”I can take care of myself,” she said stubbornly. “Skeeter’s all I’ve got left. Any teacher’s better than none and you won’t help me.”
He straightened up from the door. -That’s right, kid. I won’t. And if I let you stick with Skeeter, he’ll get you killed. Not even he realizes what he’s setting you up for. Believe me, when I catch up to that young fool, I’ll roast his ears good.”
”What?” She came to her feet, shaking to her pinched toes as panic set in. She was out of money, out of hope, out of everything. If Kit forced Skeeter to kick her out …”You can’t! If you bully him off the job …You just can’t!”
Blue eyes glinted like hard sapphires. “Oh, yes I can.”
”Dammit!”
”Don’t you have any brains in that decorative little head of yours?” He took a step forward, evidently intent on opening her skull to look.
She held her ground. “I will not give up! And you don’t have any right to interfere! It’s my life, not yours. I’ll risk it as I please, Mr. Hot-Shot Retiree!”
He flushed. “Look, you stubborn little-”
”Stubborn?” Margo laughed shrilly. Then, before she could quite believe she’d said it, Margo heard herself say, “Well, if I’m stubborn, I come by it honestly! With you for a grandfather, what else could you…”
Kit Carson halted mid-stride. His face collapsed into a tangle of weathered lines, aging him ten years in an instant. Despite the tan, he had blanched the color of dirty snow.
A knot of panic condensed in Margo’s belly, the germ of a glacier. Shit …oh, shit, me and my big mouth …