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continued his tirade now leveled again at poor Faith. "Everyone knows there's been talk of the Walton Gang causing trouble just south of here. Getting drunk, harassing people in the towns, shooting the places up. We don't want word spreading about a celebration here. We don't want them coming here to cause trouble. No picnic!"
    Jennie's heart pounded in hurt and anger, but she'd recovered enough to protest, "I do not expect a 'fancy party.' I just want to be accepted, nothing more. But clearly you have a problem with that, which should be kept private...between you, me and Daniel. Not aired out in public." She nodded toward the women across the road, clearly listening now.
    He had the grace to look flustered. Good. But she stormed on, confused. "Why hasn't someone stopped this gang? Why aren't they in jail?"
    His broad chest puffed up again beneath his white shirt, something deep inside him still defensive and unwilling to back down. "Do you think we're all stupid just because we live on the frontier?" he growled. "They've been locked up, more than once. But some slick judge is in their pocket. They get off with barely a slap on the wrist."
    Before Jennie could respond, he turned his focus back to Faith. "None of the men in town want to chance them being drawn here to Dryfork for any reason. Your father is right on this decision. And you need to stop pestering people about this. He said 'no' and he meant it."
    Faith's eyes watered in humiliation. She crumpled the papers in her hand. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
    Jennie recognized the same expression she'd witnessed on Daniel's face when he'd warned her that he was going to spank her. This Braddock brother sorely wanted to put a hand to Faith's bottom. Luckily for her they weren't married. Well, Jennie wasn't married to him either, and she had never been so angry. She went toe-to-toe with her brother-in-law, cocked her head back to look up at him. "Leave her alone! Can't you see how you've embarrassed her? Can't you see how you've hurt her?" She punched him in the chest with a finger. "Leave. Her.Alone."
    "You've no right to speak to me that way," Adam growled and swatted her finger away. He almost looked like he would strike her, but he stood rigid in anger.
    A shudder of unease swept through her. Was he truly a violent man? Then she saw a tear slip from one of Faith's eyes and fury replaced her caution. She couldn't back down now, not even as she realized a number of other people had stopped nearby out of curiosity. "You made her cry," she accused and finger-punched him again, pleased when he looked warily at Faith.
    Heavy footsteps pounded down the wooden boardwalk behind her. Fury sizzled in the air. She heard grumbled statements about letting him through. She drew in her husband's familiar scent even before he stopped behind her and pulled her away from his brother.
    "Jennie Braddock, I haven't left you alone five minutes and already you're into trouble." His grip on her shoulders made her wince and she wriggled free.
    "This isn't my fault," she protested, hurt pinching her heart. "It's your brother who made this scene. He's got some kind of grudge against the world, me in particular. But that's beside the point. He's unhappy and he doesn't want anyone else to be happy either."
    To her disgust a tear trickled down her cheek. She swiped it away and looked back at a frowning Adam. "Whatever happened in your past is over and done with. Get beyond it. Quit making everyone as unhappy as you are."
    She glanced at her scowling husband and saw an unspoken warning in his narrowed eyes. Her buttocks clenched and unclenched. Drat! Resigned, she looked back to Adam. "I'll pay for this later, I'm sure. But I am not apologizing to you. It's clear you don't like me, don't want me here, and would rather I take the first stage back east. Something my own husband has mentioned more than once. I'm not leaving." She swallowed hard and added, "Yet."
    When she faced her husband once more,