Read Online Wild Lilly by Ann Mayburn - Free Book Online Page B

of the last people on earth she would willingly sell to. “What price are you offering?”
    “I’ll give you three dollars per acre.” His chest inflated with pride, as if he were offering her a wonderful deal.
    Shouts sounded from the children playing outside. “That is far below what the asking price is for land around here, Mr. Krisp.” His offer was downright insulting. According to the local paper, an acre of land was selling for at least nine dollars.
    His lips twisted beneath his mustache in surprise, then anger, then back to the false smile. “Why, I believe my offer is quite generous. No one is going to want your land for a better price. It borders the Comanche reservation.”
    That, she didn’t know, and she was distracted for a moment by visions of meeting the savage and exciting Comanche Indians.
    He mistook her silence for fear. “If you sell me that land, I’ll make sure they never bother you.” He set his cane against the wall and hooked his thumbs in his gun belt.
    “I think I’ll wait a bit and see what other offers are out there.”
    The sound of wood snapping broke the heavy silence of the classroom. He had ripped a piece of the trim around the window off in his fury. “Shame about your window. Termites must’a gotten to it.”
    She gaped at him as pulled another piece of trim off the window. “Dang, looks like this one is rotten, too.” He tore the wood off, exposing the edges of the window frame and a crack of the outside beyond.
    “Please stop doing that!” She took a step toward him and he bared his yellow teeth at her and slammed his hand on the wall. Fear sped her heart as she took two steps back and her bustle bumped into the chalkboard. Those were not the eyes of a sane man.
    “Yep, all kinds of termites in these walls. Be a shame if you came to school someday and the place had fallen down.” His stare left no doubt about the validity of his threat.
    A deep voice echoed in the classroom from the door. “It would be a shame, ’cause Sheriff Manchan would come looking for the termite that did all that damage.”
    Relief made her breath come out in a gasp. Paul stood in the doorway, a piece of paper clutched in one hand. His other hand lingered over the gun on his belt. Mr. Krisp spun with his hand hovering over his gun as well. The two men sized each other up. She couldn’t see Krisp’s face, but Paul’s looked like it was carved from granite, and his eyes were as cold as ice.
    She had to diffuse the situation. Children were playing outside and a bullet could easily rip through the thin walls of the schoolhouse. “Mr. McGregor, what brings you here today?”
    Paul’s hand remained over the butt of his gun, and he didn’t remove his eyes from Krisp. “Owen forgot his homework.”
    “Oh, well here, let me have it.” She blithely moved in between the men and snatched the paper from Paul’s hands, blocking him from Krisp with her body. Holding the paper up, she pretended to scan it. As scared as she was, it could have been Chinese for all she could comprehend. “I owe young Mr. McGregor an apology.”
    That did make Paul jerk his eyes away from Krisp and glance at her in confusion. “For what?”
    “Well, I accused him of fibbing about doing his homework. Come, let’s go outside with the children so I can find him and apologize in front of everyone. Since I accused him in front of the other children, it’s only fair.” She turned to the other man. “Mr. Krisp, I trust we can continue this conversation later?”
    The last part came out with a little tremble in her speech. Pure hatred radiated from his gaze toward Paul. The idea that he might shoot through her to get to Paul didn’t seem far off.
    Mr. Krisp’s lips turned into an arrogant smile beneath his mustache. “I’m surprised to see you here, Paul. I thought that pretty little soiled dove down at the Gilded Rose kept you busy.”
    Her heart twinged as she turned back to Paul. His lips narrowed into a thin