Texas Tiger TH3 by Patricia Rice

stamp her foot and throw a tantrum right here and now, but Georgina doubted that it would get her anything more than a suggestion that she was doing too much and needed rest. That's what he always told her mother, and her mother seemed to take him literally.
    Holding her smile in place, Georgina tried again. "I want you to talk to Peter about hiring that clerk back. If he doesn't, the marriage is off, Papa. I can't marry a man who won't listen."
    That finally got his attention. George Hanover groomed his graying side-whiskers with his fingers as he waited for the maid to warn the cook it was time to start serving. "Don't be foolish, Georgina. Of course you'll marry Peter. He's a little young, that's all. Boys that age don't like to listen to anyone but themselves. I'll tell him to come by and you two can kiss and make up."
    "He's twenty-five years old, Papa!" she protested, but she could see she was getting nowhere. Ignoring her, George started a diatribe on the subject that was irritating him the most, Daniel's newspaper.
    Apparently there hadn't been time for Peter to warn her father Georgina's photographs were in the kiosk downtown. There wouldn't be any reasoning with him once he found that out. Maybe she could talk to Doris at the factory and see if a position could be found for Audrey there.
    She wasn't giving up. Peter would have to listen. She would sit on his desk and refuse to move until he rehired Audrey.
    She liked that idea. Wasn't there something by Thoreau about passive protest? Maybe she could chain herself to the door or something so Peter couldn't even carry her off. That would grab his attention.
    So she smiled and made a pretense of listening and waved her father on his way after dinner, then went to her room to make her plans.
    What she didn't count on was the total irrationality of men, even one like her father who had always treated her as if she were made of precious porcelain.
    Georgina had already gone to bed by the time her father came home. When he pounded on her door, she rose and quickly pulled on a robe, fearful of what she might find. Her father never came to her room in the dark of night. Something had to be wrong. Perhaps her mother was ill.
    But it was her father who looked sick. In the dim light of the hall lamp, his face was a ghastly gray, and his voice wasn't that of the genial man she had known all her life. It held a hint of desperation and anger that she didn't like at all.
    "Georgina Meredith, why didn't you tell me that newspaper fellow was making a nuisance of himself? I had to hear Peter tell me that he's tricked you into giving him that incendiary information and those photographs. I couldn't believe my ears! What are you doing near the likes of a man like that? Do you have any idea what you can do to your reputation with such foolishness? If word gets out, we'll be ruined in this town. Ruined! We'll have to put a halt to this immediately."
    Georgina rubbed at her eyes and tried to put this tirade into perspective, but sleep clouded her brain. "You've met Mr. Martin, Papa. He has an invitation to dinner at the mayor's Friday. He's a perfectly respectable gentleman. Just because you don't agree with his opinions doesn't mean he's not nice."
    "He's trying to ruin the family you're marrying into! Don't tell me that's the work of an honest man. We've decided you've run loose too long, Georgina. I have my hands full at the factory these days, and your mother isn't well. We don't have the time to look after you as we should. We've decided to move up the wedding date. Then you will be Peter's responsibility."
    Georgina stared at him in horror. "I will not! I am my own responsibility. In any case, I'm not marrying Peter unless he gives that girl her job back. I can't marry a man who won't listen to reason."
    "That's exactly what I'm talking about, Georgina. You are getting entirely out of hand. What Peter does with his employees is his business and not yours. It's your business to look