“Leave now, sir.” She threw out a hand and pointed at the door.
He glared at her for a moment longer, but she didn’t drop her hand. And then, finally, he left.
The second he was gone, she crumpled to the floor, her entire body shaking. As she wrapped her arms around herself, Marian gulped back tears. There was one person she needed right now.
Cole.
Chapter Twenty
Cole leaned back againstthe wall in Mrs. Shomburg’s large downstairs room. The old saloon space currently hosted a meeting of men discussing politics in earnest. He had no particular opinion about economics or any of the other policies the men were discussing, but it was lively enough that it had caught his attention as he walked in. And so he’d found a good spot against the wall to listen for a while.
Just as a farmer stood to make his opinion better heard, the front door opened slowly. Cole glanced over, expecting to see a fellow boarder or a man late to the discussion.
But instead, Marian slipped inside, the setting sun illuminating her figure as she shut the door behind her. She glanced around the room until her eyes landed on Cole.
He knew instantly that something wasn’t right.
He pushed away from the wall and crossed the room to meet her. “What happened?” he asked as her frightened eyes flitted up to meet his and then away to take in the other men in the room.
When she didn’t answer right away, he lifted his hand and rested his fingers against her chin, turning her face back toward him. He didn’t care that she’d sent him away. That she didn’t want him. All that mattered was her safety. “Marian?” he pressed softly as he dropped his hand.
“He came to the schoolhouse.” Her voice came out in a stuttered whisper, and Cole had to lean in to hear her over the man loudly proclaiming his thoughts in favor of free silver.
“Who?” he asked, even though he thought he already knew the answer.
Her hands twisted together and Cole fought the urge to still them in his own. “Mr. Hardison.”
“Did he hurt you?” Heaven help him, Cole didn’t know what he would do if she said yes.
She shook her head, and his body nearly shook with relief.
“What did he say?” He was mere inches from her now, having to lean in even farther as a few other men had taken up loud stances in favor of the gold standard.
She told him all of it, ending with his threat to set fire to the schoolhouse. His jaw clenched as he listened. Between Hardison and whoever was responsible for breaking into the schoolhouse, it was nothing short of incredible that Marian still had any intention of teaching.
“Perhaps it was just an idle threat,” she said hesitantly when he didn’t speak.
