Cordelia’s spine stiffened, as she became aware of all the people who slowed their carts in the outside aisles hoping to catch a show with their dinner. “I’m surprised you’d be so bold as to lie to the newspaper. Didn’t they teach the meaning of libel in school?”
“It ain’t libel if it’s true.” The smug jut of Edna’s chin sharpened her already harsh features. “And now the whole town knows y’all ain’t so high and mighty.”
“Does the whole town also know the only reason you went to the paper with those false accusations is because you’re mad that Corbin is spending all his free time with Arline?”
A buzz of chuckles and titters swept through the adjoining aisles as word about Corbin’s nonexistent extracurriculars went around. Edna’s cheeks flushed with color. “Corbin would never take up with that kind of trash.”
Cordelia shrugged. “It’s my word against yours.”
“And you’re an accomplice to murder who was raised by a drunk who spent more time on her back than she ever did upright taking care of her family.” Edna looked around, making sure she still had the right amount of attention. “It’s no wonder your daddy abandoned her.”
Edna thought she’d won that round, and it was clear there was no level low enough for her to sink, but Cordelia had been raised in the shadow of her daddy’s abandonment, and it fit her like a wool coat. A little itchy and uncomfortable at times, but it was hers and she’d done just fine for herself living with it. It wasonly a weapon to Edna because she wasn’t a survivor and she’d never be able to cope with a life like Cordelia’s.
The thought bolstered her. “Those kind of petty remarks aren’t doing you any favors. Everyone knows you and Corbin got your sights set on Great-Aunt Penelope’s land, but I’d sooner do business with the devil himself than sell you a single square foot. Haven’t you cheated enough people in this town? Maybe you ought to cut your losses now.”
That sent the aisles whispering again, but this time the buzz sounded angrier. Like wasps before a swarm. Edna swiveled her head in panic, knowing she was losing the crowd. As if everyone was just reminded of the fact that they didn’t like the Abernathys any better than someone accused of killing their beloved pastor. They’d swindled too many good folks out of their hard-earned legacies.
Edna’s expression grew darker than a black bear stuck in a smokestack. “You have a lot of nerve saying I should cut my losses when you’ve hitched your wagon to a murdering old whore who isn’t worth the piping on the sewer she crawled out of.”
Cordelia squeezed her fists tight enough to raise a blister. She’d had about enough of Edna disrespecting Daisy when she wasn’t half the woman. She took a step forward. It gave her a sick sense of satisfaction to see Edna pale to a sickly yellow, like mustard without the bite. If she wanted to crow about murder, Cordelia would’ve been more than happy to show her a murder.
The clang of metal and squeaking wheels screeched in the air as folks who’d crowded the baking aisle to watch the confrontation began to make room for a fight.
“I’ve got ten on the new madam,” Vinner Mendez hollered.
“I’ll take that bet,” a man with a braided beard said. “Abernathys don’t fight clean.”
Shouts filled the air as people began pulling bills out of theirchange purses and pocketbooks. Cordelia would’ve found it amusing if she weren’t intent on making Edna pay. Not only had she publicly accused Daisy of killing with no evidence, but she’d been trying to cut her down as a woman. There were few things Cordelia hated more than a bully.
“Whoa, there.” Before Cordelia could take more than two steps, Archer appeared and laced his fingers with hers, bringing her to a halt. “Let’s step outside and cool off for a minute.”
Cordelia’s hand jerked in his. Was this a joke? Just who did Archer Reed-Smythe think he was? This was her fight and he had no right to step in where he wasn’t wanted.
“What are you doing?” The crowd parted as Archer strode out of the aisle, and, with his hand still firmly holding hers, Cordelia had no choice but to trot along beside him. “I wasn’t finished with her yet.”
“You sure about that?” He continued to keep a grip on her hand, though she was reticent to admit she could’ve let go anytime she wanted. The fight had already gone out of her, but the principle of it remained.
Once they stepped outside, the hot Texas air blowing through the thin linen of her trousers like an oven baking an eye of round roast, she brushed her hands down her front and straightened the lapels of her jacket. Wisps of honey-brown hair got tangled in her eyelashes, and she batted the loose strands away with her hands.
Doing her best to look every part the unflustered schoolmarm, she narrowed a single eye on him. “Just who do you think you are dragging me out of the store like a sack of feral alley cats?” She shoved her hands against his chest, but she might as well have been pushing at a brick wall. “You humiliated me.”
“We both know that wouldn’t have ended well for you.”
“I could’ve taken her.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” He crossed his arms over hischest, and his amusement infuriated her. Did he possess another expression, or did he just consider her to be his personal jester? “But do you think if you’d given Edna the right hook she was frankly asking for that she wouldn’t have found a way to spin it in her favor?”
“I don’t care.” Cordelia stuck out her bottom lip, knowing she was pouting like a toddler, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Did you hear what she said about Daisy?”
“Daisy’s a grown woman who can hold her own, but if you’d gone off and walloped Edna, you think she wouldn’t have sued the socks off you?” He put both of his enormous hands on her shoulders, shooting warmth straight down to her toes. Looking her square in the eye, he said, “Come on now, darlin’. You’re supposed to be smarter than that.”
Now that her temper wasn’t running as thin as a thrift-store rug, she could see his point. It still chafed that Archer Reed-Smythe, the boy who would glue pennies to the sidewalk just to watch people try to pick them up, was now givinghera lesson in maturity. “I see your point. That’s all you’ll get from me. Now I need to finish my shopping.”
As she passed, he gently grabbed her elbow and pulled her back to him. “You could do that. Go back in and face all the whispers. Or we could do something else.”
She ignored the way her skin tingled under his touch and eyed him with suspicion. No good could come from that kind of glint in the eyes of a man born for trouble. “What did you have in mind?”
Chapter Fourteen
