Mitch blushed clear to the tips of his ears.

Rosemary, a woman who'd come to Lily for a job five years ago after her abusive husband had been killed in a brawl, studied the artwork with a look of incredulity. "How astonishing," she said at last. "He's captured your spirit, Lily. Your kindness, your determination and compassion. Right here on this canvas."

Lily studied the likeness of her expression again. "You see all that?"

The others murmured their agreement.

"All I can see is...are..."

"And how amazing that he drew you like that by using his imagination," Celeste said, pointing to the nude body.

Lily met her eyes. "Thank you."

Mitch cleared his throat. "You didn't pose for this?" he asked, color still high on his cheeks.

"She posed fully dressed," Mollie replied for her, and the others confirmed that.

Lily felt better knowing her friends and employees knew her well enough to realize she hadn't been naked in front of Edward Mulvaney. And if she had, she'd be grateful if she looked that good, she thought with another sideways glance.

"Lily and I were imagining the reactions of the uppity wives if they saw this painting," Helena told the gathering, and they laughed.

Mitch picked up the painting and carried it behind the bar, where he propped it on the counter. "It belongs back here. For everybody to see."

"Oh, I don't know," Lily objected.

"Yes," Mollie agreed. "It's the perfect place."

Lily looked at the nude woman and felt a brazen sense of defiance. "It's not illegal." Displaying the painting would be impudent. Challenging. Daring. She couldn't help a smile. "People might not even know it's me."

Mollie and Helena exchanged a skeptical glance and a grin.

"And after all, this is the Shady Lady Dance Hall," Lily said. "She looks like her namesake."

The others clapped.

"Let's celebrate with sarsaparilla," Celeste suggested. "We'll toast to the Shady Lady."

She and Mollie carried trays to the bar and all of them raised their glasses to the woman in the portrait.

The painting became a symbol of liberty for Lily that day. She would not be intimidated. Nor would she cower to those who accused her of imagined sins. She would be the confident, independent woman others saw. And she would not let any of her friends down. She was, after all, Lily Divine.

CHAPTER TWO.

THE DOORS HAD BEEN OPEN for nearly an hour, and half a dozen men were sitting at a table playing cards when Big Saul hurried to Lily, where she sat at the end of the bar. Saul was over six feet tall and built out of solid muscle, but he had the mind of a ten-year-old. He'd been with Lily since his mother's death four years previous.

"Miss Lily, you gotta come. Little girl's hurt and askin' for ya."

Lily slid from her seat. "Where is she?"

"Came to the back, she did. I was stackin' wood by the stove." He ran and she followed.

Saul didn't have a key to the adjoining door, as he and Old Jess lived over the dance hall, so Lily followed him out back to the alley and in through the rear of her house.

"There she is. There's the little girl."

Lily took one look at the girl, who wasn't all that little. She appeared to be about fourteen. She wore a baggy dress and thin shawl, and her brown hair was limp and tangled. Her left eye was nearly swollen shut and the bruising extended to her jaw.

"Thank you, Saul. You did the right thing to come and get me. I'll take care of her now, and you go help Old Jess."

"Yes'm, Miss Lily." He exited back the way he'd come.

Lily approached the girl, who stood trembling beside the cold stove. "It's okay, sweetie," Lily said to her. "What's your name?"

The girl's skittish gaze flicked around the room and back to Lily's face. "Violet."

"What happened to you, Violet?"

She didn't reply.

Lily went to the ice chest and used the mallet to knock a small chunk from the brick. She wrapped it in a thin rag. "Will you let me put ice on that?"

Violet nodded.

"Sit here, sweetie."

Violet sat on a bench and allowed Lily to touch the ice to her injury. She winced and sucked in a breath at the touch. "I...I heard you give girls jobs. Can I stay here?"

"I hire grown women, not young girls."

"I'm not a child. I can work. I work for my pa all the time. Please." She reached out and gripped Lily's forearm. "You have to let me stay."

The desperation in her voice and her eyes took Lily back to a time when she'd feared for her own safety. Lily felt the girl's desperation as though it were her own and knew in that instant that she had to help her.

She placed her hand over Violet's. "You're going to be all right now."

After a moment Violet lowered her gaze and loosened her grip on Lily's arm.

"Take this." Lily left her holding the ice and prepared a basin of soapy water. "Let's wash some of the blood away and see if you need stitches."

"I ain't goin' to no doctor."

"Let's just look, okay?"

Violet let her wash the side of her face. There were older bruises along her neck and cheekbone, bruises that were already fading and sickly green. "Who did this to you?"

Tears formed in Violet's fearful blue eyes. "I didn't have supper ready when my pa got home. He gets real mad if I don't have everything ready. I wasn't feelin' so good...my...my woman time, you know-and I laid down for a minute. I didn't mean to sleep. When I woke up he was yellin' and shakin' me. I tried to get away, but he pushed me and I fell against the table. I can't go back there."

Lily felt ill at the thought of a grown man-a father-hurting this girl. Lily blinked back her own tears and busied herself rinsing out the rag, so Violet wouldn't see. She'd been only two years older than this girl when her father had traded her to a man for a share in a miner's claim. She understood the feeling of helplessness gripping Violet.

"Please don't make me go back. I'd work real hard for ya, I swear I would."

Lily knelt before the girl and looked into her eyes. Antoinette had been Lily's savior years ago. She wouldn't be alive today if the woman hadn't come to her aid. "Of course you shouldn't go back. We'll figure out what to do."

"If he finds me, he'll beat me for runnin' away." Her eyes pleaded with Lily, and Lily's heart broke with compassion.

"Don't you worry, sweetie. He's not going to find you. As long as you're in my place, you're safe. I'll see what I can do to help you. Let's get you upstairs and into a nice soft bed. I'll find you something to eat, and you can rest all you like."

Lily ushered the thin girl into one of the unoccupied bedrooms. The tawdry decorations had been disposed of, the wallpaper replaced and the rooms made to suit the respectable house it was today. Lily was blessed with an abundance of rooms, along with money for food and clothing, and she shared them with anyone who needed help. "You can stay in here for as long as you like."

Violet glanced around at the lace curtains, the quilted counterpane and the rugs on the floor. "This is the nicest room I ever saw."

Lily pulled down the covers and helped Violet out of her shoes and stockings. "There are nightshifts and extra clothes in the bureau there, you help yourself. Big Saul is going to be down in the kitchen tonight, sort of standing watch. I'll be back with food and some milk."

Violet nodded, and Lily left the room, closing the door behind her. Violet wasn't the first female who'd come to her for help, but she was definitely the youngest. Most women who sought her out were escaping abusive husbands, or they were soiled doves looking for a fresh start.

Violet was just a young girl who should have been under her father's protection rather than a stranger's. But life wasn't fair, and women weren't treated as equals. Oftentimes they were no more than possessions.

The thought infuriated Lily.

After preparing a tray and seeing that Violet was comfortable, she assigned Big Saul to a position in the kitchen, instructing him to keep an eye out for strangers and not to let anyone in.

When Lily returned to the saloon, Helena hurried forward and caught her hand. "He was here!"

"Who?"

"The new sheriff. He asked for the owner. Said he'd be back another time. The whole place got quiet when he came in. Lily, he's a menacing-looking man if I ever saw one."

"I had something else to handle." She explained to Helena about Violet.

"What will you do?" Helena asked.

"I don't know. I'm afraid if I went to the new sheriff, he'd give the girl back to her father, and I won't let that happen. I think I'll send a telegram to the governor and ask for his help to protect Violet."

The next morning she prepared Violet a bath in the downstairs chamber and waited outside the room while the girl washed her hair and bathed.

Mollie found a blue dress small enough for Violet's waist and hemmed the skirt. The area around Violet's eye was swollen and bruised, despite the ice, but the cut hadn't required stitches. Mollie and Helena told Lily they had a difficult time looking at the poor girl's face without crying. Molly made a poultice and applied it while Violet again rested.

That afternoon Lily sent a telegram to the governor in the state capitol. It could be days before she got a reply.

Molly's poultice had taken down much of the swelling by the time Violet came out of her room for supper and stayed to help the women in the kitchen. She was a sweet-natured thing with a soft voice and a willingness to pitch in. Every time Lily looked at her she saw herself, and she was determined that Violet's abuse would stop now. She stayed with her most of the evening and once again missed the sheriff.

The next day was Friday, and that evening the saloon was filled with patrons. Lily watched her girls as they accepted coins for dances and helped Old Jess pour drinks. The sheriff would undoubtedly be back, and she didn't plan to miss him again.

A man she didn't recognize pushed his way up to the bar and asked for a bottle of whiskey. Lily took his money and handed him the liquor.

"Name's Jack Brand," he said, and she could tell he'd already been drinking. She'd have to tell Big Saul to keep an eye on this one. "Been doin' some checkin' and I think you and me got a problem."

"And what would that be?"

"I got a little girl who's missin'. I think you know somethin' about it."

Warning bells went off in Lily's head. Anger rose up inside her. This was the man who had hurt Violet. "Why would I know anything?"

"I heard tell you take in strays. Women who think they're too good for their menfolk."

"I don't talk about my private business."

He grabbed hold of her wrist. "It's my business if you got my kid stashed away, lady."

When he touched her, another man's angry face swam into Lily's vision and made her skin crawl. "Let go of my arm right now."

"Hand over my kid."

She tried to pull away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're lyin'."

Old Jess caught wind of the struggle, and slid a sawed-off shotgun from beneath the bar. "Let go of her, mister."

"I ain't movin' till I get my kid."

The music stopped and the attention of everyone in the room focused on the scene transpiring at the bar.

"Let's take this outside," Lily said calmly. "Jess, put the gun down."

Jess lowered the barrel.

Jack Brand released Lily's wrist. Infuriated, she rubbed it and walked around the end of the bar. Men who bullied women didn't deserve to draw air.

Brand grabbed his bottle by the neck and carried it outside.

Lily nodded to Jess, and he understood the signal to get Saul.

"Play something, Isaac!" Lily called and followed Brand outside. Behind her a lively tune resumed on the piano.

Out on the boardwalk, the man pulled the cork and took a swig of liquor.

Lily kept her distance. Saul would join them in a moment, and the troublemaker would be on his way.

"Where's she at?" Brand asked, taking several steps forward.

"I don't know who you mean."