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this wild place by yourself. There's no telling what you'll get into.”
    “For crying out loud! I've been here almost a month and nothing's happened to me.”
    “Luck. Just plain luck. What's that dude to you? ”
    “Nothing. I just met him tonight.”
    “I don't think much of a man who would hire bullies to do his fighting for him.”
    “Maybe he wouldn't've had to hire them. Maybe they'd have done it because they like him.”
    “If you believe that, you'll believe cows can fly. The way I see it, they'd have given it a try or lost their jobs. I saw the gold watch fob on his vest, the ring on his finger and the five-dollar hat on his head.”
    “There's no use arguing with you. You're as bull-headed as ever.” She turned to go into the hotel. “Goodbye. It was nice seeing you again … I think. I've got to go in and tell Aunt Justine about the meeting.”
    “Yeah, she said that's where you'd gone. Good thing I went to walk you back.” Instead of leaving, Thad followed her into the hotel.
    “You've talked to Aunt Justine? ”
    “Sure. We had a visit. She's glad I'm here.” He headed for the kitchen. “I'm hungry as a wolf. Aunt Justine said Radna would hash up something for me to eat when I got back from seeing about you.”
    “Aunt
Justine? ”Jill turned on him with an angry glare. “I'll not allow you to stay here and freeload off my aunt.”
    “Freeload? I rented a room.”
    “Rooms are seventy-five cents a night.” She lifted her chin and looked down her nose at him even though he was a head taller. “That will soon add up to real money if you stay very long.”
    “She gave me a weekly rate.” A look of smug satisfaction covered his face. “And ”— he paused — “I'm going to give you some help around here to pay for my meals.”
    “Help around here? Sheesh! We'll just see about that.” She gazed into his eyes, astonishingly green and luminous, and drew a quivering breath.
    “Go talk to your aunt.” He was now good-naturedly amused by her anger.
    “I'm the manager of this hotel. Aunt Justine put me in charge and no one gets a weekly room rate or hires on to help around here unless I say so.” With that, she tossed her head, dismissed him and spoke to the man sitting behind the counter.
    “Everything all right, Mr. Evans? ”
    “Right as rain, miss. When ya wasn't here, the young feller wanted to see Mrs. Byers. Hope it's all right that I let him in.”
    “I don't think you could have stopped him with a steam engine, Mr. Evans. He's a bullheaded Missourian.”
    “Rooms are all full, miss.”
    “What room did you give Mr. Taylor? ”
    “Mrs. Byers said give him the little 'un up on the third floor. And she said that he could have it for a dollar a week if he lent ya a hand around the place.”
    “A dollar? Well, we'll just see about that.”
    Casually, with an outward calm belying both the ache behind her forehead and the dancing devils in her stomach, Jill headed for her aunt's room.

Chapter 3
    J USTINE WAS PROPPED UP IN BED against a stack of pillows. Light from the single bulb that hung from the center of her room gave her skin a yellowish cast. She was smiling.
    “Were you surprised … to see Thad? ”Justine's eyes were brighter than usual.
    “I sure was. I haven't seen him for three, maybe four years. I want to talk to you about him, Aunt, but first let me tell you about the meeting.”
    Jill pulled up a chair, trying to put off the unpleasant subject of Thad Taylor until she had cooled down. She told her aunt about meeting Mr. Westfall on the way, but left out the part about the drunk bothering her and Martha.
    “The mayor is concerned about what the town will do when the oil plays out. One man, a lawyer, argued with Mr. Westfall about how the oil wells were ruining the land for grazing. The man had a red birthmark on his face and wore glasses.”
    “That would be Lloyd Madison. He doesn't care about the land. He hates Hunter Westfall because he's every-thing that Lloyd