Longarm and the Colorado gundown

_{“How d’you get along here? I mean, you bein’ a lady lawyer an’ representing the Utes too?”}

_{“Gracious, Longarm, I was already such a pariah that this thing with the Indians hardly added anything. Most of the men in town, certainly all the leading gentlemen of the community, were already convinced that I’m lesbian. Or worse. But I get along. The wives of those same men like me, you see. I’m something of a role model for them. Not that they want to become like me, exactly, but it pleases them to see that a woman can be free and independent if she wishes. So I get by.” She laughed and added, “It helps quite a lot, of course, that I’m rich.”}

_{Longarm couldn’t help but chuckle. And then, involuntarily, he looked around at the small cabin where Aggie lived.}

_{“Comfortable,” the lady corrected herself, obviously guessing what he’d been thinking. “Not dependent on them for my livelihood, anyway.”}

_{“I can see how that’d help.”}

_{Aggie tossed back the rest of her drink and went to fetch the bottle. She poured seconds for both of them and resumed her seat. “I’ve never known a deputy marshal before,” she said out of nowhere. “Are they all like you?” He shrugged. “Mostly, I suppose. More or less.”}

_{“You don’t mind that I’m a lawyer and a woman.” “Nope.”}

_{“I’m a good lawyer, Longarm.”}

_{He nodded agreeably and took a sip of the applejack. The more he had of the stuff the smoother and tastier it got.}

_{“I’m a good woman too.”}

_{He nodded again.}

_{“Do you have hair on your chest?”}

_{“Bound to have. You guaranteed that I would, remember?”}

_{“What if I want to see for myself?”}

_{“Reckon I wouldn’t wrestle you t* prevent it.”}

_{“You know, of course, that you won’t find any place to sleep in Snowshoe tonight. But I could put you up here. I only have one bed.”}

_{He sipped the calvados again. It was really right nice. “A woman in my position wouldn’t dare let her defenses down, Longarm. Not with any of the men here no matter how attractive they might be.”}

_{“No, I can see where that’d be a bad idea.”}

_{“It wouldn’t do me any good with the ladies either if I started sleeping around with the men here. I wouldn’t be an inspiration to them any longer but a threat. They would worry that I might take their husbands away. Better if they think I’m sexless. Or lesbian. Can you believe it? I’ve never been openly propositioned by a man in this town, but two of the women have tried to seduce me. And they weren’t ladies of the night who did that either. Both of them were respectable married women.”}

_{“I’d believe it,” Longarm said.}