Chapter 1

Lily Cunningham stepped off the stage coach and took her first look around the tiny town of Iron Bark. The year 1885 didn’t do much for the place. That was for certain. Lily couldn’t even really call it a town. It was nothing more than a collection of ramshackle buildings lost on the vast frontier.

Dust billowed from every horse’s foot and clung to everything. It gave the whole place a dingy gray appearance. It made the graying clapboard buildings even grayer and more depressing.

What could you do in a town like this? Lily shuddered. Ick. No, thank you. She took one step, and the dust darkened the hem of her spotless gown. She bent over to shake the dust off, but it wouldn’t go, no matter what she did. Already her shiny black boots took on the same horrible gray as everything else in this dive.

Lily sighed. The coach driver tossed her case off the roof, and it landed in a cloud of dust at her feet. The dust stuck to the rest of her gown and wafted into Lily’s face. She coughed and waved the dust away. “Thank you, my good man. Thank you very much.”

He tipped his hat. Dust covered his face and formed rings around his eyes. “Anytime, ma’am.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat and took the reins. In a second, an enormous whirlwind of dust hid the coach and stung Lily’s eyes. By the time it cleared, no one would ever have guessed her outfit used to be white. She tried to pat the dust off, and it darkened her gloves, too. Oh, well. The sooner she left this town, the better.

She turned to the wooden sidewalk leading to the hotel when she noticed a man standing behind her. He watched her wrestle with the dust, and a slight smile played on his lips under his curled mustaches.

Lily sized him up in one glance. He wore a tailored woolen suit of maroon tweed, with polished brown boots poking out the trouser legs. The matching felt hat sat on his head at a jaunty angle, and he twirled a gold-capped walking cane in one hand. A gold watch chain hung across his waistcoat. His eyes told her he sized her up with the same sure sweep of his gaze.

He tipped his hat to Lily. “New in town, ma’am? This is no place for a lady like you.”

Lily pursed her lips and gathered her skirts in both hands. “I’ll be the one to decide if it is or it isn’t.”

His eyes widened. “A touch of spunk, have you? Well, so much the better. I’m Luther Campbell. Welcome to Iron Bark.” He held out his hand. He wore no gloves.

Lily shook his hand. “I’m Lily Cunningham. Delighted to meet you.”

He squeezed her hand longer than he should have. “Allow me escort you to the hotel, if I may. I can have a man bring your case along.”

She started down the sidewalk. “I’m sure the hotel has someone they can send for it.”

He waved his hand. “Not at all. I’m honored to do it.”

He snapped his fingers at a man walking by. The man wheeled a barrel on a barrow in the opposite direction and looked up in surprise at Luther’s signal. Luther pointed to the case. “Kindly bring Ms. Cunningham’s case up to the hotel. Thank you.”

Luther turned away. He didn’t wait to see if the man obeyed him. He smiled at Lily and inclined his head toward the hotel. “That’s taken care of. Shall we proceed?”

Lily watched the man stand his barrel on its end and take her case onto his barrow instead. He hurried ahead and put it inside the hotel’s front door. Then he trotted back to his barrel and continued on his way.

Luther chatted in Lily’s ear. “You let me know if anything at the hotel doesn’t suit your liking. I own the place, and if a lady like you can’t get the service she expects, I’ll know about it.”

Lily cast a sidelong glance at him. “You own the hotel?” She could believe it.

“That, and the saloon, and the livery stable, and the general store. I’m building another hotel and another feed store over there. I plan to expand the town.”

She surveyed the dusty streets. “It’s a little small for all that, isn’t it?”

“It’s small now, but when it starts to grow, I plan to be in first. Now is the time to build while land and supplies are cheap. Once I get the town built, everyone will have to come to me to buy supplies to build anything.”

She nodded, but she didn’t look at him. She already knew from her first glance that he would be some kind of tycoon. “I don’t suppose you’re the mayor or anything like that.”

“Mayor? No. I’m not the mayor, but I basically own the town. Nothing happens in this town without my say-so, and a man can’t spit on the ground around here without the sheriff informing me.”

Lily muttered under her breath, “I thought so.”

He whipped his head around. “What’s that?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I guess I’m just tired. I should go my room and lie down.”

He looked at her as if for the first time. “I meant what I said before. You’re too good for a place like this. What brings you out this Godforsaken country? You belong back East where you can go to the opera every night.”

She bestowed on him her most innocent smile. “Why, Mr. Campbell! Don’t you think some other people want to get in first while land is cheap? You’re not the only one with grand plans.”

He cracked a broad grin. “You’re my kind of gal. I like a woman with some fire. So you’ve got grand plans? That’s wonderful. You let me know, and I’ll show you the best land in this country.”

She closed her eyes and bowed her head. “Thank you very much, sir. Here we are at the hotel. Thank you for sending my case for me. Good day.”

He tipped his hat again, but before she could go inside, Lily heard voices rising. She turned around and saw a man striding down the sidewalk toward her. He wore rough buckskin clothing. The fringe along his sleeves and pants swung to the rhythm of his heels. A trimmed beard angled down his face to end in a point at his chin, and his sharp blue eyes swept the town.

Those eyes landed on Lily’s face for a fraction of a second, but at that moment, he passed the saloon’s open door. Two more men staggered out in front of him. They threw themselves into his path and confronted him. They snarled in his face and shoved him back.

Their voices rose to shouts that echoed down the street. The fringed man stood up to his aggressors, but they flanked him on either side. One of them grabbed his arm. The other hauled back his fist and let a punch fly at the man’s face. The fringed man dodged that punch and drove his knuckles against his captor’s ribs.

Lily tensed all over. “What’s going on?”

Luther’s voice drawled in her ear, “Oh, that. That’s just Jude Farrell. He’s a mountain man from the hills. No one thinks much of him around this town.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with him.?

“He just doesn’t fit in. He never has, and he never will. Do you see that up there?” Lily followed the pointing direction of Luther’s walking cane. “That’s Bald Mountain. Jude lives up there all alone. No one else will set foot on the place. Maybe that’s why no one cares for him.”

Lily stared up at the jagged mountain cutting across the sky. How could she miss that when she first got off the stage? It dominated the whole town and cast the little settlement under a brooding spell.

Grunts and shouts called her attention back to the fight escalating in front of her. “Aren’t you going to do something to stop them?”

“What for?”

She waved her hand. “Well, look at them. They’ll be brawling in the streets next.”

A low, wicked chuckle bubbled out of Luther’s chest. “This should be good. We don’t get much entertainment in this town. Stand back here and we’ll watch the show. They won’t hurt you as long as you’re with me.”

Lily bit her lip. She shouldn’t say anything. She just got into town. She couldn’t go sticking her nose into every conflict that crossed her path. She ought to turn her back on this and walk away, but she couldn’t.

She held back until the two drunken barflies each grabbed one of Jude’s arms. They tugged him back and forth between them. That’s the only way they could stop him from defending himself. They pulled him off the sidewalk into the street. They started dragging him away. He dug in his heels and fought back.

Lily couldn’t contain herself a second longer. She rounded on Luther with her teeth bared. “You idiot! Do you think you can impress me with your gold watch and cane, and then stand back and watch an innocent man beaten in the streets without lifting a finger to stop it? You’re nothing but a highway man in fancy clothes.”

She stomped down the sidewalk. Her boots rang on the hollow boards. She jumped off the edge into puddles of dust, but she didn’t pay any attention. She didn’t even bother to lift her skirts to keep her dress clean.

She strode across the street to the three men. She accosted the first man she came to and grabbed him by the wrist. She yanked his grip off Jude Farrell’s arm. “Leave him alone. Get off, you brute! Get out of here. You, too. Let go this instant.”

She made a snatch for the other man, but he let go of Jude before she got to him. Both men leapt away from her to stop her touching them. “Hey! What’s the big idea?”

Lily waved in their faces. “Is this your idea of fun on a Thursday afternoon? Get out of here. Leave him alone, and don’t let me see you near him again.”

One of them shrugged and looked away. “We didn’t mean anything, ma’am. We just…”

“I don’t care what you meant,” Lily snapped. “Get out of here. I can’t stand the sight of your faces.”

Both men slunk away. Lily turned around to look at Jude, but before she could ask if he was all right, he huffed under his breath and walked away without a word.

He strode across the street and started untying a horse from the hitching post. A wagon stood behind the horse. Lily watched him climb into the seat and drive away. He never looked sideways at her.

Lily let out a shaky breath. So much for minding her own business. She couldn’t stand around the middle of the street, though. She gathered her now-filthy skirts and walked back to the hotel.

Luther waved his manicured hand. “You see? He’s an ungrateful wretch. You shouldn’t have wasted your time on him. He didn’t even thank you for intervening.”

Lily walked right past him, and when Luther fell in at her side, she whirled around to face him. “Stay away from me, Luther. I don’t need you escorting me around town, and I don’t want to be anywhere near you if that’s your idea of entertainment. You obviously don’t know how to behave around a lady, and I don’t want to have anything more to do with you.”