"Is that true?"  Ben addressed Hoss and Little Joe instead of Adam. 

Little Joe and Hoss hadn't said much of anything since the whole thing started.  They were in awe of the woman who hollered like a man and in shock because of the uncharacteristic anger of their brother.  Finally Joe nodded his head.  "Ya, Pa, that's how it happened."

Ben raised an eyebrow at Adam but before he could say anything the tall cowboy, who rode up with Ben, started laughing.  "Now Ben don't get too mad at him.  I know Cheyenne and she ain't always the most agreeable person you could come in contact with."

The man dismounted off of his horse and walked over to where Ben and Cheyenne were standing.  He spoke like very well educated man but he looked like a native.  He had two long braids on either side of his head and he had the dark skin of a Cheyenne Indian but he wore white man's clothes.  He put his hand on Cheyenne's shoulder and laughed at her look of fury.

"Are you taking his side?"  She shot at him.

"There are no sides." 

"Don't treat me like I'm a child."  Cheyenne whispered to him.

"Then don't act like one."  He said as he leaned down to her ear.  The moment that he whispered those words Cheyenne drew herself up strait and appeared calm.  Only her angry eyes betrayed her stone face.  "Ben," He turned his attention to toward the other men.  "This is my niece Cheyenne.  Cheyenne this is an old friend of my Ben Cartwright and his sons.  I am sorry I don't know which son is which."  He smiled friendly.

"Oh, forgive me."  Ben offered quickly.  "Jake this is Little Joe, Hoss and Adam."  He pointed to the men respectively.  "Boys this is Jake Blue Eagle Harris."

"You can call me Jake."  He offered as he shook the boy's hands.  "I guess that Cheyenne already introduced herself to you."

Hoss and Little Joe smiled politely; Adam's expression remained stone cold.  Ben sighed deeply.  "You know what Jake.  Why don't you, your family, and of course Cheyenne, come over for dinner tomorrow?"

"Thank you but we will--" Cheyenne began.

"We'd love to."  Jake finished and again ignored Cheyenne's look of fury.  "And we'll bring that liniment over for Adam's horse."

"It won't work.  His leg will have to soak tonight."  Cheyenne said pointedly. 

"Then why don't you go ahead and take Sport for the night."  Ben said, smiling.  They had to extinguish this volatile situation between the angry young people without making them even more angry.  "You can bring him back tomorrow when you come over for dinner."

"What?!"  Adam burst to life.  "No.  I can take care of my own horse.  I don't need some woman telling me how to do it."

"You needed this woman telling you that your horse, which you were riding at the time, had picked up a stone."  She shot back.

"That sounds like a good idea Ben."  Jake said over Cheyenne's head.  "And so that Adam doesn't have to double up with one of you.  He can ride back Artemis."  He patted the dark horse's head.  He knew what Ben was trying to do and he was going to help as much a possible.

"No.  I'm not going to let that insensitive boob ride one of my horses, let alone have her over night." 

"I don't want to ride that bag of bones anyway."  Adam told her.

"Bag of bones!"  Her mouth flew open and shock registered on her face.  "You clod.  You wouldn't know a good horse if one kicked you in the head."

Adam ignored her.  She had already caused him to embarrass himself in front of his father and brothers.  "And what will she ride if I take her horse?"  He asked Jake.

But Cheyenne chimed in.  "I don't need a saddle.  I'm could ride up, down, over, under, and around you saddle or no saddle.  But you are not taking one of my horses!"

"Then it's settled."  Jake said.  "Adam will ride Artemis and Cheyenne will ride Zeus.  We will take Sport with us.  Then we well exchange the horses at dinner tomorrow.  I'll bring the wife and kids."

"No."  Adam and Cheyenne said together.  They were both ignored.  Ben through Sport's reins to Jake and Jake walked over to Artemis.  Cheyenne held the reins tightly, Jake gave her a harsh look and took the reins and gave them to Ben.

"See you tomorrow, Ben."  Jake said.  "Nice to meet you boys."  He walked back to his horse and mounted up he took Sport and tethered the horse to his horse's saddle horn.

"Bye, Jake, Cheyenne."  Ben said and got on his own horse.  Little Joe and Hoss followed suit. 

Jake turned his horse and headed back to Cheyenne's land.  Ben and his two youngest boys turned back to their land.  Adam and Cheyenne were left glaring at each other.  In Adam's hands Artemis' reins in Cheyenne's the Zeus' lead rope. 

"Look's like we don't have a choice."  He said coolly and studied his adversary carefully.  Her firey eyes glared at him and her lips were turned down in a frown making the dimples on either side of her mouth long and deep.  He studied the way that her full bottom lip sort of jutted out in an angry pout.  She looked like a cross between an angry little girl and a very irate woman.  It was an interesting contradiction.  For the second time that day he realized that he had missed what she said because he was staring at her.

"You hurt my horse I'll break your neck."  She said softly and threateningly as she watched his reaction.  His big brown eyes seemed bottomless as she stared at them.  Her eyes moved down his face and watched his lips twitch in amusement.  She felt her body grow warm; she assumed from anger.  But there was something disconcerting about it.  She walked over to Zeus and threw herself on the big, white, stallion.  It pranced around impatiently.  "Remember Cartwright.  Your neck."  And she rode off after Jake.

"I hate that girl."  Adam whispered to himself.  "I really do."  He almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.  With a quick shake of his head he mounted the black mare that was left to him.  It really was a good horse he could tell that as it moved under him as he rode to meet up with the rest of his family.  Already he could see the disappointed look on his father's face and his animosity toward Cheyenne was restored.

Chapter 2

"I don't want to do this."  Cheyenne told her uncle as they made their way to the Cartwright's home the next day.  Yesterday after the meeting with the Cartwrights Cheyenne and Blue Eagle had had their argument. 

When her father, Runs with Horses, died almost two months ago, Cheyenne decided that it was time for her to settle down.  All her life she moved from one town to the next.  People not like her and her family because they were part Cheyenne or the Cheyenne not liking them because they were part white.  For a moment they had been happy in a tiny Cheyenne village in the Dakotas but then the fever came and killed almost everyone.  The Cheyenne people that survive joined a larger tribe that didn't accept Cheyenne, her uncle, her aunt, or her surviving cousins. 

Cheyenne decided that she would venture off on her own.  Live away from a town, raise her horses, and ignore people.  Only her uncle decided to join her.  Apparently at twenty-one she wasn't able to take care of herself.  He was the one that found the Campbell place.  He was the one that got the amazing deal on it.  He was the one that went with her to sign the papers.  But it was her money, her signature, and her name that went into the official documents.  She owned the Campbell place, renamed it Olympus.  It was hers.  She hired her uncle on as her foreman and her aunt the cook but they all lived like on big happy family.  She was going to have a great horse farm one day.  People would come from all over to have one of her horses.

In the beginning she wondered how her uncle found the place but she was so happy to have something that she just ignored.  Now she knew, he had friends here.  People to baby-sit her.  And when they were alone her fury knew no bounds.  She yelled about the fact he lied to her when he said that there was no special reason for moving here.  She yelled about the fact that he gave away her horse.  She yelled about the fact that he undermined her authority.  It was her life and she didn't want him running it.

"I don't want to go."  She repeated again.

Her uncle looked up from the road as he drove the carriage along.  "I know that.  You've been saying that since we left."  Inside he smiled.  Cheyenne was just like her father.  His brother, Samuel Runs with Horses, was always losing his temper and could hold a grudge longer than any man alive.  He almost felt a little sorry for Adam Cartwight because Cheyenne had been talking about how much she hated him all day.  That poor man wasn't about to know what hit him.  He looked over at his wife and smiled.

Elsa knew Cheyenne very well.  She was the only mother that Cheyenne had ever known and Cheyenne was like another daughter to her.  When Cheyenne's father and Elsa's two youngest children died from the fever they cried on each other's shoulders.  When Jake found a place for Cheyenne to buy Elsa saw the light that came back to Cheyenne's eyes.  Elsa knew Cheyenne as well as she knew any of her biological children and the Cheyenne that came back yesterday wasn't the Cheyenne that Elsa knew.  All Cheyenne had done since yesterday was talk about how much she hated this Adam man.  If she didn't know better Elsa would think that every time that Cheyenne said that she hated this man she was really trying to convince herself.  All of a sudden a small smile appeared on Elsa's face and she looked at Cheyenne in a new light.

"Cheyenne I don't know why you're complaining.  We are going to have dinner with three, single, rich men."  A light voice said from behind Cheyenne. 

"I'm complaining."  Cheyenne began slowly and turned Zeus around so that she was facing her cousin.  "Because I don't care how rich or how single Adam Cartwright is.  I don't want anything to do with him or his family."  She glared at her cousin who was sitting so prettily on the carriage. 

Rosalynn smiled beautifully at her cousin.  "You needn't get so angry.  I was just stating my opinion." 

To the world Rosalynn was one of the most beautiful woman that had ever graced the country.  Jake was half Cheyenne, just like Cheyenne's father and Elsa was white.  Rosalynn had inherited some of her father's darkness along with her mother's paleness.  She was short, with long, curly, brown hair, big brown eyes, and thin red lips.  At sixteen she was very thin with creamy white skin.  Her fragile bird like appearance earned her the name Little Dove among the Cheyenne people.  To Cheyenne she was amazingly arrogant and sometimes insipid.

"The two of you can quit arguing, we are already there."  Jake called.

"Hello."  Ben called as he walked outside.  Little Joe and Hoss followed close behind him.  "Is this your family?"  He asked as he helped Elsa out of the carriage.

"Yes, this is my wife Elsa and our daughter Rosalynn."  Jake answered him.

Little Joe and Hoss stood staring up a Rosalynn with shocked looks on their faces.  This woman was beautiful.  Recovering their shock they rushed to the side of the carriage to help her out. 

As the sound of Rosalynn's musical laughter reached Cheyenne's ears her gag reflex kicked in.  She dismounted and untied Sport from the back of the carriage.  The liniment had worked.  Though the leg would be bruised for a few more days there wasn't any swelling.  Quickly she scanned the area and breathed a sigh of relief that Adam was no where in sight.  Maybe he decided to skip this meal.  "Mr. Cartwright I'm going to put Sport up.  He belongs in the barn, right?"

"Yes fourth stall on the right."  Ben said as he watched Cheyenne walk away.  "She still looks angry."  He told Jake.

"Yes, well I'm afraid that she didn't take trading horses to well.  In fact coming over here wasn't exactly on her things to do list."  Jake confessed.

"Same with Adam.  He didn't say a word all last night and he disappeared sometime after lunch today.  I don't think that he is to happy about tonight."  He said as Jake laughed.  "Being that rude to a woman is not like Adam at all.  I'm am dreadfully sorry about the way that he behave toward Cheyenne."

"I could say the same about Cheyenne, except for the fact that Cheyenne somehow manages to argues with everyone on a regular basis.  Although I don't think that anyone has got under her skin the way that your son has.  She's been complaining about tonight for as long as I can remember."

 "Those two are going to kill each other or die trying."  Ben said.  "I had a chance to look at that horse that Adam rode over here.  You really have a great horse there."

"Not my horse, Cheyenne's horse.  She takes care of all of them.  She want's to turn Olympus into the best horse farm in the country.  And with the line she had started it might not be an all together crazy notion."

With a shut of the stall door Cheyenne looked wistfully at Sport in his stall.  The big horse seemed to sense that she was upset and he walked over and nudged her with his nose.  She laughed quietly.  "How about I stay out here in the barn and you go in and have dinner?"  She asked as she rubbed the horse's nose.

"I don't think that Sport would fit at our dinning room table."  A voice came from behind her.

Quickly Cheyenne turned toward the voice her mouth open in surprise.  When she saw the man in black leaning casually against a stall.  His calm air annoyed her.  Her mouth closed and formed a thin line and her eyes studied him warily.

Adam watched the dimples on her cheeks deepen in frustration.  Her eyes held the look of an unbroken colt, wild and wary.  When he first walked into the barn he didn't notice whom it was that was talking to his horse all he saw was a long black braid, a curvy backside, and he heard melodic laughter.  Now that he knew who it was, the rational part of brain told the irrational part not to think what it was thinking.  Unfortunately his eyes were controlled by the irrational.  They raked over her body taking in every inch of her ending finally at the large blue-green eyes that were studying him.  Framed by short, dark, lashes they seemed to envelop her whole face.

The way that Adam was looking at her caused Cheyenne to become nervous.  She felt her body heat up and her palms sweat.  "Cartwight."  She said solemnly and nodded to him.  "Go head check the leg if you want."

He walked past her and into the stall and bent down to examine Sport's leg.  It was still tender to the touch but remarkably there was no swelling.  Giving the horse a friendly pat he looked over at Cheyenne intending to swallow his pride and congratulate her but the confident smile on her face annoyed him so much that he just couldn't.  "It's fine I guess."  He said as he tried to remain calm but he watched anger entered her eyes.  In an odd way it was kind of fun to watch her get mad.

"I guess not everyone is man enough to admit when they are wrong."  She said just loudly enough for Adam to hear her and then pretended to ignore what she said.  "Where's my horse?"

For the sake of the rest of the evening Adam tried to ignore the slight to his manhood, it wasn't easy.  "She's outside in the corral."  He told her and then followed her outside.

When she got to the corral Cheyenne surveyed the horses.  All in all there were seven including Artemis.  It was easy to pick Artemis out of the bunch.  The black mare was easily the tallest.  She watched the other six Ponderosa horses run around.  Cheyenne thinned her lips and let out a short, sharp whistle.  Immediately Artemis broke away from the group and walked over to Cheyenne.  Playfully the dark horse butted her head against Cheyenne.  "Hey pretty girl."  She told the horse.

"I'm guessing that my neck will still remain intact now that you've seen that she's okay."  Adam said sarcastically.

"This time Cartwright, this time."  She said lowly.  They hadn't noticed that the rest of the party had come up behind them. 

"Fine stock."  Ben said as he leaned against the fence and studied his horses.  "What do you think?"

"That's a bad idea."  Jake said as soon as the words were out of Ben's mouth.

"What do you mean?"  Ben asked.  He just assumed that Jake would say what everyone else had.  Ben paid good money for those horses.  Just then Cheyenne jumped over the railing into the corral.  "What is she doing?"

"You asked what she thought and now she's going to tell you."  Elsa told Ben. 

"What do you mean?"  Hoss asked.  He, Adam, his father, and Jake were all leaning against the fence.  Little Joe was to busy staring at Rosalynn to know what was going on.  "She's going to get hurt with all those horses."

"Don't worry about her.  She knows what she's doing."  Jake said and watched his niece.  "You are about to see something amazing."

Cheyenne walked into the herd of horses who scattered as she approached.  With an appraising eyes she watched as the horses move.  With in a few seconds they stopped running around and watched her worriedly.  She took of her hat and walked to the group of three horses that congregated on the far corner of the corral.  With a quick wave of the hat the horses scattered.  She watched the way that they scattered.

Then a horse caught her eyes.  It was a tiny dapple gray colt.  She moved her head from side to side as she watched Cheyenne approach.  "Hey there boy."  Her voice was soothing has she approached the horse.  The horse accepted her touch and she studied it carefully. 

"Well Mr. Cartwright I would have to say that all in all you're horses are average.  They will be just fine for ranch work.  That roan colt will be a good cutter his strides are quick and sure.  You are going to have some problems with the two chestnuts that run together.  They will have a problem with napping; they won't want to leave the heard.  The palomino is your alpha of the group.  Watch out for shying with the sorrel with the blaze."

"What about the gray?"  Ben said.  He was really surprised at the knowledge that Cheyenne seemed to possess.  But he wasn't really happy that she said that his horses were only average.

"The gray?"  She said as she watched the gray colt walked around the corral.  "I'll buy the gray from you."  She smiled.

Adam made an odd noise in surprise and Ben smiled.  He appreciated a person who knew horses and a person who knew business.  Ben knew that the gray was a good horse and he was glad that Cheyenne noticed too.  Too many people would have picked the palomino because it was the obvious leader in the heard but Cheyenne didn't need another alpha horse.  Yes, the gray was the good choice.  "We'll talk business after dinner." 

"Why are you talking business with her?"  Adam asked.  To him, the idea of a girl, owning a farm let alone buying a horse was so foreign that he couldn't even comprehend it.  He just assumed that Jake owned the farm and Cheyenne lived with him.  "Jake is right there."

Jake looked over at Cheyenne and he could already see the fire burning in her eyes.  Normally it made her mad when someone questioned her ability to run a farm but when Adam questioned her it was going to be a thousand times worse.  She already didn't care for Adam and now that he had questioned her ability to run a farm, all hell was about to break lose if he didn't step in.  "It's Cheyenne's farm, I'm the foreman." 

"What?"  Adam asked his eyes wide with shock but a musical laughter stopped him before he could continue.  Then out from behind Little Joe stepped on of the most beautiful women that Adam had ever seen.  Long, curly, dark hair, big, brown eyes, pale skin, thin body, and barely tall enough to see over the side of a horse.  His mouth flew open and his eyes grew wide. 

Rosalynn studied the man in black since he stepped out of the barn with Cheyenne.  She knew from the way that the men around her talked that this was the oldest son Adam.  And she also knew that the oldest son was responsible for everything when the father passed on and judging the Ponderosa that meant an awful lot.  Something else that intrigued Rosalynn was the fact that the whole time that Adam and her cousin had been outside his eyes hadn't once strayed from Cheyenne.  A man that didn't seem to notice her piqued her interest even more.  She laughed again.  "Yes, Mr. Cartwright."  Rosalynn said and lowered her eyes demurely.  "My cousin does in fact own her own farm."

"Rosalynn."  Elsa started warningly.  She had no misgivings about her daughter.  Rosalynn was beautiful, that was true but she was insanely jealous of anyone that stole attention from her.  And frequently Cheyenne took that attention merely by being herself.  If it were up to Rosalynn the world would exist only to tell her that she was beautiful and wait on her hand and foot.  If it were up to Cheyenne the world would consist of her and her horses, that complete indifference to anyone else made everyone want to get her attention.  Frequently that brought the two at odds with one another.

"Shut up, Rosalynn."  Cheyenne said.

"Sometimes I think that I have more of a boy cousin than a girl cousin."  Rosalynn laughed and looked over at Cheyenne, who was glaring at her.

Adam looked down at the beautiful woman on his arm.  Finally someone thought the way that he did.  All of the rest of his family thought that Cheyenne Harris hung the moon.  Joe kept saying that she was beautiful.  Hoss couldn't stop talking about the way that she saw that Sport had a stone in his hoof from the faint track that Adam left and how good she seem to be with horses.  His dad had told Adam how disappointed that he was in him.  He told Adam that she was just a girl and that there was no reason that Adam should have gotten so worked up and acted like a little boy.  Adam tried to tell his father that it wasn't that and she wasn't like any girl they knew.  When he looked at Cheyenne he couldn't seem to think strait and all that confusion just seem to come out as anger.  As he looked at Rosalynn he saw that she that she was as confused about Cheyenne as he was and was reacting the same way.  He saw an ally.

"Rosalynn."  Cheyenne warned again.

"I mean when she comes in at night it's hard to tell that there is still a girl under all that stench.  I mean I don't know how she stands all the horse manure and dirt."  Adam let a small chuckle out and that was all that Rosalynn needed to keep going.  "I bet that she doesn't even own a skirt."  That was too much for Adam to take.  He started laughing a deep loud laugh and soon Rosalynn's musical laughter joined his.

The sound of their joined laughter grated on her ears so much that Cheyenne couldn't hear her brain tell her temper to calm down.  When her eyes looked at the two of them laughing together they started to burn.  Embarrassment flooded her cheeks with redness.  Suddenly she couldn't handle it anymore; she launched her body into the air and directly at Rosalynn. 

The events that followed happened so fast that looking back Ben Cartwright really couldn't tell you what happened.  As Cheyenne jumped at Rosalynn, the little woman moved behind Adam for protection.  Adam caught Cheyenne against his chest as she leapt for Rosalynn.  The angry Cheyenne struggled against Adam but he just held on tighter.  "Let me go!"  She yelled and clawed at his arms.

"Calm down!"  He ordered his mouth next to her ear.

"Cartwright, you let me go right now!"  Cheyenne pulled her feet up and let him support her entire body weight on his chest hoping that the added weight would make him drop her.  It was a trick that she used often when Blue Eagle caught her up like that; it always worked.  Except this time it didn't work, Adam Cartwright didn't even blink when she did that; he just kept his grip around her.  "I mean it!  Let me go!"

"Adam, you let her go this instant."  Ben told his son. 

"Cheyenne stop it this second."  Jake told Cheyenne as she continued to struggle. 

After a few moments Cheyenne let her body go limp and then Adam loosened his grip on her.  As soon as she could she jumped away from Adam and turned to glared at him.  Rosalynn peaked her head out from behind Adam and had a self-satisfied smile on her face.  She knew how to push Cheyenne's buttons and was glad that she did it in front of all of the Cartwrights.  Now Adam saw how her wild cousin behaved he wouldn't look at her twice.  "Cheyenne!"  She put on a surprised face and looked at her cousin in shock.

"Adam?"  Little Joe stared wide-eyed at his older brother.  He didn't understand this new adolescence that his brother kept exhibiting. 

 "Joe."  Ben said warily.

"Rosalynn."  Elsa told her daughter and gave her a stern look and then turned her attention back to Cheyenne and Adam who were glaring at each other, their breaths coming raggedly. 

Instead of facing the situation that was at hand Ben just decided to ignore it.  He cleared his throat.  "I'm sure that dinner is ready by now.  Why don't we all go inside?" 

"That sounds like a good idea, Ben."  Jake said and took his wife's arm.  "Let's go."  Elsa shook her head and stood next to Cheyenne.  Jake nodded and followed Ben into the house.  Little Joe looked at Hoss and they both shrugged their shoulders and walked inside.  Rosalynn gave her cousin a smug smile and waited for Adam to offer her, his arm. 

But Adam wasn't paying attention to Rosalynn; he was looking at Cheyenne with a mixture of anger and confusion.  For some reason his body was reacting to the way that Cheyenne had been held against him.  His palms were sweating, his breath was ragged, and there was an odd heat that was radiating though out his bones.  It couldn't be because of her, it just couldn't.  He hated her.  There wasn't anything else.  Right?  No, it just had to be the fact that she, despite all of her attitude and rudeness, was in fact a woman that had been pressed against him.  His eyes raked over her body, very much a woman.  He remembered her curves against him, her softness despite all her seeming hardness, her passion as she fought him, and contrary to the way that Rosalynn described she smell fresh like the mountains in the spring.  With a quick shake of his head he tried to wipe away the thoughts that he was having.  It had simply been a long time since he had been near any women his body was just reacting to the closeness.  The sound of a voice being cleared drew his attention.  He looked down to see the beautiful woman from earlier waiting for his arm.  With one last look at Cheyenne he took Rosalynn's arm and walked inside.

The moment that Adam and Rosalynn disappeared inside Cheyenne let out the breath that she had been holding for some time.  With the release of the tension that she was holding on to, to keep her edge with Adam came the release of all of her strength.  She began to draw in deep, raking breaths and fought the lump of emotion that was fighting to come up.  "I hate her."  Cheyenne told Elsa.  "I'm sorry but I do."  Her hands went to her knees and she hunched over still trying to catch her breath.  "And he's not any better!"

Elsa walked over to Cheyenne and put her hand on Cheyenne's back.  "Let it out, sugar." 

"Why did she do that to me?"  She stood up and looked at Elsa.  "Why do I react like that to her?  You know if I ever get a hold of her she might not see the end of it."

She couldn't help it; Elsa let a little giggle escape.  When Cheyenne gave her an accusing look Elsa stopped.  "I'm sorry.  But she's so jealous of you."

With astonished eyes, Cheyenne looked up at Elsa.  "What?  She's not jealous of me.  Why would she be?  She so beautiful.  Everywhere she goes people ohh and ahh over her.  Like she said I smell like dirt and horses.  No one even notices I'm alive around her.  And the way that Cartwright fell all over himself to protect her I wanted to throw up.  Who does he think he is a knight of the round table?  You know I think that he might have broken on of my ribs.  I hate him.  I really do.  She's not jealous of me, she just wanted to prove to everyone that she's a delicate angel."

"She jealous of you the same way that you are jealous of her."

"I am not."

Elsa smiled sympathetically.  "It's okay.  Sure she's frilly and doll-like.  Rosalynn loves for people to admire her.  And you don't understand that part of her but there is something about it that you want.  You are free and wild.  You get men to talk to you like you are part of the same crowd.  Rosalynn doesn't understand that but there is some part of her that wants that." 

"How did you get to be so smart?"  Cheyenne asked after a moment.

"Watching two young girls grow up fighting you start to understand what makes them tick."  She put her arm around Cheyenne and they faced the door to the Cartwright's home.  "Come on lets go inside and show that Adam Cartwright that you aren't afraid of him."

"I'm not afraid of him.  He's arrogant, self-centered, rude, condescending, and insufferable.  I think that he and Rosalynn deserve each other."  She said.  "I hate him."

A slow easy smile appeared on Elsa's face.  "Poor Cheyenne."  She thought to herself.  "I don't know if she is trying to convince me or herself."  The walked inside and to the dinner table.  A little glow of pride grew inside her as she watched Cheyenne straighten her shoulders and walk toward the table.

Inside of Cheyenne was completely terrified.  All of the people sitting at the table were staring at her.  Jake was sympathetic, Ben gave her a soft smile, Hoss looked at her with a face of open kindness, and Joe even gave her a slight wink.  That took care of most of the table.  Then she turned to look at Rosalynn.  Her beautiful face was twisted into a smug smile.  Cheyenne couldn't look any further.  She couldn't look at anyone else.  She couldn't bring herself to face Adam.  Elsa walked in and took her seat next to Jake and Cheyenne looked around wondering where she should sit.

"Cheyenne there is a seat right over here."  Hoss said and slapped the chair next to him. 

Cheyenne shot him a grateful look and went and took her seat next to him.  Careful to keep her eyes from straying up to Adam.

If she had looked up at Adam she would have been surprised at what she saw.  Adam didn't know it but he was staring at Cheyenne the way that a starving cat stares at a saucer of milk.  When she walk in after the incident outside her shoulders were back, here eyes were clear, and a look of confidence that was unshakable.  Any man who had just gotten into a fight with is own family in front of neighbors would at least have the decency to look embarrassed, but not Cheyenne.  She tossed her hair over shoulder and sat down at the table.  When Cheyenne looked up and smiled at Hoss, Adam tried to fight the urge to jump over the table and stab Hoss with is fork. 

Dinner was quiet and uneventful.  Cheyenne chatted with Hoss and Ben.  She teased Little Joe and Jake.  They talked about horses and cattle.  They talked about different ways to grow oats and wheat.  Everyone had a rousing good time.  That is everyone except Adam.  While Cheyenne talked to the table she excluded Adam and Rosalynn.  As far as she was concerned they didn't exist and that was how the dinner went.

Chapter 3

"Blue Eagle?"  Cheyenne called to the empty house.  When the moved on to Olympus Cheyenne used the money that her father left her to fix up the main house and the barn.  Blue Eagle decided that he didn't want to live in the main house so he started building another house about and acre away from the main house.  She couldn't find Jake in the main house so she decided to walk to where the new house was going up.  Elsa and Rosalynn had gone to Virginia City to get some fabric so that Rosalynn could have some knew dresses.

A week after diner with the Cartwright's passed without any other huge incidents.  Cheyenne spent most of her time with her horses.  She had a big chestnut mare named Hestia overdue with her first foal and Cheyenne was very worried.  The foal was in so long that there might be complications with the birth.  This foal was important; it represented the beginning of Cheyenne's dream and the beginning of Olympus.  Little Joe and Hoss stopped by a few days ago to admire Cheyenne's horses and to her surprise she found herself enjoying their company.  Hoss enjoyed horses almost as much as she did and Little Joe was simply fun to be around. 

She continued to walk over to the new house and passed the small corral that held the gray that she had bought from Ben.  As she walked to the fence she clucked her tongue to make a cherpy noise and watched as the colt trotted forward.  He was almost two year's old and still somewhat small for his age but Cheyenne wasn't worried.  For his size his muscle density was excellent.  As he grew up if she worked him right she would make a fine runner.  Then she would breed him against one of her bigger mares with size and produce a fine foal.  She rubbed the gray's noise and smiled as he licked the salt off her palm.  She chose Hermes for his name.  "Hey boy."  She said happily.  "Have you seen Blue Eagle?"  The horse neighed.  "Ya, I didn't think so."

"Blue Eagle."  She called as she entered the framework house.  There was still no sign of him anywhere.  "I wonder where he is?"  Cheyenne asked the wind and then decided to just give up on looking.  She would just go and check on Hestia again. 

"Adam did you take care of those ruffians in the north pasture?"  Ben asked his son.  For a few days now they had had some trouble with a gang of men who were camping in the north ridge.  He had gotten word that they might be stealing cattle so he sent Adam and a group of hands to kick them off the ranch.

"Ya.  Do you remember Donny Crawford?  He's about the same age that I am and used to live here."  Adam asked.

"I think I do."  Ben said and tried to put a face with the name that Adam said.

"Wait a minute Adam."  Hoss interrupted.  "Wasn't that that guy that tried to take Jessica Burke from you?"

Adam nodded.  "The very same.  Anyway he was one of the men in that group.  And it doesn't look like he's changed his ways and become an ol' softy.  In fact, when I told him to move along he cussed a blue streak that would make a sailor blush."  Then he noticed that his father and brother's horses were all saddled and they looked like they were about to head out.  "Where are you going?"

"Got to go into town to check and see if the supplies I ordered came in."  Ben said.

"I'm going to help him."  Hoss chimed in.  "And you know why Joe is going already."

"I resent that."  Joe told him.  They all laughed.

"You are welcome to come along."  Ben told his son.

"No, I've got some work I need to do here."  And he waved as they rode off.

When Cheyenne saw the empty corral she began to panic.  They had to put Hestia in a small corral by herself to keep an eye on her so that they would be ready when she was ready to foal.  And now Cheyenne was looking into an empty enclosure.  The first thought that came to her mind was that Blue Eagle moved Hestia into the barn because she was going to foal.  But as she ran to the barn she realized that it was a long shot at best.  First of all he would have told Cheyenne if it was happening and second of all there wasn't a reason to move her.  Natural births were healthier.  When Cheyenne saw the empty barn she almost cried.  Instead she ran back to the corral and tried to figure out what happened.  That's when she saw it.  The gate was opened.  Obviously whoever was the last person in the corral didn't latch it properly.  Hestia could be anywhere and she was alone.  She was going to need more manpower.  If Cheyenne lost this foal she didn't know what she was going to do.

She saddled Zeus faster than she ever had before and rode of in the direction of the Ponderosa.  Surely Little Joe and Hoss would help and maybe Ben would know where Blue Eagle was.  She made it to the Ponderosa in record time but there didn't seem to be anyone around.  "Hoss!  Joe!"  She yelled but no one showed up.  Then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned Zeus to face the man that was coming.  The same moment that her eyes saw whom it was her spirits sank to the floor.

Adam heard the panicked voice from inside the barn.  He was talking to some of the hands about the cattle grazing on the south ridge.  Immediately he ran out of the barn to the sound of the voice, three men followed.  When he saw Cheyenne he knew something was wrong and tried to ignore the way that her face sank when she saw the he wasn't on of his brothers.  "What's wrong?"  He asked.  If someone was in trouble their petty squabbling couldn't get in the way.

"Where's Hoss and Joe?  Have you seen Blue Eagle?"  She demanded.  She didn't have time for this.

"Hoss and Joe rode into town.  I saw Jake this morning.  He said that he was going hunting."  Adam answered still wanting to know what was going on. 

"Damn."  She said to herself.

"What's going on?" 

Well she should tell him; maybe he could ask some of his men to help.  "I've got a missing mare."  She said bluntly.

"Is that all?"  One of the hands said.

"You know women, they overreact about everything."  Another chimed in.

"Shut up."  Adam ordered before Cheyenne could let lose the anger that she was about too.  He and Cheyenne didn't see eye to eye on everything but he knew that when it came to horses, especially her horses, she didn't mess around.  "What's wrong?"

Involuntarily she shot him a grateful look and continued with her story.  "She is overdue and we had her locked up because we needed to keep and eye on her.  I'm afraid that the baby might be breech.  I think that she might have run off to foal.  I can't lose them.  I was hoping that Hoss and Joe could help me look but it's fine.  I'll go by myself."

Ignoring the hurt and anger that he felt because she didn't think him as qualified as his brothers to help her with her search, Adam began spitting out instructions.  "You three go north, east, and west.  Find another man take him with you.  No one ride's alone.  I want someone to be able to ride and tell me if you find something."  Then he turned back to Cheyenne.  "What does she look like?"

Cheyenne was to shocked to say anything.  Where had this take charge attitude come from?  She always thought of him as a sniveling boy.  Then she realized that he was asking her something and responded to the question.  "Big chestnut, one white right fore leg, and a white blaze."

"Okay lets go.  We are going to take the south.  Remember if you find anything, one of you come and tell me."  He ordered and the cowboys went on their way.  Quickly Adam mounted Sport and was ready to go.  "Let's go."

"What?  Shouldn't we split up and cover more ground?"  She asked still not sure what was going on.

"No.  I know the area better than you do.  And if anyone finds anything they are coming to me.  You should be with me so that we don't have to go looking for you."  He explained.

"All right, Cartwright but I don't like it."  She said and rode off with Adam at her heels.  They rode along the south ridge of the Ponderosa and onto Cheyenne's land.  When they were out in the middle of no where Cheyenne finally decided to speak.  "I figure that she will head for denser woods.  When we lived up north, we would let the horses run because there was no one else around and I would always find Hestia in the woods."

"Zeus, Hestia, Artemis, Olympus?"  He questioned.

"I have a passion for Greek mythology."  She said almost sheepishly.  With a gentle kick she urged Zeus up a small hill. 

"So what did you name the gray?"  Adam asked still surprised that he was having a conversation with Cheyenne that didn't involve yelling. 

"Hermes."

"God of speed."  Cheyenne nodded.  "So you think that he is going to live up to that name?"  He wondered aloud. 

"Yes.  If I work him right."  She answered and then looked down at the ground.  It was muddy and had very distinct hoof prints in it.  "Look at that."  And started to follow the trail.

Adam urged Sport on behind her and kept on her tail until they came to a clearing.  He watched Cheyenne turn Zeus in a circle and stare at the ground critically.  "Anything?"

"She's around here."  Cheyenne told as she dismounted and studied the ground closer.  Then let out a short, chirpy whistle.  The forest was still silent.  Then she let out another.  And strained her ears to hear anything.  This time there was a soft neighing of in the distance.  "There."

"How do you know that it's Hestia?"  Adam questioned and immediately regretted it after the look that Cheyenne gave him.

"I know all my horses."

"And do you have a different whistle for each of them?"  He asked without conscious thought.

"What?"  She asked totally boggled by what he was saying.

He stopped and thought for a minute.  "Well when you were over for dinner you made a different noise for Artemis than you used now." 

"You noticed that?"  She said wondrously.  "I don't think that anybody besides Blue Eagle ever noticed that."

The intimacy of what he had just said affected him in such a way that he tried to retreat out of it.  "Well it was just obvious."  Adam pulled his horse along side a large, deep, puddle of muddy water that only dried up in the late summer when it was extraordinarily hot.  When he was younger, he and his brothers would come here and get into mud fights.

"Look there across the way there."  Cheyenne said.  There on the other side of the pond of muck was a large chestnut horse staring at them.  Quickly she let out the chirpy whistle and saw the horse bounce her head up and down.  "It's Hestia.  But she's already foaled."

"You can tell from here."  Adam asked astonished.  He could see the horse but he couldn't tell that it had foaled.

"Trust me she was really big before."  Cheyenne gave him a little smile.  "But I don't see the baby."  Her eyes frantically searched the area for a sign of the colt.  Something in the middle of that muddy puddle caught her eye.  "Oh god."  She breathed harshly.  There in the mud she saw something disappear under the surface.

"Did you see that?"  Adam asked frantically.  That had to be the colt's head.  When he looked over at Cheyenne she was already off her horse and in the mud.  "Cheyenne."  He yelled.

"I've got to try, Adam."  She yelled back as she slopped through the mud.  By now she was already waist deep and kept going.

Adam was already off Sport and about to help her when something across the way caught his attention.  A dark foal on unsure feet walked up to its mother side.  All he could do was laugh and laugh.  "Cheyenne!  Cheyenne!"  He yelled to her. 

Finally she turned her head to face him and saw him pointing across the pond.  She saw the foal standing beside Hestia and broke into a huge smile.  Then she realized that she was standing in a pond covered in mud, muck, and cold water.  And she groaned.  A sound behind he caught her attention and she turned to glare at Adam who had fallen on the ground laughing.  "I hate you, you know that right?"  She called to him.

Between breaths Adam managed to stand up.  "Ya, ya I know.  Hey why don't you just keep going?  You are already half way across.  I'll bring Zeus around to the other side."

Cheyenne rolled her eyes and kept walking through the muddy water, which was chest high now.  Suddenly she found herself slipping on the slick bottom and ended up totally covered with dirt and water.  She came up sputtering and wiping the water out of her eyes and off of her face.  "I guess that there is no point to wade though it now."  She muttered to herself and dived into the water and started to swim.

By the time Adam got to the other side of the pond Cheyenne was already out of the water and was getting reacquainted with her horse.  Her clothes were soaked and clinging to her.  She was dripping water on the ground but the smile on her face was as bright as the sun.  "How are they?"  He asked as he rode up and when she turned around and smiled up at him.  One look at her deep dimples, wide smile, and clear turquoise eyes and he forgot to breathe. 

"They are great.  She is great and the little one is wonder.  Look at her, have you ever seen a prettier filly?"  Cheyenne asked. 

The little filly stepped out from her mother's side.  Adam looked down at the little filly and smiled.  Truthfully, at that moment, he couldn't think of a prettier foal.  He watched as the foal took a step toward Cheyenne's outstretched hand her big brown eyes full of curiosity.  The filly looked back at her mother as if to see if it was okay and then took a deep breath to inhale all of Cheyenne's smells.  With the eye of an experienced rancher Adam appraised the filly.  She was big for her size and as chestnut as her mother but her short mane and tail were dark black and each of thin legs were white all the way over her knees.  She had a star between her eyes that ran into a white blaze.  The blaze continued until it covered her nose and muzzle.  "She's a beauty.  What are you going to call her?"

"I don't know.  Athena?  Aphrodite?"  She pondered aloud.  "What do you think?"

"Those are all good but they just don't suit her."  Adam drudged up all of his memories about Greek mythology.  Finally a name popped into his head.  "How about Persephone?"

"The goddess of spring.  I like it."  She said as she watched the little filly.  Then she walked over and took a rope from Zeus' saddle and tied it around Hestia's neck.  "Well I think that it's time to get these two home."  She said as her teeth began to chatter.  She hadn't realized how cold it was until she was completely soaked.  Her body was covered in goosebumps.  Furiously she rubbed her hands over her arms trying to warm herself up.

When a cool breeze blew around them Adam heard Cheyenne's sharp intake of breath and looked at her shivering.  "Oh my God.  I'm so sorry.  I didn't even realize that you were cold."

"No I'm fine."  She said with a wave of her hand.

"Fine?  You're shivering."  Quickly he took of his coat.  "Here put this on and well get you home." 

"No it's okay.  Really.  I'll be fine."  She walked over to Zeus.

"Cheyenne!"  Adam warned.

"Don't take that tone with me Cartwright."  Cheyenne countered as she spun around to face him.

"Put this coat on.  I won't take no for an answer."  Adam ordered.  He watched as her jaw clenched and her dimples stood out.  The clear turquoise eyes darkened dangerously but this was one battle that she wasn't going to win.  "Listen I don't care how much you hate me it's not worth catching you death over.  Now put it on."  Again the stubborn tilt of her chin and the pouting bottom lip told him that she wasn't listening.  "Fine then have it your way."  Then he took a step toward her.

Nimbly he wrapped the coat around her shoulders and pulled her toward him.  He settled the jacket around her shoulders and wrapped the coat tightly around her.  As she struggled with him she only succeeded in putting her arms thought through the arms of the coat.  He pulled her closer and smoothed the sleeves.  His large brown coat dwarfed her.  Its arms entirely cover her hands and went inches past them; the bottom of the coat stopped at her knees.  He started to rub his hands up and down her arm to warm her up.  Then he looked down at her large eyes which, instead of glaring at him like he expected, were staring at him with naiveté, bewilderment, and a little fright.  Unconsciously his hands began to slow down on her arms and he just stared at her.  The heat from her body was affecting his.

Nervously Cheyenne bit her bottom lip but she didn't move away from him.  Adam had seen this look before.  She reminded him of the wild mustangs that roam over Nevada.  If he moved to fast he would scare her away and that was something that he didn't want to do.  Desperately he tried to think of something clever to say but all of his poetry and book learning meant nothing now.  He couldn't think of one single thing to say. 

Cheyenne looked up at Adam.  She stood right next to him their bodies only a fraction of an inch apart.  She could feel the strength of his hands on her arms.  Despite the fact that she was practically freezing she didn't think that she could move if her life depended on it.  Something about that moment held her captivated. 

Suddenly Zeus gave a loud neigh and broke the moment.  Embarrassment flooded up to her cheeks and she spun around and walked toward Zeus and mounted up.  "Come on Cartwright!  We don't have all day."  She said too cheerfully and began to walk away, Hestia and the colt following them.

Wordlessly Adam followed them.  He really didn't know what had happened but he knew that he liked it.  They didn't speak a word to each other until they got to the Ponderosa.  Little Joe, Hoss, Ben, Elsa, and Rosalynn were all outside.  From the looks of things Elsa and Rosalynn had just drove up and the men had walked out to meet them.  Adam waved a hand in salutation.

"Hello Adam."  Hoss called.  "Hello Cheyenne.  What a great looking filly?"

"Her name's Persephone.  Your bother named her."  Cheyenne smiled.  "Well I need to get both of them back.  See you at home Elsa, Rosalynn.  Good-bye Mr. Cartwright, Hoss, Joe."  Then she turned toward Adam.  "Thanks, for everything."  She said softly.

"Anytime."  Adam said and watched as Cheyenne rode away and wondered why he was so disappointed.

Little Joe watched his big brother and a wicked smile leapt to his face.  He knew that look too well.  This was going to be fun.

Rosalynn also saw the look that passed from Adam to Cheyenne and she didn't like it.  Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Chapter 4

"Just take it back, it's not complicated."  Cheyenne muttered to herself as she stared at the jacket.  It had been three days since she and Adam found Persephone and Hestia.  For three days she had been staring at his jacket trying to develop the courage to take it back to him.  The first day she decided that she couldn't take it back because it smelled like swampy water; so she washed it.  The second say she couldn't take it back to him because it wasn't dried out yet; so she let it hang out to dry.  Now it was day three, the coat was washed, the coat was dry, and she couldn't think of any reason not to take it back.  "Cheyenne you are not a coward and he is just a man.  A man that you hate, remember?  So just take it back to him."  She told herself as she walked toward the barn and started to saddle Artemis. 

"Just ride over give the coat back and be done with it."  She led the antsy black mare outside.  The horse knew she was about to go for a run and she was ready for it.  Cheyenne was judging the saddle and wondering where she should put the coat when she heard footsteps behind her.  When she turned around she saw Rosalynn standing behind her with a large smile on her face.  "What do you think you're doing?"  Cheyenne asked slowly trying to keep her temper under control.

"I'm going with you."  Rosalynn said simply.  "You are riding over to the Ponderosa are you not?"

"I am and no you're not."

"Yes I am.  Father is bringing out my horse as we speak."  Rosalynn said smugly just as Blue Eagle appeared leading a horse out of the barn. 

Cheyenne groaned when she saw the large, palomino that Blue Eagle was leading.  Hera was the prissiest, orneriest, girliest horse that Cheyenne owned.  That horse would pick her way through mud and around anything that she thought would get her too dirty.  And when she got mad she would bite and nip at anything she could get her teeth on.  She hated regular saddles and would bite at the stirrup if one was put on her.  Because of that anyone who rode her had to ride sidesaddle which, made her the perfect horse for Rosalynn.  "No you are not."  She said sternly.

"It's already been decided."  Rosalynn said and waited for her father to help her into the saddle. 

Blue Eagle laughed internally.  He didn't exactly know why Rosalynn wanted to ride with Cheyenne but she wanted to ride and far be it from him to stop her.  Gracefully he lifted his daughter into the saddle and looked at Cheyenne with a smile in his eyes.  "Have fun girls."  He said and walked off.

With an obvious roll of her eyes Cheyenne leapt on Artemis and threw the coat across her lap.  "I'm not waiting on you."  And with that she rode off.

"Adam!  Adam!"  Hoss yelled.  The middle brother looked over at his older brother who was staring off in the distance and about to be trampled by a bucking horse that his youngest brother was riding.  Hoss watched as Adam woke up just in time and moved out of harms way.  He rushed over to his brother.  "That was close.  Adam you need to wake up."

"Sorry Hoss, I don't know where my head was."  Adam apologized.  They both watched as Joe leapt off the bucking animal and walk over to them dusting his pants off.

"Where's your head brother?"  Joe asked.  Adam just gave his younger brother a patronizing look.  Quickly Joe caught Hoss' eye and winked.  It was the signal that they had worked out earlier to start their little game with Adam.  "I guess that it doesn't matter then.  Hey did you hear that Cheyenne is buying a horse from Colby Anderson?"  At the sound of Cheyenne's name Joe saw Adam's ears perked up and Joe smiled to himself.

"Oh ya."  Hoss said after a moment.  "Colby was telling me all about it.  Actually he was telling the whole saloon about it.  Remember Joe?"

"Sure I remember.  But he talked more about Cheyenne than he did about the purchase of his horse.  I think that he took a real shine to her."

Hoss watched his older brother tighten his grip on the fence post he was leaning on.  "He kept talking about how pretty she was, and how nice she was and how smart she was.  I swear it was like he was her personal cheerleader."

"He had this real silly look on his face.  And he kept talking about how her smile reminded him of the sunrise.  And her laugh was like music."  Joe finished and smiled inwardly as he saw Adam clench is jaw.

"Joe!"  One of the hands called.  "We need you up here again."

"Okay I'm coming."  He yelled and ran over to where the hands held a chestnut mare that was almost broke.  After this mare they had on stallion left and they were done for the day.  Joe got on the mare and it started bucking right away but he held on.

The girls stopped at the house and no one was home.  Hop Sing told them that Ben was in town for the day and the boys were out breaking horses and he pointed him in the direction.  Cheyenne and Rosalynn rode up just in time to see Joe let out on the chestnut mare and saw the men cheering next to him. 

Adam turned his attention from his brother to Cheyenne and Rosalynn.  He didn't know why he was mad but he knew that he was.  One look at Cheyenne sitting on her large black horse and he knew that he would tar and feather Colby Anderson before he ever let the man near her.  He was so surprised by the thought, as it passed though his head, that he didn't noticed that Rosalynn had ridden up to him until she had blocked his view of Cheyenne.

"Adam."  Rosalynn said and smiled.  She held her hands out patiently and waited for him to help her down. 

It took Adam a second before he realized that she was waiting on him.  He reached up and put his hands around her waist.  Just then Rosalynn slipped and he had to pull her against him to stop her fall.  He could feel Rosalynn's arms tightening around his neck as she pressed her body against him.  For some reason he couldn't wait to get her away from him.  Funny as it was that Rosalynn was against him, his brain listed the differences between her bony, thin body and Cheyenne's full, curvy body.  As soon as he felt her feet hit the ground he released his hold her.  Rosalynn ran her hands down his chest and looked up at him with as slow secret smile.  A smile that no doubt hat melted many men before hand but Adam's attention was already on Cheyenne.  He groaned when he saw the disgusted look in her eye.

She watched her cousin through herself at Adam and Cheyenne thought that she might just throw up.  Ignoring the scene between Rosalynn and Adam she watched Joe break the horse.  She hated the way that they broke mustangs.  She knew that it was the fastest way but sometimes fastest wasn't always best.  When she trained her horses for the saddle it was a long process; she found it worked better that way.  A loud whinny caught her attention.  She looked over at the large roan stallion that was up next to break.  He tossed his long black mane and glared at the men in front of him.  They had already placed a saddle on him and were ready to load him in the chute.  He snapped and bit at the men.  His anxiety and stress levels were high.  The stallion rolled his eyes and barred his teeth.  To some people he might look dangerous but to Cheyenne he just looked scared.

"Adam, you ready?  You're up next."  Joe called as he jumped over the fence and then he saw Rosalynn.  A slow smile spread on his face.  "Hi Rosalynn I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh hi Joe."  She said but her eyes were still on Adam who was putting on his gloves and getting ready to break the horse.

"Cartwright!"  Cheyenne called quickly.  Something inside of her couldn't let them break that stallion the way that they were going to. 

At the sound of his name from Cheyenne Adam turned around quickly.  She was already off of her horse and walking toward him.  "Ya?"  He asked softly.

"Let me try first.  Please."  She asked and looked toward the horse.

Adam took one look at the large stallion and then down at Cheyenne and his answer was clear.  "No!"

"I can do it.  Give me a chance."  She told him sternly and looked up at him with large pleading eyes.

"No and I mean no."  Adam said.  There was no way that he was going to let Cheyenne on that horse.  It would kill her.  He began to walk away from her and toward the horse. 

Little Joe and Hoss watched Adam carefully.  He couldn't let Cheyenne get on that horse.  It was just too dangerous.  She was just a slip of a girl.  Hoss' large face turned down in a displeasing frown.  "Adam."  He whispered slowly and warningly.

"Adam," Adam turned around slowly at the sound of his name.  "Please."

Those big blue-green eyes pleading with him, that stern but hopeful tilt of her chin, the fact that for the first time she called him Adam, they were all to much for him.  He felt his resolve weakening.  "It goes against my better judgment. . ."

He didn't get to finish the rest of the statement because Cheyenne had already burst into a huge smile and ran back to her horse.  Adam watched as she ran to Artemis and pulled a coat and a rope off of the saddle and put something in her back pocket.  She threw the coat at him as she rushed by.  When he realized that it was his coat that she just threw at him he looked up and smiled.  It was clean.

Cheyenne threw the rope on her shoulder and jumped in the corral.  She told the men to turn the stallion loose from the chute and into the corral.  They looked at her like she was crazy but obeyed anyway.  The stallion bust out of the chute just like a rider was on his back.  She watched him run around.  He was a young horse maybe three at the most.  Large eyes, short ears, low brow.  He wasn't a great horse but he would make a good horse.  The best thing was that he wasn't an alpha horse, which made him easier to train.  Slowly she dropped the rope on the ground.

The horse ran around the corral a few times before he calmed down.  He started to dance around.  His wide eyes staring at Cheyenne.  He was some what used to people so she wasn't a big shock for him.  With just her in the corral he was more curious than frightened.  Right now was the time that Cheyenne needed to move.  She reached into her back pocket, pulled out a carrot, and slowly began to walk toward the horse.  The horse rolled his eyes but Cheyenne kept moving.  She could see the horse's wide nostrils inhaling the scent of the carrot.  Very softly she began to make a clicking sound with her tongue.  When she was close enough to touch the horse it stomped on the ground as if to intimidate her but she didn't back down.  "There, there." She cooed softly.  That's a good boy."

All of the people outside of the corral watched in amazement.  It wasn't often that they saw something like that.  As the horse chopped on the carrot that Cheyenne offered she reached out her hand to rubbed the horse's neck.  The big horse only balked a little when she laid a hand on it.

"That's a good boy."  She said as she slowly moved her hand toward the horse's mouth.  She positioned herself under the stallion's neck so that he couldn't bite her.  Carefully, as the horse continued to chew, she unsnapped the reins from the bit and put them on the halter.  Then she moved the reins over the horse's head and tried to lead the horse to see if it would follow.  It did. 

"What good does it do if she leads it around?  She's not riding it."  Rosalynn said snidely and a few of the hands laughed.  She knew that she had made a mistake because Adam shot her a look that would have wilted flowers.

After walking the horse around for a few minutes Cheyenne pulled the horse to a stop in the middle of the corral.  It was silent; everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen next.  Cheyenne rubbed the horse's hunches as she put the reins on the saddle and then reached down and picked up the horse's tail.  With this new feeling the horse began to turn in a circle to snap at Cheyenne but she was to quick for him.  While she spoke in soothing tones she tied the bottom of the tail in a knot.  The horse continued to try to get at Cheyenne by turning in a circle but Cheyenne moved along with him.  With a practiced move Cheyenne grabbed hold of the reins and tied them, in a slipknot, to the tail and then moved out of the way.

At first the stallion turned in frantic circles trying to figure out what was wrong with him.  Cheyenne had left the tie loose enough so that the horse wouldn't fall but tight enough so that he couldn't get out.  She moved back a little way away from the horse but not so far that the horse wouldn't know that she wasn't there.  Adam watched Cheyenne carefully as she studied the horse.  Her face was so full of thought and concern that he was amazed.

After almost ten minutes the stallion was noticeably slowing down and then came to a stop.  Slowly Cheyenne approached clicking her tongue so that the horse would know she was coming.  The stallion didn't balk but stayed very still.  "That's a good boy."  She said softly and reached down and untied the horse and unknoted it's tail.  Then pulled a carrot out of her pocket and presented the present to the horse.  The horse chewed the carrot happily.  Again Cheyenne positioned herself under the horse's neck and switched the reins from the harness to the bit.

It was the moment of truth.  Cheyenne held the reins and put her foot in the stirrup and hoisted herself into saddle.  Adam didn't think that he breathed the whole time that Cheyenne was on that horse.  The moment that her weight was in the saddle the horse protested a little, with a few quick, short jumps, but eventually settled into place.  Soon Cheyenne had him trotting around the corral as she smiled.  "See."  She said proudly.  "As gentle as a kitten.  Want to try him out?"

"I will."  Hoss said as he climbed into the corral.  Cheyenne jumped off the horse and gave the reins to Hoss.  The stallion pranced a little but Hoss was on his back without much protest.  He rode around the corral and then jumped off the horse.  "By golly Cheyenne, that was amazing.  How did you do that?"

"A little sweet talking, a little sweet treat, and a little understanding."  She smiled. 

"Well that don't explain nothing."  Hoss laughed.

"Sure it does."  She said.  "Horses are like people a little kindness goes a long way.  Let me ask you something if right this minute a stranger came up over that hill and asked you to build a boat for him would you?  Now you've never built a boat before but you know you could do it.  But that guy's a stranger and why would he want a boat in Nevada.  And then when you don't help him build his boat he starts to hit you until you start building the boat and there is nothing you can do about it." 

They seemed to be following her train of thought so far so she continued.  "Okay now that same man gives you things, is really nice to you, and then asks you to build a boat you will probably be more inclined to say yes.  But even better, a friend of yours comes up to you and ask you build a boat and you probably will do it just because he's a friend."

Joe looked up at Hoss.  The larger man had a confused but thoughtful look on his face.  "You following this?"  Joe whispered.

"'Corse I am."  Hoss said.  "I think."

Rosalynn took one look at all the men that were staring at Cheyenne and became infuriated.  She didn't like the fact that no one was paying attention to her.  So she decided to get the attention back.  "Why are you talking about a boat?  You are supposed to be talking about horses."  She laughed and expected everyone to join in.  No one did. 

"It's a metaphor."  Cheyenne said and shot her cousin a withering look then continued with her explanation.  "So instead of just jumping on the horse try to finesse it a little.  An apple to a hungry horse goes a lot farther than a spur in the saddle.  In the end you break a horse without taking the spirit out of him."  She turned and looked up at the horse that was prancing around.  "A wild thing needs to keep a little of the wild just for him.  Too many people try to beat it out of them."

Adam raised an eyebrow at that last comment.

"So does that tie him in a circle always work?"  Hoss asked.

"No not always.  Sometimes they won't turn so you can tie them to start out with and sometimes they won't fight being tied to their own tail.  They'll just stand there which defeats the purpose.  I tied him because he was excited, a little scared, and had a lot of energy.  By tying him to himself I allowed him to tire himself out and not associate me with him being tired.  Then when he's tired and confused I come along solve the problem and give him a treat.  So he's happy and then not so upset when I ride him."

"Huh."  Hoss said with a puzzled voice.  "That makes sense.  At least that's the way that I would look at it if I were a horse."

"Well I like Adam's way better."  Rosalynn said and smiled endearingly at Adam.  "Cheyenne you think to much about the horses.  If you had any social skills you wouldn't have to pretend like horses are people.  I guess that's what happens when you spend time with people instead of horses."

Cheyenne glared at Rosalynn.  "I don't care which way you like better.  And you're right I do spend more time with horses than I do with people.  Mostly because people that I've had access to in my entire life are vapid and shallow."  With that she looked pointedly at Rosalynn.

Hoss, Little Joe, and Adam looked at each other.  Neither one knew what to say.  They didn't have a lot of experience with a catfight.  But Hoss always the peacekeeper stepped in.  "Hey now, lets settle down.  With the sun so high in the sky it's a wonder why all are tempers our short.  Come on let's go sit down."

That explanation seemed to be enough for everyone.  Rosalynn and Cheyenne glared at each other and wordlessly agreed to settle this at a later dispute.  Joe offered Rosalynn his arm and walked her over to sit down on a fallen log.  Hoss followed them.  Cheyenne stayed to watch the stallion prance around the corral and Adam stayed to watch Cheyenne.  They didn't say anything to each other just stood there in silence. 

Finally Adam had to say something.  "You washed my coat."

Cheyenne smiled a little.  "It smelled."

"Thanks."

"It was no big deal.  He'll be a nice range pony."  She said and nodded toward the horse.

"Sure will be now that he still has a little wild left in him."  Adam shot a quick glance at her and saw her face turn red.

"I guess that was kind of dumb."  Embarrassment showed in her eyes.

"No not really.  It reminded me a lot of someone I know.  She pretty civilized most of the time but still has a lot of wild in her."  He raised an eyebrow in her direction.

Quickly Cheyenne looked at him her face full of surprise.  Neither one of them spoke but just stared at each other.  They didn't want to look away but were very nervous looking at each other that intently.  Her turquoise eyes searched his brown ones.  It was the first time she noticed that his eyes had little flecks of green and gold in them.  Just then something behind Adam caught Cheyenne's eye and her face broke into a wide surprised smile.  Before Adam realized what had happened Cheyenne was already running toward an approaching rider.

The man on horseback jumped off of his horse and waited for Cheyenne to run up to him.  When she did he caught her up in his arms and twirled her around in a circle.  The only thought that Adam had at that moment was that he would bet good money that he could shoot the man from here.

Chapter 5

"Who's that?"  Hoss asked as Cheyenne jumped into the man's arms. 

Rosalynn was on her feet smiling happily.  "It's my cousin Louis.  He's the most amazing man in the entire world.  He's from Boston."  She, Hoss, and Joe watched the man jump back on his horse and pull Cheyenne up behind him.  They watched as the pair rode over to them.  Once Louis rode up he jumped of the appaloosa he was riding and picked Rosalynn up and twirled her around the same way that he did Cheyenne.

"Rosie, my beautiful cousin.  How are you?"  He said in a very deep voice.

"Wonderful my handsome cousin.  And I still hate when you call me Rosie."  She said from her spot in her arms. 

He set her down softly and smiled.  "You get more beautiful each time I see you."  Louis was a beautiful man.  Dirty blonde hair, strong jaw line, deep set blue eyes.  He was tall and lean muscular.  In Boston he worked as a lawyer for a large firm.  He heard that Cheyenne had bought a plot of land and was settling down and had to see it for himself.

"Louie."  Cheyenne called from atop the horse.  She held out her hands and waited for him to help her down.  A wide smile on her face her dimples deep and eyes light.

"And look at you, my sweet Elizabeth."  He turned his attention back to Cheyenne and picked her up off of the horse.  Instead of setting her down he held her up in the air and smiled at her.  " I would have never thought that you would turn out to look like an angel."  He set her down and smiled at her.  "Last time I saw you, you had you hair in pigtails, gangly legs, and that same dimpled smile.  It looks like you've grown up."

Adam cleared his throat.  He tried to hide the anger in his eyes as they turned to look him.  He hadn't heard the conversation between Hoss and Rosalynn so he didn't know who this man was and he didn't like him.  "I don't believe we've met."

Louis smiled he knew the look in this man's eye.  Jealousy radiated from every pour of this man body.  So Rosalynn snagged another one.  Ever since Rosie was little he and Rosie's older brother, Joseph had to fight boys away from her with a stick.  He knew the routine.  Slowly Louis drew himself up to his full height and offered his hand to the man in black.  "Louis Butler, Rosalynn's cousin."

"Adam Cartwrigh."  He shook the man's hand firmly  "These are my brothers.  Hoss and Little Joe."

As he shook each man's hand he sized him up.  The smaller one seemed to be a little jealous but not too much and the large seemed to be a very open and honest.  All in all they seemed to be very nice.  Only Adam seemed to have any jealousy sending his way.

"Why did you call Cheyenne, Elizabeth?"  Hoss asked.

"Because that's my first name."  Cheyenne said and the Cartwrights stared at her with wide eyes.  "My name is Elizabeth Cheyenne Harris.  No one calls me Elizabeth.  It was my maternal grandmother's name.  And I do not like it."  She said very seriously.  "Only Louie calls me that and I hate it."

"Then maybe you shouldn't' call me Louie."  He replied.

"Well let's go back to the house and you all can catch up."  Little Joe suggested.  They all decided that that was a good idea and all mounted their respective horses.  Louis helped Rosalynn on her sidesaddle.  The group took off.  Hoss and Joe in the lead.  Louis and Cheyenne next, Cheyenne smiled up at him adoringly.  Finally Adam and Rosalynn were bringing up the rear.

"And how are you, my Elizabeth?  This life seems to agree with you."  Louis smiled at his cousin.

"It does, Louie.  It does.  And you?  How is your fiancée?  I can't wait to meet her."  Cheyenne smiled.  She and Louis were very close.  They wrote letters to each other and told each other things that no one else knew.  Cheyenne was the only one in the family that knew that Louis was engaged.

"My Nicole."  Louis sighed.  "She is a dream.  I think you will like her very much."

"Let me guess.  She is tall, willowy, dark and exotic.  From somewhere amazing like France.  And she wears silk everyday."  She teased.  He had already told everything about his Nicole.

"No.  She has hair like the sun, eyes like the ocean, a smile like a warm fire on a cold night.  She's from Boston and works part time at a hospital.  Her father is a partner at my firm."  He smiled a secret smile.  "She's perfect."

"When's the wedding?"

"In the fall, when the leaves change color."  Louis smiled.  "You'll come for the wedding, right?  I've told her all about you and she wants you to be a bride's maid."

"You couldn't keep me away if you tried."  Cheyenne laughed.  "Not even if you tried."

"He is you're cousin."  Adam asked quietly as they rode along.

"Yes my cousin."  Rosalynn replied.  She was glad that they were finally having a conversation together.

"And Cheyenne's too?"

"No."  Rosalynn laughed.  "He is my mother's brother's son.  He really isn't related to Cheyenne an anyway."  She watched Adam's face fall and she knew this was the way to put a wedge between Adam and Cheyenne.  "But they have always been close.  When they were little they used to disappear for hours at a time.  To this day they still write letters back and forth, back and forth.  Everyone in the family is sure that they will get married one day."

"Oh."  He said softly.  Adam felt a lump rose in his throat and his body get cold.  A musical sound caught his attention.  He looked up and saw Cheyenne laughing at something that Louis said and he felt sick.  Physically sick.

Ben rode up to the house and saw three more horses than he expected.  He recognized Artimes but not the other two.  He walked inside and saw Hoss, Little Joe, and Rosalynn sitting on the couch, Cheyenne in the easy chair, an unknown man on the other chair and Adam standing by the fireplace.  They burst into laughter over something the unknown man said but Adam remained silent.  Ben studied his oldest son and knew that he was hurting. 

He watched Adam sneak a look at Cheyenne and understood.  Cheyenne stared at the unknown man like he was a hero and Adam was staring at Cheyenne like she was killing him.  Finally he understood.  His son had fallen in love with the little pixie he tried to hate.  Poor Adam, by the look on his face his son had fallen hard for Cheyenne.  He was going to have a long road ahead of him to get into Cheyenne's good graces. 

As Ben watched the young people talk and laugh he noticed something.  Every now and then Cheyenne would stop staring at the unknown man and glance over at Adam.  Her face as she studied Adam was full of confusion and maybe a little intrigue.  On second thought, maybe Adam didn't have such a long road.  A soft chuckle escaped his lips and drew everyone's attention. 

"Pa, welcome back."  Joe said.

"Hello everyone.  I didn't expect to see so many faces here."  Ben watched the unknown man stand and offer his hand.

"Louis Butler."  He said as the man that was obviously the father, took his hand.

"Ben Cartwright."

"I'm Rosalynn's cousin; Blue Eagle and Elsa's nephew."  He said as he gestured to Rosalynn and Cheyenne.

"Well then welcome here.  Where do you hale from?"  Ben asked.

"Boston.  I heard that Elizabeth, I mean, Cheyenne had finally settled down and I had to see it for myself.  I decided to come just in time for her birthday."  He smiled at the girl.

"When is your birthday?"  Joe asked.

"Monday."  Cheyenne answered.

"You never told us it was almost time for you're birthday?"  Hoss accused.  "Were you going to have a party?"

"Oh no.  Cheyenne has a special birthday ritual."  Rosalynn began.  "She spends the day alone.  She doesn't want a party."

"It's not that I don't want a party it's that I need to take reflection time."  She said softly.

"Then it's settled."  Ben said.

"What is?"  Cheyenne asked.

"You're party.  Saturday night.  We'll have it here and invite everyone."  Ben continued.

"No really it's okay.  I don't need a party."  Cheyenne said but no one seemed to notice that she was talking.  They were all to busy making plans.

Adam looked over at Cheyenne who was staring at everyone open-mouthed.  He hated her for making him feel sick.  He hated himself for not knowing why he felt sick.  While she wasn't looking at him he took the opportunity to memorize her profile.  As if this was going to be the last time that he ever saw her.  He stared at her short eyelashes, her impudent nose, her delicate cheekbones, and her strong jaw line.  She took that moment to turn and look at him and offer a soft smile, one that barely made the dimples on her cheeks show.  Adam felt his chest constrict.

"I wonder why he looks so sad."  Cheyenne thought to herself.  For some reason she wanted to go over and make him smile again but caught herself before she did it.  She didn't like him; she had to remind herself

Chapter 6

"I'm not wearing that."  Cheyenne said and turned around with her back to Elsa.  It was Friday; her big birthday party was tomorrow.  As many times as she told the Cartwrights that the party wasn't necessary they wouldn't take no for an answer.  The closer Saturday came the more nervous that Cheyenne became.  She wasn't one for crowds.  Now, Elsa decided that it was time for Cheyenne to buy a dress.  A task that she didn't want to do at all.  She told Elsa that she could just wear the one that she had now but Elsa insisted that it was too old.  Elsa had just presented Cheyenne with a frilly yellow dress that had more ruffles than anything that she had ever seen in her life. 

"Oh mother, look at this."  Rosalynn said and held up a beautiful red dress.  "It will be just perfect for the party."

"Rosalynn you don't need another dress."  Elsa told her daughter gently.

"But mother I have to have one.  I can't go to the party in something that everyone had seen before."  She complained.

"We are here to get something for Cheyenne.  Why don't you help us?"

"Oh fine.  I guess if I'm going to do anything with Cheyenne it might as well be something that I like to do."  Rosalynn began to peruse all of the dresses in the shop.  "There's got to be something in here that will look good on her."

Elsa and Rosalynn shoved Cheyenne into one of changing rooms and began throwing dresses at her.  Pink dresses, blue dresses, and green dresses.  Dresses with ruffles, dresses with lace, dresses made of every kind of fabric imaginable.  Cheyenne's head was spinning with all of the clothes that she had put on. 

Finally she had had too much.  Wearing a pale pink dress made of silk with ruffles she stormed out of the room.  Her face flushed with anger.  Her long dark hair down around her shoulders because it had become loose after all the changing.  "That is it.  I'll not put on one more dress.  Not one more.  I don't care what I wear to that party.  I'll wear long johns if I have too.  But I'll not put on one more dress."

Louis walked into the dress shop with an air of confidence that seemed surround him.  He saw Elsa and Rosalynn getting a stern talking to by a woman with long dark hair.  It took him a moment to realize that the woman was Cheyenne, she defiantly had grown since the last time he had seen her.  A rousing chuckle escaped him as she listened to her yell.  He watched as she twirled around to face him with all of the anger that she was experiencing. 

Flashing blue-green eyes glared at him.  The anger had added color to her cheeks and her skin seemed to glow from within.  Her frown was so deep that her dimples stretched across her face and her bottom lip pouted.  The dress she was wearing accentuated her elegant neck and full chest.  He hadn't really seen it before but she really had turned into a beauty.  Maybe she didn't have Rosalynn's striking magnificence but she had an inner beauty all her own.  His mouth dropped open in surprise and he almost forgot she was like a little sister to him and that he had Nicole waiting for him back in Boston.  "My, my, Elizabeth you are beautiful.  If you aren't just like a butterfly hatching from a cocoon."

"I am not a butterfly.  I am not beautiful.  I am defiantly, definitely, not happy."  She said through clenched teeth.  "And stop calling me Elizabeth.

He laughed.  "What seems to be the problem?"

Rosalynn sighed and sank into a chair.  "She is completely hopeless.  Nothing we pick out is right for her and if it were up her she said that she would wear long johns.  Can you imagine?  Now she's saying that she's not going to try on another dress."

"I'm not."  Cheyenne crossed her hands over her chest.

"Louis talk some sense into her."  Elsa said.  She too was tired of shopping and wanted to find a dress and be done with it.  "She'll listen to you." 

"I don't think so but I'll try."  Louis took one look at Cheyenne and knew that he wasn't going to convince her of anything.

She glared up at the man.  "I will not try on another dress, Louie.  I tell you what.  You pick out a dress, we'll buy it and I'll wear it to the party but I'll not try it on."  Quickly she walked back to the dressing room to change into her regular clothes.

"Okay.  That sounds like a plan to me."  He wasn't a stranger to a dress shop.  Nicole dragged him to every dress shop in Boston at least once a month.  "Does that sound okay to you?"  He questioned his aunt and cousin; they nodded.  Carefully he looked around the store and walked around it slowly.  After a few minutes of deliberation he decided on a pretty dark blue dress.  He didn't really know anything about dresses but he knew this one felt soft and it was a pretty color.  "We'll take this one."  He told the sales girl. 

"Thank God that it's over."  Cheyenne said as she walked out of the store.  "For my birthday I wish never to have to shop for a dress again."

Adam walked around town looking for a present for Cheyenne for her birthday.  He had been in a dozen stores and nothing seemed right.  Just then a commotion across the street caught his attention.  Cheyenne bust out of the dress shop in a huff, dark hair flying behind her like a cloud.  She was angry, very angry.  She whipped Zeus' reins off the hitching post were he was tied and walked the horse into the street.  In a sharp voice she yelled for the horse to go and as Zeus took off in a sprint she jumped into the saddle from a running start.  Adam watched Louis walk out of the store with a package under his arm and a smile on his face.  He wondered whether or not anyone would stop him if he went over and punched the man in the nose.

Cheyenne made her birthday wish too soon.  When she woke up Saturday morning she knew that fact.  And overwhelming sense of dread weighed heavy on her shoulders, her stomach twisted in knots and her muscles were tight.  As the day progressed she her feelings got worse and worse.  Buy lunchtime she was sure that she was dying.  When Elsa told her that it was time to get ready for the party Cheyenne tried to explain that it was pointless because she wouldn't live to see it but Elsa didn't listen.  As she put the dress that Louis picked out over her head she was sure that she was going to faint for the first time in her life but that didn't happen either.  Now here she was siting in the carriage, because Elsa said that she couldn't ride a horse, on the way to her birthday party that she really didn't want, guests that she didn't know, and a knot of stress in her shoulders that could rival a mountain.  She definitely made her birthday wish too soon, but if she could have another one it would be to be anywhere at this moment than on her way to this party.

When Louis looked over at Cheyenne, who was sitting next to him on the front of the carriage, she was clasping her hands so tightly that her knuckles were white.  In a kind, brotherly way he reached over and took her hands in his and held it.  "Calm down, its just a few hours."

"I don't like crowds.  I don't feel like me in this dress.  And I am going to make an fool of myself."  She whispered and held his hand tightly. 

"You look beautiful.  You will not make a fool of yourself.  And if Rosalynn has anything to do with anything you will not have to deal with the crowd because they will all be looking at her."  He smiled reassuringly.  They both looked back at Rosalynn who had gotten Elsa to buy the pretty red dress.  She was absolutely stunning and she knew it.

"I am going to trip getting out."  She muttered to herself as they drove up to the Cartwright's home.  Her mouth dropped opened when she saw the pretty colored lanterns, the table of food, and the few early party guests.  "Oh god I can't do this."  She saw Hoss munching on a tiny sandwich and Little Joe talking to his father.  Then she saw Adam talking to a pretty girl in a yellow dress and her eyes darkened momentarily. 

Quickly she turned her attention back to the task at hand, which was getting out of the carriage with out falling on her face.  One of her many admirers had already helped Rosalynn out and had whisked her away.  Biting her bottom lip nervously Cheyenne looked down at the distance from the carriage to the ground.  "How do women get out of these things?"  She asked the air. 

Her answer came from a voice below.  "I'll help you."  Louis smiled up at her.  He could see the fear in her eyes and his heart went out to her.  Gallantly he lifted his hands and picked her up out of the carriage and set her on the ground.  When she looked up at him with those big, happy eyes his heart filled with pride.  She was the closest thing that he ever had to a little sister and a best friend all in one.  With brotherly affection he bent down and kissed her forehead.  "You really do look like an angel."

"Shut up Louie."  Cheyenne growled.  This was the first party that she had been too.  Usually when Rosalynn went to parties Cheyenne made an excuse not to go or she wasn't invited.  Never before had she been to such a huge party, let alone one in her honor.  On her birthday she like spending it with close family and friends and then running off to be alone.  That was her dream birthday not this.  But the Cartwights had gone to so much trouble.  "What do I do now?"  She asked Louis.  He seemed to know what was going on.

"You take my arm and we go and meet your host."  He offered her his arm and she took it like a drowning man takes a life preserver and they walked over to Ben.

Little Joe was talking to his father about the expected number of guests when he saw Louis walk up with a beautiful woman clinging to him.  "Hello Louis."  He said softly and stared at the woman next to him.  For some reason those big blue eyes were familiar but he didn't recognize her curvy body.  That he would have remembered.  Just then the woman gave him a shy smile, a smile that he knew.  "Cheyenne?!?"  He said his voice full of surprise as his eyes raked over her again.

"Hi Joe?"  She said uncertainly, he was looking at her funny.

"You better put your eyes back in you head, boy, if you know what's good for you."  Louis said warningly and then broke into a smile when Joe stepped back properly chastised. 

Ben laughed at Joe.  His youngest son stared at their neighbor with an open mouth.  "Hello Cheyenne.  You look wonderful."  He said and pushed his dumbstruck son out of the way.

"Hello Mr. Cartwright.  Thank you so much for this."  She said and waved her hands around the party.  "It's beautiful."

"It was nothing.  Happy birthday, sweetheart."  Ben said and leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, I want to get some of that."  Joe said and kissed her other cheek.  "Happy birthday Cheyenne."  He said and offered his arm.  "Why don't I go introduce you to some people?" 

"Umm," she looked up at Louis worriedly.  He gave her a reassuring smile.  Cheyenne turned back to Joe and smiled.  "Okay."  And let herself be pulled away.

As Cheyenne and Little Joe walked away Ben to a quick look at his oldest son.  Adam was talking to AnnMarie Richmond and seemed not to notice that Cheyenne had even arrived but Ben knew his son better than that.  He would bet good money that Adam knew exactly where Cheyenne was and what she had done since she had been here.  His oldest son didn't miss much.

And Ben was right about that.  Adam's attention hadn't been on anything else.  From the moment that she rode up holding hands with Louis, to him lifting her out of the wagon and kissing her, to her clasped on to his arm, to his father and brother kissing her.  AnnMarie was talking about her dress but and Adam didn't trust himself to speak.  He was too angry he didn't know what might happen. 

Chapter 7

The party was in full swing and a huge success.  People were dancing and mingling.  About an hour ago Hop Sing had brought out a huge chocolate cake and Cheyenne blew out 22 candles.  Everyone cheered and devoured the cake.  But Cheyenne was tired of all the people and all the smiling.  She was tired of laughing and tired of dancing.  And most of all she was tired of watching Adam smile, laugh, and dance with everyone at the party.  He hadn't said so much as happy birthday to her.  Quietly she made her way away from the crowd toward the darkened area of the barn. 

Once she was safely inside the barn she let out a sigh of relief.  Finally she felt like she could breath.  Slowly she walked toward Sport's stall.  "Hey boy."  She liked being in the barn it felt more familiar and comforting.  "I can't believe that he didn't even say happy birthday."  She told the horse.  "And dancing around with all those women.  What was he thinking?  I bet that he danced with Rosalynn at least half a dozen times.  But what do I care?  I don't that's right.  I don't care at all."  A loud yell and laughter from outside made Sport stomp in his stall.  Cheyenne lowered her voice and spoke softly to the frightened animal.  "Shhh.  It's okay.  Easy boy."  The horse calmed down in a few seconds.  "That's a good boy.  I guess I should go back there, huh?  But I don't really want too.  I know I'll stay here and you go back to the party.  Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

"Every time I find you in the barn, you're trying to get my horse to trade places with you."  A deep voice said from behind her. 

Immediately Cheyenne spun around but she already knew who was there, leaning against one of the stalls.  If she were in her own clothes, she would have been comfortable and would have known what to say.  In her own clothes she would have comeback with a snappy remark or a glare that would stop him in his tracks.  But in these clothes she just looked up at him with surprised, wide eyes.  She guess what they said was true, clothes do make the man, because in these clothes she didn't know how to react to him.

"Nothing to say?  That has to be a first."  Adam said and walked closer to her.  The dress she wore was an odd color.  It was navy and it wasn't sky blue but some shade between.  It reminded him of the periwinkle flowers that grew during the spring.  But more distracting than the color of the dress was the fact that it didn't start until half way down her shoulders, leaving acres of golden sink very bare and very enchanting.  A row of lace around the top of the dress made her appear even more delicate and feminine.  Her dark hair was pulled up and in thousands of large dark curls on top of her head making her neck appear long and elegant. 

It might have taken a moment but Cheyenne found her voice and her anger.  "You are correct, I have nothing to say to you because I don't want to waste my time.  And second of all I'm not trying to trade places with your horse as much as I am trying to keep him from dying of boredom." 

Adam chuckled.  Now this was the Cheyenne he knew.  When she first spun around to face him, he hadn't recognized the timid little fawn.  But now he saw the light back in her eyes and she became the angry mustang that he knew she was.  He was glad that the timid Cheyenne disappeared he liked her spit and vinegar side.  There was only a little light, from the lanterns and the moon, trickling into the barn, just enough to illuminate her face.  Large eyes flashed with hostility.  They were bluer than he had ever seen them before.  He took a step closer to her and watched her sudden intake of air.  He was so close he could see the almost frantic pulse at the base of her throat.  His throat went dry and he swallowed.  When he started to speak his voice was so husky that it surprised even him.  "Why-" He cleared his throat.  "Why are you in the barn?  You have a whole party full of people out there."

"I'm tired."  Cheyenne said as she stared up at him.  "To much dancing."

An image of who she had been dancing with came to him and he frowned deeply.  He had watched Louis spin her around the dance floor.  Then he watched both of his brothers and even his father dance a few fast dances with her.  All night he had been fighting the jealousy that rushed through him for every man who glanced her way.  Never in his life had he had a more frustrating night. 

He hadn't exactly been a wallflower himself.  In fact he had been anything but.  He thought that if he danced with other women that he wouldn't pay so much attention but had no such luck.  Even as he danced a slow waltz with Rosalynn and she pressed her body against him, he watched Cheyenne.  She stood next to Louis and never really strayed to far away from him.  But there was something in her eyes that he had never seen before.  They would scan the party worriedly and she smiled nervously through the whole night.  When he saw that she had disappeared his first instinct to look for Louis and when he saw the blonde man smiling at a pretty young thing, Adam got worried.  He knew the first place that Cheyenne would go for solace and made his way to the barn.  "Is that all?"  He asked almost dreading the answer.  If Louis had hurt her he would kill the man with out thinking twice.

A confused look washed over her and she wrinkled her brow.  "What is he talking about?"  She wondered. 

When he saw the frown on her face cause deep dimples he knew.  "She's trying to hide it.  He's done something to her."  He thought through clenched teeth.  "Did Louis hurt you?"  Adam asked carefully.

"Louie?"  She laughed.  "Hurt me?"  Cheyenne laughed again.  She didn't know what he was talking about but the idea that Louie would hurt her was absurd.  "He would never hurt me.  Where would you get an idea like that?"

Her laughter stung him painfully.  "I know.  I know about Louis and the expected marriage."  When he saw the shock in her face he knew it had to be true.  And that truth hurt him more than any gunshot that he had ever had.

"How does Adam know about Louie's wedding?"  Cheyenne wondered.  "How do you know about that?"

"Rosalynn told me."  He remembered the exact moment that Rosalynn told him that Cheyenne and Louis would marry.  It still made him sick.

"How did she know?"  As far as Cheyenne knew Louis hadn't told anyone about his marriage to Nicole.  She tried to fight the anger she felt at the idea that Adam and Rosalynn shared such intimacies.

"Why wouldn't her family know about her wedding?"  Adam questioned himself again then asked out loud.  "Why wouldn't Rosalynn know?"

"I didn't think that Louie was announcing it yet." 

"I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret.  Wasn't that why he came down here, to ask you?"  It was hard to get out those last words but he couldn't let Cheyenne see the hurt inside him.

"Oh ya, he asked me.  I told him that he couldn't stop me from being there."  Cheyenne smiled at the thought of her friend walking down the aisle.  How did Adam know she was going to be a bride's maid?  Louie must have asked Rosalynn to be one as well and she told Adam.

He watched her smile and was full of a bittersweet emotion.  Her happiness made him happy but it hurt so to know why she was happy.  "When's the wedding?"

"In the fall in Boston."

"That soon?"  It was spring now and the fall just seemed so soon.  Secretly he was hoping for a long engagement.  "And so far away?"

"Soon?  Louie is so anxious I can't believe he is going to wait until then."  She laughed.  "That's where Louie wants it.  I mean it is were he lives."

Adam wanted to be sick.  "What about you and Olympus?"

"What an odd question?"  Cheyenne thought.  "Well I really don't think that it's any of my choice where the wedding is and Olympus will be fine while I'm gone."

So they were going to live here.  He didn't know if he could stand both of them being so close.  But he swallowed his pride and smiled though his feelings.  "Well I hope that you two will be happy together."  He said.

That last statement really got Cheyenne's attention.  "What?"  She exclaimed. 

Why was she going to make him repeat it?  It was hard enough saying it the first time.  "I hope the two of you will be happy together."

She had heard him right.  Laughter bubbled up inside of her and she couldn't hold it in.  Loud, musical laughter exploded from her.  The idea was so funny that Cheyenne had to lean against Sport's stall to say on her feet.

Seeing the laughing woman irritated Adam to know end.  Her laughter echoed in his ears.  "What?"  He demanded.  "What is so funny?"

"You."  She said between breaths.  "Why on God's name would you think that I-" Cheyenne paused to laugh again.  "Why would you think that I was marrying Louie?"

"Rosalynn told me you two were very close.  That she heard you talking about marriage.  Then you said that he came here to ask you."  Adam said, his brain was foggy. 

Confusion replaced the merriment in her eyes.  "What?  He came here to ask me to be a bridesmaid.  We were talking about his marriage to a girl form Boston.  And why would you listen to Rosalynn?  She thinks all any woman wants is to be married."

"Why would Rosalynn lie to me?" 

"Because she's Rosalynn.  I don't know why she does anything.  Maybe she did it because she wanted you thinking about marriage?  Or did you to already talk about that while you were dancing together all night?"  The last question came out bitterly.

He and Rosalynn?  What the devil was she talking about?  Yet, there was something inside him that was smiling because there was jealousy written all over her face.  "There is nothing between Rosalynn and I to warrant thinking about marriage."  He told her.  He was already on cloud nine.  She wasn't marrying Louis.  At this time he decided not to think about what that elation meant all he thought about was how happy he was. 

"Could have fooled me.  You two are so busy making google eyes at each other you didn't even say happy birthday to me."  She shot at him, again more bitterly than she had planed to. 

"Are you mad at me because I didn't say happy birthday to you?"  Adam wondered with a half smile.  She was so jealous she was practically shooting sparks out of her eyes and it pleased him to know end.

"No."  Cheyenne said quickly.  "I'm mad because I didn't get the chance to ignore you when you said happy birthday to me."  Adam's smug smile was driving her crazy.  "Why were so upset about me marrying Louie?"

Now it was Adam's turn to fluster for a reason.  "It was because you have a good thing at Olympus.  I would hate to have to buy it from you because you are going off to Boston."

"You'll never get your hands on my ranch.  I'll be cold in the ground first and even then I'll haunt you.  I'll set down the scourge of the Cheyenne people upon you.  I'll let all my horses go, burn my house, and salt the land.  I'll-"

Before Cheyenne could finish her rant Adam took her by the arm and pulled her to him.  With one hand he covered her running mouth and put his other hand on the small of her back to keep her near him as she struggled.  He laughed from deep in his chest and looked down at her large eyes, which were somewhere between surprise, anger, and fright.  "Okay I'm not going to try to by your ranch.  Just calm down."  He laughed again because now all of the other emotions left her eyes and only anger reigned.  "Okay I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, but you can't start yelling right away.  Promise?" 

When Cheyenne looked up at him every fiber in her being screamed danger.  Not the kind of danger that came from looking down the barrel of a gun.  It was the kind of danger that came from deep inside her that made her own body turn against her.  Because even has her brain was ordering her body to get away it was reveling in the wonderful strength that his body seemed to possess.  She could feel the heat of his body against hers and she could smell the spice of his aftershave.  His brown eyes looked at her so intently she forgot to breathe.  Finally she nodded in answer to his plea for her silence.  A reluctant look fluttered over his eyes and slowly he dropped his hand from her mouth. 

The moment that he took his hand away she breathed a sigh of relief.  Or at least relief is what she told herself it was.  She tried to step away from him but then she realized that he had only let go of her mouth and not removed the hand from the small of her back.  Quietly she searched his eyes for some reason that he didn't let go and at the same time she felt his fingers spread against the small of her back.  All of a sudden she was very frightened and wanted to move away from him and the circle of his arms.  "You let me go Cartwright."  Cheyenne ordered.  "I swear the moment I find a gun you had better hope that you are in the next state.  You let me go right now."

Adam laughed and covered her mouth again.  "What did I do before the first day that I saw you?  Do you think you could tell me?  Because I swear I can't remember."  She glared up at him.  "Oh stop shooting those daggers at me.  I'm not going to hurt you and you know it.  Now why don't you and I go back to the party before someone misses us?"  He asked her as he smiled slowly.  "Okay?"  Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth and braced himself for her anger again but it didn't come.

"I guess, if it means I'll get away from you."  She frowned at him but he only smiled.  Then he dropped his hand from around her waist and motioned toward the door.  Cheyenne fought the feeling of loss that washed over her as he let her go but ignored the feeling and promptly marched toward the door.  Right before she walked out she turned one last look at Adam and then walked out.

As she disappeared Adam took a deep breath.  "She's got to be the orneriest, most infuriating, most exquisite woman I've ever met.  If I could stand to be in the same room with her for more than a minute, I might think about. . ." For some reason he didn't want to finish that sentence and followed Cheyenne outside.

Cheyenne walked right over to Elsa when she walked out of the barn.  Elsa smiled at her niece.  She could tell by the frustration on Cheyenne's face that her niece had had another confrontation with Adam.  All night long they had stole quick glance to each other without the other seeing.  For all of their smart and mature attitudes whenever they got around each other they acted like children.  She watched Adam walk from the barn and strait towards them.  Things were going to very interesting very quickly. 

"Well, Miss Harris, it was brought to my attention that I haven't said happy birthday to you and I am here to amend that."  Adam said in a cool voice and then extended his hand.  "Would you do me the honor of a dance?"

She eyed his hand like a snake and was about to refuse when Elsa interrupted.  "Of course she would love to dance with you Adam.  Especially after the nice way that you asked."  And then Elsa pushed Cheyenne forward.

"Well thank you Mrs. Harris but I would like to hear it from Cheyenne."  Adam looked over at Elsa and then back at Cheyenne his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Why don't we wait for the next song?"  Cheyenne asked her voice imploring.

"Oh this is the last song."  Joe said as he came up from behind Cheyenne.  He watched his oldest brother gazed after Cheyenne all night long.  He wanted the two of them together because Cheyenne was the first girl that had been able to rile his perfect brother up.  In the time that Cheyenne had been in their lives Adam had gotten more and more immature.  It pleased Joe to know end to know that his brother wasn't flawless.  "It's now or never."

"In that case. . ."  Cheyenne started but stopped when she saw Elsa's reproachful stare.  "Fine."  And she took his hand.

"Why were you so reluctant to dance with me?"  Adam said as he walked her toward the middle of the floor.

"Besides the obvious?"  She asked. 

"Yes."  He smiled.  "Besides the obvious?"

"Promise you won't laugh."  She asked solemnly as they came to a halt in the middle of the floor.  Cheyenne could feel eyes on her.

The intensity of her stare startled him.  Whatever she was going to tell him was serious and for some reason he was very happy about the familiarity of the serious conversation.  "I swear."

Cheyenne swallowed and stared up at him.  "I can't slow dance."  That confused Adam, he saw her dancing earlier with numerous people.  As if reading his mind she answered his unspoken question.  "The dances before.  They were all fast.  I can do those.  There are specific steps to those.  Right, left, turn here, move there.  But slow dances there's no rules, no specific ways to do it."

He could see the panic in her eyes but it was at something so arbitrary that he had to fight a smile. 

She glared up at him.  "I told you that you were going to laugh."

"I'm sorry.  But I've seen you brave grown men and huge angry mustangs and not bat an eye.  You are the most adventurous woman that I've ever seen.  Then you tell me that you are afraid to slow dance.  It's just a bit comical that's all.

"Fine.  I'm glad that I'm amusing to you."  Cheyenne spat, turned, and walked away.

Before she could get to far away Adam caught up with her, grabbed her forearm, and spun her around so that she collided with his chest.  "Come on birthday girl.  The only difference between fear and adventure is how much you breathe."  He quoted.

"I know that quote."  Cheyenne said.  "I understand that but, why am I explaining this to you."  She rolled her eyes.  "Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."

Again Adam laughed.  He had used the quote to anger her into dancing with him but she hadn't been affected.  Instead she shot back with a quote from Euripides that insulted him as well as showed him up.  The music began to start up.  It was slow and quiet.  He moved his hand down her arm and placed it on his shoulder.  Then he took her free hand in his and rested his hand on the small of her back.  "You okay?"  He asked.  She nodded but her face was pale.  "Now all you have to do is follow my lead.  We'll go slow." 

"Don't blame me if I step on your toes."  She said and turned her attention to what her feet were doing.

Louis watched his friend dance with the oldest Cartwright and smiled.  She was staring intently at his feet and trying to copy his movements.  Ever so often she would look up at Adam and blushed furiously.  Adam on the other hand hadn't stopped looking at her.  Sometimes his face would be happy and other times confused.  He lit his cigarette and thoughts began to form in his head.  When Adam had danced with Rosalynn, Louis paid attention because as the older cousin that was his job.  As he exhaled the smoke he remembered the perfectly polite way that Adam had danced with Rosalynn.  Quickly he glanced over at Rosalynn who was dancing with a young man.  She was glaring at her cousin and Adam.  Things were about to get very interesting very soon.

Chapter 8

Sunday had been a recovery day from the party.  Rosalynn had slept until noon and finally stepped out of the house around one.  Cheyenne was running Hermes, with a saddle on, in his corral.  She was going to try to ride him when he was a little more tired. 

"Did you see me dance with Adam, yesterday?"  Rosalynn had asked.  "He held me so close.  He's so strong.  I wonder what our children will look like."

It took Cheyenne all of the energy that she possessed to keep her mind on the task at hand.  As Hermes stopped running Cheyenne approached him cautiously.  Tenderly she put her hand on the saddle and threw herself in the seat.  Hermes balked at first, jumped and twisted for a few minutes, and because he was so tired from running all morning that he calmed down.  "That's a good boy.  Easy.  Easy."  Cheyenne began trotting him in a circle and tried to ignore Rosalynn.

Louis walked outside and saw Cheyenne up on her green colt.  It always amazed him the way that she could charm those horses.  He saw Rosalynn leaning on then fence and thought that it was odd that his pretty cousin seemed to be taking such an avid intrest in Cheyenne.  Suddenly he watched Cheyenne sail though the air and land harshly on the ground.

"Don't let her get to you, Cheyenne."  She told herself.  "Pay attention to the horse."

"He almost kissed me last night."  Rosalynn continued.  "I think he would have but there were too many people there.  You know he said that he was glad that I was there.  He said he was so happy to see me that he had plum forgot it was your birthday.  He said he was so busy thinking about me that he didn't even get you a present."

"So that was why it took him so long to say happy birthday to me.  He was to busy mooning over Rosalynn."  God she was angry.  So angry that she wasn't paying attention to the horse underneath her.  Hermes could smell the agitation from is rider and he became agitated.  To dislodge the rider he bucked up in the air and twisted.  Cheyenne who was stewing in her own juices wasn't ready for the move and found herself flying. 

"Cheyenne!"  Louis and Rosalynn yelled at the same time.  Louis went running over to her.  "Oh my god.  Are you okay?"

"Stop yelling you're going to scare the horse."  Cheyenne told them as she stood up with her hand on her head.  It had been a while since she had been thrown and she had almost forgot what it felt like.  It was painful.  Louis was already through the fence and beside Cheyenne's side to make sure that she was okay.  He looked at her with worried blue eyes.  "I'm fine.  Now get out of here.  I got to finish breaking that horse.  If I don't get back on him then it will be for nothing."  She shook her head and walked over to Hermes.  After a few moments she was back on the horse and ridding him a round.

"What happened?"  Louis said, he was standing next to Rosalynn watching Cheyenne ride.

"I haven't the foggiest.  I was standing here talking about last night when she got this horrible frown on her face and then next thing that I know she's flying through the air."  Rosalynn said innocently.

"Last night?  What exactly were you saying about last night?" 

"Just about how nice it was, how many people were there, and my many dances with Adam Cartwright."  She said as she walked off.

"Hmm."  He pondered as he watched Cheyenne ride. 

"Adam hand me the mashed potatoes."  Ben asked his son.  He was ignored.  "Adam, the potatoes?"  Still there was no recognition from his son.  "Adam?"  He watched as Adam pushed a few peas around on his plate.  After giving a pointed glance to his other two sons in unison they all yelled, "Adam!"

"What?"  Adam yelled as he almost jumped out of his chair and glared accusingly at his family.

"Would you please pass the potatoes?"  His father asked politely.

He handed the bowl of mashed potatoes to his father.  "All you had to do was ask?"

"I did.  Three times.  You've been quiet all day.  Where's your head?"

"I don't know.  I guess that I was thinking of something else."  Adam muttered and turned his attention back to his peas.

Hoss cast a sideways look to Little Joe and they both smiled conspiratorially.  "That was a pretty good party last night.  I think that everyone had a good time.  A lot of pretty women."

Little Joe nodded.  "There were, but did you see Cheyenne?  I tell you what she's a beautiful woman regularly but she cleans up amazingly."

With hard eyes, Ben studied his two youngest sons and immediately knew what they were up too.  He smiled inside himself; maybe his oldest boy did need to be teased a little.  "She sure does.  I've never seen eyes like those.  When she got out of that carriage I bet every jaw dropped in the place."

Adam glared at his family and then returned his attention back to his plate.  When he went to sleep last night all he could think about was the way that felt in his arms or the way that her face flushed and her eyes flashed when she was angry.  He loved to push her buttons just to watch her animated face. 

Then, when he went to sleep he had this dream when he went to sleep he had this unsettling dream.  He dreamt that he came across Cheyenne sitting in a field.  In the dream he had stood right next to her and she smiled up at him.  And the next thing that he knew she was standing in front of him.  Slowly she stood up on her toes, in the dream he leaned down and, as gently as a butterfly lands on a flower placed a soft kiss on his lips.  That was were the dream ended.  But when he woke up the first thing that he thought about were those haunting blue-green eyes. 

As he sat down for breakfast all he thought about was her.  Though church all he could think about was her.  Even as the preacher was preaching a lesson on not yielding to temptation all Adam could think about was one very tempting dark-haired angel.  The rest of the day followed in the same manner.  Now at dinner his family was annoying the devil out of him.  One more comment about how pretty Cheyenne was and he was going to lose it.

The next day was Cheyenne's birthday.  She got up extraordinarily early finished her chores and took Zeus out.  A note left on the kitchen table said that she wouldn't be back for the rest of the day.  No one was surprised this was her birthday ritual.  She would come back a little after dark.  They would have dinner and let her open her birthday presents. 

Louis heard the horse approaching before he saw him.  He watched as Adam Cartwright rode up on his horse.  The man in black rode up next to Louis and looked down at him in a superior manner.  It didn't take an educated man to see that Adam was trying to intimidate him. 

"Is Cheyenne here?"  He asked in a deep voice.

"She's not here right now, but I'm going to need you to get off that horse for a moment."  Louis said.

Adam gave Louis a stern look and slid off the horse.  He was fully prepared to face Louis.  All morning long thoughts of Cheyenne continued to walk though his head.  He went to sleep last night with her on his brain and woke up the same way.  Thoughts of her hadn't left him alone.  It hadn't helped that still all Joe and Hoss could talk about was how pretty she looked.  By lunchtime he was ready to sock them both in the nose fully convinced that they had been paying to much attention to her.  He had to do something to get Cheyenne out of his head and the only thing that he could come up with was to go see her.  Actually he had also come up with running off to San Francisco until this odd feeling left but he couldn't find the strength to leave.  So here he was at her ranch.  "You need something?"  Adam asked.  Cheyenne said that there was nothing going on between her and Louis but that still didn't help Adam's attitude toward the man.

"I would like you to walk with me for a minute."

As he stood before Louis with his horse in his hand he studied Louis carefully.  There was no evil in his face but all the same Adam didn't smile.  "Okay."

They walked on for a ways, past the house, past the barn, and to a large field with only a few trees.  "What did you want?"  Adam asked.

"Well," Louis said.  "I felt that we needed to talk."  He lit his cigarette and through the match on the ground. 

"What about?" 

"About your interest in a certain young woman that I care very much about."  Louis smiled.

"Now, I don't know what you've heard but there is nothing between myself and Rosalynn."  Adam started.

Louis held up his hand.  "Yes I know.  I'm talking about Cheyenne."  He chuckled at Adam's open mouth.  "You're in love with her, are you not?  What nothing to say?  From what Cheyenne tells me you are very vocal towards her."

"I-I don't know what to say.  What did she tell you?"

"Do you deny that you are in love with her?"  Louis asked ignoring Adam's question as he studied Adam's face.  "You don't know do you?  Huh, I guess what they say about being the last to know is true."

"Last to know what?"  Adam said.  "What are you talking about?"

"How you and Cheyenne feel about each other."  He informed him as he inhaled his cigarette.

"You mean how we can hardly stand the sight of each other."  He told Louis.  When confronted with the truth all he could seem to do was to run the other way.  "Or that she is so infuriating that sometimes you want to take her out in the woods and leave her there?"  He exclaimed though clenched teeth.  It seems that when he thought about Cheyenne it always confused him.

A loud, hearty chuckle came from inside Louis.  "Poor man.  I know how you feel.  When I first saw Nicole I wanted to run in the opposite direction as far and as fast as I could.  One look at her and I knew it was the end of all of my wildcatting and late nights with the boys.  The end of all my freedom.  And with my second look I knew that wouldn't care one little bit."

"Truthfully I have no idea what you are talking about."  Adam couldn't ever be considered a coward but right now he felt that if he didn't run as far and as fast as he could away from his place, he would be lost forever.

Louis watched the struggle in the man's eyes and thought that Adam didn't even know he was fighting a battle that he had already lost.  "I'm sorry Adam.  I guess that we all were mistaken.  Maybe we read the signs all wrong."

"We?"  Adam asked tentatively and tried to start his heart from hoping that he would hear Cheyenne's name and then tried to stop his head from recognizing what that meant.

"Oh yes, all of us.  We all thought that there was something between you too."

"Who is 'all of us'?"

"Well let's see there's me, Blue Eagle, Elsa, she knew first I think, umm, you father, and if I'm not mistaken both of your brothers."  Louis prattled off.  "And unfortunately I think that Rosalynn is coming around, slowly and angrily, but surely."

"All of those people?"  Adam thought to himself.  "No, it's not true.  I can't stand her.  The only reason that I can't get her out of my mind was that she cleaned up so beautiful the night of the party."  He didn't questioned why she had been on his brain since the first time that he saw him.

A small half smile appeared on Louis' face as he watched Adam fight himself.  It was going to take a minute for his head to catch up with his heart but when it did it was going to hit him like a ton of bricks.  "Well Cheyenne rode out this way early this morning.  I'm sure she's out there reading one of her books."  He said as he pointed toward the open field and watched as Adam's face lit up.  The half smile reappeared.

"I guess I will ride out there.  I've got to give this to her."  He patted his saddlebags and quickly through himself on his horse.  But before he could ride out Louis called to him.

"Adam."  He said slowly and watched Adam look down at him.  "Well see I had this big speech prepared and I might as well say it now that I have the chance.  It's really a two part speech so bear with me."  He took a deep breath.  "Part one is a little advice.  Cheyenne is a pretty stubborn woman and she's got it in her head that she's going to dislike you no matter what.  Now usually when Cheyenne's made up her mind I would say that it was useless to try to convince her otherwise but you've got a good chance to just that.  She says that she dislikes you so much that she must be trying to cover something else up that she probably doesn't even understand.  It's going to take a lot of effort on your part to make her change her mind and recognize what she feels.  Once she changes her mind though it will take more power than anyone has on this earth to change it back."

For some reason beyond his comprehension he listened intently to what Louis was saying.  He tried to memorize each word that Louis said as if it was gospel.

"That of course leads me to part two.  Should you happen to change her mind about the way she feels about you and change your mind about the way that you feel about her.  If you hurt her in any way, shape, form, or fashion I will personally see to it that you will painfully regret it everyday for the rest of your life, however long I decide that will be."  His eyes were steely blue and deadly serious.  "Understand?"

Adam nodded with perfect seriousness and then rode off,

Louis took one last puff on his cigarette and through it on the ground.  He hoped that he was doing the right thing.  His gut told him that Adam would be good to Cheyenne but his big brother instinct told him that no one was good enough for Cheyenne and that he should sock Adam in the gut for even thinking he might be.  In then end he had to let nature take her course.

Chapter 9

A couple of days ago Cheyenne had been roaming around and come across a little clearing in the forest a couple miles from her home.  When she rode out this morning she knew that that little clearing was her eventual destination.  The first thing she did was run Zeus until the horse wanted to stop and then eventually made her way to her neat little meadow.  She took off the blanket that she used as a saddle and removed the bags that she kept her books and her lunch in.  After she removed the halter and reins she gave Zeus a quick spank on the rump and the large, white stallion leapt after freedom. 

Cheyenne found a wonderful spot to read.  She nestled herself between a low hanging branch and the trunk of a large blue spruce tree and opened one of her favorite books.  Within moments she was already off in another world.  Every now and then she would look up and see Zeus rolling around or munching on the clover.

As Adam rode up to the little clearing in the woods he saw a large white horse grazing.  He couldn't believe that Cheyenne's tracks had led him here.  This was land that he knew very well.  He scanned the area wondering where Cheyenne was but didn't see any sign of her.  Finally and old blue spruce caught his attention.  The tree's branches hung low almost touching the ground.  Out of one of the tree's branches small movement caught his eye and he gave a small smile.

Quietly he slid off of Sport and walked toward the tree.  Adam looked up and saw Cheyenne snuggled against the trunk of the tree.  Her eyes moving excitedly across the pages of the book.  One of her bare feet was bent against her and she balanced the book on it.  The other bare foot hung down the tree branch and swung back and forth.  To Adam the position looked entirely uncomfortable but she seemed perfectly content up there.  He smiled, her dark hair was out of it's usually braid and hung loose around her shoulders.  Unconsciously she twirled a strand around her fingers and turned the page.

By the time that Adam reached the tree she still hadn't noticed that he was there.  He looked up at her peaceful engrossed face then down at her swinging leg and a wicked smile appeared on his face.  Quickly he grabbed a hold of her ankle and gave a terrifying growl.  Cheyenne let out a high pitched scream, threw her book, and almost fell out of the tree.  Adam let out a loud laugh as Cheyenne put her hand on her heart and tried to catch her breath.

"What is the big idea?!?"  Cheyenne asked as she took ragged breaths.  She checked her heart one more time to make sure that it was still beating. 

Adam doubled over laughing but he didn't let go of her ankle.  When he looked up and saw that she was glaring down at him it just made him laugh harder.  "I'm sorry."  He said between breaths.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yes you did."  She accused and tried to kick him with the leg that he was holding on to but she couldn't get it free.  "Let go!"

"No.  If I let go you'll kick me."  Laughter coated his voice.

"Your right, now let go."

"No."  He smiled still laughing.  "You have to admit it was kind of funny.  You should have seen your face.  I've never seen anyone's eyes get that big." 

Against her better judgment, Cheyenne felt herself smiling and Adam saw it.  "My, my Miss Harris you're losing that cool exterior you pride yourself on."  Immediately her smile left and was replaced by a firm face.  Adam almost lost his own smile as hers disappeared but he was determined.  "Oh no, don't you get all huffy I didn't come all this way for you to give me the silent treatment."

Cheyenne rolled her eyes and looked down at him.  It was her birthday and there was no way that he was going to ruin it for her with negativity.  When she saw his big happy brown eyes she couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.  "What are you doing here, Cartwight?"  She asked.

"You mean that you aren't happy to see me on your birthday?"  He asked.  Then as if it possessed a mind of it's own; his thumb began to trace her ankle. 

It was as if his hand was starting a fire in her leg that was heating up her body.  She could feel it spreading in her stomach up through her chest and then a red blush crept up her cheeks.  "Wha- What are you doing?"  Cheyenne said and swallowed.

"Nothing."  He said but didn't stop.  Just being around her made everything sensible exit is brain.  The only thing that he could think of was how much he liked touching her.  The same thing that happened to him at the party and then again in the barn.  As soon as he touched her it was like energy making a complete circle through his body.  It was intoxicating.  "What are you reading?"

"The Three Musketeers."  She said slowly.

"Dumas?"  Adam said surprised. 

"You've read it?  I have hardly found anyone who as read it."  She was excited.

Adam kept moving his thumb around her ankle and nodded.  "I liked it."  He watched her face reddened and smiled at the affect that he was having on her.  "Say do you know where you are?"

"Some little clearing."  She said offhandedly.

"Do you know whose land you are on?"

"No."  Cheyenne looked around as if the owner were going to pop out from behind some tree.  "Whose?"

"Mine."  Adam smiled at her shocked face.

"This is Ponderosa land?"

"No, this is my land.  As far as the eye can see."  He looked up at her to judge her reaction to the news.  As she turned her head to get a good view of all the land he was struck buy how beautiful she was.  For the first time he noticed that when the sun hit her hair just right it sparkled with little bits of gold and had an odd mahogany color to it.  Her vivid eyes danced somewhere between green and blue.  He liked how even though she tried to keep them away it was virtually impossible for her to make any kind of facial expression without her deep dimples appearing.    How many times had she been angry but her frown caused those dimples to show and entirely ruined the affect? 

"His land?"  Cheyenne thought to herself and turned to look down at him. He looked at her with an odd expression on his face.  As he looked up at him she couldn't help but study his face.  He had to have the most unusual colored eyes in the world.  Sometimes they were brown but there were others that she could swear that they were almost green.  And then when he got mad they even looked black.  Now being this close to him she could make out a little gold in them as well.  A slow smile spread across his face and drew her eyes to his mouth.  After all the fighting and arguing she found that she like the way his bottom lip was so much fuller than his top lip.  There were times that she had and almost uncontrollable urge to touch it.  She cleared her throat and seemed to regain her composure.  "What are you doing here, Cartwright?"

"Well, it's your birthday.  I thought I would give you your present."  Adam blinked under the heat of her stare, a stare he secretly enjoyed.

"Why did you give me one at the party?  That's when your brothers and father gave me their presents.  Maybe you were to busy dancing with my cousin to notice that it was my birthday."  She shot at him.

"Do you think that you could try to control your jealousy for a moment?"  He laughed at the indigence on her face. 

"Jealous?  Why of all the arrogant, self-centered, things that have ever heard.  You are--"

"Vain, horrible.  Yes I know this already.  Would you just come down from there so I can give you this?"  He laughed and turned toward his horse.  All of a sudden the words that Louis had told him washed over Adam.  Louis said that Cheyenne seemed to disliked him so much that she had to be trying to cover up for something.  He didn't want to admit to himself that he himself was hoping that that was just what was happening.  Her jealousy fed a little more fire to that flame of hope.

It took only a moment for Cheyenne to decide that she wanted that present so she hopped down from the tree and walked over to where Adam was standing by his horse.  "What did you get me?"  She asked happily.  Usually if someone interrupted her birthday she was irate but now she was just excited to see what he got her.

"A little greedy aren't we?"  He laughed as he opened his saddlebag.  "I know it's in here somewhere.  Hop Sing sent you some cake."

"Well now ain't that nice of him."  A deep, male voice said behind him.

Immediately Adam turned around to see who was the owner of the voice and what he saw made him blanch.  Holding a pistol to Cheyenne's head with one hand and with his other hand over her mouth was none other than Donny Crawford with at least seven men behind him, all with guns pointed at him.  "Hello Adam.  Drop the gun and kick it over here."

Adam's face turned to steel and put his hand on his gun.

"Slowly.  Slowly."  Donny ordered and dug the pistol deeper into Cheyenne's head.

He dropped the gun on the ground and kicked it toward Donny.  Adam gave Cheyenne a reassuring look only to discover that instead of frightened eyes like he expected her blue eyes were full of anger.  "That's my girl."  He thought to himself. 

"What a good boy."  Donny sneered and shoved Cheyenne to a man next to him.  "Hold her Jimmy.  You two come with me."  He and two other men walked over to Adam and Sport.  One man kept his gun on Adam, another took the rifle out of Adam's saddle and checked for any other weapons, and Donny patted Adam down.  "Jimmy."  He called to the man holding Cheyenne.  "Make sure that she don't got no weapons on her."

Jimmy grinned a little too broad.  "No problem."  In an instant his hands were all over her body 'checking' for weapons.

"Watch your hands, boy."  Adam growled at the man, wanting nothing more that to rip the man's arms out of their sockets and beating him with them.

"Well, well, does Prince Adam have a little wench here?"  Donny asked as he looked over at Cheyenne.  Her head was held up and she glared at him defiantly.  "Pretty little thing she is."  He whispered in Adam's ear and watched the Cartwright clench his jaw.  "This little lady is going to be an asset."  Donny thought.

Cheyenne glared at the man who held her willing, her gaze to burn holes into this head.  Then she looked at the man talking to Adam.  He was short and muscular, dark-haired, light eye.  He might have been handsome if his features weren't contorted into a perpetual sneer.  She turned her attention to the man who held her.  The stench of the man was burning her nose.  He was dirty and ugly, a big gap from a missing tooth in the middle of his mouth.

"I haven't found a weapon yet.  But I'm a gonna keep looking."  Jimmy liked women.  And he liked them even more when they put up a fight.  Forcefully he turned the woman around and looked into her eyes expecting to see fear.  Instead she glared at him with a hatred that almost over powered him.  Quickly he shook his head and continued his search. 

After his hands brushed her chest and continued to her hips, Cheyenne decided that it was time to take action.  He reached the snap of her pants and Cheyenne started to move.  With her knee she slammed into his most sensitive of areas.  As he doubled over in pain she flattened her hand and jabbed his nose with the base of her palm.  Almost instantly blood sprang from his nose and Cheyenne grabbed the gun that Jimmy dropped on the ground when he grabbed himself.  She jumped up and pointed the gun right at Donny's head.

The only reason that Donny's men hadn't shot Cheyenne was the fact that she was a woman and they found it exciting to watch her.  Now that she had her gun at Donny they all moved to aim at her.  She had six guns on her and Adam only had Donny's gun at his head. 

"Drop it now."  Cheyenne ordered and cocked the gun.  In her ear she heard six other guns cock and Jimmy groan on the ground.

"Very impressive but I don't see how you're in any position to give orders."  Donny said calmly and moved his gun closer to Adam's head.  Donny Crawford wasn't a stupid man; in fact he was quite smart.  He knew that Adam wouldn't move because it would risk Cheyenne's life.  He knew Adam Cartwright.  What he didn't know was how Cheyenne would react?  She had already exhibited more spirit that he thought she would have. 

"My position is that I have a gun at your head."  She said just as calmly as he did. 

"Yes but I have six on you."  He pointed out.  "You shoot.  You die."

"I shoot.  You die first."  She smiled at him prettily.

"Well played.  Boys guns on Cartwright here."  One by one they obeyed and turned their guns on Adam.  Donny on the other hand turned his gun on Cheyenne.  "Now look at the situation, again.  You shoot, we both die, but I don't think that scares you.  On the other hand once a gun goes off Ol' Cartwright's body gets riddled.  You take a chance with your own life but what about someone else's?"

Adam watched Cheyenne helplessly frustrated.  Part of him was amazed at the way that she acted in a situation like this and part of him was so worried about her that he couldn't think straight.  What he wanted the most in the world was for her to be anywhere but here right now.  "Let her go, Crawford.  You don't need her."  He snarled.

"On the contrary I think that she will make a nice addition to what I have planned."  Donny smiled evilly.  "What'll it be?"  He addressed Cheyenne.  "You going to risk Cartwright's life?"

Once again the woman with the gun surprised Donny.  He expected her to look over at Cartwright for some sort of signal but she didn't.  Instead she held his gaze evenly.  The intensity of her stare of green fire was beginning to annoy him.  Jimmy made a noise from the ground and Donny took a quick look at him.  When he turned back to Cheyenne she gave him a smug smile and uncocked the gun.  He watched as she opened the gun and emptied it.  Then she tossed the gun as far away from her as she could.  Even though he knew he won somehow he felt that he just lost.

Blue Eagle always told her that if a man couldn't keep eye contact for even a small amount of time then he was weak or hiding something.  In the split second that the man looked away she read him like a book and branded him coward.  Still, he was a coward with seven other men behind him.  "There you go."

"Good girl."  Donny smiled.  He watched Jimmy stand up and wipe the blood from his face and glare at the woman.  "Oh poor girl this is going to hurt."  His voice held almost a ring of happiness.

Cheyenne raised her eyebrow.  All of a sudden she felt herself being twirled around and she stared up into the bloody face of a very angry Jimmy.  Before she could process what was happening she felt the back of his hand across her face.  Immediately Adam jumped to attack Jimmy fully intending to rip him apart with his bare hands but two men held him back.  Cheyenne's face followed the force of his slap but she righted herself up again.  Her entire head was on fire and her brain was spinning.  She could feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.  By God she was angry.  Viciously she glared at Jimmy.  No one hit her.  No one.  By now logical thinking had gone by the wayside.  She balled her right fist up and swung knocking Jimmy the same way that he had hit her.

Donny stared at the woman in shock.  Adam stared at Cheyenne in shock.  Jimmy stared at the woman in shock and anger.  He raised his hand to let her have it again but just before fist contacted with face Donny caught Jimmy's arm.  "Jimmy, is this anyway to treat a guest?"

"Donny did ya see what she did to me?"  Jimmy glared at Cheyenne.

"Get over there."  Donny said and sent him away.  Then he turned his attention to Cheyenne.  "The first time it was funny and entertaining.  You raise a hand to one of my boys again and I'll kill you."

"One of your boys raises a hand to me and I'll kill 'em."  Cheyenne retorted.

Very slowly Donny raised his hand and took Cheyenne's chin in his hand.  "You are a spitfire if I ever saw one."  He said and turned her head to the side.  "A spitfire that's going to have a nasty bruise in the morning."  Never once during all of this did Cheyenne stop glaring at him.  "I hope it hurts."

"Tie them up and put them on that horse."  Donny ordered and his men jumped to his orders.  

First the tied Cheyenne's hands in front of her and put her on horse.  She was to control the horse, they figure that it would be harder for them to run with her in front.  Next, Adam was thrown up on his horse with his hands tied in back of him.  The only way for him to hold on was with his legs.  If Cheyenne decided to run it would be hard for him to stay on. 

When the men walked away from Sport and mounted up on their own horses Adam leaned down and whispered in her ear.  "You okay?"

Before Cheyenne could answer Donny rode up to them.  "You will ride with us.  If it even looks like you are running away and you'll end up with holes in your back.  Understand that spitfire?"  He didn't wait for an answer before he rode off.

She squeezed her legs and Sport shot off.  All along her back she could feel Adam's chest.  His voice repeated the question in her ear.  "I'm fine."  She turned her attention back to the men around the horse. 

Chapter 10

They made camp in a small clearing high up in the mountains.  Adam and Cheyenne were pulled from the horse and tossed on the ground next to a large boulder.  Cheyenne groaned as her shoulder made contact with the rock face.  "Did that hurt, girlie?"  Jimmy asked, Cheyenne just glared up at him and didn't answer him.  "I hope it did.  I really hope it did."

"Jimmy come away from there."  Donny ordered and Jimmy obeyed with mild reluctance. 

As she righted herself Cheyenne glared at Donny as he approached.  She wasn't sure who she hated more the dirty, smelly man who had hit her or this man with the smug way about him.  One thing was for sure Cheyenne was angrier than a wet hornet those men had better pray that she didn't get a hand on a gun. 

"It doesn't do my heart good to see my guests so upset."  Donny said as he knelt down in front of Cheyenne and took her chin in his hand.  "Why with the daggers that you are shooting me I can feel my heart breaking in two."

Furiously she shook her head out of his grasp.  "Give me a knife and I'll find out for myself."  She growled.   

Quick as a rattler Donny grabbed the hair at the top of Cheyenne's head and pulled her head back to reveal her throat.  "You've got a mouth on you don't you."

"Let her go, Crawford or I swear that death will be a sweet release."  Adam ordered.  Even tied up in his voice radiated with power. 

The evil sneer on Donny's face faltered.  Something inside Donny recognized and responded to the order and that upset him more than anything did.  "What's wrong, Adam?  I guess that you never learned to share."  He ran his finger down Cheyenne's throat and then closed his hand around it. 

As soon as Donny tightened his grip the airflow to Cheyenne's lungs was cut off.  Cheyenne's grew wide with terror and she tried to struggle out of his grip, her chained hands fought against his.  Adam jumped from his seated position directly onto Donny breaking his hold on Cheyenne.  All of Donny's men came running to get Adam off of their boss while Cheyenne fought to fill her lungs with oxygen.  After a few kicks in the ribs Adam rolled off Donny and was physically toss against the rock.

Donny got up and dusted himself off.  He glared at Adam with angry eyes.  "I guess that we are going to have to teach you some manners."  Then he walked away. 

"Are you okay?"  Cheyenne asked as she scooted closer to Adam.  Her voice was husky and soft, as if she wanted to only speak to Adam. 

Adam looked up at Cheyenne her big blue-green eyes filled wit concern and worry.  He could see the red marks on her neck where Donny's hands had been.  Never before was her filled with such rage and such concern at the same time.  "Yes.  What about you?"  Cheyenne bit her bottom lip and nodded.  He could see a blue and purple bruise on the side of her face and his stomach turned.  "I am so sorry."  His eyes were full of regret and shame.  "You shouldn't be in this mess."

"It's not your fault.  But just so you know I hate your friends."  Cheyenne told him as she lay back gently against the rock.  Adam laughed, amazed that she could make a joke during such a time.  Slowly he joined her and they sat next to each other against the rock and watched the men around the fire.  She didn't know if she was more scared or angry but her entire body was shaking.  As she pulled her knees to her chest wrapped her chained arms around them; she could see her hands trembling.  Frantically she began to wring her hands together as if she could stop them from trembling.

When her looked over Adam saw Cheyenne rubbing her arms frenziedly.  "Cheyenne."  He said softly but she didn't seem to hear him.  "Cheyenne."  This time he said it a little more forcefully.  Slowly, she turned her face up to him and what he saw ate his heart out.  Her big turquoise eyes were watery and frightened.  "Hey what's wrong?"

"My hands."  She said so softly that he barely heard her.  "They were shaking and I tried to get them to stop but then my arms were shaking.  And I tried to get them to stop but then I realized that all of me is shaking and I can't stop it."

More than anything he wanted to put his arms around her and tell her that everything would be all right but with his hand bound he couldn't.  Instead he scooted as close to her as he could.  Some part of him was afraid that she was going to pull away from him and the moment that his body touched her he felt her stiffen but only for a moment.  As if to take part of his strength she tried to mold herself against him.  The gesture wasn't of intimacy but pure need to feel that the other was there.  It was the same way that people huddled together in the snow: warmth, compassion, and just to know that someone was in the same predicament as you were.

Eventually Cheyenne stopped shaking but she made no effort to move away from Adam's side.  Part of her felt like a coward for needing to draw strength from Adam but she couldn't fight the feeling that something bad was going to happen.  When Donny confronted her or one of the other sleazy men around she let her anger overwhelm her but now that she had to actually think about her situation fear was getting the better of her.  As the night fell they stayed next to each other.  Cheyenne jumped every time the men made a drunken noise.  And every time Adam would smile and calm her down.  Each time she would move a little closer, if that were possible, to Adam.  "Do you think that anyone is looking for us?"

"I'm sure they are."  Adam said softly.  He watched her yawn and leaned her head back against the rock.  "You tired?"  Cheyenne nodded imperceptibly.  Bravely, Adam swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at her.  "You could rest you head on my shoulder, you know, if you wanted."  Never in his life had Adam waited on edge so much for the answer to one question.

As she took a sharp intake of breath, Cheyenne stared into Adam's eyes.  The fire danced across his face and she felt utterly captivated.  Instead of his eyes being full of his usual arrogance and confidence they reflected such hope and uncertainty that she felt her chest constrict.  She couldn't say anything but just gave a soft smile and lowered her head down to his shoulder.  All she could think about how good it felt to just to touch someone, to touch him.

Never before had Adam felt this complete in his whole life.  It was like he found a part of him that had been missing since forever.  One of the men shouted loudly and Cheyenne sat up quickly her eyes wide.  After a moment she realized that it wasn't anything she settled back down against Adam.  "Adam."  Her voice sleepy.  "I'm sorry.  I wanted to say away to keep watch with you but-"

"It's okay.  Go to sleep.  You're going to need your strength in the morning."  He smiled as she snuggled closer to him.  More than anything he wished that they were some other place and that this was happening at some other time.  He wished that this would have happen when they weren't in a life or death situation.  But he couldn't think about that now.  He had to figure out a way to get them both out of this.  In her sleep Cheyenne let out a little sigh and buried her head farther in his shoulder.  God, he loved just her nearness.  That was it, the moment that he knew.  He was completely and totally in love with her.

His chest constricted.  Ever so slowly he leaned in close to Cheyenne and pressed his lips against the soft skin of her forehead.  In her sleep she smiled and relaxed her body against his.  Her trust of him when she was sleeping was absolute.  "I'm going to get you out of this."  Adam promised quietly.  "I'm going to get you out of this and then I'm going to make you fall in love with me."

Chapter 11

 The next day Donny ordered Adam and Cheyenne put back on Sport, they were moving on.  "You must untie his hands."  Cheyenne ordered.  Adam had dark circles under his eyes and he looked incredibly tired.  Her heart went out to him. 

"Who are you to give me orders?"  Donny demanded.

"I can't keep up with you if I'm worrying about him falling off."  Cheyenne rolled her eyes.  "I swear that I will not try to get away."

"Tie his hands in font of him."  Donny ordered. 

Guns were kept on Cheyenne as one of Donny's men secured Adam's hands in front of him.  Then the group headed up higher into the mountains.

"Adam."  Cheyenne whispered.  She felt his breath on her throat as he leaned down to listen to her.  Swallowing a lump in her throat, Cheyenne tried to finish what she was saying without losing her nerve.  "You need to get some sleep."

"I can't."  He whispered.  A small smile appeared on his face as he watched her shiver involuntarily. 

"Listen, I can watch what's going on and if anything happens I'll wake you up."  She cleared he throat.  "You can just put your arms around me, so you won't fall."  Inside her head she could hear her heart thumping loudly.  A small part of her wanted him to say no, so that she would say a safe distance away from all of the emotions that were wrecking her body.  But, a larger part of her wanted him to put his arms around her and make her forget where she was. 

Slowly Adam lifted his arms and lowered them over her head so that his bound hands wrapped around her waist.  He pulled her close and wondered if she could feel his heart pounding against her back.  "Thank you."  He whispered in her ear.

A steady heat was building all over her body as his arms settled around her.  When she built her courage up she turned back to look at him.  It was a mistake. 

The moment her eyes met his she was stunned into silence.  All of a sudden the world around them disappeared and all that existed was the both of them.  Slowly their heads moved closer together and Cheyenne could feel his hot breath on her lips.  More than anything she wanted this kiss.  She wanted him to make her forget.

He wanted to taste her, to take in her sweetness and innocence.  He wanted to feel her cleanliness in the mist of all this that was dirty.  She was so close to him that he could almost feel her lips against his. 

Just before their lips could meet Sport stumbled and the moment was broken.  Cheyenne cleared her throat and looked strait ahead.  "You can rest your head on my shoulder.  I'm going to try to untie your hands."

Adam let out a deep, regretful sigh and scooted closer to her.  He lowered his head to her shoulder and rested his forehead against her neck.  Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and inhaled her sweet scent.  She started trying to untie his hands and he fell asleep to the soft, occasional, touches against his arms and the steady beat of her heart.

Cheyenne wasn't exactly sure when Adam fell asleep.  His breath started coming in shallow gusts against the back of her neck but his arms never slacked in their grip around her waist. 

As she tried to untie the rope she studied his hands.  They were so large and strong and yet Cheyenne knew that they could never, ever hurt her.  It was odd that here in this mess and life threatening situation that she felt more complete than she ever had in her whole life. 

It was late in the day when Adam started to wake up.  He had slept so unbelievably soundly that he forgot where he was and what was going on.  All he knew was that there was a woman in his arms.  Adam hugged Cheyenne tightly and began to nuzzle her neck. 

"Adam."  Cheyenne whispered.  Then she felt his lips pressed against the base of her neck.  "Adam?!?"  She whispered again this time more frantically. 

The sound of her voice woke Adam up and he realized where he was.  He straitened his shoulders and began to stretch out his back.  Leaning down he muttered, sorry into her ear.  "Where are we?"

His voice was so thick with sleep that Cheyenne smiled.  She turned her head to look up at him and blushed remember the feel of his lips on her neck.  He looked so boyish with his eyes laden with sleep and one side of his face red from where he had been sleeping on her shoulder.  "Were still headed north, as far as I can tell."

Adam looked around at the land.  "I don't know where we are, exactly but the area is vaguely familiar."

"We're leaving easy to follow tracks.  Either Donny isn't that smart or he doesn't care."

"Donny isn't that smart but I wouldn't put the it past him not to care."  He tightened his grip on her waist.  "But don't worry.  Nothing is going to happen to you.  I won't let it."

"Hey, watch your hands.  I've got the rope tied loosely and I don't want it to fall off."

"You got it untied?" 

"Did you ever realize that you yell a lot?"  Cheyenne hissed.  "I've got a plan."

Donny looked back at the pair.  They seemed to bet getting closer and closer as the day went by.  He was going to make Prince Adam pay for having everything handed to him.  His first plan was to make sure that Adam begged him before he died but now he had another plan.

The girl was perfect.  She was pretty enough but her looks had nothing to do with this.  The only thing that matter was the way that Prince Adam was holding her so protectively.  He was going to slaughter her slowly and make sure that Adam watched everything.  She was going to die and Adam was going to follow her. 

He looked over and looked into Cheyenne's eyes.  His eyes burned cold into hers and vaguely he wonder if she knew that he was going to kill her slowly.  Then he shifted his gaze to Adam.  Jealously and hatred radiated from him. 

With that one look Adam felt that he knew Donny's plan and his blood ran cold.  He knew that Donny wanted to kill him and he knew that to make him suffer Danny was going to hurt Cheyenne.  If something happened to Cheyenne, Adam didn't know how he was going to stand it.

"Adam, Adam, are you listening?"  Cheyenne whispered.  All of a sudden she felt Adam's arms squeeze her tightly and he buried his face in her neck.  "What's wrong?"

Adam got control of himself as quickly as he lost it.  The idea of Cheyenne getting hurt still made his hands shake but he was determined not to let anyone hurt her.  "Nothing.  What were you saying?"

"I've got a plan.  Look at them."  She motioned toward the men in the line.  "They're falling asleep as it is.  We wait until dusk and make a break for it."

"That's your plan?  We make a break for it?"  He hissed into her ear.  All of the horrible images of what could happen flashed through his head.  "No. 

"Do you have a better idea?  We have to get out of this.  I don't think that they are keeping us here because of our excellent conversational skills."  She shot back at him. 

After a moment, Adam answered.  "I guess not but I don't want to take the risk."

"We have too.  It's the only choice."  Cheyenne told him.  "We're doing it."

"I said no."  Adam ordered.

"I don't care.  I said yes."

"This is my horse.  Do you think that Sport is going to listen to you?"  Adam said. 

"Cartwright."  She warned.

"Cheyenne."  He said in the exact same tone.

Cheyenne stared ahead of her and contemplated the situation.  If Adam was going to play it safe they were going to get killed on Donny's schedule.  That didn't sit well for Cheyenne.  If she was going to me her maker she was going to do it on her schedule.

Slowly she leaned back against Adam's chest.  He held her in the hollow of his chest and she said a quick prayer.  "Please God, let him get out of this alive and don't let him be to mad at me."  She took a few deep breaths and tilted her face up to his.

"Adam."  She whispered and her breath caught in her throat as he leaned down.  For a moment she forgot what she was about to do.

"Yes."  He whispered.

"Hold me tight." 

He obliged happily.  There was a look in her eye that he had never seen before.  Her eyes were a little scared but excited.

She looked up at him with frightened eyes.  "Please don't be mad at me."

Before he could respond Cheyenne leaned down to Sport and yelled into his ear while tapping his sides.  The horse was off like a shot.

Chapter 13

Shots rang out around them as Cheyenne and Adam ran into the trees.  "Cheyenne!"  Adam yelled and tried his best to shield her body from the bullets. 

Cheyenne wasn't about to stop.  She kept he body close to Sport's head and they shot into the forest.  The entire time that she prayed that they would get out of everything. 

Trees were becoming dense and Cheyenne continued to spur the horse on.  Behind her she could hear the thundering of horses.  Turning the horse sharply to the right she headed back down the mountain. 

Adam worked his hands free and kept a hold of Cheyenne's waist and looked over his shoulder.  Eight men where on their tail.  Never before had he been so frightened for someone.  He could feel her body against his and he was struck by how fragile she was.  Fervently he prayed that they would be safe.

"Watch out for that branch."  Adam ordered.  "Be careful.  Look out."

"Adam, shut up!  I don't have time to listen to you right now."  She bellowed.  "Just hold on."

All thoughts of her frailty left him and inspite of himself he smiled.  Suddenly he felt the burn of a bullet as it grazed his shoulder.  Involuntarily he let out a shout.

When he shouted Cheyenne felt her heart stop.  She thought he had been hit and all of a sudden she realized what a bad plan that this was.  They were such easy targets especially Adam.  She had to keep him safe.

Quickly she changed directions in an effort to make Adam less of a target and to try to keep them farther away.  She turned around to see how Adam was and that's when she felt it.  When she turned she opened up her body and became a larger target. 

The bullet entered her body just below her collarbone on the right side of her body and shot through her back.  She had never been shot before and the pain was more intense then she could have dreamed.  As if hot oil had been poured over her body and she cried out loud.

 That was the last thing that she remembered.  The pain was so intense that her brain and body shut down.  Darkness enveloped her and she passed out.

Sport didn't stop running, even when Cheyenne slumped over on his neck.  Adam didn't have time to think.  The moment that Cheyenne got shot he felt his heart fall to his stomach.  All he could do was pull Cheyenne against him and grabbed hold of Sport's reins.  His first thought was for Cheyenne.  She needed help. 

Donny knew that he had hit the girl and he smiled.  Their horse couldn't last at that speed much longer.  Slowly but surely they were catching up to them.  He was so intent on killing both of them that he didn't notice the herd of riders that shot out from behind them.

Zeus had come back to Olympus, riderless and Louis knew that something was wrong.  He rode over to the Ponderosa but Adam also hadn't come home.  Immediately all of the Cartwrights, Louis, and Blue Eagle were ready to ride.  They found the tracks easily and followed them. 

Louis was insane with worry.  He knew that Cheyenne could take care of herself but that didn't ease his protective brother drive.  They had arrived just in time to see Cheyenne take the bullet.  His gun was out and he fired on the men with a rain of bullets.

Adam heard the sound of increased bullets and turned around to see one of the most beautiful sights that he had ever seen.  The cavalry.  His brothers, his father, Blue Eagle, and he was even happy to see Louis. 

He pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted.  Slowly and carefully he pulled Cheyenne off of the horse and tucked her behind a tree.  The front of her shirt was red with blood but it was already beginning to clot.  Her breathing was shallow but steady. 

Gently he ran his hand across her cheek.  She was so soft and delicate.  "You shouldn't be in this."  He ran his hand down her arm and took hold of her hand and put it to his lips.  "I never should have let this happened.  I'm so sorry."

Once he was sure of her immediate safety, his only thought was to get to Donny and rip him apart with his bare hands.  He peered around the tree, everyone had taken cover, and there were bullets filling the sky.  Two of Donny's men had been killed and were lying on the ground. 

His brothers and father were easily spotted.  Every now and then he could see Blue Eagle's head as the man moved around to try to get behind Donny and the other men.  "Where was Louis?"  He wondered.  Just then he felt the barrel of a gun in his back. 

"Don't turn around, Cartwright."  A deep voice muttered. 

Before Adam could react he heard a gunshot.  He flinched but didn't feel the bullet.  Slowly he turned around and saw the man that held the gun on him sink to the ground and Louis standing behind him with a smoking gun. 

"Thanks."  He said as he reached down to pick up the fallen man's gun.  It was then that Adam realized that Louis had his gun on him.  "What's the big idea?"

"Look at her."  Louis yelled as he motioned to the unconscious Cheyenne.  "Look at what you've done to her."  He dropped his gun and knelt down to check on Cheyenne.  The wound in her chest was bleeding and she was becoming paler by the moment.

"I'm sorry."  Adam said quietly.  He couldn't look at Cheyenne right now.  His only thought was to get to Donny and kill him. 

Donny knew that his men around him were dropping like flies.  He saw Jimmy fall a few yards away from a bullet in the stomach.  One of the last remaining men ran off into the forest. 

From his position, Adam had a clear shot of Donny's back but he didn't take it.  He wanted to more than anything but his morals got the better of him.  All of the rest of Donny's gang had either been shot or made a run for it.  It was only him and Donny left.  "Crawford."  Adam bellowed.

This was how he should have done it in the first place, Donny thought as he turned around to face Adam.  "It's just you and me Cartwright."

"It's the way that it should have been."  Adam yelled.  "But you had to bring her into it.  You shot her, you bastard."

It was too much for Donny.  He drew but he was too slow.  Adam's bullet got him first. 

When Adam shot he was aiming for only one spot in particular, Donny's heart.  He didn't even watch Donny fall; he had already turned and was walking back toward Cheyenne.

Blue Eagle and Louis were on the ground next to Cheyenne, she was still unconscious.  Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe were standing around looking concerned. 

"How is she?"  Adam whispered.

"She's been shot!  How do you think she is?"  Louis demanded. 

"Calm down, son."  Ben began.

"Don't tell me to calm down!"  Louis yelled.  He turned anger filled eyes back to Adam.  "Look what you did.  Why didn't you keep her safe?  I should kill you where you stand!"

Adam ignored him and tried to get close to Cheyenne, she was so pale, but Louis stepped in front of me.  "Get out of my way, Louis."

"No!  You are not going to get near her again.  You are not going to touch her."  Louis stepped up and looked him right in the eye.  "Look what you did to her."

"Louis."  Blue Eagle warned.

"No, Uncle.  He should have protected her.  He should have kept her safe.  Now look at her.  She's got a hole in her and she bleeding to death.  It's his fault she's--"

"Louis!"  Blue Eagle bellowed.  "That's enough."  He picked up Cheyenne.  "We will go back to Olympus.  She will heal faster there."  He didn't look at Adam and instead kept her eyes on Louis.  "Get on your horse."

With one final glare Louis got on his horse and took off his jacket.  Blue Eagle handed the unconscious Cheyenne up to Louis.  Gently he wrapped his jacket around her shoulders and cradled her in his arms. 

He looked down at his "little sister" so pale and lifeless in his arms.  Anger boiled up inside of him, anger, and fear of losing her.  He blamed Adam Cartwright for her situation and his fear. "Don't come near her again, Cartwright.  I warned you.  I told you what would happen if you hurt her and now you've almost killed her.  Don't come near her again."  Louis started riding away.

"Ben, we'll talk later."  Blue Eagle said quietly and got on his horse.  He started to ride away and then turned back to Adam.  "She's going to be okay, son."  Then he too, rode away.

Adam watched the woman that he loved being taken away from him.  He had no idea if she would be okay and he wanted to be the one holding her.  He needed to be the one making sure that she would be okay.  They became a spot on the horizon and eventually disappeared in the distance.  When he couldn't see him anymore it was as if his heart had been ripped from his chest.

Ben could see the pain on his oldest son's face as he had to watch Cheyenne being taken away from him.  He walked over to Adam and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

Little Joe wasn't as understanding as his father.  "Adam, why did you let Louis talk to you like that?  Cheyenne should have come with us.  We could have gotten her better care.  She should have come with us."

"Quiet Joe."  Adam said.  "It's better that she goes with them.  She would have wanted to go with them.  Louis and Blue Eagle will keep her safe."  He was quiet.  The image of her blood-soaked shirt and her lifeless face flashed through his mind.  "Better than I did."

Only Ben heard the last comment and Adam made and his heart went out to his son.  "She's going to be okay, son.  It's all over now.  Well get you home and then you can go and see her."

"I'm not going to see her.  We are going back to the Ponderosa."  Adam declared and jumped up on Sport.  He took one look at where Blue Eagle and Louis disappeared.  "And that will be the end." 

Chapter 14

Two weeks had passed since Adam came back to the Ponderosa.  He took one day of rest and stared back to work the next day.  Since then he had worked from sun up to sun down. 

He worked until he was too tired to stand and then he would crawl into bed and try to sleep the night away.  The night was spent tossing, turning, and trying not to think about Cheyenne.  In the end all that he would succeed in as not getting was a wink of sleep.  Then he would be up until the crack of dawn. 

Every day Ben watched his oldest son work himself near to death wishing that there were something that he could do.  Little Joe had ridden over the day after they got back.  He had come back with a black eye, from a fight with Louis, and news that Cheyenne was in and out of consciousness.  Elsa had sewn up the wounds. 

Adam listened to the news eagerly.  After he heard that she made it back and was on the mend he walked away and chopped enough wood to last the next ten winters. 

After the first trip it was decided that Little Joe wouldn't be allowed to go back to Olympus for a while.  Hoss made the next trip four days after the first.  His report was worse than Joe's had been.  After Little Joe had left Cheyenne caught a fever from the wound.  She was touch and go for a couple of days but she was getting over it quickly. 

Panic, pain, and finally relief flooded across Adam's face when she finally heard that Cheyenne was going to be okay.  He didn't say a word, just listened to the report and went out to start work on a fence.  

Hoss joined his brother after a moment.  He didn't know what went on between his brother and Cheyenne while they had been with Donny but he had seen Adam since.  His brother had become a shell of himself.  "Adam?"  He started tentatively.  "Adam you need to go see her."

"I can't."  He said simply.

"But you need to see her."

"Did she ask for me?"  Adam asked.  His voice was thick with emotion.  He knew the answer before Hoss gave it to him.

Hoss scrunched up is face, he knew the answer that Adam wanted to hear, but he couldn't lie.  "Well I didn't get a chance to see her."  He began.

"And no body mentioned anything I'm guessing."

"Well I only spoke to Mrs. Elsa."

"There's your answer.  And that is that."  He hammered another post into the ground.  He looked over at Hoss.  "Are you still here."

"What does it matter if she asks for you or not?  You've always show up places when Little Joe and I haven't asked you."  He said trying to make light of the situation.  By Adam's withering look he could tell that his joke didn't work.  "What I mean to say is that she needs you to be there for her wither she knows it or not."

"No!"  Adam fairly shouted.  "She needed me to keep that bullet out of her.  She needed me not to let that man scare her.  She needed me to keep her safe.  And I couldn't.  Don't you see Hoss, I couldn't keep her safe."  He walked away from Hoss.  "I don't deserve her."

"You're right Adam.  If you don't want to fight for her you don't deserve her."

"I did fight Hoss.  I fought and she got shot."  He turned around with eyes full of pain and regret.  "What happens the next time?  She gets killed.  I can't let that happen.  She needs someone who can keep her safe."  He walked into the barn and away from the conversation.

Shrugging his shoulders Hoss walked inside to his father who looked hopefully at him.  "Sorry, Pa, I couldn't convince him to go see her.  He blames himself for her getting shot.  I shouldn't have told him about her getting the fever.  It only made things worse."

"No son, you did right.  Your brother, Adam, is suffering.  He thinks that to keep Cheyenne safe he's going to have to stay away from her.  Until your bother learns that the suffering isn't going to end until he's with her, he's going to be angry with the world."

"I just hate to see him this way, Pa."  Hoss said. 

"Me too, Hoss.  Me too." 

Ben still felt the same way.  Adam was getting worse and worse.  His son barely shaved anymore, he barely ate, and he hardly even spoke.  As Ben saddled his horse Adam walked by.  "Son, I'm going over to Olympus.  Care to come with me."

Adam moved along as if he hadn't heard him.  Everything hurt, every breath, every thought, every blink of they eye.  Cheyenne was constantly on his mind.  At night he would dream about holding her, touching her, feeling her beside him.  During the day she plagued his thoughts. 

He would give anything to see her again but he knew that if he saw her again he would grab a hold of her and not let go.  Then eventually something would happen and he wouldn't be able to protect her.  The thought of her getting hurt because of him was too much to take.  It was better to keep her safe even if safe meant away from him.

Shaking his head Ben jumped on his horse.  He rode away from the Ponderosa and made it to Olympus in no time at all.  The first person he saw was Rosalynn.  Waving his greeting he asked where Blue Eagle was.  Rosalynn informed him that her father and mother were out by the barn. 

"Hello!"  Ben called when he saw Blue Eagle and Elsa standing behind the barn waiting on something.

"Ben, get over here."  Elsa demanded.

Without questioning her harsh tone Ben rushed to stand beside them.  In just a few seconds Ben heard the thundering of hooves.  Then out of the grove of trees burst Louis atop Cheyenne's black mare Artemis and Cheyenne riding a good length in front of him on that little gray stallion that he sold her. 

Cheyenne slowed up as soon as she passed Elsa and Blue Eagle.  She hadn't noticed Ben yet.  Hermes walked slowly and took a few deep breaths.  Laughingly Cheyenne stood up on Hermes' back like one of the trick riders in the circus.  "I won.  I won!"

"Cheyenne get down."  Blue Eagle ordered.  She didn't listen.  "Excuse me, Ben, I have to go break my niece's neck before she does it herself."

As Blue Eagle walked away, Ben turned to Elsa.  "I guess Cheyenne is doing better."

"She could have used a few more days of rest but she was out of bed as soon as the fever broke."  Elsa muttered.

"Guess I made a mistake in selling that horse.  Cheyenne turned him into a pretty fine little racer." 

"Cheyenne is great with horses."  Elsa said.  "People are another story."  Before Ben could question her comment Elsa changed the subject.  "How's Adam doing?"

"Physically he's fine."  Ben muttered.  "But-."

"But he's become a hollow shell of himself."  Elsa finished.  "You look into his eyes and something is missing that was there the last time that you looked.  And there's nothing that you can do to make it better because he's bringing this suffering all on himself."

"Yes.  How did you know?"

  Elsa nodded in the direction of Cheyenne.  "She's putting up a great face but she's hurting."

"Adam's working himself near to death.  He doesn't eat."

"She doesn't sleep.  I hear her pacing through the night."  She whispered.  "They're killing each other."

"Not even that.  They are killing us."  Ben answered.  "I don't know how to help them."

"We can't help them.  They have to help themselves."  Elsa told him.  "Once they realize that they are supposed to be together it'll work out.  I hope."

After a moment Ben spoke again.  "How are Blue Eagle and Louis?  Louis was pretty mad.  I hope that time has let him blow off some steam."

"Seeing Cheyenne so hurt shook both of them.  Cheyenne gets herself into a lot of trouble but usually walks away without a scratch.  Seeing red blood for the first time scared them.  They were more frightened than angry at anyone."

She took a deep breath before continuing.  "Blue Eagle was over his irrational reaction by the time they got back here.  But Louis, I'm afraid is another matter entirely.  He blames Adam." 

Ben's face became stone over the unjust feelings toward his son. 

"We all know what happened wasn't Adam's fault.  Louis just wants someone to blame.  In time he'll realize the truth."

"And Cheyenne, does she blame Adam for what happened to her?"  Ben's voice was harsher than he meant it to be.

"I don't know.  She won't talk about it."  Elsa looked at her niece.  "She hasn't mentioned his name since she recovered from the fever and whenever I try to bring it up she walks away.  But I don't think that she does, it wouldn't be like her.  I just can't get her to talk about it."

"That doesn't sound good for Adam.  He loves her."

"And she loves him.  I'm sure of it.  But she's trying not to.  Eventually she'll succeed in convincing herself that she doesn't love him.  I'm going to try to get to her but I don't know what I can do.  We need to get them to talk to one another."

"Adam won't do it.  He pretends not to listen when we talk about her but he hangs on every word."

"They are both to stubborn for their own good."

Ben nodded in agreement.  He looked over at Cheyenne, Blue Eagle, and Louis.  Cheyenne looked over and then turned away quickly.  Ben could tell that Louis and Blue Eagle were fighting about something and Cheyenne just looked uncomfortable. 

Suddenly Cheyenne yelled.  "I don't want to talk about it and I want to be left alone."  She shot away on the gray.

"I'm going to follow her."  Louis told his uncle. 

"Leave her be.  She needs time.  Since she woke up you haven't left her side.  She needs her space."  Blue Eagle told him.

Forlornly Louis followed Cheyenne with his eyes.  Every time that he saw her, his mind's eye flashed the image of her lying on the ground with blood covering her shirt.  He had to take care of her. 

At one time he believed that Adam Cartwright was someone who could take care of his beloved friend but now he knew that the man wasn't worth spit.  If he was he wouldn't have let Cheyenne get shot.  He should have taken that bullet for her.  When he thought about it just made him angry all over again.

All alone in the trees Cheyenne finally stopped running.  She might not have spoken of Adam or wanted to hear anything about him but it didn't mean that she hadn't thought about him. 

The thoughts of him ripped at her heart.  His absence from her life was sending her spiraling into a deep depression that she tried not to let anyone see.  All she wanted was to see him, to know that he was okay.  She knew that he had been hurt as well but didn't know anything about how he was doing. 

Her need to see him scared her so much that she couldn't stand to hear anyone say his name for fear that she would break down and cry for him right then and there.  She had never cried in front of anyone before but lately it was a fight everyday to keep him or her inside.

Cheyenne had been determined that she could take care of everything in her life herself but now it felt that if she didn't see Adam then she would never feel whole again.  Every morning she started out determined to forget that he even existed because he obviously didn't care enough to come see her.  The entire Cartwright family had been to Olympus, everyone except Adam.  But every night she was so desperate to see him that she couldn't sleep.

In the quietness of the forest she listened to the aching pounding of her heart.  She felt so alone that memories flooded back to her.  Cheyenne remembered the feeling of his body against her, the feel of his arms around her, and the soft feeling of his breath on the back of her neck.  Then deep in the leafy darkness she let down one tear of sadness.

Chapter 15

"You ready yet, Adam."  Hoss asked.  His older brother was downing his third shot of whisky.  "We need to meet up with Little Joe."

"In a second, Hoss.  In a second."

Hoss looked at his brother.  His clothes were starting to hang off of him.  He had a three-day's growth of beard on his newly gaunt face.  He looked miserable.

Just as Hoss was ready to pull his brother out of the saloon when Wild Wendy, one of the local saloon girls slide up to Adam.  "Ah Hoss," She purred out of painted up red lips.  "Let him stay just a little longer."

Adam through his arm around Wendy's waist.  "Yeah, Hoss, I'm going to say just a little longer."  He was ready to drown his sorrows in alcohol and cheap perfume.

"Okay, well I'm going to find Little Joe."  Rolling his eyes, Hoss, left.

Meanwhile Little Joe was talking to Rosalynn as she sat in her carriage.  Rosalynn, Cheyenne, Elsa, Louis, and Blue Eagle had come into town for supplies.  She spotted Little Joe and called him over to her.  "We've got to do something about my cousin and your brother."  She demanded.  "All Cheyenne does is mope around looking like she lost her best friend.  It's starting to depress me."

Little Joe looked up at Rosalynn and realized for the first time how much the female cousins actually cared about each other under all their hostility.  "Adam is the exact same.  I was going to wait for him to come to his senses but I don't think that we have the time.  What did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking of a secret rendezvous in the woods."  She began.  "We lure them out there and steal their horses and force them to talk to each other.  Eventually they'll see how right they are for one another."

"Or they'll kill each other."  Joe pointed out.

"Either way our problems are solved."  Rosalynn said as she shrugged her delicate shoulders.

"What are ya'll talking about?"  Hoss asked as he walked up.

"How to get Cheyenne and Adam together."  Joe answered.

"Quiet, here comes Cheyenne."  Rosalynn told them.  "Hello cousin, I was just talking to the Cartwrights."

"Little Joe, Hoss."  Cheyenne nodded.  "Ya'll in town all alone."  Part of her wanted to hear that Adam was somewhere near but a large more frightened part of her wanted to know that he was back home at the Ponderosa far away.

"No, 'mam."  Hoss began and then grunted when Joe stepped on his foot.

"Our pa's talking to Roy over at the sheriff's office."  Little Joe finished.  He wanted to try to get Cheyenne and Adam together and that would work better if Cheyenne didn't start trying to avoid them.  Her expression to the news was unreadable.

"Have you finished already?"  Rosalynn asked.

"No, I've got to go over to the livery stable and buy some saddle oil.  Good to see you Hoss, Little Joe."  She walked away.

"Do you see how she is?"  Rosalynn said.  "It's pitiful the way she mopes about."

Hoss had been very surprised by Cheyenne's appearance.  She had deep dark circles under her eyes, her lips were pulled in tight lines that she hadn't broken even for a smile, and there was a cloud of sadness that hung about her.  She looked just as miserable as Adam. 

Now more than ever he was convinced that Adam and Cheyenne belonged together.  They were both making themselves fell wretched and were too stubborn to stop it.  They had to be in love with each other to have such an affect on one another.

Wild Wendy couldn't believe her luck, she had been after Adam Cartwright for as long as she could remember and now she stood with his arm around her waist.  Her bright red her was piled up on top of her head and her deep red lips where pursed in seduction.  She giggled softly in Adam's ear as he downed another shot.

Whisky burned his throat as Adam swallowed the yellow liquor.  He could smell the perfume of a woman next to him, he could fell her body pushing against his, and he could hear her laughter in ear.  The whisky was fast making him forget whatever he was trying to forget.  All he knew was that he had a willing female on his arm and a wet drink in front of him.

He swallowed another drink and then leaned over and pressed his lips to Wendy's neck.  Adam kissed her long neck and desperately tried to make himself feel something but nothing seemed to break through his misery.  Not even the eager woman in his arms.

Most of the saloon watched in awe as Adam Cartwright necked with Wild Wendy.  It was very often that the oldest Cartwright son acted so out of character.  Each one watched making sure to catch every detail so that they could repeat it to their friends.

One man was not happy about what was going on between Wild Wendy and Adam.  Carl Bartlett had a soft spot for Wild Wendy and a quick temper when he had been drinking and he had been drinking quite a lot.  When Adam started kissing on Wild Wendy's neck Big Carl took exception to the necking. 

He walked over to Adam turned him around and punched him square in the face.  Once Adam regained his composure he knocked Carl up under the chin.  The lucky punch knocked Carl unconscious.  Now Adam's only problem was Black Bartlett, Carl's older brother, and his friends.  All in all the odds were five of Bartlett's friends against Adam.

Cheyenne met up with Louis and the two of them bought the saddle oil that Cheyenne needed.  Louis was still upset with how his once cheerful friend had become the sullen girl before him.  Anger at Adam Cartwright was renewed inside of him.  He tried to make pleasant conversation but Cheyenne remained quiet. 

Suddenly a man came though the window of the saloon and drew their attention.  They were rather far away but Cheyenne could see Hoss and Little Joe running toward the saloon.  "Cheyenne say here."  Louis demanded as he stared to run to see if anyone needed his help.

Never one to listen to anyone but herself Cheyenne began to follow her friend.  When she got to the saloon she was shocked at the distruction.  There were men littering the floor, broken tables and chairs everywhere, and the men who were standing were bleeding and breathing heavily. 

That's when she saw him and forget how to breathe.  He was staring at her as if she were a ghost.  His appearance startled her to say the least.  His cheeks were dark with a few days worth of beard growth but they seemed to be a hollow feel to him.  His mouth was turned down in an almost frown and his dark eyes seemed to plead something that he couldn't speak.

After so long he finally saw her.  She was more beautiful than remembered.  Her dark hair hung around her in disarray and her skin was the color of pale honey.  Her full lips where opened in surprise.  When he met her eyes he was taken aback.  Dark circles stood out under her eyes and where they usually drifted between a bright turquoise the color was now a muted green. 

"She looks so sad."  He thought.  Just then over a hundred pounds of red and white woman threw itself into his arms.

"Adam, my darling, are you hurt."  Wendy said as she rained kisses on his face.

Adam managed to keep eye contact with Cheyenne as Wild Wendy attacked him.  He watched as her eyes radiated with a hurt that was so strong he felt it across the room.  She recoiled as if he had struck her and she couldn't breath.  Forcefully he tried to push Wendy away but she was a determined woman and clung to him as if she were joined at his hip.

Louis looked at the hurt on Cheyenne's face and was furious.  He stepped in front of her and pulled his gun on Adam.  "Damn you Cartwright!  I told you not to hurt her.  First you get her shot and now you are flaunting yourself with this floozy.  Draw your gun, I'm going make this a fair fight."

"No!"  Wendy yelled as she threw herself behind Adam and glared at Louis.  How dare he call her a floozy!

Adam didn't draw his gun but Little Joe and Hoss did.  They pointed there weapons at Louis and wonder whether or not they were going to have to kill this man that they had both come to like.

"Draw your gun Cartwright!"  Louis demanded again.

He wouldn't draw.  When he saw Cheyenne he knew that he couldn't live without her.  She hadn't been in his sight for more that a few moments and he had already hurt her again.  He preferred death than to hurting her again.

The bullet that she had taken hadn't hurt as much as seeing Adam in the arms of another woman.  Now she realized why he hadn't come to her, she didn't matter. 

But it was too late to block him from her heart.  She loved him, no matter the pain he caused her.  Cheyenne moved from behind Louis and stood between her "brother" and her love. 

"Move out of the way Cheyenne."  Louis ordered.  "He's going to pay for what he has done to you."

"No Louis you will not harm him."  Cheyenne said, her voice soft but powerful.  "He had done nothing to me."

"He got you shot."

"No, I got myself shot.  I was the one who ran away.  I was the one who turned to see Donny and his men.  I was the one who got myself shot.  It is my fault alone."

"He should have taken care of you.  He deserves to be punished."  Louis repeated.

"He had done nothing worthy of being punished for.  You will not touch him."  She looked up into Louis eyes.  "I give Adam my protection."

To give protection as a Cheyenne was a very serious statement to make.  When someone give's their protection to someone else it means that if the one who is given protection dies then the protector takes their own life.  The belief is that if two souls protect one body then the body is more powerful. 

"No, Cheyenne, you can't."  Louis begged.

"It is done.  My soul guards his."  She said simply.  "If you harm Adam you will have to do the same to me."

Louis holstered his gun after giving Cheyenne a harsh look.  "You win.  I'll not do anything to harm you therefor I will do nothing to harm him."

She nodded slowly and walked out of the saloon without giving anyone else a look.  Cheyenne hurled herself onto Zeus' back and rode out of town as fast as the large white horse could carry her.

Chapter 16

"She has saved you again, Cartwright."  Louis growled but Adam wasn't paying attention to him.

The oldest Cartwright left the saloon in a mad rush.  He threw himself onto his horse and looked around the crowded street.  Cheyenne was no where to be seen.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rosalynn sitting pretty as you please on her wagon.  He rode over to her.

"Which way did she go?"  He demanded.

"She went that way."  Rosalynn said as she pointed north.

Adam shot off in the direction that Rosalynn pointed.  He had to find Cheyenne.  She had given him her protection and he knew what that meant.  She had pledged to protect him with her soul and he needed to know why, why she defended him, why she had run afterwards.  He needed to know if she cared.

Cheyenne wasn't sure where she was going.  All she knew was that her heart was breaking and she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of anyone.  Zeus picked his own path as he ran and Cheyenne fought to keep her emotions under control.

She rode for a good half an hour before she finally looked around and realized that she had no idea where she was.  Trusting Zeus to lead her home she let the horse have his head.  They wondered along the path of a small creek while all around her birds chirped happily.  "Shut up!" 

Slowly she climbed off of Zeus.  Her legs almost buckled underneath her but she managed to walk over to the shade of a pine tree.  She slid down the base of the tree trunk and wrapped her arms around her legs.  There safely wrapped in the arms of Mother Nature she started to cry.

Never before had she felt so overcome.  In her short life she had lost a mother she never knew, a father she adored, cousins she had grown up with, and now a man that she never knew she always had loved.  Tears fell freely down her face.

He wasn't sure where he was going.  Looking down at the tracks he was following on the ground he knew that she had finally stopped running.  They were right on the edge of Ponderosa land. 

After riding a few more miles Adam saw a clearing that he knew pretty well.  It was a pretty little spot of land that they often found stray horses grazing on the green grass and drinking from the little creek that accompanied the land.  He slid off of Sport to study the tracks on the ground but he didn't have to.  Up ahead grazing lazily was Cheyenne's giant white horse.

He scanned the area trying to find Cheyenne.  Remembering the last time that he had come up on her in a clearing much like this he looked up into the trees.  Still he couldn't see anything.  Unfortunately he remember what happened after he had talked to her in the tree and his confidence took a nose-dive. 

He was going to hurt her again and he was being selfish wanting to be with her.  No, he was going to leave.  Maybe get out of Nevada for a while, just until he could be within a hundred miles of Cheyenne and not need to see her.  Hell, if he was going to do that he could never set foot in Nevada again.  He just needed to leave for long enough to be able to control his emotions again so that he wouldn't keep causing her pain.

Just before he got on Sport and started to ride away when he heard a muffled sound.  Adam walked away from his horse carefully listening to the sound.  He couldn't make out what he was hearing but kept moving toward the sound.  That's when he saw her.

There curled up at the base of a large pine was the woman he loved sobbing quietly.  Her head was buried in her arms and her knees were pulled up to her chest.  He could see the quite tears wracking her body.  She lifted her head up and stared out at the quiet creek in front of her.  Adam could see the tracks of the tears that stained her face.

When he saw her in the saloon his heart stopped beating.  Or maybe it started beating again.  Maybe his heart hadn't been working since he saw Louis ride away with Cheyenne and when he saw her again maybe it started.  The pain in his chest felt so bad that he knew that his heart had started beating again. 

"Cheyenne."  He whispered.

She didn't even turn in his direction.  "How'd you find me?"  Her voice was thick with tears.

"You're on Ponderosa land."

Suddenly she stared laughing.  "You're kidding me.  I rode for hours and I'm still on Ponderosa land."  She looked up into the sky and raised her hands in anger as she muttered something in the language of the Cheyenne.

"What did you say?"  Adam asked as he walked toward her slowly.

"I was talking to God about irony."  Cheyenne told him.  She stood up and violently wiped the tears off of her face.  "What do you want Cartwright?"

'Why did you do it?"  He asked.  Learning why she gave him her protection seemed safer than answering her question.

"What was I supposed to do?  Let him kill you."  Cheyenne asked through a choked, halfhearted smile.  "I couldn't do that.  I couldn't let him hurt you."  Her voice broke, as did Adam's heart. 

Cheyenne stared at Adam for long while, large tears rolled down her cheeks.  Neither could move or speak, they just stood in silence.  Finally she spoke.  "Is that all?"

"No."

She shifted her eyes to the ground.  "Then what else is there?"

"There's us.  There's what happened between us and what there still is."  He said.  Adam was trying find the courage to tell her that he needed her, that he was sorry for the pain that he had put her through, that every moment at he didn't see her ripped at his heart.

"Us?  What about us?  We were barely friends when a crazy man decided that he wanted us dead.  We got away and got a little scratch up in the process.  In the end we went to our respective homes and that was all that there was to us,"

Hearing her explanation made sense to him.  He could leave now and believe that she meant every word that she just said, except for the slight crack in her voice when she told him that that was all there was and except for the fact that his heart kept pulling him toward her.  "That's not true." 

"Isn't it?"  Cheyenne asked.  "That's what happened.  I went back to Olympus and you went to the Ponderosa and the next time I saw you was with her."

"There's nothing between Wendy and me.  She's just one of the local girls."

"I don't want to hear about her."  She said.  "I don't want to hear anything any more."

"Well that's too bad."  Adam told her.  He crossed the distance between them in an instant and grabbed her arms and pulled her to him.  "I have something to tell you and you are going to listen whether you want to or not."

Cheyenne didn't struggle or cry out; instead she just stared up at him with a look of indifference.  "Well I guess you have my attention."

"There is something more here and you know it."  Adam said as stared into her eyes.  "You can feel it."

"What are you talking about?  There's nothing between us."  She glared up at him.  "If there was you would have come to see me when I was sick.  If there was you wouldn't have stayed away from me for so long.  And if there was something between us you wouldn't have been all over that other woman."

He didn't know which argument to attack first.  Adam decided that he would attack them in the order of redundancy.  "Wendy was nothing is nothing to me.  I was only around her because I couldn't you out of my mind.  I thought maybe another woman would make me forget, but she didn't.  I don't think that anyone could."

In wonderment Cheyenne stepped back.  She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Adam let her walk away from him but he didn't stop talking.  "And for the rest of it."  He swallowed a lump in his throat.  "I stayed away from you because I had too.  Every time I came near you, you got hurt.  I got you shot, you got a fever, and you almost died."

She took a step closer to him.  "None of that was your fault.  I made the decision to run.  I knew that I was taking the risk.  But I didn't realize the risk I was taking with your life.  When you got shot I thought I was gong to die.  I turned to make sure that you wouldn't get hurt.  That's how I got shot.  It was my fault."

"But-."

"But nothing.  The fever couldn't have been prevented.  It was part of life.  And I didn't almost die.  There wasn't anything you could have done."

"I've never felt so hopeless as when I put you on the ground."  He mumbled. 

"How do you think I felt knowing I got you shot as well?"  She retorted. 

He was so shocked by her outburst that he couldn't speak.  She was worried about the little scratch that he had gotten?  It seemed almost unbelievable.  Suddenly something started dawning on him.  Cheyenne care about him.

The jealousy, the fear for his safety, the confused anger she kept throwing at him they all made sense.  She cared.  He looked into her deep sea green eyes as the flashed with anger, confusion, and a deep hurt that only love could create in someone.  Adam was so distracted by his discover and her eyes that he wasn't paying attention to what she was saying.

Adam wasn't answering her and Cheyenne couldn't keep looking at him and let him hurt her with his ambiguousness.  "Good-bye Cartwright."  She said and started to walk away. 

"Wait."  Adam called.  He tried to find the right words to say but nothing came out.  Instead he just walked up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around, drew her against him and kissed her with all the intensity and passion that he had been fighting for so long. 

At first Cheyenne didn't respond to the kiss because she was so shocked but gradually she started to react.  At first she was timid in her return but gradually the kiss gained intensity.  Softly he brushed his tongue brushed against her lips and she let out a surprised gasp. 

Gently he coaxed her into opening her mouth and tasted her.  She let out a soft moan and touched his tongue with her own.  After that there was no holding Adam back.  The kiss became demanding and possessive and Cheyenne responded with the same mounting passion.

With great effort Adam broke the kiss and stared at Cheyenne.  Her eyes were glazed over in passion and her mouth red from his kiss.  She had never looked more beautiful.  He put his hands on either side of her face and brushed his thumbs against her cheekbones and waited for her to remember where she was.

One of her hands was pressed against his chest while the fingers of her other hand were threaded in the hair at the nape of his neck.  Her breaths were coming in deep ragged gasps and when she looked up into his eyes it didn't help.  His eyes were darkened with heat at the way that he was looking at her made Cheyenne feel that her skin was on too tight.  Her eyes dropped down to his lips and she remembered them on hers again.

"Look up at Cheyenne."  Adam demanded huskily.  "Look at me."  Her eyes met his and he marveled again about how much he loved her.  "I don't care if you believe me or not but I'm in love with you.  I love your smile and your eyes.  I love that even when you get mad your dimples show.  I love your fire and your temper.  I love the way that you smile when you ride.  I love the way you kiss me.  I love you."

The moment he said the words Cheyenne knew that she was in love with him as well but she didn't know how to tell him.  She pulled his head down to her and wrapped her other hand around his neck.  Very softly she pressed her lips to his kissed him with a gentle but firm pressure.  Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks.  When she broke the kiss she kept her face near his.  "I love you, Adam."

He didn't know how much he needed to hear the words until she actually spoke them and when she said them they were the most beautiful than the sweetest music.  He wrapped both of his arms around her waist and kissed her again. 

They drew strength and heat from each other.  Holding on to each other as if they were the only thing keeping the other alive.  Adam kissed a trial of fire down the side of Cheyenne's neck and she tilted her head to give him better access while moaning softly. 

Her hands moved as if they possessed a life of their own.  She felt the muscles under his skin and was amazed at how strong he was.  Tentatively she kissed the skin exposed at the base of his neck and was rewarded with a groan of pleasure from Adam.  Encouraged she began nibbling along his collarbone until he pulled her back up for another scorching kiss.

While they had been kissing Adam managed to untuck her shirt and run his hands on the bare skin of her back and stomach.  When he felt her shudder he broke the kiss.  "We have to slow down."  He gasped but contradicted himself by biting her earlobe causing Cheyenne to shudder again.

"Why?"  She asked breathlessly.

"Because I have to protect my wife's virtue even from myself but only for a little while."  He laughed and buried his face in her neck and laughed as she squealed.

"Wait, wait, wait."  Cheyenne said as she pushed him away.  "Your wife?  We're you planning on asking me or was I just going to answer the door one day and you would be standing there with a preacher?'

"I'll ask but you can only answer if it's the right answer."

"You mean you'll only ask if you know I'll say yes?"  Cheyenne laughed as she played with the hair at the base of his neck. 

She was distracting him with the soft touches on his neck.  "These are your options.  You can have me right here on one knee begging for you to spend his life with me.  I can promise to hold you, take care of you, laugh with you, and yell with you for the rest of your days." 

He was staring at her with such an earnest expression that she was taken aback.  "Or I can through you over my shoulder, ride into town, find a preacher, and we can have a real shot gun wedding with me holding the gun."

Laughing she looked him directly in the eyes.  "I would prefer, plain old Adam to ask me right here looking right at me."

Adam took a deep breath and stared directly into her eyes.  Big blue eye stared at intense brown ones.  "Marry me?'

Cheyenne didn't know if he was asking or telling but the answer was the same.  She leaned over and kissed him sweetly on the mouth.  "You know that you are not always going to get your way."

It wasn't the most direct response but it was one that was perfect for both of them.  "I know."  He laughed.  "But it's going to be fun anyway.  Then he kissed her again and thought it was the first time he had kissed someone while he was laughing. 

Adam and Cheyenne sighed happily.  It was the first time that either one of them had felt truly complete.