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going from the cook to Jessica before she spun and ran, slamming her way through the gate. The mule shied, but she yanked roughly at his halter, pulling him down the alley without pausing to mount. She ran toward the road ahead and didn’t slow until she’d turned the corner.
    Not bothering to catch her breath, she stopped the mule, scrambled onto his back, and kicked his side. No one else saw her as she raced out of town, but the damage had been done. She ignored the tears that rolled down her cheeks and rode on. This wasn’t her place anymore. She had to get out.
    *     *     *
    Caleb stared at the spot where the woman’s skirt had disappeared around the shed. He’d barely glimpsed her before she’d fled, and her face had been shaded by a straw hat, but he was sure it had been Jessica.
    “Who was that?” he asked Sally.
    “Never you mind about that. Just someone looking for a handout.”
    “Was it Jessica?”
    He looked at the cook when she didn’t respond. Her mouth was tight, and her cheeks flamed red.
    “What did she want?” he pressed.
    “Who knows what a woman like that wants?” she snapped. “Don’t you bother with that hussy, Caleb.”
    He hated Jessica. He wanted to hurt her for hurting him. But he still bristled at hearing her described with such venom.
    Abandoning the gentle demeanor he’d adopted with this woman who’d helped raise him, he stood straighter and stared coolly at Sally. “Her name is Jessica,” he said.
    She stiffened, sniffing in disdain, but she shrugged instead of spewing more hatred.
    His brain writhed with a pain so real it felt physical. His gut was clenched too tight. His muscles ached, urging him to fight someone or something. He wanted to burn this town down, just to kill anyone who’d touched her.
    Her father had died and she’d turned to whoring. There were a hundred girls in California with that story. A thousand. And a few more just down the road at Ella Mae’s. Maybe they’d all been as fine and sweet and pure as Jessica had been once. It seemed impossible, but there it was.
    He looked at the spot where she’d disappeared. Why had she come here? To try to explain? To apologize? Should he track her down and demand an answer?
    Mind spinning, he turned, and his boot kicked something pale across the floor. An envelope. Caleb picked it up and saw his name. His heart lurched.
    Instinctively hiding it from Sally, he tucked the letter behind his back and let her pass by. A few seconds later, he closed the door of his bedroom and tore open the envelope. It was no apology. It was an invitation.
    His heart broke again, spilling hate and hurt all over his churning guts. His pulse raced, pushing the sound of his thundering blood into his ears until he could hear nothing but his own fury. She was inviting Caleb to fuck her. For money. The same transaction she’d offered to countless strangers. And the worst part was that he was going to do it.

Chapter 5
    ‡
    “Stupid,” Jessica muttered to herself as she paced the floor of her kitchen.
    She’d closed all the curtains, wanting privacy for whatever happened tonight, but the last rays of the sun still glowed through the worn blue material that covered the kitchen window. She’d told him to come after sundown, and it was nearly that.
    But she’d done it all so thoughtlessly. She’d dropped her letter and run like a coward, and now she had no idea if Caleb had even seen it. What if the cook had picked it up instead? What if she’d shown it to her friends, who would spread news of the invitation all over town? What if she’d shown it to Theodore Durst?
    Horror swept through Jessica on a wave of nausea. No. That couldn’t happen. She couldn’t bear it.
    Either Caleb would come tonight or he wouldn’t. That was the only uncertainty she needed to consider. Everyone in town already knew what she was. They couldn’t know it any harder, no matter how many letters she wrote.
    She’d tried to keep her cool all