I had no words. For some reason, my eyes went to the tuft of hair at her core, and I could see, even by the dim candlelight, that it matched the hair ...n her head, at least in colour. It seemed to be much curlier, and a little tangled, and I knew I wanted to touch it very soon.She stepped up to me, between my knees, then stopped. I was still focused on that auburn tangle of curls and couldn't resist as my hand came up to comb my fingers through them, gently smoothing them without actually. Nor was the guy he had discussed baseball with.It got late.His head started buzzing with the mellowing effects of his three whiskeys. He had spread them as thin as he could, and when he started sipping his fourth, he knew it ought to be his last.The bar was almost empty by now. The barman had started cleaning up in the way barmen do when they think you should finish your drink and leave.Jack sensed her perfume before he saw her.It was a sweet, rich scent. It made his nostrils flare, and his. I had been so busy, I did not see them ride in. The shot got my attention, and I shaded my eyes and peered toward the barn that was several hundred yards away, past a small copse of willows. Then I heard a whoop as the wind shifted and smelled gunpowder.I trotted back toward the house, running between fresh-plowed fields and trying the keep the barn's bulk between me and whatever was going on. Some men rode out as I got to the corner of the barn, and I saw they had three riderless horses with. ..Four precision shots with an unfamiliar and unsighted weapon. Who and what was this woman?!We ran forward. I grabbed the screaming rapist's hair and dragged him away from the prone girl. I doubted he could use a weapon, but I made sure he had nothing in his pants, shirt, or on the ground near him.Rachel was cuddling the sobbing woman. (She certainly was a woman!) When the sobs slowed, Rachel stated matter-of-factly, "I left the bastard alive for you. Do you want to off him, or shall I finish.