One Wore Blue by Heather Graham Page B

tomorrow!” he charged her firmly.
    “Jesse, darlin’, you do have the manners of an orangutan. Someone should take a horsewhip to you—sir!” she told him sweetly.
    “I mean it, Kiernan.”
    “So do I.”
    “I’ll find you if you’re out, I swear.”
    “A promise, Jesse, or a warning?”
    “A threat—and take it that way,” he advised. Then he smiled and lifted his hand to his hat in salute.
    The big roan swirled, and he was off into the night.
    “Jesse, take care!” she whispered softly. It was far too late. He was gone, and he never heard her words.
    Standing next to her in the moonlight, Daniel was still watching her. He shrugged, laughter in his eyes. “He has his way,” he told her, offering no explanation and certainly no apology.
    “Yes, he does. Oh, Daniel, do take care. Both of you.”
    “We will,” Daniel promised her. He hugged her again, then leaped up onto his mount, as comfortable on horseback as his brother was. He lifted his hat and waved to her. “Scrape up a good dinner for us tomorrow night, eh?”
    “I promise!” she called. “Daniel!”
    “Yes?”
    “See that you—that you and Jesse come to me as soon as you can!”
    “I will.”
    He waved, and rode into the night after his brother.
    Kiernan shivered fiercely, then hurried back inside. There was certainly no comfort in this night. She was suddenly very much alone. All the warmth had gone from the evening, and it was very chilly indeed.
    And like Jesse, she was afraid.
    Of love—and war.

Five
    Jesse hadn’t ridden more than a minute or two before Daniel was beside him, watching him and about to say something.
    Because of the way that they had left Kiernan, he thought.
    No, because of the way that
he
had left Kiernan.
    It was probably a good thing that Daniel hadn’t been around during the day, Jesse reflected. He’d be fielding questions right and left if he had.
    But now he was in for some brotherly concern no matter what, Jesse realized.
    “You’re awfully quiet, Jess,” Daniel told him.
    “Reckon so,” Jesse murmured. He knew darned well that Daniel wasn’t going to leave an answer like that alone.
    “Because of tomorrow and John Brown? Or because of Kiernan?”
    Jesse cast him a quick glance and discovered that his brother’s eyes were dancing. Maybe Daniel had seen a lot more over the years than Jesse had imagined. Maybe there was more to see than he had even seen himself.
    Who was he kidding? There had always been something about Kiernan. Even as a child, she’d had the most extraordinary eyes, green eyes that defied and challenged and laughed and dared.
    By ten, she’d had a certain way of walking. Jesse remembered feeling darned sorry for her father because she hadbecome such a brazen little piece of Tidewater baggage so quickly. Kiernan was beautiful, and Kiernan could steal the heart and soul and taunt the body. But she was also proud and stubborn, and no one was ever going to sway her mind.
    She could play and she could tease, but she did so only within the bounds of propriety. Naturally, she liked attention. She could flirt with the best of them, but she was certainly no sweet and naive creature—she had her opinions about life and about her place within it, and she never minded voicing them.
    He knew her so well, Jesse thought, because he’d watched her for years from Cameron Hall. He’d watched with definite amusement when she was little. She’d always had her way. She was sometimes gentle, sometimes kind, but always proud, and always inquisitive about the world around her. She had been quick to test her powers, and she had been very quick to realize that she was a woman in a society where women were born to be revered. She was just as quick to understand her father’s business, but she still loved to dance and to ride, casting aside her cloak of innocent femininity when necessary, donning it again when it was convenient. She was a little witch in her own way, Jesse thought. But she was all