Much later that evening Anna sat by herself at a table in the corner of the saloon, drinking what a Britisher would have called her third pint. She was drunk, but not quite drunk enough to wash away the cares of the day. The fight with Tamsan, the firing of a hand, the dismissal of the longest serving employee of Sun Ranch. If she was going to run the place into the ground, at least she’d do it quickly.

“Hello, Sunshine.”

Anna looked up to see a most unlikely lady standing next to her. Tamsan. Great. Now they were going to have a fight too. It was the right sort of night for it, at least.

“What do you want?”

“Just saying hello.” Tamsan smiled her pretty smile and sat down without being asked. “You seem out of sorts.”

“Well you would know, Ms, I walk out on people.”

Brows rose in her direction. “I didn’t walk out on you. I just let you be. There’s a difference.”

“Mmmhm. Is there?”

“Yeah,” Tamsan said, stretching out one long leg and letting her arm rest on the back of the chair. “There is.”

“You missed a whole lot of excitement.”

“So it’s true, ” Tamsan smirked. “You used a cattle prod on your foreman.”

“He deserved it,” Anna said, drinking deeply of her beer.

“I believe you.” There was a pause in which Tamsan sat and watched Anna drink. “So what now?”

“Now I drink more.” Anna finished her beer, then stood on unsteady feet and made her way back to the bar. “Nother please,” she said, trying not to slur. The exchange of cash and alcohol was soon made, allowing her to bury her lips back in the brew.

She did not return to the table immediately. It was too far to walk with a stein attached to her face. Instead she slumped on her bar stool and drank until she felt as though some of the feelings might have abated.

Tamsan appeared by her elbow like a sexy specter of common sense and decency. “I heard what happened with Tom Reed.”

“What the fuck is a Tom Reed?”

“The ranch hand you fired before you shocked your foreman.”

“Oh. Yeah. He called…” Anna squinted into the middle distance, trying to remember what the man had said. “He called me a name.”

“Can’t have that.”

“No, ma’am.” A little of the beer sloshed onto the bar and sank into a discarded cigarette butt. “I can’t have that on my ranch.” She leaned on the bar and then against something warm and solid. That thing turned out to be Tamsan who braced herself without complaint, helping Anna to stay on the vertical.

“How long have you been drinking?”

“What time is it?”

“It’s just gone eight o’clock.”

“Then I’ve been drinking… for…” Anna splayed her hand on the wet, sticky bar and counted along her fingers. “Eleventy five hours.”

“Eleventy five?”

“Or twelvety four. I don’t know which.”

“Okay,” Tamsan said. “You’ve had enough.” She put her hand over the stein and pushed it back toward the bartender.

“There’s still good stuff in that,” Anna complained, reaching for it. Tamsan swatted her hand away, earning herself a very stern glassy-eyed look from Anna.

“Come on,” she repeated. “I’ll take you home.”

“Home…” Anna laughed. “Home.”

“Yes, home. You need to go to bed.”

“You took me to bed once before,” Anna said. “It was nice.” She reached for Tamsan’s breast, squeezing perhaps a little too hard.

“Easy there,” Tamsan said patiently, removing her hand. “I don’t think we’ll be doing any funny stuff tonight. You’ve got to get some sleep.”