She sat up. "I'm fine, Lee. He didn't shoot me."
Lee grabbed her and lifted her to her feet. He hugged her tightly, kissed her hard on the mouth, then released her to cover her whole face with kisses before releasing her again. "Why in the hell did you do such a stupid thing? You could have been killed! Whoever heard of throwing a damned teapot at a man holding a gun. Are you crazy?"
"I was afraid he'd shoot you!"
"I had a gun," Lee reminded her.
"A gun that's not very accurate from a distance."
"You're right," he said, momentarily distracted. "It shoots high."
"You hit him in the shoulder."
"Hell, I was aiming for his black heart!"
"Oh, Lee." Mary threw herself in his arms. "I was so scared!"
"I know, my love," he soothed. "Me, too. I swear you scared ten years off my life. And if you ever do anything like that again, I'll kill you myself! Jesus, Mary, I thought I had lost you! And I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. Christ, woman, I love you."
Mary pushed back from his chest and stared up at his face. "You do?"
"Of course, I do."
"Since when?" she demanded.
Lee reached out, took her by the shoulders, and looked her straight in the eyes. "I think I fell in love with you the day you took your drawers and petticoats off to please Maddy."
"What?"
"I was always attracted to you, Two-shot, right from the beginning in Peaceable. And when I walked into the church in Cheyenne that day and saw you standing at the altar with Cosgrove, my life—my empty life—seemed to flash before my eyes. I wanted you for myself. I looked at you that day, and I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. But I was wrong. You grew more beautiful the day you took off your drawers to make Maddy happy and you continue to grow more beautiful. You become more precious to me every day. I love you, Mary Alexander Kincaid. I have from the beginning and I intend to spend every day showing you how much—right up until the end of my life."
"Oh, Lee…" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, until they both forgot their fright and remembered only their love for each other.
* * *
Epilogue
Two weeks later, Lee sat relaxing in a big leather easy chair in the red parlor of Ettinger House. Reese, David and Judah sat with him. Each man had a snifter of brandy and a fine Havana cigar by his side. Judah hadn't spoken a word and Lee had had to snip his cigar for him, and light it, but after spending much of his time in the company of women, Judah seemed to enjoy the male camaraderie.
Mary had redecorated the entire house, stripping the walls and floors of their dark coverings, but she had left the red parlor inviolate.
Lee leaned back in his chair. "I'm sure glad Mary didn't change this room. It's gaudy as hell, but I like it."
"Yeah," Reese agreed, "It must be nice having a billiard table and a bar and a roulette wheel in the comfort of your home—having a room with all of your favorite vices in it."
"You have a room like that, too, Reese," David teased. "It's called the bedroom."
Reese grinned. "Yes, so it is."
The three of them laughed.
"Well, Lee, what are you going to do now that you've finally resigned from the Agency and Sarrazin and Cosgrove are behind bars?" David Alexander asked. "Become a silver baron?"
"From what I've seen," Reese added. "He's well on his way."
"And so are you," Lee reminded him. "As stockholders in the Ettinger Silver Mine."
"So what are you planning to do?" David repeated his earlier question, then took a sip of his brandy.