"You're serious?" She swayed against him, and he held her so that her red-gold hair tickled his face and he could smell her fresh, sweet scent.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Mrs. MacGreggor, and I'm not dumb enough to let you get a mile away, let alone to California."

"You really love me?" He chuckled. "What have I been saying?"

"I'm not sure. What have you been saying?"

"You're not letting me out of this, are you?" He smiled at her. "I love you, Tamsin MacGreggor. Love you with all my heart and soul. I should have known it sooner, but I never claimed to be the smartest man west of the Mississippi."

"Will you still love me tomorrow and the day after that?"

"I'll love you as long as the sun rises in the east, woman. And if it doesn't, I'll love you just the same."

"All right," she answered softly. "I'll make you a deal. If you can ride Dancer back to Denver without him throwing you into the dirt, I'll marry you."

"I'd ride the devil's wind for you."

"Then I'd best be your wife, for I'm not likely to get an offer like that from a finer man."

"You'd better make your vows with me," he answered. "I intend for you to be carrying our first child by the time we get to San Francisco."

"I think I can promise that." And then she rose on her toes and kissed him, and he stopped thinking of anything but the woman in his arms, the woman he meant to love and cherish for the rest of this life and into the next.

Epilogue

California

Autumn 1876

The two outlaws tied their ponies and crawled on their bellies toward the corral beside the main stock barn on Tamsin's Hope. "Keep your head down," the first desperado said. "He's fast on the draw."

"Not fast enough," his comrade hissed. Ash's back was to the fence, his attention focused on the bay colt. On the far side of the pound, the chestnut mare laid back her ears and gave an anxious whinny. The foal responded with a high-pitched squeal.

"Easy, Cheyenne," Ash soothed. He stroked the colt's velvety nose, ran his hand up to scratch behind the twitching ears, and buckled the halter. "You be quiet, too, Fancy. Nobody's going to hurt your new baby."

The little bay laid back his ears, quivered all over, and sneezed. Then he raised one dainty front hoof and pawed the ground.

"Shh," Ash murmured as he offered the colt a piece of apple. "By next week you won't even notice you're wearing a halter." He released the lead line, and the little horse ran to his mother and began to nurse.

"Go for your gun, bounty hunter!" the younger pistolero shouted.

"Give us all your horses and all your gold!" his amigo demanded.

Ash turned. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the green eyes of the outlaw leader. "I've been looking for you two for a long time."

"Yeah?" the smaller, dark-haired bandit said cockily. "Well, we been trailin' you, too, bounty hunter."

"You gonna draw, big man?" his redheaded partner said. "Or are you-"

Ash laughed as a hand closed on the redhead's collar.

"Mama!" David's eyes widened in surprise, and he dropped the fishing pole he'd been using for a rifle.

The littler criminal threw his pole, turned to make his getaway, and gasped as Tamsin grabbed him by the seat of his baggy trousers. His broad-brimmed sombrero slid back revealing big brown eyes, a freckled nose, and a dimple on his chin.

"Were you going someplace, Jared?" she asked.

"Hi, Mama."

"We were just foolin'-" the nine-year-old protested.

"Playing bounty hunter with Daddy," his younger brother chimed in.

"What have I told you about violence?" Tamsin asked.

"We didn't have a real gun. Just fishing poles. Daddy was-"

Ash shook his head as he climbed over the corral fence and joined Tamsin. "Don't you boys drag me into this. Where were you two when we were ready for church this morning?"

Jared flushed and kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot. "David said the fish were biting."

"So you two went fishing instead of going to church with your mama and me?" Ash asked.

"Yes, Daddy," David admitted sheepishly.

"Umm-humm," Jared agreed. "But we caught fish for dinner."

"Enormous fish," his brother said. "I thought that's where you might have gone when I found holes in my flower bed," Tamsin observed.

"We needed big worms, Mama," Jared explained. "Big worms live in your flower beds."

"Lucky for you two there's going to be a special service this evening," Ash said. "Reverend Graham and his wife offered to pick the two of you up and take you to church with them."

"But Daddy, you promised we could ride out to the north pasture with you and bring in Dancer and the mares." David looked hopeful. "I'm awful sorry we missed church this morning, but next Sunday-"

"Next Sunday we'll be in our usual pew as a family," Tamsin said. She released her prisoners. "I want those ponies curried and turned into their stalls, and then-"

"Then the two of you can take the fish in to Maria, eat the cold dinner your mother left on the table for you, and help Maria wash the dishes," Ash finished. "Baths for both of you."

"Put on your church clothes, and you may read until it's time to go with the reverend," Tamsin said.

David sighed. "But where are you and Mama going?"

"We'll just go and get the horses ourselves. Now, you heard your mother! Get! And take Sam Houston with you. That fool cat has been after your mother's canary all morning. Next time you run off, take him with you."

Shoulders slumped, heads down, the little bandits trudged off to fetch their ponies. The big orange-and-white tomcat trotted after them, tail flicking back and forth.

Ash put an arm around Tamsin's shoulders and chuckled. "Rascals, both of them."

"All three," she said. "Sam Houston climbed up my lace curtains and left a dead mole on the back step."

Ash rubbed his face in Tamsin's hair. "Don't be too hard on Sam Houston. He's just keeping critters out of your flower garden." He tilted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Sure you wouldn't rather go to services than round up horses with me? We've got enough wranglers on this ranch."

She smiled up at him. "And Sunday's their day off. What if they want to go to church? Besides, I think I like riding off with you into the sunset. We could pack a little supper-"

"And a blanket," he added.

"I remember what happened the last time I went picnicking alone with you." She patted her rounding belly. "Another Morgan."

"Maybe it will be a girl this time."

"I'd like that," she said softly. "But I wouldn't mind another boy either. I've grown quite fond of my three men."

Ash glanced up toward the sprawling adobe ranch house sheltered beneath the flowering trees. "We've done all right for ourselves in California, haven't we, woman?"

"I've done all right since I met you," she replied.

"You just say that because it's true," he teased, then raised her chin and kissed her tenderly.

"I love you, Ash Morgan," she whispered.

"And I love you, Tamsin Morgan."

The bay colt whinnied, and Tamsin laughed softly. "You're certain you don't miss your old life," she murmured. "Free as the wind, riding wherever your fancy takes you?"

"Bad joke," he said. "More like wherever your Dancer takes me."

"Sorry." She grimaced. "It was the best one I could think of at the moment."

He pushed the brim of his hat up. "Mrs. Morgan, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

"No, sir," she replied sweetly. "I don't remember that they have."

He sighed, knowing defeat when he heard it. "Fetch your picnic supper, wife. I'll saddle the horses. And ask Maria if she'll put the boys to bed when they come home from church. I've a feeling we'll be spending tonight under the stars together."