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asked.
    “I don’t have a lot of options and I won’t go back to the saloon. Doubt he’d take me back.” Dora’s bright expression changed to sadness.
    After five years of working at the saloon, Dora had gotten pregnant. The owner had beaten her so badly, she’d lost the baby. Then she’d fled for her life. Emily still remembered the doctor sending for her in the middle of the night to hold Dora’s hand while he stopped the bleeding. Finally, one of the saloon girls had trusted Emily enough to ask for help.
    “You’re not going back to that life. However, women don’t have to be just servants. You could work in a bank or a library. Train to be a nurse in a big city. If you learn to read and improve your education, you could have many job opportunities in Denver. And they’d never know about your past,” Emily said.
    “Then trick some nice man into marrying me? I don’t know if I could live a lie.” Dora smiled weakly. “But I do want to learn.”
    “Not all men are bad. Some would understand. Your father sold you into that life and you worked off your contract. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Emily believed it, even if the rest of the world wouldn’t.
    “That’s a nice dream. You’re respectable, have money and beauty. Your father was good to you. Even you have to marry, men might come and take advantage of you. That’s one consolation, I’m already ruined.” Dora shook her head.
    “That doesn’t mean it’s okay for men to take advantage of us, ever .” Emily understood the subtle advice. “You think I should marry?”
    “It’s a hell of a lot safer than not being married, or married to a man who drinks too much. Sorry for the language, but I was listening in the kitchen. The Bonner men are strong. Decent. Good men. They won’t let any harm come to you. They’ll let you keep helping women like me. Even Mrs Lange would benefit from their protection. Women may get the vote someday, but you need to think of now. Think of yourself and your future children. The man you marry is one of the few choices you have in life.” Dora took up a pencil and practiced her writing.
    “Can I talk to you about some things? Privately?” Emily asked.
    Dora looked around the room. “We are in private.”
    “No, I know. I meant confidentially. So you don’t repeat it at all to anyone? Not even Mrs Lange or Sarah. It’s about what you used to do.” Emily felt her face go hot. “Or rather, marital life in the bedroom.”
    Dora sighed. “Is that all? I thought the widow would have informed you already. I know your mama died when you were young.”
    “It’s not the basics of it. More of the peculiarities of men. Some men.” Emily swallowed hard. Doing things with two men had happened so easily for Emily that discussing it shouldn’t be so hard.
    “Ask me anything.” Dora smiled. “There’s little I haven’t heard or seen. Men know what they like, so I wouldn’t worry. No one needs to know what goes on in your bedroom. I’m sure the Bonner men, either of them, would never hurt you.”
    “I agree. Most men probably wouldn’t ask their wives for some of the more unusual things.” Emily couldn’t seem to find the words.
    “I never saw either of the Bonner men in the whore rooms, if that’s what you’re hinting at. Henry would flirt with all the women when he came in for a drink, but they never paid me or any of the girls at the saloon. That’s probably a good sign. We got married men in there plenty. They want things they’re afraid to ask of their wives.”
    Emily nodded. “That’s good to know about the Bonners. I suppose those two are used to being without women. Since they both had worked the cattle drives for years before they settled down at the ranch.”
    Dora blushed. “True. But don’t you believe what they say about those men being intimate with the cows or each other. It’s not the end of the world if a man has to wait a bit to be with a woman.”
    “I’m sure. But what