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toward the door.

    “I don’t like seeing you taken advantage of.”
    “No one was taking advantage of me—except for you, that is.”
    Lacey was livid. Common courtesy had been thoroughly ingrained in her since childhood—common courtesy that had been severely abused when Scully dismissed both Reverend Sykes and Doc Mayberry so abruptly. Scully and she had arrived back in her room minutes earlier after their exit from the restaurant and a rush that had left her breathless. She continued with astonishment, “How could you be so rude? ”
    Scully did not smile. Without realizing it, Lacey proved his point. Of the many things he had been accused of in his lifetime, being rude ranked very low on the list—yet Lacey spoke as if he had committed one of the cardinal sins.
    He hadn’t, and he knew the difference.
    “It should’ve been obvious to you what was happening, but it apparently wasn’t, so I decided to save you from yourself.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “It was a ploy.”
    Lacey did not speak.
    “Come on, Lacey, it’s obvious what happened. Your friend, Pete Loughlin, went to see Reverend Sykes because he didn’t like the idea that I was the man who was meeting you here—because he thought I’d be a bad influence on you.”
    “That’s ridiculous! Why would he think that?”
    “Because I threw Pete Loughlin out of the Gold Nugget a while back, and he obviously hasn’t forgotten it.”
    “Why did you throw him out?”
    “He claimed he had been cheated at one of the tables. He started a fight, and I stopped it.”
    “Anybody could make a mistake.”
    “Pete didn’t make a mistake. He probably was cheated. I fired that dealer a week later when I found out he was dealing from the bottom of the deck so he could skim a profit off the top for himself.”
    “Oh…how terrible! You did make sure Pete got his money back, didn’t you?”
    “This is the West, Lacey. It’s sometimes wild and sometimes unfair. I do the best I can.”
    “But, poor Pete—”
    “I told you, I do the best I can, but that doesn’t excuse Pete for going behind my back.”
    “Behind your back…”
    “I told you, he doesn’t approve of your association with me. He thinks Reverend Sykes can put an end to it.”
    “No!”
    “Yes.”
    “I mean…I’d never let that happen! You believe that, don’t you, Scully?”
    Scully looked at Lacey. She was shocked and righteous. She didn’t consider for a moment that Pete might be right, that maybe he was a bad influence on her.
    Something inside Scully clenched tight. Doing his best to ignore it, Scully said, “I meant what I told them, you know.”
    Confused, Lacey shook her head. “What are you talking about?”
    “We have some important business to tend to this morning—before it gets too late.”
    “What business?”
    His expression sober, Scully said, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
    “But—”
    Lacey’s reply went unfinished as Scully pulled the hallway door closed behind him.

    Lacey looked down at the package Scully had tossed onto her bed. He had returned within the half hour, true to his word, but it was obvious she wasn’t that easily mollified. She asked, “What’s that?”
    “Open it up and see.”
    “I asked you—”
    “It’s riding clothes. They should fit. Mrs. Parker said she’s had a lot of experience fitting women with ready-made outfits.”
    “I’m sure they will, but I still want to know what all this is about.”
    Scully’s irritation at the conversation with Doc Mayberry and Reverend Sykes still smarted. He resented the implication that he wasn’t fit to properly oversee Lacey’s future. Didn’t they realize that he recognized Lacey’s special qualities as well as they did? Didn’t they realize he’d always done his best to protect her, and he was committed to that course?
    Obviously not, and that thought rankled.
    But it wouldn’t change anything. He had always done the most he could for Lacey. His caretaking of