Was there something you wanted?" she asked, shading her eyes from the bright sunshine. Matthews was taller than Lily by about six inches, and his blue eyes swept over her in a way that could only be called suggestive. "I reckon I want what the major was havin' yesterday when the bedsprings was creakin' fit to wake the dead," he told her. Lily retreated a step, cheeks flaming. She clasped the hoe handle in white-knuckled fingers. The affront was so brazen and so unexpected that she had no ready idea how to deal with it. "Such a saucy little thing," Private Matthews went on, reaching out to touch Lily's hair. He only smiled when she flinched away, and after a moment he went on. "I'll bet you're a real wildcat." Lily held up the hoe in both hands as a warrior might hold a shield. "You just stay back," she warned, her heels sinking into the loose dirt as she retreated from him. "What's the matter, pretty Lily?" the young soldier crooned. "Get out of here," Lily managed to choke out. "Get off my land and stay off!" He advanced on her. "I figure riding you would be worth takin' a horsewhip across my back. That's what Judd's tellin' everybody. That it was worth all the trouble he got into." Lily swallowed, then screamed out, "Wilbur! Help me!" Matthews spat contemptuously into the dirt and kept right on coming toward her. "You think I can't handle the corporal, little lady?" He laughed. "Hell, you can just bet it'll be him against the rest of us." Lily felt the color seep out of her face. She swung the hoe at the soldier, meaning to scare him, but he smiled as he sidestepped the glistening blade. "You stay away from me," she warned. Matthews
( Linda Lael Miller )
[ Lily and the Major ]
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