Free Silver Nights With You (Love in the Sierras Book 1) by Sawyer Belle Page A

she carried on.
    “The coach suffered two fatalities and one injured passenger. Miss Cameron herself remained unscathed. Of four bandits, two were killed, shot dead by the stowed away pistol of our heroine. The other two have escaped and remain at-large, a fact that Miss Cameron has deemed ‘a tragedy.’ She, no doubt, would have relished the opportunity to pick them all off were it not for the untimely intervention of Mr. Gardner.
    “Upon my departure, I thanked Miss Cameron for her interview and with an air of confidence she stared down her nose and shrugged her shoulders, as though her celebrity were a foregone conclusion. ‘The heroes are the real story,’ she told me. May every man of immoral intent beware and every madam of delicate sensibilities steer clear. We have a cool, callous Cameron bedded among us.” 
    She continued to stare at the printed words long after the article was finished though she knew Val, David and Ellie exchanged uneasy glances over her head. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t fathom such behavior back east. Blatant lies in pursuit of profit? Slandering a lady for a man’s personal gain? Was the corruption her father spoke of in the east really that much worse than this unchivalrous west?
    “I was there with her in that parlor,” Ellie announced to the men. “He twisted her words. She praised her father and you, David, as the heroes. Not herself. She spoke of her fear, too.”
    “We know, Ellie,” David said. “We know this is not true.”
    “Don’t take it to heart, Lila,” Val finally soothed. “Sam is always making things up.”
    “Is he now?” Lila slammed the paper on the table. “Perhaps that is because no one has ever called that little snake out on it! Now, which way is Virginia City?”
    “Lila,” Ellie said calmly, “Why not wait for your father to wake and then you can discuss this with him? I'm not sure he'd like you going into town alone.”
    “My father, the old and feeble doctor , just went to sleep for the first time in twenty-four hours after saving a man’s life. This writer of…of… fiction has done him a great disservice and I’ll not stand for it.”
    “Perhaps you should wait until you calm down,” Val cautioned. “If you act in haste you may regret it later.” She glared at him, but he continued to counsel. “Think about it, Lila. If you go storming off as you are to abuse Samuel, you’ll be cementing his portrayal of you.”
    She stamped her foot onto the floor with a grunt of frustration. They were offering good sense, but she didn't want to hear it. The situation illustrated one of her father's common complaints about her: allowing impulse and emotion to overrule her reason. After a few deep breaths, however, the anger was still pulsing. She decided there was only one way to handle the bee in her bonnet. Swat it down.
    “You’re right, Ellie. I shouldn't be out on my own. And you, too, Val. I can’t face him like this.”  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “I need a dress first.” She stomped toward the front door and called over her shoulder, “Now, who is taking me to Virginia City?”
    “That’s…uh…not what I meant, Lila,” Val muttered.
    “I’ll go,” David answered and followed her with a smile. "I want to see this."
    An hour later she was dressed in a plain calico skirt of deep burgundy and a white, long-sleeved blouse that buttoned neatly up to her neck. A maroon waistcoat with silver embroidery buckled around the narrow part of her waist. David strode beside her as she scanned the rows of buildings. She caught sight of her reflection in the glass windows of a watch repair shop. Her hair was flowing down her back to her waist, the top half swept back and pinned. She looked like a young, well-bred and respectable woman. No one would believe the pesky journalist’s tales, she thought. As her ire cooled, shame wound its way into her thoughts, and she looked sheepishly at David.
    "I'm sorry for dragging you out