the top rail.

"You and that bull seem to be good friends," Jesse said.

The boy ignored him and continued brushing. the bull's curly red coat.

Jesse tipped his hat back off his brow. "When I was a kid about your age my dad gave me a bull of my very own to raise."

"I was eight when Dad bought General," Jack said. "He wasn't much to look at then, but Dad thought he was something pretty special. He was right. General's always been a winner." Jack seemed embarrassed at having said; so much and began brushing a little harder and faster.

"Sounds like your dad was something pretty special, too," Jesse said.

"You're nothing like him, that's for sure!"

"No, I expect not," Jesse agreed. "I do have one thing in common with your father."

Jesse waited for the boy's curiosity to force him to continue the conversation.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"Feelings for your mother."

Jack glared at him. "Why can't you just leave her alone?"

How could he explain what he felt for Honey in words the boy would understand? Jesse wondered. What did one say to a thirteen-year-old boy to describe the relationship between a man and a woman? It would be easier if he could tell the boy he was committed in some way to Honey. But Jesse had never spoken of "forever" with Honey, and he wasn't free to do so until his business here was done.

"I wish I had an easy answer for your question," Jesse said quietly. "But I don't. Will it help if I say I'll try my damnedest never to do anything that'll hurt your mom?"

Abruptly Jack stopped brushing the bull. "She's never gonna love you like she loved Dad. You're crazy if you think she will. There's no sense in you hanging around. Now that school's out, I can handle things. Why don't you just leave?"

"I can't," Jesse said simply.

"Why not?"

"Your mother needs my help." And I still have to steal this bull.

Jack's body sagged like a balloon losing air. "I wish Dad was still alive," he said in a quiet, solemn voice.

Jesse retrieved a piece of hay from the feed trough and began to shred it. "My father died when I was twenty," he said. "Bronc threw him and broke his neck. I didn't think anything could hurt so much as the grief I felt losing him. I missed him so much, I left home and started wandering. It took a few years before I realized he was still with me."

The boy's brow furrowed, revealing the confusion caused by Jesse's last statement.

Jesse reached out to scratch behind the huge bull's ears. "What I mean is, I'd catch myself doing something and remember how my dad had been the one to teach it to me. My father left me with the best part of himself-the memories I have of everything he said and did."

Jack swallowed hard. His teeth gritted to stop the tremor in his chin.

"Your mom won't ever forget your dad, Jack. No more than you will. No matter who comes into her life, she'll always have her memories of him. And so will you."

Jesse wasn't sure whether his words had caused any change in Jack's attitude toward him, but he didn't know what else to say.

The silence deepened and thickened until finally Jesse said, "You're doing a fine job grooming General, boy. When you get done, I could use some help replacing a few rotted posts around the corral."

Jesse turned and left the barn without waiting for a reply from Jack. Fifteen minutes later, Jack appeared at his side wearing work gloves and carrying a shovel. The two of them labored side by side digging out several rotten posts and replacing them with new ones.

Honey could hardly believe her eyes when she looked out the kitchen window. She forced herself to remain inside and give Jesse and Jack time alone together. When several hours had passed and they were still hard at work, she prepared a tray with two large glasses of iced tea and took it out to the corral.

"You both look thirsty," she said.

Jesse swiped at the dripping sweat on his neck and chest with a bandanna he had pulled from his back pocket. "I am. How about you, Jack?"