Page 54 of Wyoming True

Well, that couldn’t be helped. She finished her coffee and put the cup down gingerly, lying back on the pillows with her eyes closed.

Only a few minutes passed before Mrs. Barton was back with a plate of scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon.

“You eat that,” she said in a motherly tone. “It will keep those nasty pills from dissolving your innards.”

Ida laughed in spite of herself. “Yes, I expect so. Thanks very much. I’m sorry to put you to the trouble...”

“No worries,” Maude replied, and she even managed a brief smile. “You just sit that on the side table when you’re through.” She paused. “Why would someone attack your cat?” she wondered again.

“My ex-husband was sent to prison for abusing me,” she said simply. “He’s out and I have a lot of money and he has gambling debts. He says I owe him for what happened to him. He’s already hurt two of my horses. I guess poor Butler was the weakest link in the chain. Poor old cat,” she added heavily. “He had a string around his neck that had almost choked him when I found him out in the woods. He had welts all over him, as if somebody had hit him with a belt. I got the string off and took him home with me. It took almost two weeks for him to come out of hiding when I walked into a room. The vet said he looked as if he’d been tortured by someone. That’s what I thought, too. He lived through that, and now this. Two broken ribs, a broken tail, welts all over him...” She stopped, swallowing hard. “There was a blood trail halfway across the living room when I got home. If Mr. Colter didn’t have my poor horses, I expect they’d be victims all over again. They both had deep cuts on their hindquarters. My ex-husband said it was only a taste of what I could expect if I didn’t put up some cash.”

Maude whistled softly. “And I thought I had a hard life,” she murmured. “He should be locked back up.”

“If the sheriff can find anything to connect him to my babies’ injuries, he will be,” Ida returned, blue eyes flashing fire.

“You might be next,” Maude said and grimaced.

“Yes.” She looked at the other woman worriedly. “I’m putting you and Jake in danger just by being here!”

“No, you’re not,” came the firm reply. “Mr. McGuire has two cowboys who used to be mercenaries. He coaxed them away from Ren Colter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets past them. You’re safe here.”

Ida bit her lower lip. “Safe.” She laughed hollowly. “I haven’t been safe since the day I met Bailey Trent.”

“Well, you are now. You eat those nice eggs before they get cold. And if you need more coffee, you just call me, okay?”

“Okay.” She picked up her fork with a long sigh. “Thank you for the food. And the kind words. And for listening.”

Maude flushed. “It was... You’re very welcome.” She smiled jerkily and went back to the kitchen.

Ida finished the eggs and bacon, put the plate up, sipped half a cup of coffee and lay back on the pillows. Minutes later she was sound asleep.

CHAPTER NINE

MAUDEMETJAKEat the door when he came back inside.

“I’m very sorry that I rushed to judgment about Mrs. Merridan,” she said stiffly. “I didn’t know her true circumstances.”

“Gossip is a dangerous thing,” Jake replied. “She has some serious issues.”

“She told me.” She grimaced. “What sort of monster was she married to?”

“One of the worst kind,” he replied. “I think he’ll put her in harm’s way next. Her animals were a warning.”

“Her poor cat,” she replied. “She said she found him in the woods with a string tied tight around his neck and welts all over him. She took him to a vet and adopted him. She was very upset that he’d gone through something similar again.” She lifted her eyes to his. “She’s not what I thought.”

“She’s not what I thought, either, Mrs. Barton,” he replied quietly. “She’s like a chameleon. She pretends to be something she’s not so that men won’t hit on her. She’s afraid of them.”

“Poor child,” she sighed. “What a life she’s had.”

He nodded. “She could have gone on in college and taught physics. Pity she didn’t.”

“Physics?” Maude exclaimed.

He chuckled. “She graduated from MIT.”

“Well, you never know about people, do you? I fed her some scrambled eggs and bacon. Not a good idea to take medicine that powerful on an empty stomach. My cousin is on the same sort of dose.”

“Someday, I hope, they’ll come up with a treatment that works better and isn’t as dangerous,” he returned.

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