The Men of Pride County: The Rebel by Rosalyn West Page A

return to Pride County and set up his law practice, then he’d pick an appropriate hostess from the neighboring elite. It didn’t really matter which he chose. The why was more important than the who. A woman of breeding and a background of power. A woman who would understand her place in his life and ask no questions. One who would be an asset to his career and his home—in that order.
    Though he admired a woman of opinion and brain, he knew the practicality of having a docile and domestic bride who would do nothing to jeopardize his community standing. Nowhere was there room for a distraction like Juliet Crowley, not in his future, not in his present. He had specific goals in mind from which conscience could not be tempted if hemeant to succeed within the narrow confines of Pride.
    He knew that.
    He accepted that.
    So why was the sight of her twirling in another man’s embrace enough to make him bristle protectively?
    He’d never considered that Juliet Crowley might have someone waiting.
    But why that should bother him, he didn’t know. And it irritated him almost as much as the Yankee major’s skewering glare when those narrowed eyes rested on him.
    The tension was immediate, man to man, the staking of territory as basic as it was momentarily blatant. She’s mine, hands off , was the message clearly conveyed by that one chill stare.
    Wondering why he was perceived as a threat, Noble returned the look with a cool impassivity. Though he had no designs of his own on the bold Miss Crowley, he’d let the other sweat over his intentions.
    “Miles, see that the dead and wounded are taken care of,” Crowley instructed, apparently unaffected by the sight of his daughter in the major’s arms. That casual acceptance made the situation somehow much more significant. “I’d like to get to the fort as soon as possible.”
    “I’ll see to it, sir.” He set Juliet away from him, giving her a quick smile and a softer, “We’ll talk later.”
    And the way she leaned in close to whisper,“We have much to discuss,” did funny things to Noble’s reason.
    It wasn’t Juliet Crowley, he told himself. It was the war. He’d been without female companionship for over three years. Any woman—not just the colonel’s confrontational daughter—would scramble his thinking and excite his imagination.
    He told himself that while his gaze followed her aggressive stride back to the wagon and he thought of her courage in the face of a threat that had his own men cowering in terror. Quite a woman, by any standard, the kind of woman a man would count himself lucky to have at his side in this wilderness—or anywhere else.
    But not as his woman. And he reminded himself, just in case he was tempted to forget, his future had no place for the daughter of his enemy.
    Even if she did present an intriguing challenge.

Chapter 5
    They reached Fort Blair by midafternoon. Unlike the stockaded posts of the plains, Fort Blair was a collection of loosely assembled adobe buildings crouching low to the earth. The site was picked for strategic location rather than comfort. There was sufficient water to sustain the men, sufficient grass for the animals, enough timber for firewood situated on land level enough to support barracks, officers’ quarters, stables, storehouses, and a parade ground. In the center of the drill ground rose the flag, its colors drooping listlessly, unstirred by the stifling air.
    Juliet had lived in dozens like it.
    Once her father reported and officially took command of the fort, the men were dismissed from ranks and shown to their accommodations. The enlisted men were crowded into barracks, where rows of bunks stood head-in to the walls. Even in the noncommissioned ranks, there was a definite hierarchy, with thesenior enlisted men securing the best spots near the windows in summer and the stoves in winter. The sergeants had the luxury of small rooms off the barracks. Any privacy was a luxury. The privies were outside and