* * * * *
When Zac came downstairs, several of the girls were trying to teach Lily to dance. It was an incongruous sight. Dodie plunking out a tune with one finger and slapping the piano with the palm of her hand to keep the rhythm; the girls in a kaleidoscopic array of brightly colored robes, all clashing with each other and overwhelming Lily's black dress; their hair up in curlers or tied up under scarves while Lily's silver-blond tresses fell down over her shoulders like a shimmering cape; Lily's tentative steps so much at variance with their practiced precision.
A swan among ugly ducklings.
The uncharitable thought came unbidden, yet he accepted it without hesitation. He hired the prettiest girls in San Francisco. It was a matter of pride with him. But even in her black dress, Lily stood out like a queen surrounded by her court.
She had a radiance the others lacked. It wasn't just the color of her hair or the purity of her skin. Nor was it the brilliance of her smile, the sparkle in her eye. Part of it was the sheer pleasure she found in what she was doing. Part was the way she concentrated, tried so hard to master steps unfamiliar to her feet. Another part was the way she had drawn these girls into the friendliest gathering in which Zac could remember seeing them.
But none of those things touched the core of what caused Zac to be more aware of her than of anyone else in the room. None of these were the source of the radiance that seemed to reach out and encompass everyone around her. There was something more, some essential quality he had missed.
With a shiver of horror, Zac realized that quality was innocence, purity, something he'd never really known anything about. Nor prized very much. He had even considered it a hindrance. It usually made people narrow-minded and judgmental.
But not Lily.
He couldn't help but wonder why she was dancing, why she seemed so taken with the saloon, with his way of life. With him. All this should have offended a woman of her background. Some things did -- like his cussing -- but not enough to cause her to turn her back on him. She seemed determined not to reject the whole because she disapproved of some parts. Zac found that attitude totally unexpected.
And charming.
Good God! They were showing her how to do the high kick. A few minutes more and she'd have her skirts over her head. That wasn't something she could practice of evenings in Bella Holt's parlor.
He hurried toward the stage.
"That's enough for one morning," he said, dismissing the girls. "If you don't get back to your beds, you'll be so tired by midnight you'll be spilling whiskey on the floor instead of down the customers' throats."
As the girls trundled toward the stairs, he turned to Lily. "You'll be too tired to go job hunting."
"Nonsense," Lily said, her cheeks pink with exertion and pleasure. "Back home I'd have been working since six o'clock, milking, helping with breakfast, clearing away, washing--"
"Stop before you make me so tired I have to go back to bed," Zac said as he staggered over to a chair and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Dodie handed him. "You sound like Rose when she first came to the ranch. I never could get over all the work she expected me to do."
"I like being busy," Lily said coming toward him. "Papa says I'm tiny, but I'm full of energy."
Zac winced dramatically. "See if you can harness it long enough for me to drink this coffee. I'll never do it with you bouncing about on the stage making more noise than a Chinese procession."
"Do you have a headache?"
Dodie chuckled.
Zac threw her an evil look. "Nothing that couldn't be cured by seven more hours of sleep."
Lily came closer and peered at Zac as thought she was checking for spots. "Did you imbibe too freely of spirits?"
Dodie's crack of laughter earned her a fiercely growled, "Don't you have work to do?"
"Nothing that won't keep. I wouldn't miss this for the world."
"Miss what?" Lily asked.
"Zac drinking coffee before ten o'clock."
"Go the Hell," Zac snapped.
"I'm waiting on you," Dodie said. "I figure your invitation is edged in gold."
"One isn't invited to Hell," Lily said. "You're sent there."
"Then Zac will be bound in golden chains and carried away in a flaming chariot."
"Have you been drinking spirits, too?" Lily asked Dodie.
Now it was Zac’s turn to laugh. "Don't pay any attention to her," he said. "She's just trying to needle me."
"Papa says spirits make you dull. He says--"
"It's not spirits," Zac snapped. "It's lack of sleep. And don't peer at me like that," he rapped out when she started to inspect him again. "I don't drink."
"I thought all gamblers got drunk on a regular basis."
Dodie chuckled again.
Zac threw Dodie a smoldering glance and took a gulp coffee. "I have to keep a clear head if I'm to make a living. If I sat around drinking all evening, I'd be as muddle-headed as the poor fools who come in here hoping to get rich."
She looked dubious.
"I run a clean house. Nobody cheats; nobody goes upstairs with the girls. Likewise, nobody drinks but the customers. I'm not against it on principle. I just don't think it mixes with business."
"Oh."
She looked surprised, but she appeared to believe him.
Her innocence intrigued him. She'd obviously been taught that everything connected with gambling was evil, most particularly the gambler, yet she was ready to believe anything he told her. That was a nice change. The rest of the world was only too ready to distrust anything he said.
"Close your mouth," Zac said. "Somebody will think you're a fish and drop a hook in it."
Lily closed her mouth.
"Now sit."
She sat.
"Would you like some coffee?"
"I already had my coffee."
"Sorry, I forgot you got up to milk the cow. How is she?"
"Who?"
"The cow. Did she sleep well or did you wake her after only three hours sleep?"
Lily smiled. "I know milk comes in bottles in San Francisco. I saw it."
"Must be very little cows. Not much room in a bottle."
"Is he always like this?" Lily asked Dodie.
"I don't know. I've never seen him up this early."
"And you're never going to again," Zac said as he got to his feet. He grabbed Lily by her wrist and pulled her to her feet. "Come on. We have to catch those jobs before somebody else gets them."
"But you haven't had your breakfast?"
"I just did. You weren't paying attention. You were dancing and talking about cows."
"You had coffee."
"That's all I ever have."
"You can't keep your strength up that way."
"I haven't needed to until now. Tell the cook to serve something with meat for dinner," he told Dodie. "I feel a weak spell coming on."
Lily jerked her wrist from Zac's grip. She glared at him angrily. "I will not be made fun of. I don't know a lot, but I'm not stupid."
"Nobody ever said you were stupid."
"You're treating me like I am."
Zac could tell she was truly upset. He hadn't meant to distress her. He was just talking foolishness like he always did. It was part of his patter. Everybody expected it of him. The customers loved it. Nobody took his sarcasm personally, not even drunks who were losing more than they could afford. Why did this innocent from the Virginia hills have to be different?
"Here," Dodie said, shoving another cup of coffee into his hand, "have some more. While you're at it, ask her what kind of work she can do."
Zac didn't want any more coffee. He didn't want to get to know Lily. He didn't care what kind of job she took as long as she let him sleep.
But he reined in his temper, his impatience, his desire to pretend this last hour had been just a dream. It wasn't her fault he extended invitations he didn't mean or that her view of the world was practically the opposite of his. He had to help her find a job so
she could begin to take care of herself. Then he could get some sleep.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Zac said. "Ignore a lot of what I say. It's not worth listening to anyway."
"Papa says you shouldn't say anything unless it's worth saying."
"I was sure your papa would have something to say on the subject," Zac said, the edge back on his voice. "He seems to have something to say about everything."
Lily looked abashed. "I guess I shouldn't always be telling you what Papa says."
"Maybe not so early in the morning," Dodie said.
"Not at all," Zac said. "Now stop looking like you're about to cry and tell me about yourself. Sit down. You might as well begin by telling me why you decided to come all the way to California, and why you don't want to go back."
"Would you like some more coffee, too?" Dodie asked Lily.
"No. Papa says . . . no."
"You probably wanted to get away from all those Papa says," Zac said, seating himself again. "The man must talk nonstop to get all this mumbo-jumbo said, even if he does get a head start by getting up at six o'clock. Okay, start talking," Zac said when she seemed reluctant to begin.
"I didn't want to marry a minister," Lily said.
Zac thought she ought to be married. It would be the safest thing for her, but it would be a shame to waste her on a mountain minister. He'd probably keep her in black bonnets and prayer meetings for the rest of her life and fail to appreciate her intelligence or her wonderfully open, accepting nature. He'd probably insist she stay at home, away from anyone who might be a bad influence on her. It would never occur to him that her influence for good might be even stronger.
Aloud, Zac said, "Is that all you're afraid of?"
"It seems like enough to me," Dodie threw in.
"It is quite enough," Lily agreed. "Would you like to be a rancher like George and the twins?"
"God forbid!" Zac said. "I hate cows. Not to mention the dirt, smell, and aches and pains from riding a horse all day and sleeping on the ground all night."
"Being married to Hezekiah wouldn't be that bad," Lily conceded.
"Hezekiah!" Zac exclaimed. "Why would any rational woman name her baby Hezekiah?"
Lily smiled. "Hezekiah quite likes his name. He thinks it suits him."
"Does it?"
"Unfortunately, which is another reason I don't wish to marry him. He's not terribly nice looking --"
"Couldn't be and be named Hezekiah," Zac interpolated.
"--but he's very good and absolutely honest."
"Sounds like a dead bore," Zac concluded.
Lily sighed. "I admire him a lot, but he would never let me learn to dance. Do you think I could try that kick tomorrow?"
Zac was forced to admit Hezekiah might know a thing or two when it came to Lily. One thing very often led to another until you found yourself in a pickle and wondering just how you got there.
"There must have been somebody else who wanted to marry you," Zac said, hoping to get her mind off the high kick. "I can't imagine a girl like you not having a gaggle of swains panting after her."
Zac didn't know why he was talking so much or pretending to be interested in Lily's private life. It wasn't the least bit like him. It must be the lack of sleep. He was so muddled he didn't know what he was doing.
"Papa would never allow it."
"Didn't that man have anything to do besides watch over you? Surely, even in Salem, there must have been some stray sheep that needed rounding up."
Lily sighed. "He didn't have to watch me. On my fifteenth birthday, he announced in church that it was the Lord's will I be Hezekiah's wife. He said terrible things would happen to anybody who tried to interfere with this divine plan."
"Did anybody try?"
"I'm afraid not. Would you?"
"Probably not. I imagine it would be terribly hard to be romantic and sweep a girl off her feet when you're worried about bolts of lightning, plagues of frogs, and those bugs that eat everything up."
"Locusts."
"That's it. Did you tell your Papa he didn't want to marry this dull Hezekiah?"
"I told him over and over, but Papa never listens to females. He says women should be seen and not heard."
Since he had been known to utter the same sentiment, Zac moved on. "What did your mother have to say?"
"She likes Hezekiah. She thinks I would be perfectly happy."
Zac leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the table. "Why wouldn't you? You're always quoting the Bible and rattling off everything your papa says."
"Papa thinks I'm a sinner in the making."
"You!" Zac yelped. He sat up so quickly he jostled the table. Coffee sloshed out of his cup. He ignored it. Dodie cleaned it up. "What did you ever do you couldn't shout from the rooftops?"
"I like to laugh and go to parties. I like to have people tell me I'm pretty. I like to dance."
"My, what an evil child you are," Zac said. "And to think I never suspected."
Lily grinned happily. "Did you know I've never danced before today? Papa forbids it. Hezekiah agrees. He says his wife must be above reproach, a model for the community. He says I would have to wear my hair under a bonnet. He thinks it's self-indulgent to want people to see it."
"He's probably looking forward to having you all to himself and doesn't want anybody getting ideas," Zac said. That hair would do more than give a man ideas. It had given him a few already, and he wasn't the least bit interested in the only kind of relationship that was suitable for a woman like Lily.
"Hezekiah isn't like that," Lily said. "He says ministers must inure themselves to the lures of the flesh."
Zac nearly choked. "Sounds like you got out of Salem in the nick of time. I don't know that the hell I'm going to do with you, but I couldn't send you back to a place like that. Sounds like everybody's a little bit crazy."
"I think the word's holy," Dodie said.
"Any man who can look at Lily and say he's beyond the lure of the flesh is either crazy or missing some important parts."
"Do you think I'm pretty?" Lily asked.
"Of course I do," Zac said. "Any man would."
Zac saw the gleam in Lily's eyes and immediately started to feel uneasy. He'd been around enough women to know what that meant. Lily would want him to spend the next hour telling her how pretty she was, discussing each part of her like she could be pulled apart and put back together again. He never could see how a man could get excited about a pair of eyelashes. They were nothing but a bunch of little hairs.
"Tell you what," Zac said, before Lily could ask the question she had opened her mouth to ask. "I think you ought to visit Rose. With the twins away at school, she'd love the company. It's dull as ditch water in South Texas."
"I'm not going to any ranch in Texas," Lily said. "That would be worse than living in Salem."
"It would," Zac agreed. "I've lived on the Circle Seven. Even the cows are glad to leave. How about Madison? He's got five boys. He'd never even know you were there."
"I'm tired of being surrounded by men. They think the entire world has to revolve around what they want."
"That's Madison to the life," Zac agreed. "Well, there's no help for it. You'll have to go stay with Tyler and Daisy at the hotel."
"What hotel?" Lily asked.
"She can't stay at the Palace," Dodie said.
"Why not?" Zac demanded. "It the best hotel in San Francisco. Hell, it's the best hotel in the West."
"That's what everybody thinks who's lucky enough to end up with a few hundred dollars in their pocket," Dodie informed him. "Is that the kind of people you want hanging around your cousin?"
Zac thought of the last time he had been in the Palace bar. Might as well throw Lily into a den of lions. She'd be devoured before the night was over.
"I guess you're stuck with Bella Holt." Zac got to his feet. "Time to see about finding you a job, one that starts bright and early and won't give you a minute to yourself until six o'clock."
/> "So I can't possibly wake you up again."
"Exactly," Zac replied, not the least abashed. "My head's still not working right. I doubt I'll be able to remember half of what I've said."
"I'll remind you," Lily offered. "My head is quite clear. I think morning is a wonderful time of day."
Zac groaned. "It's a good thing we aren't going to see much of each other."
"We aren't?" Lily asked, dismayed.
"How could we? You'll be working all day. By the time I get my eyes open, you'll be ready for a quick supper and a topple into bed so you'll be ready to go the next day."
"Maybe I could come here when I finish work," Lily said. "I could talk to Dodie, if she doesn't mind, or some of the other girls. I won't bother you."
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Zac said. He could just hear what Rose would say about leading young girls astray. He might be twenty-six, but to Rose he would always be a six-year-old in need of her guidance.
"I don't know anybody else," Lily said. "I'll get rather lonely. I promise not to cause trouble."
Lily sent him a look that would have melted a heart of stone. It almost caused him to change his mind, but he didn't because he knew it was the worst thing he could do for Lily. She had no business knowing anything about the life he led. She was so naive, so trusting, she couldn't see anything but the excitement, the glittering surface. Still, she'd never stray very far from her father's teachings. It wouldn't be long before she'd start disapproving of him even more than his family.
He knew he wouldn't like that.
"You don't understand. You can't--"
"If Mr. Big Britches is too busy, I'll be happy to visit with you," Dodie said. "So will the girls. They like you."
Lily smiled so brightly, seemed so relieved, Zac suffered a twinge of conscience. He wasn't used to that and didn't like it a bit.
"Come on," Zac said. "Let's go see what we can find in the way of a job."
Lily jumped up and hurried after him.
"What kind of things can you do?" he asked when she caught up with him at the door.
"Oh, just about anything," Lily told him. "I can cook, sew, milk, and clean house. Mama says nobody's better at churning butter than I am."
"I can see this is going to be a snap," Zac muttered. "All I have to do is find a farm in the middle of San Francisco."
Lily Page 6