Lily knew them now. She felt a newly awakened sense of power and a burgeoning confidence. This man found her worthy of respect and had honored her body with his. He had taken nothing against her will, but accepted what she willingly gave him with reverence. She'd felt admired. Revered. She felt it still in the way he held her in his arms and threaded his fingers into the tangle of hair at her neck.

She looked up at him, and he took it as an invitation to kiss her. Lily felt tears welling in her eyes and a tightening in her throat. Even now he kissed her. Even now he showed tenderness.

He was a strong man. A man who'd killed. A man she doubted feared much of anything. A man who wore a gun like another arm.

The first man she'd ever trusted.

She ended the kiss to say, "I'm not sorry, Sheriff."

"I should hope not. But I do hope we know each other well enough that you can call me by my name."

She smiled and he brought a finger up to run it over her lips. "I'll have to try it out. Nathaniel."

"It's Nate."

"You don't seem like a Nate to me."

"What do I seem like to you?"

"Sheriff comes natural."

He sighed. "Just plain Nate will do."

The breeze touched their skin, and she became aware that the evening had finally cooled down. She didn't want this time to end, but it was growing late.

"I have some shampoo paste on the bank. Want to wash quickly before we head back?"

He rose to find the shampoo, and she admired the beauty of his body in the moonlight.

"You gonna help me?"

"No."

Finally he found the tube and they bathed quickly. The towel was still damp, so Nate gave her his shirt to dry with. She used it and so did he, and they dressed.

Lily stuffed her corset, stockings and garters in Charlotte's saddlebag and wore only her satin drawers and dress.

He stepped close behind her as she prepared to mount the horse. Lily felt his breath on her shoulder and turned her cheek into his.

"I've never known a woman like you," he said.

She brought her palm up and stroked his jaw, felt the prickle of his evening beard. "And I've never known a man like you."

He was the kind of man women dreamed of having notice them, the kind of man a woman wanted to have court her, to love her.

He had loved a woman once. Sarah had been her name. A woman with family and land. A woman who'd no doubt been a virgin when he'd bedded her the first time. A woman who'd given him a child...

Lily turned away and stepped into the stirrup. Nate aided her with both hands on her rump and a healthy push.

"The pleasure was all mine," he said.

She picked up the reins and nudged the horse forward. Behind her he mounted his roan and followed.

They rode slowly, as though neither of them was eager for the night to end. As they reached the outskirts of town, an orange glow on the horizon caught their attention. Dark smoke curled into the sky.

Dread clenched in Lily's stomach. "Fire!"

They kicked their horses into a run, heading toward the site of the blaze. Lily noted in relief that the flames were coming from too far away to be her place, and as they thundered past the darkened Shady Lady, she shouted, "Fire! Grab buckets and hurry!"

Celeste stuck her head out an open front window, then ducked back in, presumably to alert the others.

At the end of Main Street flames shot from the back of the Big Nugget. "Bernie's place!" she called to Nate.

But as they dismounted and tethered the horses to a post a safe distance away, Nate said, "I don't think so."

Lily looked again.

The flames could be seen over the top of the Nugget, but there was no activity at the saloon, and the sounds of shouting came from behind.

Her new livery was burning.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

SHE MET NATE'S hard unreadable eyes for the briefest of moments before they both took off at a run around the side of the Nugget.

The entire back of the new livery structure was in flames. The waves of heat reached them where they stood, and the stench burned Lily's nostrils. Bernie and Zeke were among half a dozen men who were flapping scorched blankets at the blaze and carrying dripping buckets of water. Among them were Howard and George, and even Amos Douglas had shown up to help.

There weren't enough people or enough buckets, and the men were losing ground fast, even though the new wood burned slowly. Lily could see that if they lost this battle, the flames could easily jump to the Nugget.

She grabbed a stack of blankets from a pile on the ground and ran to the trough out front to soak them. As she was returning, a dozen more volunteers came to help, all of them her employees. They carried kettles and pails and all manner of containers.

The sheriff organized a line of people from the front of the building to the rear.

"The water's going to run out," Lily called to him. "We can get water from my trough system at the garden plot."

He called to Big Saul and Howard, and they lugged barrels to the back of a wagon and began the process of filling and transporting them. Lily's back ached by the third trip, and her eyes burned from the smoke, but she didn't slow down.

A crowd gathered on the street to watch and speculate, and she noticed a few from the Women's Temperance Prayer League, as well as Catherine Douglas and Evangeline Gibbs.

Violet dropped onto a step at the front of the saloon. She wore a dressing gown and a pair of boots. Water had soaked the front of her robe.

Celeste fell into place beside her.

Lily made another trip with the men before she did the same, catching her breath and resting her back. Violet and Celeste joined the bucket line this time.

After a moment Lily stood.

"Take a rest, Lily." With a hand on her shoulder, Nate gently pushed her back down on the step. "Sit for a few minutes."

She looked up at him and agreed with a nod.

He loped back to his task.

Her gaze moved across the bystanders to observe the women. Most had taken time to dress and hastily pin up their hair. She glanced down at the stained and torn satin dress she wore, one with a low-cut bodice and a hem that showed her ankles. She hadn't put on her corset or stockings after she and the sheriff had...gone swimming. Her hair had dried to a nimbus of wild ringlets after that swim and consequent tumble. She must look like a wild woman.

"Nathaniel?" Evangeline Gibbs, ever the proper young lady, waved a white hankie at the sheriff as he passed on the wagon.

He motioned Saul to drive forward and jumped down to see what she wanted.

She handed him a bandanna and a jar of something Lily couldn't see in the darkness. She imagined lemonade.

Nate drank the contents thirstily and wiped his face with the cloth. A moment later he tucked the bandanna in his pocket and chased after the wagon.

The incident left Lily with a disturbed feeling. Evangeline had certainly seemed familiar with the sheriff. Bold and confident enough to seek his attention and offer him a drink.

Thirty people were running and sweating to fight this fire and she'd singled out and catered to the sheriff?

Lily stood.

Evangeline looked her way.

She might have seen Nate instruct Lily to take a break. Perhaps that had reeked of familiarity, as well.

Lily joined the bucket line with her friends.

An hour later, the fire was out. An exhausted community gathered in the street in front of the Big Nugget.

"Somebody set that fire," Bernie said, wiping sweat and soot from his forehead. "Somebody set on destroying our livery."

The sheriff agreed. "There's no other explanation. It was an empty structure. No cooking fire."

Lily felt sick at the loss. She'd sunk a fair investment into that building. So had Bernie and Zeke-at her urging. She felt responsible now.

An uncomfortable shift of attention brought sets of eyes to Wade Reed. He stared from one person to the next with his mouth agape. "You don't think it was me! Hellfire! Bernie's a friend of mine. Zeke, too. And Lily."

Lily spoke up. "I don't think you did it."

"What about your wife?" Clive Callahan asked. "Where was she after you took her home from jail?"

"She was in bed with me when we heard the commotion. She never left my side. She was pretty shook up and grateful to go home." His gaze skittered to Lily's and away.

She didn't believe Wade would destroy property, but she wasn't sure he wouldn't lie to protect his wife.

A heated discussion broke out between several of the business owners.

"Let's all get some rest," Mayor Gibbs said. "It's too late to solve anything tonight. Not that we're going to with any certainty. But at least we can look at things fresh in the morning. Go home, people."

Charlotte came to Lily's side. "Sorry 'bout yer place. Guess I don't have a job no more."

"I'm not letting some underhanded firebug get the best of me," Lily told her with conviction. A dozen people heard her reply, including the sheriff. "You'll have a job come winter, don't doubt it."

"Hell, Lily," Bernie said, scratching his neck. "I ain't sinkin' any more money into this thing. Most ever'body said they'd do business with us as usual, and the women been set on their ear. What're we fightin' for now?"

"For our right to run any business we damned well please," she replied. "And not to be run off. Nobody's taking away something I worked for!"

Bernie headed for his place. "You'll be workin' twice for it."

"Nobody said things come easy," she called to his back.

The crowd broke up, walking toward their various homes.

Harold looked at the piles of buckets and blankets. "I guess we'll sort through this mess in the morning, huh?"

"I'll help you, Miss Lily," Dutch Hulbert said.

"Me, too," Wesley Clark added.

A couple of the miners who'd been staying in town and had come to help spoke up, as well.

"All right," Lily said. "We'll start cleaning up bright and early tomorrow. See how bad it looks and what needs to be replaced. Thanks, all of you."

The men said their good-nights and the street was soon silent. The stench of burnt wood pervaded the air. Lily could smell it in her hair.

"Guess another bath is called for," she said aloud.

The sheriff was standing a few feet away. They were on a public street. "Shame I'll miss this one."

She grinned. "The girls are probably heating water now."

"Get some rest. I was gonna walk your horse to the livery, but it's gone."

"Charlotte took him. Sam's hers."

"Get up. Ride mine to your place."

He didn't help her up this time, but he walked alongside.

In front of her house, she slid to the boardwalk.

"Shame about your building," he said.

"Do you think Wade would lie if Meriel had anything to do with it?"