AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Remind me when these ribs heal to meet you behind the barn.”
Cougar pulled out his makings and rolled a cigarette. Asa had to wait for the man to put it between his lips before he answered. “Don’t think I’d mind meeting you there.” The glance he ran over Asa was assessing. “We’re about a straight match.” He lit the cigarette and shook out his sulfur. “Can’t say the same about you and Elizabeth.”
“How I handle Elizabeth is my business.”
“I understand what’s between a husband and a wife is a private matter, and, plain as day, I’ll be answering to God for it, but you go spouting asinine orders to Elizabeth, she’s going to fight back.”
“Asinine mean stupid?”
“Pretty much.”
“Keeping the woman safe is not stupid.”
Cougar tossed the match to the ground. It smoked harmlessly in the dirt. “Putting Elizabeth in a pretty cage is asinine. Expecting her to be happy about it is sheer stupidity.”
“Ladies do not break horses.”
“Elizabeth wasn’t raised to be a lady. Look around you, man.” Cougar waved his arm in a descriptive arc to encompass the mountains and the wilderness. “This isn’t Boston or San Francisco. Elizabeth was born and raised here. Sure, she can act the part of a lady, but she’s still a Coyote with their wild nature and hatred for rules. Part of her will always be wild. Different.”
Asa ran his hand down his face. For all he didn’t want to hear it, his fairer side said there was truth in Cougar’s words. His less savvy side was already halfway to town to buy a wagon load of cotton batting to wrap Elizabeth safely in.
“You said I could ask anything I wanted in return for the debt you owe me,” Cougar continued.
Asa grit his teeth. He knew what was coming. “You planning on tying my hands with my own honor?”
Cougar’s lips flickered up in a ghost of a smile. “Not only that, but tail-flipped and hog-tied.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“You go in that barn and tell that woman she can’t work that horse and she’s going to balk. More than likely, you’ll be arguing in the bedroom.” He took a long drag on the cigarette. The tip glowed red, then faded. “Arguments like that can get nasty.”
Asa watched Elizabeth finish unsaddling Sir Prince. “I guess I couldn’t blame her if she did.”
“Women don’t have much else to fight with,” Cougar agreed.
Asa thought of the promise of obedience he’d made Elizabeth give. Hell, she didn’t even have that.
Cougar took a final drag on his cigarette and tossed it to the ground. “You turn ornery as a result of her fighting back and I’ll have to kill you, which would be a shame as you seem the likable sort.”
Asa laughed, and immediately regretted it as his ribs screamed. His “you’d like to try” was rather pitiful in the way of challenges.
“I’d like not to put it to the test, but women can drive a man crazy with their ways.”
Asa wondered if he was referring to his relationship with Emily. “You have my word. I won’t forbid her.”
“Guess that’ll have to do.” Cougar sat straight in the saddle as the barn door closed behind Elizabeth. “You want I should tell her you’re pure busted up?”
“Hell, no! Let’s just get me into the house. If we’re lucky, she’ll sulk in the barn and we can inspect the damage before she comes in.”
“You thinking she’s going to start screaming?”
“I don’t want her worried.”
Cougar swung his horse to the right, urged him around the corral, and chuckled. “So you’re not planning on telling her about the trap you fell into?”
“It’s not something I’m proud of,” Asa grumbled.
“It was well done.” Cougar pointed out, looking back the way they’d come. “Like everything else that’s been going on for the last year and a half. It’s no accident that bullet creased you and those cattle stampeded the way they did.”
“Yeah.”
“If you’re not going with the truth, what are you planning on telling her by way of explanation?”
“I’m going to tell her I fell off my horse.”
If Cougar’s previous chuckle had been irritating, his full blown laugh was pure insulting.
Holding his ribs, Asa nudged Shameless in Buck’s wake. As soon as his ribs healed, he and his neighbor were going to have to get some things settled. If a little dust flew, so much the better.
Chapter Seventeen
“You fell off your horse?” Elizabeth stared at Asa where he lay on the bed, his upper torso wrapped tighter than a corseted spinster. Hoof marks were clearly visible on his shoulder. Blood seeped through one of the bandages on his side.
“It’s not something I’m proud of,” Asa muttered in response to her disbelief.
“That whopper is another thing you’d best not be proud of.” His head snapped up. She shook her head. “I am not a stupid woman, Asa.” She jerked off her leather gloves. “Why you persist in treating me as one, I fail to understand.”
