He spun around. "You don't believe in that love, you don't believe in me."

"Yes, I do."

He stalked toward her. She backed into the corner and bent her head to meet his infuriated gaze.

"How strongly do you believe in our love?" he asked, his voice ominously low. "If they threatened to strip

off your clothes unless you denied our love, would you deny our love?"

He gave her no chance to respond, but continued on, his voice growing deeper and more ragged, as though he were dredging up events from the past.

"If they wouldn't let you sleep until you denied our love, would you deny our love so you could lay your

head on a pillow?

"If they stabbed a bayonet into your backside every time your eyes drifted closed, would you deny ourlove so your flesh wouldn't be pierced?"If they applied a hot brand to your flesh until you screamed in agony, would you deny our love so they'd take away the iron?

"If they placed you before a firing squad, would you say you didn't love me so they wouldn't shoot you?"

He stepped back and plowed his hands through his hair. "You think I'm a coward. You don't think I have

the courage to stand beside you and risk the anger of your father. I'd die before I turned away from

anyone or anything I believed in. You won't even walk by my side."

He looked the way she imagined soldiers who had lost a battle probably looked: weary, tired of the fight, disillusioned.

"You don't believe in me," he said quietly. "How can you believe in our love?"

A shot rang out through the night, followed rapidly by another and the pounding of hooves.

Clay jerked open his bedroom door and stormed into the front room. Meg hastened after him. Lucian

and the twins were looking through the slats in the shutters that covered the window to the right of the front door. Clay moved to the window on the other side, peered through the shutter, and bowed his head.

"Get out here, you yellow-bellied coward!" Another shot echoed in the darkness.

Clay captured his brothers' gazes. "Give me your word that no matter what you hear, you won't come outside."

Everyone stood as still as statues.

"Your word!" Clay barked.

Lucian gave one quick deep nod. "You got it."

Clay settled his gaze on the twins, and they rapidly crossed their fingers over their hearts.

"Keep her in here," Clay said with a quick jerk of his head in Meg's direction before he slipped out the

door.

"No," she gasped as she rushed after him. Before she reached the door, Lucian snaked his arm around

her waist, lifted her off the floor, and slapped his hand over her mouth. She struggled, fought, clawed, and kicked at him, but he wouldn't release his hold.

Someone fired another shot. The bullet splintered the wood of a shutter, and the ping of its ricochet

echoed through the house.

"Gawd Almighty!" the twins yelled.

"Get under the table!" Lucian ordered.

Meg felt her breath forced from her body as he slammed her to the floor and laid his body over hers. The

twins, trembling violently, curled up beside her.

She heard horses whinny and more guns fire. She could see an eerie dance of shadows and flames

through the cracks in the shutters as though the people outside were carrying torches.

"If you promise to keep quiet, I'll take my hand off your mouth," Lucian whispered.

She nodded. Cautiously, he moved his hand away.

"Please let me go out there," she pleaded.

"It'll just go worse for him if they know you're here."

"Who is it? Who's out there?"

"I don't know. They're wearing flour sacks over their heads."

They heard an agonized wail that sounded as though it rose from the bowels of hell. Meg elbowed Lucian

in the ribs and broke free of his hold. She scrambled out from beneath the table. He came after her, grabbed her legs, and brought her back down to the floor.

She kicked him and pounded her fists into his shoulders, "Please, let me go. They've hurt him!"

"I can't, Meg. I gave him my word."

The yells of men, the singing of bullets, and the pounding of hooves faded into the night. Lucian released her. She scrambled to her feet, threw open the door, and rushed outside in time to see the last of the hooded riders disappear in the darkness.

But she didn't see Clay.

She spun around as Lucian and the twins came outside. "Where is he?"

Lucian lifted the lantern, but all they could see was the emptiness. "Did they take him?" he asked.

A low moan, like that of a wounded animal without hope, sounded through the darkness. In long strides, Lucian walked around to the side of the house, with Meg and the twins in his wake. He came to an abrupt halt. "Dear Lord."

The lantern cast a glow over Clay's battered face as he looked up at his brother. Kneeling beside the tree stump, he wrapped his right hand around the hilt of the knife that someone had driven through his left palm into the stump. "Help me."

Meg swallowed the bile rising in her throat and took the lantern from Lucian. "Help him."

With uncertainty, Lucian approached Clay. "Maybe I should get Dr. Martin."

Clay shook his head. "Just help me with the knife."

Lucian placed his foot on the stump and wrapped his hand around the knife handle. "It's gonna hurt like the devil."

Nodding, Clay pressed his free hand against the wrist of his pinned hand. Lucian glanced over his shoulder at Meg, and she saw the anguish reflected in his face. He closed his eyes and pulled the knife.

Clay released a strangled groan as Lucian worked the knife free. Lucian stumbled back, the bloodied knife in his hand. Clay slumped to the ground, wrapped the end of his shirt around his wounded hand, and cradled it against his side. Meg set the lantern on the stump, and the light glistened off the black pool of blood. She knelt beside Clay. "Let me see your hand."

"Go home, Meg. This doesn't concern you." He placed his good hand on the stump and struggled to his feet.

"I want to help-"

He staggered to the house and leaned against the wall. "You think I'm a coward. Your brother called me a coward in church, and you let the words go unchallenged. I've never-" Closing his eyes, he took a shaky shallow breath. Opening his eyes, he impaled her with his gaze as effectively as the knife had pierced his hand. "I've never done anything in my life that I had to cover my face to do. Go home to your brave men."

He took an unsteady step toward the door, faltered, and collapsed. Meg hurried to his side and placed his head in her lap. His eyes were closed, and his head lolled in whichever direction she turned it. She lifted her gaze to Lucian. "Help me get him into the house."

He moved swiftly and put his hands under Clay's shoulders. "Joe, you carry the lantern. Josh, you and Meg carry his feet."

"He ain't gonna die, is he?" Josh said as he picked up his burden.

"Nah, I reckon all the excitement just wore him out," Lucian said as he lifted Clay and walked backward into the house.

Meg's gaze was drawn to the trail of blood as they carried Clay to his bed. Who'd done this? Why? How could they have?

Clay groaned as they dumped him on the bed, but he didn't waken.

"Do you have a rag I can use to wrap around his hand?" Meg asked.

Lucian walked out of the room and returned carrying a white cloth. He handed it to her, and she wrapped it around the ghastly wound. "Joe and Josh, I need your help." They came to her side and stood at attention as though they were tiny soldiers. "He has such a large hand that I need both of you to press on it like this to stop the bleeding." She took their hands and positioned them around Clay's hand. Stepping aside, she looked to Lucian. "Let's take his clothes off and see how badly he's hurt."

Lucian lifted his brows. "Shouldn't I take his clothes off while you wait in the other room?" "I'm a widow. I've seen a man's body. I'm not likely to faint if I see another one." She moved to the foot of the bed and began to work off Clay's boot She'd dropped it to the floor before Lucian walked to the head of the bed and began to unbutton Clay's shirt. Meg pulled off Clay's sock and stared at the wide pink scar that circled his ankle.

"Dear God," Lucian whispered.

She jerked up her head. Lucian had unbuttoned Clay's shirt, and the sides had parted to reveal by the