Brand sneered from where he stood in the sun in the dusty street. "I ain't satisfied the whore didn't hide her."

Lily's chin raised a notch, but she kept her silence.

"It's apparent your daughter ran away," Judge Adams said, getting to his feet. "If you truly want to find her, I suggest you seek elsewhere. You may not go near the Shady Lady Saloon again. In fact, Mr. Brand, I find you have no further business in Thunder Canyon. Do you have a horse?"

"It's at the livery," Nate told him. "I'll get his belongings and meet him there."

"Get your horse and leave town. If the sheriff sees you again, he will detain you until my return. You don't want to see me again." To Nate he added, "You may release him."

Nate unlocked the handcuffs, and Brand headed in the direction of the livery, grumbling and rubbing his wrists.

"Keep an eye on him till he's gone," the judge said.

"Would you like a drink with your dinner, Judge?" Lily asked, slipping her arm through the crook of his and leading him toward the dance hall. "Our new banjo player could play something special for you. We'll open early today in your honor. What do you say?"

"I say, what are we waiting for? Sheriff, join us later. C'mon, Mayor."

Nate watched the gathering of colorfully dressed women and the few men make their way inside. The doors swung shut behind them. If Judge Adams had any idea of what had just happened, he obviously didn't care. Nate was left with the question of whether or not the judge suspected Brand's daughter had been among those women. He hurried to the jail to get Brand's few possessions, including the coins he'd had in his pockets, then followed to give them to him and make sure he got his horse.

There was some discrepancy over the amount Brand owed Wade Reed for stabling the black, but Brand grudgingly paid it and rode out of town.

Back at the Shady Lady, the piano and banjo players were performing a lively tune, and the judge was watching as Mollie danced with Mr. Ulrich. The man's cheeks were pink, and he held himself stiffly.

Mayor Gibbs had settled down to a game of cards with Doc Umber, who'd shown up while Nate was gone. Two of the girls sat with them, and one lit the mayor's cigar with a match.

Beside the dance floor, Judge Adams clapped his hands and bounced one foot on the floor in time to the music.

"You sure you don't want to dance?" the woman with the accent asked him.

"Oh, Helena, my knees wouldn't last the day if I danced. And I still have to do some traveling. Show me a Polish dance."

"Not to this music."

"To something else, then."

"No, it makes me too sad."

Judge Adams looked to Nate. "Did you know Helena was an actress back in her country of Poland?"

Nate shook his head.

"Back east, too, isn't that right?" the judge asked.

She nodded. "A long time ago."

"How did you come to be here?" Nate asked.

The pretty woman looked at him. "I trusted a man," she said. "He was involved with bringing opium into the country, and he made it look as though I was the one. It took all my savings and more to defend myself. I lost everything and ended up working for Antoinette Powell, the woman who once owned the bordello next door."

"I remember those days fondly." In a few words, the judge revealed his connection to this woman in another capacity.

Helena looked away, but then seemed to gather her courage and faced both men. "That was another life. I have a different life now. It's good."

So far Nate hadn't seen a thing that indicated there was anything other than dancing, poker and drinking going on in this establishment. But he now knew firsthand that Lily Divine was a master at deception. He had no doubt that she was hiding everything she didn't want him to see.

He moved to stand in front of the bar, and his gaze was drawn to the painting on the back wall. He'd glanced at it before but hadn't wanted to stare while the room was filled with patrons. Now he took a good look and recognized Lily.

A slow heat started inside and worked its way to his extremities. Lily...naked. He couldn't say he'd never imagined Lily without her clothes on. She was a beautiful woman, and he was a man. But until today he'd fought back every last thought of her as a woman and worked hard to see her as a business owner, someone he had to deal with as part of his job.

There was nothing hiding her femininity in the portrait. Breasts he'd glimpsed today were proudly displayed for any and all to view. Her skin seemed to glow, and her hair looked as though she'd just been made love to.

And that smile. Nate experienced it all the way to places he couldn't afford to have involved.

Lily came from the rear hallway just then, carrying a tray of sandwiches and a bowl of apples. Lily's gaudy appearance today still startled him. Even during the evenings in which she worked in the saloon, he'd never seen her wear a costume like the other girls or known her to wear color on her face. Today's appearance was all part of an elaborate ruse.

And it had worked.

The black-haired girl was conspicuously missing from the dance hall, but so were several of the others. He'd bet anything that if he went upstairs in the adjoining house at that moment, he'd find Violet in the same room she'd occupied before. Probably scrubbing her face and removing padding from her clothing.

Lily set one of the tables and placed a platter of savory-smelling meat and stuffing in the center. The judge moved to take a place and eat.

The saloon owner then approached Nate. She glanced from the painting to his face, her composure undisturbed. "Please join the judge. Dinner is on the house." She studied him a moment. "You didn't tell the judge."

"About what?"

"About...anything."

"He didn't ask about anything."

She placed her hand over the back of his then, her fingers warm and soft. She'd probably caressed a hundred men far more intimately, but regardless, his chest ached with the sweetness of her touch and the disturbing thoughts that followed.

"Thank you," she said.

The shape of her lips, the feminine scent that enveloped her, the feelings she caused inside him all warred with the knowledge of who she was and how she made her living.

But the fact that she wasn't ashamed of anything about her life was what tipped his confidence. He looked at her and saw the woman in the painting.

He was asking for a lot of trouble.

CHAPTER FOUR.

EACH DAY breakfast was served at ten in the kitchen of the house. After the dance hall closed, Lily's help worked late into the night cleaning up, so their mornings didn't start early. Occasionally there were a few hangovers, but as a general rule, none of her help drank overmuch.

This morning the girls were cheerful, mostly because of the scheme they'd pulled over on Violet's father.

"I din't say nothin', Miss Lily," Saul told her proudly.

Lily had suffered pangs of remorse about instructing Big Saul to say nothing about Violet. She felt as though she were encouraging a child to lie, but she hadn't been willing to risk that the big fellow would unwittingly give away Violet's whereabouts. "It's never good to lie, Saul, but we had to protect Violet, you understand?"

He nodded. "Yes'm."

"I think we should get in the habit of addressing our newest friend by a different name, though," Lily suggested. "That is, if you're planning to stay with us." She looked to their latest boarder. "Are you?"

Violet nodded. "Oh, yes. I'd very much like t' stay. Thank you."

"What shall we call you?" Mollie asked.

Violet blinked as she thought. "Well..." Her fresh dark hair and bangs made her eyes look very blue. The area around one was still pitifully discolored. "I've always thought Francesca was a pretty name."

"Very French," Helena agreed with a nod.

"And it goes with the dark hair," Celeste added.

"Francesca it is, then," Lily said. "Ladies and gentlemen, meet Miss Francesca Dumont."

Thomas stood and bowed in a sweeping gesture. "I shall have to write a song in your honor, Miss Francesca."

Violet stood, in keeping with the good nature of the naming ceremony, and made a curtsy. "Thank you, all of you." She wiped appreciative tears from her eyes. Her chin trembled for an instant before she said, "I'll work to repay my debt."

"You have no debt," Lily hastened to tell her. "You've already been pitching in, so I figure you started your new job a few days ago. You'll earn your keep, plus get paid at the end of the week just like everyone else. But we do have rules to abide by." She thought a moment. "Normally the help is allowed two free drinks a night if they want them."

"You cain't save 'em up, though," Old Jess said with a wink.

Everyone in the gathering chuckled.

"But you're too young, so no drinking for you." Lily made a point of looking to Old Jess to make sure he understood her edict. He nodded his compliance.

"No men upstairs," Helena said, continuing the rule list.

Violet's cheeks reddened, and the women laughed.

"It's funny, is it not?" Mollie asked. "Half the townspeople think this is a bordello, but there are no men allowed."

"It's a good rule," Helena said. "This is a place for second chances. There are many of us who appreciate feeling safe and being free of men."

"We honor privacy," Lily told her. "No one enters another's room without permission. If you want to borrow something, you ask. If you need anything, you come to me. Anyone caught stealing will be asked to leave."

"It's like family," Rosemary told Violet. "Closest thing most of us ever had, in fact."

The others agreed with nods.

"Chores are divided up monthly, and Helena is in charge of that schedule," Lily continued. She glanced from one woman to the next before she spoke again. "I think Francesca is too young to dance with the customers. How will the rest of you feel if she doesn't share that part of the work?"

"She can wash glasses and help Old Jess clean up," Mollie suggested.

The others agreed.

"I want to do my share," Violet said with a worried frown.

"If you are still here in a year or two, you may dance and play cards with the customers," Helena said. "For now you are too young."

Lily was pleased that the others shared her belief. "Never leave the dance hall with anyone," she cautioned. "If a man approaches you, alert me or Jess or Saul, and we'll handle the situation."

Violet nodded her understanding, and Celeste gave her a hug.

"Thank you so much." Emotion laced Violet's voice.

"We have a garden in a plot of land Miss Lily owns at the end of the street," Helena told Violet. "We're weeding this afternoon, and you can help. Is your bonnet finished?"

"Mollie has it cut out, but I'll lend her one of mine," Lily said.

"Prepare for the church ladies to walk past and ignore us or scorn us with dirty looks," Rosemary told her.

Violet's blue gaze was questioning. "The church ladies?"

The women launched into an explanation of the Women's Temperance Prayer League's recent mission, so Lily removed herself to find a bonnet for Violet. When she returned, she found the girl alone, and used the opportunity to speak with her.

"What about school?" she asked. "Do you normally attend?"

"I went when I was small," Violet replied. "But then my father kept me home to work." A look of anxiety came over her features. "Please don't ask me to go," she said. "I'm older than all those children."

"Can you read and write?"

"Pretty much."

"Can you figure numbers?"

"I'm not very good at numbers. But they'd all laugh at me, Miss Lily. Please. Please don't ask me to go."

"It's okay, I understand. You don't have to go to school. But I think you should work on writing and numbers every day. I'll order the proper books for you. I don't believe it has to be a woman's plight to birth a baby every year or be cook and laundress to a man and his hired help. You don't have to depend on a man to take care of you. Women end up in bad situations because they don't know any other way."

"I've heard some of the girls talk about how they got by before," Violet said. "It's a harsh living, they said."

"If that's not what you want, then you have to learn to take care of yourself."

Violet looked at her with admiration. "Like you do?"

"Plenty of western women are working on ranches and running shops of their own. If you're not lazy and you're smart, you can take care of yourself. We all need other people, don't get me wrong. But we need the right kind of people and the right help."

"You're a smart lady, Miss Lily. I'll listen to whatever you say."

"I hope I'm worthy of your praise," she replied and gave the girl a hug. "Now get along with the others."