Lily by Greenwood Leigh

Author:Greenwood, Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, western, cowboy, western romance
Publisher: Ten Talents Press

Chapter Sixteen

"I must agree that despite the deplorable way he chose to state it," Mr. Thoragood said, "it does sound as though Mr. Randolph cherishes an affection for Miss Sterling. That relieves my mind considerably. I would also remind you I'm a preacher, and I'm already present."

Zac could see the jaws of Hell closing around him. Every word he uttered seemed to bring him closer and closer to extinction of the only kind of life he'd ever wanted.

"Lily doesn't want to marry me," he said, not caring that his desperation sounded in his voice. "She wants her freedom. I'll be a tyrant of respectability. I'll keep her locked away in this room. I'll never let her downstairs while there's a single man in the place. I won't let her have anything to do with those females over there."

The girls giggled.

"I won't even let her set eyes on Dodie. She'll be forbidden to work. The only people who can visit will be Mrs. Thoragood and her carefully chosen friends."

"I hope I will be one of those friends," Bella said.

"Probably. You're getting to be more of a self-righteous bitch than I ever thought possible."

"There's no call for vulgarity," Mr. Thoragood said.

"You charge in here and accuse me of violating the one woman I wouldn't touch if my life depended on it, and you call me vulgar! If I were you, I'd take another look at that Bible you've been reading. I don't think you got a good translation."

"He sounds more like a lover by the minute," Dodie said.

"You shut up!" Zac snapped. "By the way, you're fired. Get your things and be out of here by noon."

"You can't fire Dodie," Lily protested. "Who's going to run this place while you sleep?"

Dodie laughed easily, not the sound of a woman fearful of her future.

"This whole conversation is absurd," Zac said. "I'm not going to marry Lily, and that's that. Besides, you know as well as I do she shouldn't be allowed to marry anybody like me. Her father would probably shoot me."

"We know you're not worthy of her," Dodie said. "No one will argue that."

"I will," Lily interjected, but no one heeded her.

"What would you do about her dilemma?" Mr. Thoragood asked.

"Take her to Tyler," Zac said. "He and Daisy can handle it from there."

"Do you plan to tell him what you've done?" Dodie demanded.

"I haven't done anything," Zac nearly shouted.

"How do you plan to explain it all to George when he finds out?" Dodie asked.

"He won't."

"If Tyler doesn't tell him, I will."

Tyler would tell him. He probably wouldn't agree to help Lily unless Zac told him the whole story. Tyler was like that. If George thought he'd ruined a young woman, no matter whether he'd actually done anything or not, he'd be furious. Nobody took this Southern chivalry thing more seriously than George, not even Jeff.

Someone would tell Monty and Hen, they found out everything sooner or later, and they'd come after him. They might shoot him or beat him to a pulp first -- Zac didn't know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.