Lily Sterling runs away from her home in Virginia to get away from her overbearing preacher father and the boring preacher her family wants her to marry. She heads for San Francisco to find a distant relative of her grandmother's that she met 4 years earlier. Zac Randolph (youngest of the 7 Randolph brothers) owns a saloon called the Little Corner of Heaven on the Barbary Coast which is a successful gambling establishment. Imagine his surprise when naive Lily walks into his business and announces that she has come to stay. He knows that she is in a dangerous situation (she is very beautiful and young) and that she has no idea how dangerous.
Zac takes it upon himself to find her a "respectable" place to stay and arranges to have someone help her find a job. Lily has several jobs but keeps getting fired because of the large number of men who hang around the businesses hoping to catch sight of her. Lily keeps getting herself into situations that Zac has to get her out of and she keeps telling him she only wants to work in the Little Corner of Heaven. She does not grasp how society will view her if she does work there even though Zac does not allow any customers above stairs with any of the women who serve drinks in his business. Lily soon learns that Zac takes in girls off the streets so they will not be exploited and he gives them a job and a place to live until they can find a better situation in life. Zac does not want anyone to know that he has this good side. He wants people, especially his brothers. to think he is the true black sheep of the family.
Lily gets herself into numerous dangerous situations including a standoff with a ship captain who kidnaps men and women for sale or to work on his ships, a high stake poker game with a man who is cheating and being kidnapped by someone looking for revenge. Zac always comes to her rescue but it makes for a fun story.
I loved the interactions between Zac and Lily as she fights for her right to work for Zac and he fights for the right not to have her work for him.
The author does a great job of bringing the last of the stories about the Randolph brothers and their "flower name brides" as Zac calls them to a wonderful conclusion by having all the brothers, their wives and 22 children attend a family event. It was a great way to let the readers see what has happened over a span of 19 years to each of the brides since the book that was their story.
Zac takes it upon himself to find her a "respectable" place to stay and arranges to have someone help her find a job. Lily has several jobs but keeps getting fired because of the large number of men who hang around the businesses hoping to catch sight of her. Lily keeps getting herself into situations that Zac has to get her out of and she keeps telling him she only wants to work in the Little Corner of Heaven. She does not grasp how society will view her if she does work there even though Zac does not allow any customers above stairs with any of the women who serve drinks in his business. Lily soon learns that Zac takes in girls off the streets so they will not be exploited and he gives them a job and a place to live until they can find a better situation in life. Zac does not want anyone to know that he has this good side. He wants people, especially his brothers. to think he is the true black sheep of the family.
Lily gets herself into numerous dangerous situations including a standoff with a ship captain who kidnaps men and women for sale or to work on his ships, a high stake poker game with a man who is cheating and being kidnapped by someone looking for revenge. Zac always comes to her rescue but it makes for a fun story.
I loved the interactions between Zac and Lily as she fights for her right to work for Zac and he fights for the right not to have her work for him.
The author does a great job of bringing the last of the stories about the Randolph brothers and their "flower name brides" as Zac calls them to a wonderful conclusion by having all the brothers, their wives and 22 children attend a family event. It was a great way to let the readers see what has happened over a span of 19 years to each of the brides since the book that was their story.
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