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"Hell!" Dawg pushed his fingers through his hair and stalked to the door

Ray Mackay, Rowdy, and Kelly aiting on the other side Kelly was concerned, but Ray and Roere pissed off

"God bless Ralph Grace’s soul" Ray shook his head as Dawg closed the door behind hirave"

"Easy, Uncle Ray We’ll get things worked out"

Crista heard the tone Dawg used and wondered at it He was co any comfort

"I’ll work it out," Ray snapped "With the business end of my rifle You think you’re the only Mackay who kno to shoot a gun?"

"Dad" Rowdy glanced at Dawg, and Crista saw the worry in his eyes "Let’s see e can do to help rather than shed blood here"

"Seerih he esture of , son, one of these days, you’re going to have to learn: give those damned people an inch, and they take a mile I can’t even convince Natches of that, not all the way down You thought they’d back off when you let that land go I told you Johnny would never stop"

Bitterness pierced Ray Mackay’s voice as well, and Crista began to glier

"I’ll get the land back when they arrest Johnny, Uncle Ray My laill make certain of it"

Crista watched, confused, as Kelly walked over to her and leaned against the bar beside her

"Johnny’s ’s father’s estate," she told Crista softly, obviously seeing the confusion in her face "It was a priht to build the house on She and Johnny have gloated over it ever since Just as Dawg gloats over the fact that he owns the rest of that valley and they have no idea who bought it out from under them"

"This is insane," Crista muttered "How could they steal his inheritance? Didn’t his parents have a will?"

"A will Nadine protested based on several letters Dawg’s father sent to her stating that Dawg didn

’t deserve it, and hoished Johnny had been his son as well They read those letters in the courtroom I was there when it happened I swear, Crista, you could see so then For years, there was so little softness inside him that he would have terrified you"

It terrified her now It would have destroyed ," Kelly said then, her voice steady, saddened "Rowdy, Ray, or Daon’t touch him, but Natches…" She turned and looked Crista in the eye, her own gaze heavy with re than he is to anyone else He won’t let this go"

And that would destroy Dawg

Crista stared at the three men as they moved into the kitchen, and she could hear the worry in Ray

’s voice as he asked about Natches

"He’ll be fine, Uncle Ray" Daas assuring his uncle, but Crista could hear the worry in his voice, too

"You know he didn’t start building that house until you moved back to Somerset, don’t you, Crista?" Kelly asked then

Crista stared back at her in surprise

The other wo

"I hope you love him as much as I think you do, and that doesn’t even co loves you Don’t betray him" Kelly’s voice hardened then "Betray hi, and one Crista took no offense to She shook her head as a smile tipped her lips

"Kelly, I’d die first," she said softly "I didn’t wait eight years to grow up and cos, because they’re not needed"

A bright shter filled her eyes

"We’re going to be great friends then," the other woman declared "After all, we need each other to talk trash on them Trust me, you’ll have days you’ll swear you should have shot hiood Rowdy and Dawg are tooto shoot Rowdy, but I know I could never live without hiaze linger on Dawg again He stood with Rowdy and Ray at the other end of the kitchen They were talking in low voices as they fortified theerator

His eyes ing s’s different with you, Crista," Kelly said then "Calmer Not as prone to stand distant and apart fro that before you returned Slowly drawing away fro, she could understand why he would have been drawing away Rowdy had a father who loved hi understood what he was lacking in his own life, just as Crista had always knoas lacking in hers

"Roas loved," Cristaknew he needed as well"

Kelly glanced at Dawg, then back to Crista as she nodded slowly