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Doc had had a lot to say about that. The sheriff had come out. In the end, her father had apologized to Doc and Cougar to stay out of jail, but he hadn’t meant it. After that, she’d done her best to stay away from Cougar McKinnely. But she hadn’t forgotten his kindness.
She looked at the couple. “I hope you’re wrong, Millicent. Cougar deserves a woman who loves him.”
She ignored the sharp glance Asa sent her way. His jealousy over Aaron was enough to handle. She wasn’t adding Cougar McKinnely to his list.
“So do I, honey,” Millicent said on a sigh, “but I’m not. You just watch those two. Cougar’s smitten, all right. He’s fallen for the girl, but she wants nothing to do with him. She practically cringes when he touches her.”
Just then, Cougar reached with a lover’s tenderness and a gentleman’s regard for protocol and laid his hand atop Emily’s. She immediately found a pretext to slip her hand free.
“That girl sure wants no part of that man,” Asa observed.
He was so positive. Elizabeth wondered with guilt how Asa felt in the wake of all the times she’d pulled back from him? Was she equally obvious?
“It’s as plain as the nose on your face,” Millicent agreed, “but Cougar can’t tell the difference between maidenly modesty and repugnance.” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d say this, but I wish that man had more of a penchant for saloon girls.”
Both Asa’s eyebrows flew up. Elizabeth couldn’t restrain a gasp.
Millicent had the grace to look embarrassed. “Well, it’s the truth! Tough as he is, mean as he had to be before Doc and Dorothy got hold of him, that boy’s been holding out for true love.”
Elizabeth looked across the room and studied Cougar more closely. Cougar McKinnely a romantic? Just then, he threw back his head and laughed at something Emily said. His long dark hair swung across his shoulders, giving his profile an exotic cast. For the life of her, she couldn’t see it. He exuded danger, confidence and life, yes, but…romance?
“I hate to start the disagreements before I get my hands on that pie,” Asa interjected, “but that’s one man I wouldn’t want to come up against in a fight. That being the case, I’m having real trouble believing he’s the sort to read poetry and sigh over true love.”
Elizabeth bit back a smile at Asa’s accurate summation. “He is awfully big and mean-looking,” she agreed.
Still, she couldn’t forget the image of a nineteen-year-old riding six miles in the rain to bring her soup.
“I didn’t say he’s a sissy boy,” Millicent growled, setting her hands on her hips. “I said he believes in true love. It’s all Doc and Dorothy’s fault, making out that there are others who believe in such a thing just because they found it.”
“Maybe he’ll figure it out for himself,” Elizabeth said hopefully.
Millicent snorted. “No way in hell that girl’s going to let onto the truth until she’s got a wedding ring on her finger.”
Asa was strangely silent. Was he thinking on the similarities between his situation and Cougar’s? Guilt and dismay washed over her in waves. She owed him better.
“Here, now, don’t eat that!” Millicent ordered, sweeping the half-eaten plate from under Asa’s nose. “It’s cold.”
“Still tastes good,” he argued around a mouthful of food.
“No one sits down to a cold meal at my table.”
“It was hot when it got here,” he pointed out.
Millicent bristled and Elizabeth wanted to laugh. She’d been on the receiving end of Asa’s humor enough to empathize.
“And I kept you gabbing, so now it’s cold,” Millicent countered his argument. “I’ll bring you a fresh plate. When you clean that, I’ll bring your pie.”
Asa groaned as she strode away. “Now I’m in a pickle.”
“Why?” Elizabeth asked, knowing full well how his plan had backfired.
“You heard her.” He shot a despondent glance at the pie on the counter. “I’ve got to clean the plate to get the pie. I might have managed to finish that plate and still had room for pie, but if she loads me down again, I’ll never make it.”
No sooner had he finished the sentence than Millicent came back with a plate groaning with the load it bore. She placed it in front of Asa with a flourish. On a “Dig in”, she was off to clean another table.
His sigh must have originated in his boot heels, it was so deep and drawn out. “I really could go for some more pie,” he said as he picked up his fork with resigned determination.
“You ate an entire pie at lunch.” Elizabeth pointed out reasonably.
A hound dog couldn’t look more mournful than Asa. “That was hours ago.”
She picked up her fork. “I suppose, in the interest of protecting your belly from another lecture, I could pitch in.”
Her offer didn’t inspire any great declarations of gratitude. “Pardon me, darlin’, but the two bites you’d manage wouldn’t make much of a dent.”
