One Wore Blue by Heather Graham

pebble landed with a little crack on the window. Kiernan stared down below.
    Now both faces were upturned to hers. Jesse was with his brother Daniel, and both were dressed in the uniforms of the United States cavalry. Both were wearing their handsome plumed hats, and both were grinning broadly at her. They were very much alike. Like Jesse, Daniel had the ebony-dark hair and near cobalt-blue eyes that ran in the Cameron family. His features, too, were similar—handsome, well defined. His mouth was full and sensual. He was several years younger than Jesse, though, and his shoulders were not quite as broad. His manner was lighter—dramatically gallant.He was Kiernan’s good friend, and she loved him, while Jesse … ah, Jesse!
    “Sh!” She brought her finger to her lip and shook her head when she realized that Daniel had a pebble, too, and was about to throw it up to her.
    She threw open the window and called down softly, “Stop the rocks!”
    “Then come down and let us in!” Daniel called. “There’s a nip in the air.”
    “It’s downright cold,” Jesse corrected, casting his brother a wry glance.
    Kiernan looked quickly over to Lacey, who was still sleeping soundly.
    Kiernan waved to the Cameron brothers—a wave that promised she’d be right down. Daniel grinned and gave her a thumbs-up sign. Jesse’s easy smile curved into his lip.
    Kiernan left the room behind, raced down the stairs to the back, and threw open the door.
    Daniel was just on the other side of it. He swept her up high into his arms and swung her around as he came into the narrow hallway. “My Lord, Kiernan!” he teased, setting her down at last. “Every time I see you, you get prettier, more grown up, more sophisticated, more elegant. More—”
    “Voluptuous?” Jesse suggested.
    Kiernan quickly cast him a glance. As he leaned in the doorway, there was definite amusement in his suggestion. His eyes flickered over her, and his glance instantly warmed her.
    His eyes could do things to her that actually seemed indecent.
    Yes, he had always liked to tease her. This afternoon, though, he hadn’t teased. He had gotten caught in his own fire, she realized, and that was why he had grown so very angry with her.
    They both realized it, she knew, as their eyes met and held.
    “Yes, voluptuous,” Daniel said. He laughed. “Forgive us, Miss Mackay,” he said, stepping back and sweeping off hishat to hold it to his heart. “We army men do have our failings. Days on the trail, and all that.”
    Kiernan tore her eyes from Jesse’s at last. “Days on the trail, indeed! Jesse came straight from a bar in Washington. What about you?”
    “I was at a party at a friend’s house when a messenger came from Jeb Stuart.” Stuart was a dashing young cavalry commander and a good friend of both Camerons. “He knew that Jesse had already been sent in, and that Jesse was concerned about you when he heard about the ruckus here.”
    “That’s what I imagined,” Kiernan said, looking from one to the other. “You’re both going to be with the troops challenging John Brown in the morning? Christa will be worried sick.” Christa was their sister, a year younger than Kiernan, the last of the immediate Cameron clan. Like Kiernan, she had trailed after Daniel as a child, and the three of them had always been very close.
    And a bit in awe of Jesse, although Daniel denied it. Now the brothers were thick as thieves, and no brothers could offer each other greater loyalty or friendship.
    “You wouldn’t have some apple pie here somewhere, would you? And some hot coffee for a frozen soul?”
    “We do happen to have apple pie,” Kiernan admitted to Daniel. “And I’ll make coffee. But don’t try to side-step the situation, Daniel Cameron.” She swirled around and headed for the kitchen, the brothers following behind her. They both took seats at the kitchen table and spread their long legs beneath it, as she started the coffee and placed the pie and plates and