The next morning, Buck was the first to open his eyes. He looked around in the room with a tired gaze, the light from the window almost blinding him.

He couldn't deny he had a headache, which had to have been from the alcohol, but part from that he was feeling absolutely perfect. He felt Kathleen stir behind him, her arms reaching over his shoulder to touch his chest and face.

"What do you know," he spoke with a smile, still looking out the window.

"What?" she murmured drowsily, pushing herself closer to his back.

"We're about to break the old record," he smiled wider.

"Record?"

"Uh-huh. We've been together over two days," he said, turning in her embrace to face her with yet another wide smile.

She broke out in a smile too, her arms closing around his neck as she kissed him good-morning. Continuing to kiss him, she never heard the steps outside her room -she was only focused on the lovemaking. But when a fist banged harshly on the door, they both looked up with big eyes.

"Kathleen, I know you're in there! Open up and let me talk to you!" a dark male voice said, spoken with correct English and clear education.

"That's my father," she whispered.

"What do you think he wants?"

"Nothing, I hope. I'm not gonna talk to him now," Kathleen promised.

"Maybe if we're really quiet he'll go away," Buck smiled, kissing her face.

But Jack Devlin's fist once more hit the wood of the door forcefully, and he called his daughter's name.

"Maybe you should open?" Buck suggested, not wanting to come between her and her father once again.

"No!" she whispered sternly, shaking her head wildly, pulling him closer so he wouldn't leave the bed.

"Okay, okay," he smiled, listening for more sounds of her father.

"Kathleen, I know you have company in there, several people says so!" Jack all but shouted, knocking again.

"What do you want, father?" she called back, sighing deeply.

"You open this door now, young lady, or I will have to force it down!"

Buck rolled off her slim body, indicating with his eyes that she opened.

"Buck, no," she objected, but he was already dressing.

Kathleen!" her father called again, and it was with anger radiating from her face that she pulled on her robe and opened the door.

"What, father, what do you want?!" she spat in his face.

Jack Devlin forced himself inside the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Buck.

"Don't I know you?" he asked, ignoring his angry daughter, who closed the door loudly.

Buck nodded.

"It's you! You're that half-breed!" Jack cried in realization.

"Father, you have no right to do this, please leave!" Kathleen begged, still with anger in her voice.

"Not until you tell me what you are doing in this room with him!" Jack shouted just as angrily, pointing a shaky finger at

Buck, who stood stunned in his trousers, holding his shirt in his hands.

"What do you think I am doing?!" Kathleen screamed on the top of her lungs, the guests at the hotel that had yet not woken by their argument tossing in their beds.

Jack grew silent. He knew it was futile to argue with her when she behaved like that. He eyed Buck up and down, looking into his questioning eyes, then turned to his daughter.

"When you decide to behave like a lady, I will be waiting downstairs for you," he said calmly, then turned and left.

He was confused, unable to know for sure what he should be thinking. He knew what Buck had done for him and her daughter, by killing Rance, but this time both of them had gone too far. He would have to talk to Kathleen in private later, he was way too mad at her now to keep his hands under control. He had sworn not to hit her ever again, after she just as truthfully swore she would stay by his side, and not run after any men, but he couldn't recall ever being so mad at her as he was now. He walked down to the restaurant with his thoughts still racing through his mind.

Buck turned to Kathleen, taking her into his strong arms, trying to soothe her, though not knowing why she needed it.

What's up with you two?" he asked.

"Nothing…" she whispered, leaning against him.

"Sounded very loud for 'nothing' if you ask me," he smiled against the top of her head.

She pulled free and looked at him.

"Is your head pounding as bad as mine from all this?" she asked with a questioning frown. Buck laughed, nodding.

"Oh, yeah!"

"Then how about that picnic, to get away from all this with my father?"

"Shouldn't you talk to him first?"

"I will, but after that I think I have earned a picnic. Don't you?" she smiled wistfully, one hand stroking his arm, a seducing light in her eyes.

"Mmm-hmm…" Buck smiled cautiously, wondering what would happen next.

To his surprise she just patted his cheek and told him to get dressed.

"I'll go see if daddy's calmed down and when I get back… No, you will just have to see then," she decided out loud and flashed him a smile before looking around for something to wear.

When Kathleen reappeared in her room, Buck was laying on the bed, feet crossed and hands folded behind his head.

"Are you ready?" she asked, pulling out a picnic basket from behind her back.

"If we swing by the station on the way," he said, rising to a standing position.

"Okay, fair enough since I kept you waiting," she agreed.

"How did your chat with daddy go?" he asked as they came out in the hall, locking the door.

"Could have been better, could have been worse," she replied casually.

"Uh-huh?"

"Just forget about it, Buck, please. We're gonna enjoy this picnic now, okay?" she smiled.

He smiled back, placing one arm around her shoulder. He walked briskly with her through the hall and down the stairs. As they passed the restaurant, Buck saw Jack Devlin sitting there with a drink, but he seemed so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice them.

Lou had just realized Buck never returned the previous night, and she cursed under her breath when she thought about it. Just as she was going over to the barn to consult her husband in the matter, a wagon came into the yard.

"Nice to see you again, Buck, been awhile," she scolded.

"Hi, Lou. Could you take my horse for me? Me and Kathleen are going for a picnic."

Lou looked up at the beautiful woman beside Buck on the drivers seat, nodded a greeting, then moved behind the wagon to take the reins to Buck's horse.

"When will you be back?" she asked, in the corner of her eye seeing the men coming from the barn with Jeremiah and Theresa hot on their heels.

"Uh, I dunno…" Buck started, turning to Kathleen.

"I'll bring him home before dark, don't worry," the woman smiled, Jimmy and Cody staring at Lou when they realized who she was.

"You remember Kathleen, don't you?" Buck asked, introducing them.

"Uh, sure," Jimmy nodded, Cody also stuttering a reply.

Well, then… you can do without me for one more day, can't you?"

Kid and Lou exchanged glances, Jimmy and Cody muttering something.

"Then you have some chores to do tomorrow," Kid - the now owner of the place and therefor boss - said, excusing himself to walk with Lou toward the house.

"Yes, sir," Buck murmured, turning the wagon around.

"Nice to meet you," Kathleen smiled at Jimmy and Cody, then at the younger couple behind them, looking on with interest.

Jeremiah had never seen his sister's husband be so rude and stiff with Buck, and the look in everyone's eyes scared him. Whoever that woman was, she seemed to mean trouble.

Buck and Kathleen settled for their lunch under a tree a few miles from Sweetwater. They ate and talked for a long time, remembering what happened the last time they had picnic together. By the end of their meal, Kathleen reached behind her neck, unfastening the gold cross she carried, then handed it to Buck. Buck looked at it, remembering how she had given it to him once before, and he had handed it back to her after she broke his heart. He stared at the beautiful creation for a long time, until she broke the silence and brought him back to the present.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he promised, smiling at her.

"Then why don't you keep that?" she suggested, motioning for him to put it around his neck. Buck sighed, handing it back to her.

"I don't know about you, but something tells me it's not a good idea," he started, looking into her eyes as she hesitantly took the cross back.

"Why not? You still like it, don't you?"

"Sure, but last time I wore it around my neck we ended up going separate ways. It wouldn't be good medicine to tease the Spirits," he smiled.

"So you believe in faith?" she nodded, again taking the cross around her neck.

Sometimes," he smiled.

"Well, it brought us back together, right?"

Buck smiled, his fingers digging in the soft grass, snapping off a few straws. He sat for a moment, just plaiting the straws together, while Kathleen looked on with curiosity.

"What are you making?" she asked, but he only smiled mysteriously, silently finishing his work.

"What is it, Buck? Please, tell me!" she laughed.

Buck turned back to her, taking her hand. He opened his hand and showed her the grass ring he had plaited, then placed in on her finger. She smiled as if it had been made of diamonds, throwing herself around his neck.

"No one has ever given me a ring before," she whispered into his ear, still smiling.

"Glad I could give you something at all," he smiled back, hugging her back, inhaling the soft scent of her hair.

"You've given me a lot, Buck," she said, pulling free to look at the ring.

Buck wished he could give her a real ring, whatever that would mean. He looked at her face as she smiled and laughed like a child on Christmas Eve, and he couldn't help but smile back. A warm sensation went through him, and he knew well what it meant. And despite all the thoughts he had had about her before, he now knew he really and truly loved her.

Lou stared at the dark sky, unable to keep the anger from overflowing.

"Lou, please honey, calm down," Kid begged, walking up behind her to rub her shoulders.

"I can't believe he has the nerves to do this!" she spat at the window, turning in her husband's loose embrace.

"He'll be back before morning, he promised he'd help out tomorrow," Kid spoke calmly, but she just shook her head wildly.

"Something tells me he'd rather be with her… I don't know, Kid, but ever since he told me who she was I haven't had a single moment of peace. I just know something is gonna happen, Kid. Something bad, and it's because of Kathleen."

Kid shook his head, sighing at his wife's irrational thoughts.

"Lou, sweetie, Buck is old enough to take care of himself. I told you yesterday, we best stay out of it. If he loves her,-"

"How can he?!" Lou spat, cutting Kid off in his sentence.

"Lou, listen. If someone told you, you couldn't be with me because of some story that might not even be true, how would you feel?"

"What do you mean, not true?" Lou asked, leaving his side to undress.

"What if we just heard what we wanted to hear? He told us what happened, but what if we were so mad at Kathleen for what she did, that we shut out the truth and only felt sorry for Buck?"

Lou looked at her husband with big eyes for a moment, then calmed down, her eyes narrowing.

"Okay, what if that's true, but we all saw the torment he went through after she dumped him," she stated, pulling on her white nightgown, crawling down between the covers.

Kid followed, removing his clothes, taking Lou into his secure embrace, resting his head on top of hers.

"Why don't we just leave this for Buck to figure out?" he whispered, content when Lou sighed a reply and closed her eyes.

When dawn broke, Kathleen looked up with weary eyes. She was laying on a hard wagon, both her hands and feet tied. She had few memories of what had actually happened, but she did remember three rough men, all armed and dirty. They had knocked Buck unconscious or worse and tied her up, only to take her with them somewhere. She had been thrown into the bed of a squeaky wagon, which had gone on for what it seemed forever. The hot sun had burned her face and arms, and they now stung like needles when she tried to move.

"Hey, look who's alive!" a male, kind of dark and husky voice spoke sarcastically, and suddenly a shadow stood over her.

She couldn't see who it was or what he looked like, the sun on his back creating a glowing frame around his silhouette. Whoever it was leant down and took a firm grip of her left arm, pulling her up. She bit her teeth together tightly, looking up at the man with a stern face.

Her hair had been tied in a bun behind her head, but now several locks were escaping the creation and fell into her face. Her white blouse and dark-blue skirt were both filthy from the dusty trail they were apparently traveling on.

"Who are you?" she growled, leaning back against the wagon.

"Now, you'd like to know, wouldn't ya?" the man spoke, letting go of her arm, and turned to his two traveling companions.

"Hey, Brooke, watch the lady," he called, leaving the wagon, replaced instantly by the man called Brooke. He was dressed roughly, apparently ready for several more days on the trail, and looked like he hadn't been shaved for days and days.

"Well, missy, seems like you and me are gonna be alone for a little while. See, Francis and Howard over there are gonna make sure your dear daddy ain't followin' us. It'll be plenty of time later for him to find us, but right now we gotta get to our hidin' place," he spoke with a peasant accent, disgusting Kathleen more by every word.

She turned her gaze away, looking toward the other men. Brooke sat down on he drivers seat, pulling his hat down over his eyes to shade them from the sun.

"I said watch her!" one of them men exclaimed angrily, and to Kathleen's guess he was the leader of the gang.

"Yeah, yeah, alright, I will…" Brooke muttered, half-turning to keep an eye on Kathleen.

"We'll be back as soon as all followers are fooled, so clean up this place and be sure you're ready to leave right as we return. You got it?!" the leader ordered, a stern voice and piercing eyes making Brooke nod nervously and the other fellow flinch. Brooke waved them off, muttering under his breath something Kathleen could only guess what it meant. She sighed and settled in to rest some. It looked as if she would need it.

Buck leaned against a tree, rubbing his sore head, sighing in pain, and anger over the situation. He remembered how three men had come toward him and Kathleen, saying they were lost and needed directions to Sweetwater.

Buck had sensed something odd about the way they looked at Kathleen, but had begun to show them the way, when one of them must have hit him from behind. He sighed again over his own stupidity, and sank to a sitting position by the tree, looking around. His horse and Kathleen were nowhere to be found, and he realized had to walk back to the station. I had best get started right away, he thought, rising with a grimace of pain.

Lou paced the length of the bunkhouse porch, cursing herself as well as Buck, trying to tell herself Kid had been right before. But she couldn't just sit around seeing her best friend getting hurt again by the same woman, and now, seeing he hadn't come home for the second night in a row, she was just angry.

Kid sighed, glancing at Jimmy and Cody. They shook their heads, thinking this was not their headache. Kid would have to calm her down himself.

"Lou," he began, walking toward the bunkhouse, just as the sound of a horse reached his ears. He spun around, as did his friends, and as the horse and wagon Buck and Kathleen had used the other day came around the barn they all glanced at each other in shock. It was not their horse, but indeed a livery stable horse from town, and why he had come there puzzled them. But they all knew if Buck and Kathleen had gone in the opposite direction of Sweetwater, it was the shortest way back for the horse to run.

Jimmy took the animal by the reins and tried to calm him. As Kid and Cody approached, they both saw a piece of paper secured to the harness. Kid snatched it and read aloud.

"Bring 10,000 dollars to Clamp's Bluff by Tuesday or Miss Devlin dies."

Lou looked at her husband in shock, Jimmy and Cody exchanging glances briefly. They soon headed toward the barn to saddle up their horses.

"Kid, what about Buck?" Lou asked, eyes growing wide with fear for her friend.

"We're gonna find out, don't worry. I say we track this horse back to where he came from, then we'll look for clues there," he said, also turning toward the barn.

He came out a few minutes later, with Jimmy and Cody on his tail, and they were all equally surprised to see Lou standing on the porch to the house, wearing trousers and a shirt.

"I'm coming with you," she said sternly, strapping on her gunbelt and walked past her husband.

"No, you ain't!" he called after her, but she turned to him in pure fury.

"Nor you, nor anybody is gonna stop me from coming with you. If Buck is hurt or even dead I wanna know too. I'm going!" she cried, half-running toward the barn.

"Let her come, Kid, we could use another gun," Jimmy said.

"What if she gets hurt?!" Kid spat.

"What if you get hurt because she wasn't there to help us out?" Cody cut in quickly, Jimmy nodding. "She would never forgive neither us, nor herself. We best take her with us."

Kid sighed, knew his friends had a point. He mounted just as his wife came out with Lightning.

"Okay, we'll go notify Mr. Devlin and the marshal, and we'll see if we are the only ones who're going," Kid suggested.

"You think they'll round up a posse?" Cody asked.

"Maybe. But even if they do, it would take too long. I'm going to look for Buck and Kathleen right after we notified her father."

They all agreed with Kid, and were soon on their way. Jeremiah looped his arm around his younger sister's shoulders, hoping it wasn't the last time he saw the riders who were disappearing at the horizon.

On to Chapter Seven

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