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She wanted to examine Asa’s wounds, but she’d come straight from the stable. She needed to clean up. She went to the wash basin beside the bed.
“Don’t get prissy on me, Elizabeth.”
“Then don’t go telling me you fell off your horse when it’s as plain as the nose on your face you were trampled.” She poured water into the bowl and scrubbed her hands with lye soap.
“What are you doing?” He was eyeing her suspiciously.
“I intend to see how badly you’re hurt.”
“I’ve just got some busted-up ribs.”
“Good.” She dried her hands on the towel. “Then this won’t take long.”
Behind her, she heard Cougar chuckle.
Asa tried to scoot up. No doubt in an effort to intimidate her. His glare was ruined by the moan of pain his action elicited.
She flicked the sheets and blankets down. He tried to grab them back, but the stiffness from his injuries pulled him up short. She bit back a smile as he made another stab at dissuading her. “Cougar tended to everything. There’s no need.”
She worked the knot of the highest bandage. “Not more than an hour ago, you were reminding me of my duties. I wouldn’t be much of a wife if I didn’t see to your health.”
“Seems you’re mighty choosy about when you’re wifely.”
“I disagree. I’m always wifely.”
“But not very obedient.”
She shrugged. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You never forbade me to work with the horses,” she pointed out as she eased the bandage away from his chest.
“Because I wasn’t aware there was a need.”
“You’re right,” she countered, not one bit intimidated by his scowl. “There wasn’t a need.”
“That’s where we need to blow off the smoke.”
She gently urged him forward so she could unwrap the bandage. His breath hissed between his teeth, but he didn’t let on by anything else the agony he had to be in. She wanted to kiss his forehead in comfort. She didn’t. Instead, she gave him something he’d appreciate more. A distraction.
“There’s nothing to clear. I like to train horses. I’ve been doing it for ten years. I’m darned good at it and I won’t be forbidden to do it.”
“You won’t?”
She recognized the plan to argue in his low drawl. She took it into full consideration in the second it took to answer. “No.”
“What if I see this differently?” he asked.
She unwrapped the last layer of bandage and knew his anger for bluster. The man had to be in too much pain for anything else. “Then you’re going to have to change your mind.”
“Or else?”
“There is no or else.” She winced as she peeled the cloth away from an open wound. She looked at him. “This looks like a bullet crease.”
He shook his head. “I hit a branch.”
Stubborn man. She turned to Cougar. “What happened?”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t know, ma’am. If the man says he hit a tree and fell off his horse, I’ll not be the one to call him a liar.”
“You don’t have to be. I’m calling him one.”
The smile that shadowed her neighbor’s mouth was a faint simile of a grin. “All I know is I found him like he is, struggling to get back on his horse.”
“Naturally, you did the neighborly thing and saw him home.”
He took his fixings out of his pocket. “Yup.”
“And you two didn’t talk the whole way?”
“Nope.” He pulled out a paper. “Your husband didn’t seem the talkative sort.”
And pigs flew. “If you’re going to smoke,” she interjected before he could shake tobacco onto the paper, “I’d appreciate it if you took it outside.”
“I’ll wait then.” He settled in the wing-backed chair.
“If that’s your choice.” Elizabeth looked at the deep wound again. “This is going to need stitches.”
“Like hell,” Asa growled at the same time Cougar said, “I told you so.”
To Asa, Elizabeth merely said, “Yes. It does.” To Cougar, she had a bit more to say. “You mean to tell me you bandaged him up like this, knowing he needed stitches?”
“Yup. He seemed ready to come to blows over the issue.” He shrugged. “Didn’t see any harm in it. No wife worth her salt was going to take a neighbor’s word for how her husband’s faring.”
She eyed him, the way he slouched in the chair, and wondered why she was surprised. Asa and Cougar were a lot alike. Neither wasted a lot of time arguing. Not when they could accomplish their goals through other means.
“If you’re going to stay, I suppose you can hold him down while I stitch.”
“Be happy to.”
From the broad grin across his face, Asa just bet McKinnely would. “No one needs to hold me down.”
“I’m your wife.” Elizabeth informed him in a tone he wasn’t used to hearing. “You don’t need to worry about impressing me.”
Like hell he didn’t. “No one’s going to have to hold me down because no one’s going to stick a needle in me.”
