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Chapter One

Waco, Texas 1872

Becky Hae of white linen to her chest as she hurried away froet back to her job at the sheriff's house before the rainstorru late today, because her aunt was feeling poorly thisand Becky had helped her prepare breakfast for the five paying guests they had this week

As she hurried along the boardwalk, the things she needed to do today were paramount in her mind The sheriff loved roast and potatoes, and Becky knew exactly how long it would take to get the meat as tender as he liked it She also needed to find the ti to the white linen she was protecting against her chest from the rain Mrs Sloan was i her to help with the finishing touches to the fine blouses that would be put up for sale at the mercantile

Becky desperately needed the extrafor the sheriff was only pin money really, and she needed a new avenue of income It seemed that she worried aboutout that her Aunt Beth was having financial problems Oh, it was true that her aunt would never tell her as going on, but she knew that Aunt Beth needed Becky's bedroom to let to customers The missed income froer earnings Becky had used the bedroom for three full years now, ever since she had moved to Texas from Boston When her parents had died, her aunt had rescued her froht her to live with her in Texas She was thankful to the soman every day

But now, at seventeen, Becky was old enough to start thinking about taking the burden from her aunt And she had a way It wasn't ideal, far fro out of her aunt's boardinghouse Many girls her age were already married, and Becky kneould be expected of her, too The proble her to ood catch, because truly, he was Kyle Bolton was fro But Becky felt a slight nauseous feeling every time he picked up her hand and focused his attention on her Oh God, there had to be another way She couldn't marry him She really couldn't

The idea ofback to Boston had coe in Waco But there were plenty of jobs back East Her mind worked on an alternative to a bleak life spent with aaway fro someone that made her skin crawl And all because her friend Miranda Cox broke down and told her what happened after oods store in town, and she had gotten married the year before She had described to Becky in detail what happened when a man and woman shared the same bed And that was precisely why Becky could never, ever marry Kyle Why, oh why, had she pestered Miranda so much about it? Now apprehension and uneasiness doht

Before, Kyle never really bothered her ht about hi out the truth about thethe truth At about the sa nauseous

Suddenly, the world around her tipped with the neledge she held She began to see things differently, with a new eye It was like holding the key to a door Before, she hadn't even realized the door was there But the last few an observing the guests at the boardinghouse Some uests that ate their breakfast together, smiled at each other, and strolled down the boardwalk hand in hand Other uests stayed in separate rooms She never saw those couples smile at each other or even accidentally touch Coincidence? She thought not Her brain began putting two and two together

She also noticed the saloon girls, when they were out and about town And she noticed the way the men looked at them A shiver ran down her spine

A an to notice how certainabout that? Did they look at her and think of the things that people did in therate

It all see to take part in any of it see at the worst