"I can rescue myself just fine, thank you." -Lucy Bowman, slave Sparks fly when a runaway slave paves her own destiny by becoming the most notorious painted lady in the territory... Traveling west on the Oregon Trail, slave Lucy Bowman dreams of a life of freedom in California, but when her owner dies an untimely death, she is left at the mercy of the wagon master. As fate would have it, an outlaw known as Dangerous Dan comes to her rescue but his idea of freedom and her idea of freedom clashes mightily.Three men want her more than air. One an outlaw, one a lawman, and one who claims to own her and one way or another plans to have her, dead or alive. Lucy Bowman doesn't want an owner, she doesn't want a husband, and she most certainly doesn't want to be a lawman's occasional bed-warmer. With scheming, wiles, and a little unlawful behavior, Lucy determines to write her own destiny. Even if it means killing a man, or pitting Dangerous Dan and Raging Thunder against each other.The ruthless mining camp of Jimtown might not be big enough for the men bidding for the attention of the painted lady known as Madam Lucille. *Rerelease of previously published book by same title