Texas Tiger TH3 by Patricia Rice Page B

her elbow and hurried her down the stairs.
    They met Janice hurrying up. At sight of Georgina, she froze, but she couldn't hide the desperation in her eyes as she appealed to Daniel. "The paper's all over town. Mulloney's is in an uproar. They're looking for the sheriff to have the newsstand closed down. And they fired Audrey because someone told them she had been talking to you."
    Janice didn't say what they all knew: The little household couldn't survive without Audrey's meager income to supplement hers.
    Georgina knew this woman disliked her, but she was determined to right the injustices of her world. "I'll talk to Mr. Mulloney," she offered at once. "I can make him see that your sister didn't do anything wrong." Her face lit up with a new idea. "I'll tell him that I'm the one who gave Mr. Martin the information!"
    A flicker of hope crossed the other woman's face, but Daniel dashed it with a scowl as he pushed Georgina forward. "I don't want him to even know we've met. I'll talk to your hotheaded boyfriend myself, just as soon as I get you out of here."
    Georgina grabbed the rail and glared over her shoulder at him. "You can't tell me what to do, Daniel Martin! I'll get Miss Harrison her job back if I have to break precious porcelain over Peter's head until he agrees. I'll have his father screaming for mercy, and it won't be over his son's broken head. He's tighter than a Scotsman. I know how to hit him where it hurts."
    Daniel looked interested but not amused. "We'll discuss this some other time. Right now we're getting you home." He glanced at Janice. "Go home and tell Audrey we're taking care of it. It may take a while, but Mulloney's control over this town is ending. You have my word on it."
    Looking uncertain, Janice said nothing as Daniel and Georgina hurried out into the street. A few more boys were returning with empty pouches, and Daniel directed them to help themselves to the last stack of newspapers. Then grasping Georgina's arm, he steered her toward a main thoroughfare where there was some hope of finding a carriage for hire.
    "I am tired of being treated like a baby, Daniel. I can get home on my own, and I can persuade Peter to hire Audrey back."
    She didn't notice that she had slipped into calling him by his given name. She was tired and worried and irritated, and her mind wasn't on the formalities. For a change, a man's insistence on seeing her home was comforting, and she wanted to surrender to the easy way out, but she knew she couldn't allow him to do it. As much as she would like to have Daniel's strong presence at her side when she arrived in total dishevelment on a day when tempers would be high, she knew she couldn't do that to him. She pulled away from him and hurried forward on her own.
    Daniel kept easy pace with her. "It's late and you shouldn't be out on these streets alone. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
    "Janice walked these streets alone," she pointed out. There was no use in trying to outdistance him. His legs were longer and even when he limped he could walk faster than she could. Besides, perspiration was pouring down her back and the heat was too great for any undue exercise. Words were her only hope.
    "Janice isn't dressed in silk and lace and looking like a crime about to happen. She knows these people. You don't. I'm taking you home, so save your breath."
    She did. Georgina held her mouth tight in furious silence as they hurried down one alley and dirty street after another until they came to the respectable part of town where Blucher had left her. Then she lifted her skirt, dodged beneath the noses of a team of horses pulling a carriage, and ducked into the nearest shop before Daniel could follow.
    The shop owner looked startled as she darted inside, looking bedraggled and forlorn, but he was all solicitous kindness when he recognized her.
    "I've had a small accident." Georgina smiled wryly, shaking out her skirt as she appropriated a chair. "Is there someone you could