True to the Law by Jo Goodman Read Free Book Online

believe.”
    “Renee? Miss Harrison’s not working tonight.” She studied his face, wondering why he brought up Cil’s cousin. “You prefer her to Cecilia?”
    “I prefer present company, Miss Morrow.”
    “A pretty compliment, but I must point out that you don’t know me.”
    “I thought it was obvious that I mean to rectify that.” He returned her study, his gaze direct but vaguely remote, seeing more than he gave away. “It can be . . . wearing . . . when the cousins work together. That’s why I inquired after Miss Harrison.”
    “I’ve observed that men are generally flattered by their attentions.”
    “I didn’t say I wasn’t flattered.”
    Tru laughed. “No, you didn’t, did you?” She helped herself to a crusty roll from the plate Cil left and broke it in two. She set one half down and drizzled honey on the other. When she looked up, he was still watching her. “You’re staring, Mr. Bridger. You’ve seen someone put honey on bread before, haven’t you?”
    “No one with your concentration for the task. Your tongue was peeping out.” He touched the right corner of his own mouth with a fingertip. “Right here.”
    She nodded and wondered if she should be embarrassed. She didn’t feel embarrassed. It was odd that he didn’t make her feel that way. “I’ve been told it also happens when I write or do particularly difficult sums.” She took a delicate bite of her roll.
    “Who told you that?”
    Tru savored the roll as it melted on her tongue. She tasted honey on her lips. “My father thought it was a habit I should be able to manage better. Applications of pepper sauce proved unsuccessful.”
    Cobb’s eyebrows lifted.
    “It wasn’t as awful as it sounds.”
    “I don’t know. It sounds painful.”
    She shrugged. “I do try to be mindful around my students. I’ve caught some of the girls aping me. Well, mimicking me. Aping makes it sound as if they mean to be cruel, and I don’t think that is their intention.”
    “I’m sure it’s not.”
    Tru stayed her hand on the way to her mouth and regarded Cobb Bridger with new interest. “How can you be sure? To my knowledge, you’ve only met two of my students, neither of whom are young ladies.”
    “No, they’re young men, and I don’t think I’m wrong that they find the gesture as fascinating as I do. Your girls, at least the older ones, come by that knowledge through some instinct as old as Eve, and they act on it without scruple. We, and by ‘we’ I mean all men, will never be able to resist the apple.”
    Tru blinked. She required a moment to recover. “You present a rather disturbing image. I believe I will try the pepper sauce again.”
    “Do not do it on my account.”
    “There is no reason to flatter yourself. I’m doing it for my young ladies, the ones who think that a female is of no account unless she has an apple to offer.” It was wholly satisfying that it was Cobb Bridger who blinked this time. She claimed that as a victory of sorts because he did not strike her as a man who was easily taken aback. “I may be almost as new to Wyoming as you, Mr. Bridger, but I fully embrace the notion that women here are of equal standing, at least in the eyes of territory law.”
    Tru thought it was a proper construction of her position, clear and concise, and conveyed that she was a serious person and one who should be taken seriously, then the corners of his mouth curved upward and the promise of his smile was fully realized. She could not make out condescension in his features. All evidence pointed to genuine enjoyment. He set down his beer and gave sound to a full-throated laugh. Tru finished off her roll in the time it took him to rein in his amusement. When he was quiet, she raised a single eyebrow and simply waited him out.
    Cobb cleared his throat and took another swallow of beer. “I stand corrected,” he said. “And in awe.”
    It was not disapproval that made Tru press her lips together. She needed to