Stands a Calder Man (Calder Saga 2)

“Will there be anything else, Mrs. Calder?”

That hint of a smile on her lips deepened at the use of her married name. “That will be all, Mr. Ellis. Thank you.” She noticed the way the proprietor of the general store glanced at her mouth and wondered if he were making guesses about the source of the secret satisfaction that lay behind it. Men did things like that, or so Webb had informed her.

“Come back anytime,” he stated and moved past her to reenter his store.

Lilli paused a moment on the raised boardwalk and breathed in the crisp, invigorating air. In her present mood, not even the dust could dull the brightness of her world. Webb was to meet her at the restaurant in twenty minutes. It was early yet, but Lilli started in that direction, wondering if Webb would like the dress materials she’d purchased.

“I did not think you would have the nerve to show your face in this town.” The cold and contemptuous voice lashed at her.

She faltered a step, then paused to confront Franz Kreuger as he came toward her. “Hello, Mr. Kreuger,” She kept her head high. “I understand you have a new son. Congratulations.” Dr. Simon Bardolph had passed along the news when he had come by the ranch to check on the progress of Abe Garvey. “Helga is doing well. I trust.”

“A brazen hussy like you is not fit to speak her name.” His mouth curled in disdain. “Stefan was not even cold in his grave before you were climbing into another man’s bed. You have no respect for the dead.”

There was no reason to tolerate his abusive talk. Lilli made to walk past him, but he stepped into her way. She was stiff with anger, and determined not to give him the satisfaction of thinking that anything he said made the slightest impression on her.

“Stefan was a good and faithful man. He deserved more than an adulterous tramp like you,” he jeered “You are what killed him.”

“You have been misinformed, Mr. Kreuger,” Lilli replied coolly. “It was typhoid fever.”

His glance swept her with disgust. “Because of you, he was ashamed to hold his head up among his friends. Now you come to town in your fine clothes and your ladylike airs, but no decent woman will speak to you.”

Aware that his voice was growing louder to deliberately attract the attention of his fellow homesteaders and publicly humiliate her, she made a determined effort to end this meeting. “Your opinions have been most interesting, Mr. Kreuger, but you’ll have to excuse me. My husband is expecting me.” She tried to walk around him, but he wouldn’t let her pass.

“You think because you marry a Calder, it makes you someone important,” he accused.

“I think nothing of the sort,” she denied on a vibrating note of temper. “Please get out of my way.”

“Ah, yes, you are meeting your husband somewhere.” His eyes took on an ugly glint. “The sidewalks are for decent, God-fearing people. Walk in the street—in the gutter where your kind of women belong.”

His voice rang out through the still air. A cold rage shook her, making every nerve in her body scream with tension. She wanted to hit out at him and slap his vile words down his throat, but she knew it would only please him.

“Perhaps I would find fewer braying jackasses on the street than I have on the sidewalk.” Her fury was so focused on him she was blind to everything else around her.

Suddenly there was a large hand on Kreuger’s shoulder, spinning him around. Lilli had a short glimpse of the black rage on Webb’s face before his cocked arm drove a fist into Kreuger’s face and Franz went flying backward, sprawling onto the boardwalk next to her. Then Webb was grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her along with him as he turned to walk away.

He hadn’t taken two steps when a body came hurtling at him from behind. The impetus carried both men onto the hard ground of the narrow alleyway between the two buildings. They scuffled in the dirt, rolling and twisting, trying for advantage over the other. Elbows and knees became weapons as Kreuger fought with savage cunning.

A crowd of onlookers jammed around Lilli, forming a ring to watch the fight. As she looked around the chain of faces, there wasn’t a friendly one to be found. They were cheering for Kreuger, one of their own, shouting advice and encouragement. He was the underdog, smaller in size than Webb, but his quickness and strength made him an equal.

Kreuger slipped out of Webb’s hold and was on his feet while Webb was halfway on his knees. He saw the booted toe coming and managed to block it with his arm, the force of the kick slamming through

his shoulder. Then he was catapulting himself upward, no longer underestimating his opponent. He swung a fist at the lowered face and caught Kreuger on the temple with a slanting blow.

It felt good—the fighting, the hitting, the sensation of blood pumping through his veins, cleaning out his system. His punches were reaching Kreuger, hitting his belly and his chest. The wind whistled through his lungs with the force he was throwing into his fists. A jarring set of knuckles rammed into his mouth as Kreuger knocked an arm aside and made an opening. His lip split against his teeth, pouring blood into his mouth. Another quick punch widened the cut and staggered Webb backward. He shook his head, clearing it of the roaring sound.

He waited for Kreuger to follow up the blow, and he came, springing like a cat for the kill. Webb stepped aside and lifted a knee, driving it forward into Kreuger’s vitals. When his arms dropped in pain, Webb slammed a fist into his nose and heard the crunch of bone. A second swing tore out a chunk of flesh on Kreuger’s forehead. Then he aimed low and heard the snap of rib bones.

He felt no mercy, aware that Kreuger would gouge out his eyes and kick in his face given the chance. The man’s eyes were glassy and shining; his tongue was caught between his teeth. Webb closed his fingers in Kreuger’s collar, holding him up when his legs would have collapsed.

“Stop it!” A pair of hands was clawing at him, hitting him, trying to break his hold. “Webb! Stop it! Let him go!”

Lilli’s voice finally pierced the violent rage in his mind. His fingers loosened their grip on Kreuger’s shirt as Webb staggered backward a step and let the man slide unconscious to the ground. The muscles in his body began to tremble, the blows they’d taken beginning to spread pain. He lifted a hand to his mouth and looked at the crimson wetness, realizing it was his blood. The deep reach of his breathing was labored and rough.

Two overalled men were bending to help the fallen Kreuger. When Webb saw them, his glance went round to the circle of men, seeing the hostility and resentment in their faces when they met his look. He became conscious of Lilli holding tightly to his arm, facing the same looks with a wary defiance.

“Somebody better get a doctor for him.” His voice was a rasping sound as he gestured wearily toward Kreuger. Someone peeled away from the circle and went hurrying behind the roadhouse to the doctor’s office. Webb turned his hard gaze on the group of men blocking the steps to the roadhouse restaurant. “Make way for my wife.” He challenged them to stand in her path as Kreuger had done.

For a moment, no one moved. Then there was a slight shuffling and shifting of position to make an opening for Lilli to pass. Webb freed his arm from her hold and shifted his hand to the back of her waist, guiding her toward the spot. She walked ahead of him, her shoulders squarely braced and her chin level. Tiredness was invading his limbs, but he followed her, meeting the looks of the men on either side.