Chapter 1

Millie Burnett shoved her arms into the fur coat and readied to go out into the cold. She hugged the warm jacket around her. She chuckled. It wasn't the fancy fur she'd wear to the Hightower's Ball this weekend. This was her work coat of wolf trimmed in rabbit. She was going to run Bob through his paces.

Father had bought her the champion German pointer from Germany. A champion of champions, he'd told her, and she and the dog worked as if they were one mind. Millie loved the dog. He was faithful, loyal, eager to please, and beautiful with dark, warm eyes.

Why couldn't she find a man like that? So far, all the men she'd met in Denver, Colorado, were born rich, spoiled, and players, loyal only to themselves. Then there were newly rich from the gold and silver and wily as wolves and just as dangerous. Last was the poor with gold in their eyes. As one of the wealthy families of Denver, she was warned to be wary of those looking to mine her for gold.

Her father, Raul Burnett, was getting impatient for her to marry and supply him with grandsons. Poor man, didn't he understand grandchildren came in two forms? Grandsons and granddaughters. What if she had a bundle of little girls? After all, Father never had a son, and she was his only child.

Though he'd tried his best to mold her like a son. He taught her how to hunt and train his dogs, and she was good at it. Better than the man he'd brought back from Germany. Fritz Schwartz thought he was God's gift to women and the best dog trainer in the world.

She thought he was a bore and unpleasant to animals and women alike. Bob hated him. Oh, the dog came with a twenty-dollar name she couldn't pronounce, much less say when training. So, to Fritz's dismay and utter disgust, she'd shortened the dog's name to Bob.

If she could make Fritz miserable, her day was a success. Millie grinned as she put on her gloves lined with rabbit fur. The day promised to be beyond cold. For all of Fritz's bragging about the mountains in Germany, he hated the cold and Colorado. More than once, she'd yelled at him to just leave and go home.

Father met her at the kennels. "You taking Bob out in this cold? He's a champion. You don't want to do him any harm." He smiled at her. "I heard Herald Brinks will be at the big event this weekend. You used to like him."

Millie snugged the rabbit-lined hat over her head, flipping up one of the ear flaps so she could hear her father. "I used to like Herald when he was human. Now, it's as if he were made of gold. He has no time for flesh and blood people. Money is the only thing on his mind."

Besides, she'd heard that Preston Chadwick was coming back to Denver. Millie sighed. They'd always had feelings for one another. After her mother died, Preston had taken her under his wing and promised to take care of her. After the feud started, Father forbade them from meeting each other. At least, he thought he did. She still sneaked out to be with Preston. Together, they breached their father's bellowing rules and planned to marry. Millies shoulder's drooped as she wondered if Preston had forgotten their pledge. She hadn't heard from him since he went to Boston.

Father cleared his throat and brought her back to the present. "Well, if you married Harold, he'd make sure you were provided for."

She huffed. "I don't need a keeper. I want a man who will love me and one I can fall in love with. So far, I've not met a man that comes up to my standards." She smiled a sly smile as she thought of Preston and hoped he was coming home.

"You live in your fairy tale world of books. Real men don't act that way. Especially those in Colorado. It's still an uncivilized world of outlaws, drifters, and prospectors. I will send you to Germany if you want."

Millie looked at him kindly and patted his cheek. "I don't want to go to Germany. If the men are anything like Fritz, they can keep their boorish men. You'd think he believed I was one of the dogs he trains. I'm glad you gave Bob to me, and I didn't have to let that oaf ruin my dog."

Father threw up his hands. "You are impossible. But it is time you thought seriously about finding a husband. You don't want to become old, frumpy, and gray like Aunt Sonda."

Millie had heard that story since she was five. Poor Aunt Sonda. The woman never had a husband. But the thing was, Aunt Sonda was a happy soul. She lived in a small shack out in the foothills of the mountains and tended to her neighbors. She had to be close to seventy now.

Not that Millie wanted to follow in her footsteps. She just believed that there had to be a man just for her. A man she could look up to and fall in love with, just like in the books she read. There would be no settling for a man like Fritz. He'd make her miserable.

After a sigh loud enough for her father to hear, she went to unlock Bob's kennel. If it was up to her, she would let the dog stay with her in the house, but, as Father pointed out, the dog would get used to the warmer temperature and suffer when he was outside hunting.

Bob greeted her with a bark. Once free, he gave her a brisk wag of his short tail and a welcoming lick in the face. She snapped the leash to him and grabbed her rifle from the rack by the kennel room. She had been taught never to leave the house without a rifle.

Bears, mountain lions, and wolves shared the land with them, and they considered humans as prey. She wasn't afraid, though. Father had raised her to be brave and a sure shot. She might be all-girl, but she wasn't a defenseless damsel.

***

Preston Chadwick stepped off the train and was welcomed by an icy blast from the mountains. He was home. Denver, Colorado, had nothing in common with Boston, Massachusetts, and Preston couldn't be happier.

He'd found the east to be stuffy, spoiled, and not at all the place he'd want to set up practice. Preston had studied medicine. He loved caring for people and helping them recover from injuries and diseases. Not to mention bringing new lives into the world.

His parents had hoped he'd find that special girl in Boston and stay in the east. But he wanted to walk in the Rocky Mountains and see God's wonder and beauty spread before him. While Boston had its history and modern marvels, it wasn't home.

The girls of Boston left him reeling with inane conversations about flowers and architecture, the latest in fashions, the suffragette movement, and the evils of liquor and demon rum as told by the Temperance and Prohibition Sisters. Preston sighed. He'd been only too happy to escape and come back to his idea of civilization.

Preston wanted to be where men were men and women were women. Boston was a land turned upside down. True, Colorado was wild, and most of the men and women were not from civilized families, but he loved it.

He'd rather bump shoulders with people who told the truth to your face rather than knife you in the back with gossip and rumor. Not that the people of Colorado were perfect any more than those in Boston, but he fit in with his Colorado brethren. Knew them. Besides, Millie Burnett was in Denver. He prayed she wasn't married or engaged.

Preston loved Millie and Colorado. The land, the wildness, and the freedom. Boston was too crowded. He liked to find a ledge overlooking a mountain lake and sit quietly, thinking or listening, praying to an Almighty God who loved to display His amazing greatness and awe to anyone who could see.

A shout diverted his attention, and Preston waved as he saw Father's driver and buggy. He grabbed his trunk, hefted it onto his shoulder, and walked to the line of waiting carriages.

The driver stepped down from the carriage. "Good to see you, Preston."

"Good to see you, too, Alfred. I missed everyone."

The driver grinned. "Your mother and father will be pleased to see you." He looked around. "I see you didn't bring a young woman home with you. Your mother was hoping."

Preston laughed. "I don't think any of the girls I met would want to live in Colorado, and I wouldn't trade this for all the tea in the Boston Harbor."

"Good to have you home, sir. Will you be setting up your practice here?"

"Planning on it. Denver is short on doctors, real ones anyway."

"True. But it is not a place that's going to make you rich. Your father might have something to say about your choice." Alfred struggled to get the trunk in the back of the carriage.

Preston stepped around the back and helped him. "Money isn't everything."

"No, sir. But it sure helps a lot of things go easier." Alfred grinned as he secured the trunk, climbed into the driver's seat, and gathered the reins.

Preston settled into the carriage. "I suppose you're right. I'm ready for some of Mother's famous stew."

Alfred frowned. "She's been a little poorly for some time. Mr. Chadwick hired a cook." He glanced at Preston and grinned. "The cook is excellent and likes to make desserts too."

Preston's mind had stopped on his mother feeling poorly. Why hadn't he been told? "What's wrong with my mother?"

Alfred kept his face sheltered by examining the shoes of the nearest horse. Then he shrugged. "They say little to me. She's lost weight and doesn't have much of an appetite." He finally turned to look at Preston. "I'm glad she has a doctor in the family."

His heart stumbled. The symptoms suggested it could be any number of terrible diagnoses or nothing. His joy at being home melted away. Suddenly, he didn't care about the beautiful mountains and freedom. Preston prayed he could help his mother.