Promises Linger (Promise Series)

by Sarah McCarty

  “There was no need,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve been breaking horses for years.” She shot a glare Cougar’s way. “As you well know.”

  “And this is the first time you thought to mention it?” Asa cut in.

  He wasn’t backing her into that corner. “I explained to you a week ago that my father taught me everything about ranching.”

  “You said you didn’t learn too well.”

  “I never said I had trouble working horses.”

  “No, you were real careful to leave that out.” He shifted in the saddle. Leather creaked and the silence stretched. She wondered why he didn’t get down.

  “It’s a fact your wife’s not good with cows,” Cougar offered, no doubt in an effort to be helpful. “Give Miss Coyote a cow and she can’t tell one end from the other, but put a horse in front of her and she’s pure magic.”

  “It’s Mrs. MacIntyre,” Elizabeth corrected, only to have her voice drowned out by Asa’s simultaneous snarl.

  Beyond a slight smile, Cougar didn’t give any indication he’d heard either of them. “Fact is, Mrs. MacIntyre trained old Bucky here.” He patted Buck’s neck. “He tossed her a couple of times, but she didn’t quit until she made a top cow pony out of him.”

  The accolade was nice, Elizabeth thought, but did the man have to go and remind Asa that she sometimes got hurt? Couldn’t he see Asa’s lips were getting tighter by the minute? “Thank you, Mr. McKinnely.”

  “No problem.”

  With a sweep of his hand, Asa included Cougar and Sir Prince in one gesture. “Do you think you could stop admiring my wife enough to take that brute back into the stable?”

  “I can do it,” Elizabeth said.

  “I’d prefer McKinnely handle it.” And that, apparently, he thought, was that.

  Elizabeth had news for him. “For your information, Mr. MacIntyre, I like to train horses. I like training Sir Prince.”

  “Then you’re going to have to unlike it.”

  She most certainly did not. Fury bubbled and frothed. “I don’t think so.” She kept her tone even as she placed her hand on the horse’s neck. “I need this.”

  “You’ve got the house to take care of.”

  “You ever take care of a house, Asa?” She didn’t wait for his reply. “It’s boring, and if I have to clean one more thing, I’ll go coyote-mad.” That was the honest truth.

  She untied Sir Prince’s lead rope and swung around to head to the opposite side of the corral.

  “Elizabeth—”

  She heard the warning in his tone. She ignored it.

  Three more steps and his voice went up a notch while his drawl lengthened, “Elizabeth, pull up right there, or I’ll have to—”

  She stopped dead, but didn’t turn around. “Don’t say it.” She warned him in the most level voice she could manage. “I’ve had it up to here,” she slashed her hand across her throat, “with people telling me what to do. Don’t you dare order me to let go of this lead.”

  He’d heard that tone before, Asa realized. Right before Elizabeth had pole-axed that fancy gambler with the stool, she’d been just as precise. Just as unnaturally calm. Still, a man didn’t take orders from his wife.

  McKinnely chose that moment to sidestep his horse hard into Shameless who half-reared and pranced away. Pain lanced out from Asa’s damaged ribs. Instead of the “Or what?” he’d intended, all that came out was a low groan.

  He glared at McKinnely. “Stay out of it.”

  “I’d be more than happy to, but it wouldn’t be neighborly of me to let those ribs drive you to ruffling your wife’s feathers unnecessarily.”

  Asa watched Elizabeth proceed to the barn, stiff-spined, as if expecting him to swoop down on her. “Ruffle nothing. I’m going to tan her backside.”

  The look McKinnely shot him was wry. “And when you’re done doing that?”

  “Things will be back to normal.”

  This time, Cougar’s look was pure pity. “Haven’t known you long, and, sure, I’m still learning about you, but…” He shook his head sadly. “I’m pure disappointed you’re turning out to be such a fool.”

  “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.”

  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.”

  He could have been a fly on the wall for all the attention she paid him. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Where you going?”

  “To get the needle and silk.”

  “I don’t need stitches.” He was talking to air.

  “Lady says you need stitching,” Cougar said, coming over to the bed.

  “You don’t have to sound so all-fired cheery about the prospect,” Asa muttered.

  “Just being neighborly.”

  “Uh-huh.” Asa pointed to the door. “Why don’t you try being neighborly back at your place?”

  McKinnely didn’t take the hint. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves. Elizabeth came back in the room, a brown wooden box in her hand. He didn’t need to ask what was in it. Every ranch had its medical supplies. Just as no cowboy ever wanted the lid lifted.

  “Elizabeth, I forbid you to come near me with that stuff.”

  As if she hadn’t heard, she proceeded to pour whiskey into a cup. She handed it to him. “Drink this.”

  He sniffed. Pure, unadulterated whiskey scoured his nostrils with its scent. He sniffed again. Real whiskey. Maybe even Kentucky sipping stock. He tossed the contents back and held out the glass for a refill. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cougar perking up with anticipation.

  “That your father’s stock?” Cougar asked, as soon as Elizabeth had topped off Asa’s glass.

  “I assume so.” She threaded silk through a needle, then dropped thread and all into a bowl of the whiskey. “I found it in his study after his death.”

  “Just the one bottle?” McKinnely asked.

  “No.” Elizabeth poured more water ove
r her hands. She hadn’t even gotten the soap into a good lather before McKinnely was asking, “Want me to toss that for you?”

  Elizabeth’s “that’s all right” had no more influence than Asa’s initial refusal of help had. McKinnely could be mule-stubborn when he had his own agenda. He poured water over Elizabeth’s hands. He didn’t stop until the basin was near to overflowing and Elizabeth was doing her best to conceal the concern for her floors. “That’s fine, thank you.”

  “No problem.”

  “You can just toss it out the window.”

  “It’s no problem at all to take it out back.”

  “That’s really not necessary.”

  Elizabeth could have saved herself the breath. Asa wasn’t fooled about why McKinnely wanted the trip downstairs. A body had to pass right by the study while coming and going. His opinion of his neighbor went up another notch. It took a smart man to think on his feet.

  Elizabeth pulled some white rags from the box.

  “You’re not sewing me up,” he told her again.

  Yes, she was. “The wound needs cleaning. There’s dirt embedded in it.”

  She’d be lucky if he didn’t get an infection. Tears stung her eyes at the thought. To her astonishment, Elizabeth realized she wanted to cry. Because a man had been hurt of all things. She blinked quickly to dispel the moisture. She didn’t want Asa to see. He’d probably decide weepy women were too delicate to ride a carriage into town.

  “That’s what McKinnely said,” he admitted.

  “And you didn’t let him clean it?” She wanted to cuff him over the head for such stupidity.

  “The man’s got the touch of a bull.”

  She bent her head to hide a smile. “I’ll endeavor to be gentle.”

  “Being as you’re a woman, it can’t help but be an improvement.”

  She rose from the side of the bed and walked to the foot. As she opened the chest, she said, “For a man who grew up with some pretty poor examples of women, you seem to have definite opinions on their qualities.”

  She grabbed a sheet and stood straight. That half smile on his lips told her he was going to make her laugh. Probably because her eyes were still stinging. As observant as he was, it was too much to hope he wouldn’t notice.