“And you’re certain the note reached Bebe this afternoon?” Sam grumbled as he, Julia, and Hubert crouched just on the other side of the locked gate that separated the Bonneville ranch from the road.

“Mmm hmm.”

Julia nodded in the dark. Her heart thumped madly against her ribs. It hadn’t stopped pounding since the day before, when their plan to rescue Bebe was hatched. It had beat so hard that she’d found it impossible to fall asleep. Sam thought he’d had the solution to that problem, but after more than an hour of vigorous activity that left her sated and tingly, she still hadn’t been able to do more than snooze.

But she had been able to convince Noah Kline to ride out to the Bonneville ranch with the note Hubert had penned, and to place it directly into Bebe’s hands. Apparently, there had been a tense moment when Rance Bonneville questioned him about why he was there, but Julia had prepared Noah to give a reason. All he’d had to do was say he was delivering something Bebe had special ordered at the mercantile. As Noah reported, Rance had bought the story hook, line, and sinker, and everyone had gone on their way.

The lone lantern in one of the Bonneville house’s upstairs rooms—presumably Bebe’s—was proof that everything was progressing just as they had planned.

“It must be past midnight by now,” Hubert whispered. His eyes were trained on the upstairs window as he crouched behind the slats of the gate. “If she’s ready, she should give us the sign any moment now.”

“This is a ridiculous bunch of hogswollop,” Sam muttered.

Julia elbowed him in the side. “We’re warriors in the cause of true love,” she hissed.

Sam snorted, but she was reasonably certain there was a laugh in it.

“There!” Hubert rose from his crouch as the light in the upstairs window went out. The house was at least a hundred yards from the gate, but it was a clear night and the light was easy to see. “Just another minute, just another minute,” he continued to murmur.

Julia held her breath. The signal they’d devised was a simple one. Bebe would turn off her light at midnight. If everything was ready and she was free to sneak out of the house, she’d light the lamp again in five minutes, keep it lit for two minutes, then turn it off and leave the house.

Sure enough, five long minutes later, the light was back in the window.

“That’s it.” Julia jumped to her feet, clasping her hands to her chest. “She’s coming. Love triumphs after all.”

“Simmer down.” Sam tugged at her skirt, urging her to crouch behind the fence once more. “You’ve still got two minutes until she’s really on her way.”

“She’ll come,” Hubert said, still standing. “I know she will.”

Two minutes later, the light went out.

“And now we go get her,” Julia declared, so excited she could barely squeeze the words from her lungs.

She leapt to her feet once more, and this time Sam wasn’t fast enough to hold her back. The gate was locked, but its horizontal slats were placed far enough apart that she could climb it easily, even in a skirt. Hubert mounted it in a single bound and was over and jogging toward the house before Julia could swing her leg over the top, but that didn’t discourage her at all. Neither did the loud rip when she finally did hop down on the other side.

“Careful,” Sam cautioned her, climbing the fence himself. “We’ll be in a world of hurt if you do yourself harm while we’re trespassing on Rex’s property.”

Julia’s brow flew up, which she was certain no one could see in the dark. “I thought you were going to wait with the wagon.”

Sam made another snorting sound. “And let you barge into the Bonneville house on your own?”

He had a point, although whether it was that they were a team and should work together or that she needed someone to keep her from burning the whole place down by accident, she didn’t know. Either way, she was overjoyed to have her strong, brave husband carrying out this particular coup with her.

“Bebe.” Hubert was calling to the house in a whisper by the time Julia and Sam caught up to him. “Bebe, are you there?”

“Ssh. Keep it down,” Sam cautioned him. “You’ll wake the whole house.”

“But they should all be fast asleep by now,” Julia said. Bebe had assured her that the entire family was in bed and off to dreamland—if Bonnevilles were even capable of visiting dreamland—well before midnight.

That didn’t stop her blood from running cold when she heard the faint wail of a baby, though.

“Baby Royce must be having trouble sleeping,” she whispered, clinging to Sam’s side. “What if Bebe gets dragged into taking care of him?”

“Then we’ll have to go in and get her,” Hubert said, determination making his voice louder.

“Keep it down,” Sam repeated. “You know what’ll happen if any of us are caught here, but especially you.”

Hubert exchanged a glance with Sam, although Julia didn’t know how the two could see each other clearly in the dark. The moon was barely more than a sliver in the sky.

Her contemplation of the moonlight was cut short as a door somewhere near the back of the house banged open. Instantly, the three of them dove for the bushes lining the front porch. The plan was for Bebe to leave through the front door, not the back. Visions of being caught and marched out to a barren part of the Bonneville ranch for a midnight hanging left Julia’s breath coming in shallow pants.

Her head was beginning to swim with panic when Bebe’s soft, plaintive voice called out, “Hello? Hubert?”

All at once, Hubert leapt out of his hiding place in the bushes. “Bebe, my darling!”

Julia was just able to make out the dark outline of the two lovers flying into each other’s arms. Bebe squealed with fear and longing. She also dropped the large carpetbag she was carrying.

Julia rushed out of the bushes, intent on taking up the carpetbag and carrying it all the way to the train if she had to. But as she rose from her crouch, her foot caught on something solid, and she went spilling forward. She hit the ground with a crash, all the air leaving her lungs.

“Julia!” Sam charged out of the bushes, making more noise than he should have.

He stumbled over whatever Julia had tripped on. A second later, there was a crack and a dull crash. Sam managed to stay upright, but in the distance, a dog started barking. Sam swore under his breath.

“The potted fern,” Bebe gasped. “You knocked it over.”

“Some fool left a rake in the bushes,” Sam growled, bending down to scoop Julia into his arms.

Her breathing had returned to normal, or at least was on its way to being normal, but she was grateful to have the support of Sam’s arms.

“If Bruiser is barking, we should get out of here as fast as possible,” Bebe gasped. “Papa’s foreman always wakes up when Bruiser causes a fuss.”

“We have the wagon ready to go.” Hubert picked up Bebe’s carpetbag with one hand and grabbed her hand with the other.

Without another word, the four of them dashed as fast as they could toward the gate and Sam’s wagon. Julia wished they could all somehow move faster, but between the bulky carpetbag, her bruises from the fall, and Bebe just not being used to running, they made slow and clumsy progress.

When they reached the gate, Sam grabbed Julia by the waist and hoisted her up over the top before she could even think of climbing it. She yelped in surprise, forgetting that their activity was supposed to be silent.

“Oh, be careful with that,” Bebe gasped, just as loud as Julia, as Hubert tossed her carpetbag over the fence.

“It’ll be fine,” Hubert assured her before helping her over the fence.

“But my Grandmother’s china box is in there,” Bebe insisted.

“You brought a china box to an escape?” Sam asked, hefting himself over the top of the gate.

“Of course,” Bebe said as she straddled the fence. “It’s the only thing I have left of Grandmama. She brought it over from England when she was a little girl. It’s very valuable.”

“Keep moving, darling,” Hubert told her, climbing the fence beside her. “We’ll worry about family heirlooms once we’re safe.”

“Right.” Bebe jumped down into Hubert’s waiting arms. Or at least Hubert’s side. He wasn’t ready for her leap and barely managed to catch her. They both stumbled to the side, Hubert bumping up against the side of the wagon.

Sam’s horse nickered and pulled forward, causing the wagon to roll a few inches.

“Whoa, boy, whoa.” Sam strode forward to check on his horse.

As he did, Hubert found Bebe’s carpetbag and lifted it into the back of the wagon. He guided Bebe around to the back of the wagon with him and helped her in as well. Julia was able to pull herself onto the wagon’s bench on her own as Sam finished with his horse and strode around to the wagon’s other side.

“Everyone accounted for?” He murmured over his shoulder.

“Yes,” Hubert answered from the wagon bed. “Let’s go.”

At last, they were on their way, wagon rumbling through the darkness as they headed back to town. Julia giggled with excitement over it all. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Yeah, it’s something all right,” Sam muttered.

In the dark, Julia found his arm and hugged it. “You sound grumpy, but I know you actually love this.”

“Do I?” Sam asked, a warmth in his voice that gave away the answer to his own question.

“Certainly.” Julia nodded. “After all, you’re a rough and rugged frontier man who likes bold adventures and danger.

Sam huffed a laugh at her side, shaking his head.

The ride into town seemed to take forever, although it couldn’t have been more than forty-five minutes. Sam pulled his wagon into the yard in back of the saloon and hopped down to see to the horse as Julia, Bebe, and Hubert climbed down and waited for Sam to finish his work.

“Now all we have to do is wait,” Hubert explained. “The train to San Francisco arrives tomorrow morning around ten o’clock.”

“I do hope it’s not late,” Bebe said.

“It won’t be,” Julia declared, hoping that her determination would make it so.

“What do we do in the meantime?” Bebe asked.

“We get some sleep,” Sam said, coming out of the saloon’s stable. “We could all use it.”

“I couldn’t possibly sleep,” Bebe said with an airy laugh. “I’m much too excited.”

“Darling, we should at least try,” Hubert told her.

Sam walked past them, leading the way into the saloon through the back door. It opened into one of the storerooms, which in turn led to the back hallway. Julia found and lit a pair of lamps along the way, and as soon as they reached the main part of the saloon, Sam lit a few more lamps.

“I know what we can do while we wait for morning,” Bebe said, brightening.

“What?” Hubert smiled at her, looking like a man in triumph.

“We could continue looking for the robber’s loot.”

“What a brilliant idea,” Julia said, bursting into a smile. “Wouldn’t that be the perfect gift for the two of you to begin your new life with.”

“I…I was thinking the same thing,” Bebe said, sending Julia a sheepish look. “But I didn’t want you to think that we were laying claim to your treasure.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Julia replied, sliding closer to her friend and taking her hand. “What started out as ill-gotten gains by deplorable men should end as the blessed means for two people in love to build a life on.”

“Oh, Julia.” Bebe blinked back tears. “You’re such a good friend. I don’t know what I’d do if we hadn’t met.”

The two of them flew into an embrace. Julia felt tears in her eyes as well, half with joy at having found such a kindred soul, and half with sorrow at the prospect of losing her so soon.

“Now hold on just a minute there,” Sam said, his exasperation clear. Julia and Bebe jumped apart and turned to blink at him. “First of all, we still don’t know if that loot is actually in the building or if it’s just some made up story.”

“But it has to be here,” Julia argued. “The note said that the loot was in the saloon, in a flour sack, and that One-Eyed Betty was coming to get it.”

“And second of all,” Sam continued, undeterred. “Even if it is here and we find it, or One-Eyed Betty shows up, we don’t know who it belongs to.”

“It doesn’t belong to us,” Hubert agreed.

“How can you say that?” Bebe gaped at him, eyes wide. “That money could be the start of our life together.”

Hubert shrugged. “I’d rather make my way in the world honestly than rely on stolen goods.”

Bebe blinked, then her expression melted to admiration and rapture. She let go of Julia entirely and flew into Hubert’s arms. “I knew there was a reason I loved you so. You’re a good man, Hubert Strong, an honest man and a true one.” She lifted on her toes and planted a kiss squarely on his mouth.

Julia had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling aloud. For someone who wasn’t married, Bebe sure did know all about how to kiss a man. Watching her devouring Hubert made Julia want to leap into Sam’s arms. She turned to him with a coy grin.

“Don’t you go getting any ideas,” Sam murmured, stepping closer to her. “I’m worn out enough as is.”

“There’s always time to sleep later.” Julia swayed into him, sending what she hoped was a flirtatious look up into his eyes. “Besides, I think we deserve a victory celebration after everything we did tonight.”

“Do you?” The low growl in his voice sent shivers down Julia’s spine, she slid her arms around his waist and tilted her head up for a kiss.

The kiss had to wait as Hubert said, “My things are packed and waiting at the station. All we have to do now is lay low and wait for morning.”

“And then we’ll be off, on our way to a whole new life in San Francisco,” Bebe added, then squealed. “Ooh, I can’t wait. My life has been so very bleak and miserable these last few years. I never appreciated how horrid Vivian and Melinda could be until Honoria left. I never appreciated Honoria either,” she admitted, lowering her head. A moment later, she lifted it and heaved a happy sigh. “But all that is behind me now. As of today, I’m a new person. I’m turning over a new leaf. And I’ll—”

She was interrupted as the front door of the saloon rattled. A pounding knock followed.

“I know you’re in there,” Rex’s voice boomed.

Julia gasped, fear flooding her so hard that she sagged against Sam. He held her up, but his entire body had gone tense as well. More knocking sounded at the door and against the saloon’s windows. Rex wasn’t alone. In fact, from the pounding, it sounded like he had at least half a dozen men with him.

“Beatrice Eugenie Bonneville,” Rex shouted again. “If you don’t leave that upstart piece of trash and get yourself out here this instant, we’ll burn the entire saloon down.”