“So do you,” Bart reminded him. “And he isn’t being seen around town with the happy divorcée.”

Cort made a face. “She’s really not what people think she is,” he said.

“There’s a lot of that going around lately,” Bart replied, and averted his eyes.

“No, I’m not kidding,” Cort said. “Ida isn’t a scarlet woman. It’s a defense mechanism. If she flaunts her scandalous reputation, men leave her alone. They’re afraid they won’t measure up to her expectations. She avoids relationships like the plague.”

“She goes out with you,” he was reminded.

Cort smiled. “We’re friends, and that isn’t a euphemism. I like her. I don’t like most women.”

“Do you like Mina?”

Cort looked worried. He shifted in his chair and refreshed his coffee from the pot sitting on the table. He sipped it before he answered. “She’s an odd mixture,” he said. “She’s nervous around men. I can understand why she’s that way. Her mother should have been in federal prison.”

“A lot of us around here felt that way,” he replied. “Cody tried so damned hard to get anything on her that would get Mina out of her life. He never could.”

“Her father was a piece of work, too,” he murmured. “He could have tried to keep in touch with his daughter. We have all sorts of ways to do that, even snail mail if it came right down to it.”

“If he’d tried, Anthea would have burned any letters he sent while Mina was out of the house.”

“Damn!”

“I understand that he did try to get custody of her, but Anthea made up some false charge—sort of like your starlet did—and threatened him with prison if he tried to take Mina away.”

“She didn’t want the child,” Cort said, frowning.

“No. But she didn’t want her husband to have her, either.”

“I’ve never understood how women like that get away with so much.”

“Me, neither.”

Cort looked up at him. “What do you think of Mina’s new hire? The full-time man. I can’t remember his name.”

“His name is Jerry Fender,” Bart said, frowning. “McAllister and he go to the same church. He told Fender the job was available, so Fender applied.”

“Does McAllister know if he’s trustworthy?” Cort wondered. “Mina’s over there with him alone at night,” he reminded Bart.

“If Bill McAllister says he’s okay, he is,” Bart replied, surprised at his cousin’s concern for a woman he wasn’t overly fond of.

Cort sighed. “I hope so. She’s…innocent,” he said finally, and the way he said it was almost a caress. “That’s why I don’t like her going around with McGuire. He’s too experienced for a young woman.”

Bart burst out laughing. “Do you know what century this is? Most women Mina’s age have been in at least one serious relationship, sometimes many more. Women are street-smart, and sassy, and many of them don’t like men at all.”

“Sad news for the future generations we won’t have,” Cort replied on a laugh.