Kitty's Hero
I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.
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"Beer, Ma'am." An extremely deep voice spoke from behind her as she stood behind the bar working on her books.
Kitty looked up, and up, and saw a man as tall if not taller than Matt and twice as broad standing in front of her wearing raggedy clothes and a large gapped tooth grin on his darkly bearded face.
"Um, uh, sure." Kitty nodded graciously as she turned towards the beer tap. But Sam had already beaten her to the punch and had one drawn and ready. "Thanks, Sam." She smiled at her friend and employee. "That'll be five cents." She told the man as she sat the beer down.
"Thank ye." The man's smiled widened as he pulled out a nickel and handed it to Kitty. "It's a real nice place here." He remarked as he sipped his beer while surveying the room. "Why, I reckon they ain't none nicer anywhere's else, this side of the Mississippi."
Kitty grinned at the compliment. "Well, I don't know about that but I thank you for the compliment. You, uh, you're new in town, aren't you?" She asked, knowing she would have remembered him if she'd ever seen him before.
"Yes'm." He nodded, taking another hearty swig of his beer. "Just got here. I ain't never seen Dodge afore and I figured I oughta. I ain't got no regular home so's I go where I wanna when I wanna."
"I see." Kitty said. "Well, I hope you enjoy your stay in town, Mr…"
"Hoyt, Ma'am." He tugged his hat off as he spoke. "Hoyt Asher. Pleased to meet ya."
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Asher. I'm Kitty Russell. I own this place."
The man's amazement was abundantly evident on his ruddy face. "You own this place?"
Kitty nodded with a grin. By now she was used to that sort of reaction. "Sure do."
"Well, I'll be." He remarked, clearly impressed. "I ain't never been in a place like this what was owned by a woman afore. Specially not a purty woman like you are. Ain't that something?"
Kitty chuckled as a group of four cowboys came in. "Barkeep, give us a couple of bottles." One of them called as they approached the bar.
As Sam set about pulling glasses and the whiskey, one of the cowboys looked around, spying Kitty at the end of the bar. "Well, looky here!" He exclaimed making his way down towards her. "Hey, sweetheart. How's about you and me taking one them bottles and getting cozy somewhere."
"Sorry, Cowboy." Kitty shook her head at the short, squat man with thinning, greasy blond hair. "I'm busy." Turning away she took a step towards her office but the cowboy wasn't that easily deterred.
"Aw, now, come on, Honey. You ain't got to be like that." He protested; taking her arm.
But Kitty was in no mood to wrestle with a drunken cowpoke who should've known better. "I said no." She said firmly. "Now take your hand off me."
The cowboy wasn't giving up though. Hoisting up his filthy britches, he reached for her again, managing to take a firm hold of her hand before she could escape his grasp. "Now, I don't take no from the likes of you." He snarled at her. "I said we was gonna have a drink and we're gonna."
"And I said NO!" Kitty cried, desperately trying to wrench her hand from his.
"Hey, Mister." Hoyt suddenly spoke up. He'd seen the exchange between the red headed saloon owner and the filthy, ragtag cowboy. And hearing the distress in Kitty's voice was enough to spur him into action. "The lady said no. That means you're to leave her alone."
The man let go of Kitty's hand and slowly turned to face Hoyt, taking in his size and the fact that he wasn't wearing a gun. "You got a claim on her, have ya?" He sneered.
"Nope," Hoyt said stoically. "You ain't neither. Now you best just turn around and leave her be."
"You heard him." Sam spoke up as he stepped up beside her. "You need to git, right now."
Kitty flashed him a grateful smile but the smile faded when she noticed the cowboy edging his hand down towards his gun. Before she could move the man had his gun out and pointed straight at Hoyt's chest then over to Sam.
"Now, I think you're both gonna shut up and leave me and the lady to do our settlin' ." The cowboy grinned.
"Go get Matt." Kitty whispered to Sam as she swiftly reached under the bar and grabbed the shotgun, Sam kept hidden back there. "Stop right there, Mister." She demanded, bringing the weapon up and training it on him.
The man froze and turned his head to see the shotgun in her hand and her finger on the trigger. "Now, little girl." He cajoled. "You don't want to do nothing sudden. I didn't mean nothing bad. Just thought we'd have some laughs is all."
"Un huh," Kitty said, keeping her voice and gaze steady. The shotgun was heavy though and she wasn't sure she could hold it still for too much longer. "The only thing that would make me laugh is to see you turn around and leave. NOW!"
The cowboy shook his head though, refusing to move anywhere but closer to her. "Nuh huh, honey, I ain't going."
"Yes, you are." Matt sounded from the doorway as he entered and swiftly made his way across to them. "The lady asked you to leave, Mister. I think you'd better do as she asked."
Amos Matters had never been accused of being the smartest man around, but right then, he was bright enough to know that he didn't stand a chance against the red head with a shotgun and the US Marshal. Not to mention the tall, craggy faced barkeep as well as the big man with even bigger fists standing protectively beside the woman.
"I'm leaving." He mumbled as he dropped his head and turned back to face the guffaws and teasing of the men that had come in with him. "You all shut up." He seethed as he stomped from the saloon, his face enflamed with embarrassment and anger.
Once outside the doors, he glanced briefly behind him at the woman and the men surrounding her. Most of his life, people had looked down on him because he wasn't tall enough or smart enough or good looking enough. He was tired of not being enough, he vowed right then and there to be more than enough for the likes of the red headed saloon owner. "They ain't always gonna protect you." He whispered. "I'll get you yet."
Once the batwings doors stopped swinging behind the odious man, Matt turned back to Kitty. "You okay?"
Nodding in relief, Kitty gingerly laid the shotgun down on the bar and looked gratefully up at him. "Yeah, I'm okay." She looked over at Asher. "I appreciate your trying to help, Mr. Asher. Some men don't seem to understand the word, no."
Hoyt smiled amiably but shook his head. "It's Hoyt, Ma'am and it's me what owes you the thanks. You was right good with that there shotgun. He looked like he was gonna shoot me and me with no weapon of my own."
"Well," Kitty pushed a stray lock of hair from her face. "Tell ya what. Let's call it even over a beer. I'll buy. How about you, Matt. Would you like a beer?"
Matt reassured himself that she was indeed fine and nodded. "Alright."
"Sam," Kitty looked over at him as he put the mallet and the shotgun back in their proper places. "Let's have three beers here, please."
"Right away, Miss Kitty." Sam nodded.
"Let's go over and have a seat, Matt. What ya say?" Kitty smiled up at her tall cowboy then remembered the even taller man beside him. "You too of course, Hoyt."
"Thank ye, kindly, Ma'am." He led the way to a table and grabbed a chair for Kitty before Matt could even reach for it. "You sit first, Miss." He proudly held the chair for her.
With an amused look at Matt, Kitty took the offered seat and nodded her thanks. After they were seated, Kitty introduced Matt to Asher and explained to him what had transpired just before his entrance into the saloon.
"I really do appreciate your trying to help me, Hoyt." She gave him another smile. "I can usually handle the men that come in here with no problem. But every once in a while, one like that comes in and takes more then just me telling him to leave."
Asher watched her closely and then looked over at the man sitting on her left. "That when you send for the marshal, here?" He asked.
"If I have to." She nodded.
Asher pursed his lips for a moment before pushing his chair back and putting his hat back on his head. "Well, Miss Kitty, you ain't gonna have to from now on. I promise ya that. You ain't gonna have to." With a smile and a nod, he turned and left.
Kitty looked first at Matt then the retreating back of Hoyt Asher in pure puzzlement. "What do you suppose he meant by that?" She asked.
Matt watched the big man leave. "I don't know, Kitty." He answered with a shrug. "Guess he plans to be your hero or something."
Kitty arched her brow as she shook her head. "That's what I have you for, Cowboy." She smirked. "I don't need any others."
TBC