Chapter Twenty-Three

A half hour later, the trio arrived back at the house having circled the town and stopped to talk to a few people including Sheriff Vin Markure. They ran the last one hundred yards with Duncan frisking at their heels. To calm him down they went into the small barn to check on the family's horses and the two Jersey cows. Cam's chickens were already in their coop.

The barn smelled of hay, horses, cows, corn and leather. Rocky and Galway, as well as Smoke and Yankee Doodle all greeted them eagerly. They were especially happy to see Jess for the dark haired Texan was notorious for bringing the horses treats every night and making a fuss over them. Gordon's strawberry roan mare, Rosie, and Dr. McAllister's speedy and long legged black gelding, Galen, all put their heads over the doors to greet the visitors while the cows, Clover and Honey, chewed their cud contentedly.

Jess didn't disappoint them. He made a fuss over every horse in the barn. Galen was partial to having his neck patted. Rosie liked light pats on her nose. Galway loved hugs while Rocky preferred firm pats on his neck and shoulder. Yankee Doodle and Smoke both loved to be scratched behind the ears. The Texan spent almost five minutes with each of them before he and Cam went back to the house to get ready for bed. Duncan followed them up the stairs and found a comfortable spot in the hall where he could watch for an opportunity to slip into the guest room and sleep with Mike. Or so they thought. Mike was already sound asleep and knew nothing of Duncan's presence. Devoid of the youngster's undying devotion he turned to the other softy - Jess.

"Duncan! Come out of there right now!" Cam commanded.

"It's all right Cam," Slim grinned at the sight of Duncan's hiding behind Jess. "He's not hurting anything - except Jess' reputation as a tough hombre."

The teen giggled at that comment while Jess glared at his partner.

"He's going to be hard to manage if I let Jess and Mike keep spoiling him. I"ll have a lot of work to do with him."

"Aw, come on Cam," Jess wheedled. "Just for tonight."

Cam rolled her eyes. If she hadn't known it before, she knew now that Jess a huge soft spot in his heart when young things were around be they children or animals.

"Slim - it's your room too. What do you say?"

Slim looked back and forth between his young hostess and his partner who was playing with the puppy's ears.

"If Jess swears he'll get out of bed if Duncan needs to go out I guess it'll be all right - just this once. Tomorrow," he gave Jess a look that said he meant it, "Duncan goes back to sleeping in Cam's room or downstairs. Agreed?"

"Sure, Slim. Whatever you say." Jess was happy to have won the battle of wills.

"Is that okay with you Cam?" the tall blond asked.

"Okay. Just for tonight." She let out an exasperated sigh." Tomorrow he goes back to his normal routine of he sleeps in the barn."

Slim kissed her cheek and sent her off to her room. Closing the door behind him he whispered "Just remember your promise. If he needs to go out you're the one who gets out of a nice warm bed to take care of him."

"Not a problem," the Texan said.

However, three hours later, it was hard for Jess to roll out of his bed to do it. Duncan's scratching at the door and whining, roused Slim but not Jess. After several attempts to wake Jess up by calling his name, Slim resorted to throwing a boot at him. Not, however, before ensuring that Jess's

gun was nowhere within his reach.

A very sleepy Jess pulled his pants on and padded quietly to the door and made his way downstairs to the kitchen door where he let himself and Duncan out.

"Hurry up, would ya?" he hissed at the puppy. "It's cold out here." He hugged himself trying to stay warm. He hadn't bothered to put his shirt or jacket on and wasn't sure that the half grown Border Collie would stay out of trouble while he went back in to get them. Then he sat down on the steps because his feet were cold on the bare wood. He tried to rub some warmth back into them while the puppy took the next twenty minutes finding just the right place to take care of business. By that time Jess was half frozen. Once back in the guest room, Jess lost no time in shedding his pants and burrowing into the covers.

"You make out all right with Duncan?" Slim asked.

"Nearly froze to death waiting for him," Jess grumbled.

"What do you mean by almost freezing?"

"It was cold out there."

"Yes, I know. Didn't you put your jacket on before you went out?"

"No."

"A shirt at least?"

"No."

"Well what did you have on?"

"My pants and underwear."

"Jess Harper! Sometimes I think Mike has more sense than you do!" Slim turned away from where he was standing at the dresser, shaving in front of the mirror. Mike was already up, dressed and downstairs.

"How was I supposed to know it would take him so long? I almost got frostbite on my feet." Jess finished dressing by pulling on two pairs of socks.

"I suppose you need two pairs of socks because your feet are still cold."

"Yeah, but I figured they'd be good for my ankle too."

Slim rolled his eyes. Sometimes Jess wasn't to be believed.

"Come on. I smell coffee. If I'm not mistaken I also smell hotcakes and sausage. We don't want to be late getting to the table."

Tying his bandanna as he went, Slim led the way downstairs. Jess was right behind him.