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“I’m not hiding,”she denied. “But you don’t know what it’s like. People don’t stare at you or say cruel things to your face. They don’t pull their skirts aside as if they might contract a deadly disease, or cross the street so they don’t have to breathe the same tainted air.”

“They don’t exactly invite me in for tea,”he drawled.

“Do they cross themselves or cover their children’s eyes as the whore of Babylon passes?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Someone did that to you?”

“Several someones,”she answered, shrugging and feigning indifference. The slights stung, a fact that Fen, who knew her well, wouldn’t miss.

With his anger gone, he drew her close and kissed thetop of herhead. “After all this time, looks like you’d be used to theslings and arrows.”

“I am, but I try not to make myself a target.”

Shebit herlip, nervous about the prospect. But this was important, and Fenton would be by her side.

After some time, she bravely declared, “I’ll go.”

“That’s great!”he said, grinning. Then, with a wink, he declared, “I’m not afraid to fight fire with fire. I’ll gladly return any verbal projectiles hurled at us in the same uncharitable fashion.”

Lordy mercy, he was handsome; a captivating smile played on his lips, and his presence commanded attention.

But their encounter, a heated clash filled with hurtful words, wasn’t their first and certainly wouldn’t be the last. His demeanor could shift instantly, his smooth, honeyed words turning cruel, his smile twisting into a menacing sneer.

It was enough to make her dizzy, and the reason she had ended the physical side of their relationship. That, and his aversion to fidelity.

Fen couldn’t keep his eyes, hands, and other body parts to himself, treating the ladies of the Red Eye as if they were his personal harem. The problem being, the women worked for her, and she demanded their respect as much as he demanded hers.

One evening, only a few months after opening, she’d been handling a problem upstairs.

When she arrived in the front parlor, he was flirting outrageously with the pretty new saloon girl, who haddark-auburn hair, breasts to fill his palm, and a curvy backside.

Although she was taller and rounder than Charlotte, their resemblance was undeniable.

Itmadeher wonder, wouldany redhead with breasts do?

The woman’s calculating expression told her things needed to change.

She couldn’t have her employees plotting against her.

While she would never manage her house like Heloise, order needed to be maintained and her position respected.

To achieve that, she had to distinguish herself from Fen’s harem by leaving his bed—permanently.

While he held some affection for her, she didn’t delude herself that it was more than a level of comfort after spending so much time in her bed or thatFenton Sneed wasanything other than a man with an itch in need of scratching.

That night, she drew a firm line in the sand, much to the sultan’s displeasure. A decade later, she stood behind her decision, and partners they remained. They still sparred—today was the worst—but business was booming, as he’d predicted.

Shouts and glass breaking had Fen’s scowl returning as the first fight of the evening broke out.

“Consarnit, Coburn,”he roared as he stomped down the four steps to the main floor. “I just bought those glasses. And what in fuck’s name are you doing back in here, Odie Lockett? Just last week, I banned you for three months for fighting.”

Charlotte watched him step between the fighting men and break up the brawl, as he’d done almost every night for ten years.

He shoved one toward the bar to pay up before getting the hell out and booted out the other.

It wasn’t a euphemism, either. Fen put the sole of his hand-tooled black leather boot to the rear of Odie’s britches and sent him sailing through the swinging doors.

She teetered between hating and loving Fenton Sneed from one moment to the next.

Even though he could make her madder than a wet hen, her deep gratitude toward him was constant.

He’d not only given her a future—such as it was—but security.

Gunfights didn’t happen every day, but close to it, and flying bullets didn’t discriminate between men and women.

With the chaos effectively managed, shedescended the stairsto attend to her customers. Her job was to ensure they had what they wanted: whiskey, a game of cards, a dance with a beautiful woman, and, more often than not, a trip upstairs with her.

Although as skilled at her job as Fen was at his, each gray hair she plucked from her head reminded her that her time as the IncomparableMiss Charlotte was finite.

Years of saving, starting with mere pennies, had yielded a small nest egg.

Before her youth and beauty faded, she needed to grow it more, enough to buy a secluded plot of land to live out her days in peace.

Whether fate, the cruel trickster, would grant her even a small measure of contentment remained to be seen.

***

Three hours into the evening, Charlotte stepped out onto the front porch for a breath of fresh air. She also wantedto check onPrudence, who’d gone after a shy young man who’d bolted minutes into his first visit.

Sometimes, a boy trying to become a man needed encouragement.

He’d zeroed in on Lucy, who was close to his age, as soon as he walked in the door.

The tall, stunning brunette was better suited for a man looking for a take-charge kind of woman.

A few minutes upstairs with Lucy would have scared the wet-behind-the-ears nineteen-year-old to death.

Charlotte had intervened and steered him toward blonde, blue-eyed, twenty-eight-year-old Prue. She was patient, sweet as apple pie, and perfect for a first-timer. But they’d been outside much longer than it should have taken Prue to coax him back inside.

There was a slight breeze, the temperature mild for late June, a perfect night for porch sitting, but the two benches were empty.

“Prue?”she called, keeping her voice low in case they had found a shadowy corner and wereinthe middleofthings.

Not hearing a response, Charlotte started toward the end of the wide porch.

A faint yelp of pain behind her, and the sickening thud of a fist hitting flesh—sounds she’d never forget after being on the receiving end—had her whirling around.

She also lifted the hem of her dress and retrieved the small pistol she kept in a holster on her thigh.

More than capable of using it, she tiptoed to the far side, pausing briefly to signal Big Tom, their gargantuan 6’8” guard, with a tap on the window.

When she peeked around the corner, what she saw made her blood boil. A man had Prue pinned on the ground, his knee in her belly. With her face bloody and her gown torn open in front, she was struggling. The first-timer she’d left with was nowhere in sight.

Without hesitating, shestepped off theporch, grabbed his pistol from its holster, and tossed it away. “Release her and step away,”she demanded with practiced authority.

Startled, the man turned, his trousers gaping open. In the moonlight, Charlotte saw more of the would-be rapistthanshe caredto. Or, in his case, considerably less.

“Get outta here, bitch,”he snarled. “This ain’t none of your business.”

“I beg to differ. Prudence works for meand Fenton Sneed.”

Shedidn’t hesitatetowield his name and reputation as weapons. “Fen doesn’t take kindly to men stealing what he’s selling. As for me, I don’t tolerate men manhandling women. I’ll give you until the count of three to back off before I shoot that tiny excuse for a prick clean off your body.”

He looked undecided, so she prodded him a little by counting.

“One…”

“She’s a whore. I’m just taking what she’s offering.”

“Oh? Then you must have paid her in advance as is required.”Charlotte looked at a bloodied and frightened Prue. “Did he pay you?”

“No, ma’am, and he scared away my customer who had money at the ready.”

Charlotte clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Now you owe double and for the damage to her dress. That was your favorite, right, Prue?”

“I’m not paying for pussy I never got, Miss Charlotte .”He spat her name more than he said it. “I’ve heard about you. They call you the Frigid Whore of Sixth Street. Once I’m done with her,I’ll show youhow a real man fucks. That’ll unthaw your frozen cunt.”

“Have I given you the impression we’re negotiating?”she asked, calm in the face of his threats and insults. “We’re not, and the count is now two.”

With him distracted, Prudence scrambled away. “You better do what she says,”she advised.

He grabbed for her but missed. Even angrier now, he shouted, “Ain’t no whore gonna tell me what to do!”

Charlotte sighed as she sighted down the barrel. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Three!”

A single gunshot echoed through the night. A man’s squeal immediately followed—much like a stuck pig—as Prue’s attacker grabbed his crotch with both hands and crumpled to his kneesin the dirt.

“Help, someone! The crazy bitch done shot my dick off.”

Doors slamming and boots poundingon the boardwalkcouldn’t drown out his cries and curses.

“What the hell is going on here?”Fenton said from behind her.

Prue ran out of the alley, holding her dress closed with one hand and her cheek with the other, leaving Charlotte to answer.

“This man scared off Prue’s customer. When she wouldn’t cooperate, he got rough. And he mistakenly thought we were a charity and refused to pay.”

“Is that so?”he asked, his tone cold. “Why did you bother with potshots? Why didn’t you kill the bastard where he stands?”

“After I threw his gun away, he was unarmed,”Charlotte explained.

“He’s also unmanned,”a man called out, prompting laughter from their growing audience.

“That’s what you call balls-on accurate, Sneed,”another man joked to more chuckles.

“He won’t be playing without paying again soon,”yet another called, adding with a whistle. “That was one helluva shot, but dang... It’s gotta hurt.”

Charlotte handed her gun to Fen, eager to get rid of it. “Would you see to him while I see to Prue?”

“What makes you think I care about a thiefbleeding in thealley?”he asked in response.

“You can’t leave me here to die!”Prue’s attacker called in a sniveling, pain-riddled voice.

“Watch me,”Fen challenged as he took Charlotte’s arm and they returned inside together.