So Close to the Flame
Pace, DeWanna
She was as fearless as a man ... but every inch a woman...

The Indians Called Her "Fire Woman".

Candle O'Keef's hair was as fiery as her temperament, and her courage inspired the team of men with whom she battled against the wilderness. Making no exception for her beauty or her gender, she would shoot a gun, fight a fire, risk her life to help establish the telegraph lines that would unite a continent. To the Sioux, she was a goddess. To the rugged pony express scout Ryder Jansen, she was very much a woman.

But beneath the bold exterior, there was another Candle-a vulnerable girl wary of the passion Ryder evoked. She could answer any challenge to her bravery-but would she ever be disarmed by love?