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she saw shock and possible hurt pass through his expression before frustration replaced it. Shaking her head in disappointment, she said to Faith, "Hopefully we'll meet again under better circumstances." She admitted sadly, "I've never been on a private picnic or to a town picnic. It might have been nice."
    With that said she pulled courage around her and started marching toward the livery stable. "I believe it's time we go home, Daniel. I'll come back another day to make my purchases."
    Behind her Daniel followed in silence, a silence that promised she was going to pay for her public outburst just as she'd told Adam. And she heard Faith finally speak up for herself and lay into Adam for being a fool. No matter how he started to defend himself, Faith verbally tore off a piece of his hide. It made Jennie smile. She and Faith would become friends...for as long as Jennie stayed in Dryfork. The uncertainty of how long she could stay was thoroughly depressing. Adam didn't want her here. She still hadn't even met Caleb or Ben. And Daniel... well, she didn't want to think about him right now. She'd made a serious scene on the boardwalk and quite a few people had stopped to witness it. No, he wasn't going to like that one bit.

    * * *

    What the hell am I supposed to do now? Daniel strode briskly down the dirt road after his wife, small dust clouds spiraling upward at her brisk steps. He tried not to notice the many townspeople who had managed to come outside and watch the incident between his brother and Jennie. That damn picnic! The women in the area were all up in arms because they wanted to have a get together where everyone could have some plain old fun and share good food. It wasn't a bad idea, but the timing was wrong. Damn Walton Gang! But neither he nor any of the men in town wanted to take a chance on drawing the gang into their midst. The gang was becoming rowdier, bolder and more dangerous as time went along. Someone was going to get killed sooner or later and he sure as hell didn't want that happening in his town.
    Her voice raised in frustration, he listened to Faith telling Adam off behind him. He'd seen her tears and had been upset with his brother, too, just as Jennie had been. What was going on with him? He was getting more crotchety every day. Daniel needed to sit down with him and make Adam tell him what his problem was now. Maybe he needed to get Caleb and Ben involved, too. But right now his problem was Jennie. He needed to deal with her first. He just didn't know how, although he suspected that she believed he intended to warm her bottom over the unseemly public display. But he wasn't sure. His brother was largely at fault...and they would have a word or two about it later.
    Jennie sat stiffly beside him on the buckboard's seat as they rode out of town. She held her hands clasped in her lap. One small shoe tapped in annoyance beneath her long skirt. Daniel let her stew for a spell, unsure how he wanted to proceed on the subject. Finally she couldn't hold her irritation in any longer and he braced for the release of her temper. And his pretty little wife did have a temper. He'd observed it a few times when he'd courted her, and he'd warned her at the time to be careful about controlling it.
    "He started it," she huffed, facing him. "I know he's your brother, but..."
    Daniel gripped the reins and tried to keep a grip on his own temper. "I'm not taking sides against either of you. Adam is my brother, yes. But you are my wife. You are both important to me. And I sure as hell would like the two of you to get along."
    She brushed at some dust on her skirt. "I don't know how to do it, Daniel. You saw how he was when he came to the ranch the other day. Surely you heard the coldness toward me in his voice."
    He had and that was another issue he needed to talk to his brother about, in private. "You have to be patient with him. We all have to."
    "Faith told me as much." She blew out a frustrated breath. "But why? She said