Authors: Fran Lee
Flint (9 page)
"He's crazy, Flint...crazy enough to do something stupid. He gets drunk as a skunk and he truly thinks he's untouchable. I should go into town and stay in the motel there. He might come here and try to hurt everyone."
"You'll stay here...in my room. And I'll do everything in my power to make you forget he ever existed."
Her gaze locked with his. "He really can't touch me ever again?"
His gut twisted as he understood suddenly her fear of the son of a bitch. The man had killed her mother and had gotten away with it. He'd made the whole damn town of Garfield think she was some crazy, suicidal thief, and he'd kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home while he spent the insurance money meant to take care of her mom and her. She was just a bitty little thing and Flint ached to show her tormentor exactly what it felt like to be helpless and afraid for his life.
He suddenly hoped Jacob Proctor
would
come for a visit. He'd like to give the bastard an El Diablo welcome...
He recalled his dad telling him the story of how his great grandfather had been harassed and threatened by a band of Mexican bandits that spread terror across central Texas, killing settlers, raping and pillaging, and driving off their animals. Jose Calderon had laid claim to the lush green area bisected by spring floods between the Pedernales and the Blanco. He'd run a large herd of longhorns with a few Hereford bulls tossed in, and eventually he was rewarded with a much larger herd of cross bred cattle that could stand the heat, did well on rangeland browsing, and withstood most diseases and droughts.
The banditos had chipped away at his herds, taking hundreds of calves each year, and they had burned his oak barns and even his house...until old Jose decided to corner the outlaws in a blind canyon and pick them off from the ridge above with his old Henry rifle. That particular band of outlaws was never heard from again...and old Jose blamed their demise on the fact that those robbers had crossed
El Diablo
once too often. Of course, he was referring to the devil, but locals decided to take it that Jose Calderon was the devil they'd crossed...and the name El Diablo had sort of stuck...both on Jose and his ranch.
Flint wasn't too sure where that old box canyon was located, but he had his suspicions, and he'd love to introduce Jacob Proctor to that historic aspect of El Diablo.
Lily opened her eyes to darkness, but that old panic returned with a vengeance. She had insisted on sleeping alone in her own room despite Flint's cajoling and insistence that he would feel better if she slept with him. Now she wished she had allowed him to convince her to sleep in his, because the harsh sound of someone breathing too close to her ear left her petrified with fear.
Before she could say a word or cry out, a rough hand slapped over her mouth, and a too familiar voice rasped in her ear, "Thought ya'd get away from me, ya little cunt?"
She tried to roll away with a panicked cry that sounded like a squeak from beneath his palm, but he straddled her body in the narrow bed and his free hand clutched at her throat, bringing her to a state of terror she hadn't felt since she'd run from him.
"Found yerself a cowboy to fuck? Figure yer too good fer the one who kept a roof ever yer head all these years?' His foul breath choked her almost as much as the hand around her throat. Her stomach rolled as she clawed at his wrists to loosen his grip on her. His face was hidden in darkness, but she could see in her mind the ugly rage that filled him. She could hear it in his voice.
Knowing that she had only moments of life unless he loosened his grip on her throat, Lily closed her eyes and went for his face with her hands and fingernails, gouging and clawing and then her teeth sank into the palm over her mouth as he released her face to hit her. The terror that had left her voiceless and helpless before evaporated into a red sea of rage as she fought back with every ounce of strength she possessed.
The shriek that awoke the rest of the household wasn't hers...it was his as her thumb gouged deep into his eye socket, and her teeth clamped hard over the webbing between his thumb and his first finger. For the briefest of moments, Jacob Proctor's weight was pressing her hard into her mattress...and then he was gone. Light blinded her as she rolled aside off her bed onto the oak floor, and wildly shimmied under the heavy bed frame.
The sound of the struggle above her was muffled by the oak bed and the thick mattress, and by her own arms wound over her head as she sobbed and held back shrieks of rage. She hoped that Flint and Curly and Ned tore the son of a bitch's head off. She could only guess who was beating the shit out of him, but she fervently prayed that they would maim him.
As the battle above her came to a halt, Dora's face appeared as the woman knelt beside the bed to assess her condition. She could hear Jacob's ranting voice telling everyone there that she was his...she belonged to him...that he'd gotten rid of her mom so he could have Lily to himself...and without a single thought, she struggled out from under the bed and flew across the mattress at the sick, crazy bastard held between two furious men, her fingers going for his uninjured eye. But arms came around her from behind, and she was dragged back.
"He ain't worth it, honey...let the menfolk take care of him. They'll make sure he gets what's comin' to him."
Lily blinked up at Dora's set face as the astonishing strong older woman wrapped arms around her and rocked her. For one long, pain filled moment, Lily stared at the man who'd made her life hell, and then she lost the ability to focus. His bloody face wavered in and out, and then he vanished as she sank back into Dora's arms, and let blessed blackness take everything away.
Epilogue
The court had decided she had acted in self defense in the matter of her striking Jacob Proctor with a metal object. They had dismissed all charges against her. The court had remanded Proctor into custody for a psychiatric evaluation. Jacob would undergo a psych evaluation at the state hospital to determine if he could reasonably defend himself in the cases the police had opened for the premeditated murders of five women.
It had been a stressful day in court dealing with the legal issues. Lily sat in the vinyl booth, staring off into space.
"Hey, darlin'...where are you?" Flint's raspy voice brought her back to the present, and she blinked up into his dark eyes. The people surrounding her looked concerned as she sorted out her mind and swallowed the hard lump that threatened to block speech completely.
"Um...I'm okay...just too much running through my mind, I guess. I can't believe I'm free of him. I can't believe I'll never have to look over my shoulder every time I hear a footstep. It's like I'm just waking from a nightmare." She reached up and brushed her fingers over his stubbly cheek.
"You're free of him, completely. It's up to you to decide what to do about the house and all the stuff inside it." Max Daly tucked a sheaf of legal papers into his briefcase as he rose from the table at the diner they'd stopped at after they'd left the courthouse.
Lily leaned her cheek against Flint's broad chest and closed her eyes. "I'd like to set up a home for abused women and children. I don't ever want to go back there." A huge sigh escaped her. "Can you see to that for me, Flint?"
A large calloused palm pressed her head to his body as he kissed the top of her head. "Whatever you think best, baby. That can all be sorted out later. You ready to go home?"
She opened her eyes and lifted her face. "Home?"
"El Diablo. But we have to make a stop first."
Max cleared his throat and said his goodbyes, and Curley tossed money onto the table before taking Dora's arm and helping her from the booth. "Looks like we aren't needed here anymore. Flint's got some personal business to take care of."
Lily fought tears as she watched them troop out of the diner, and she jumped a little when Flint lifted her chin and held her gaze. "Where do we have to stop?" she managed to ask. Her heart was pounding crazily in her chest at the heated look in his eyes.
"You have two choices..."
"And what are those choices?" Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as his gaze slid over her pink face and moved over her body.
"You can come with me now and let me find an exit with a stand of oaks so I can show you how damn much I adore you..."
"Or?"
"You can come with me to Judge Grant's office and let him make it legal before I find that stand of oaks and have my way with you..."
A wet, sweet smile met his gaze. His woman shivered, then pressed her soft body against his side, her arms wrapped around his ribs. "That sounds interesting. Is Judge Grant aware that we are dropping in?"
"He sure is. Talked to him earlier this week. I even have the ring. Now are you going to come quietly, or do I have to drag you kicking and screaming?"
Flint's heart nearly stopped when the object of his love, lust, and the center of his world whispered wickedly, "I refuse to come quietly. I want to do it kicking and screaming...so let's get going. There's a big stand of oaks that has our names on it..."
About the author...
Fran Lee has been writing romance for more years than she will ever admit, but she didn't actually submit any of her work until she'd retired from her career and had the time to devote to her books. After many years of writing and stuffing her novels into a box under her bed, she decided to submit them.
She now has twenty-five novels, short novels, full-length books, and short stories in publication.
You can find all of Fran's books on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Fran-Lee/e/B00373L0AQ
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Men of Calder County boxed set may be purchased from Amazon:
