“Really? Beats the hell out of me who could do that.”
Milly clammed up and it was obvious she wasn’t going to give her any help. She needed to try a different tactic of getting information. Maybe a more indirect approach would work.
“Come on. Let’s get that coffee.” Milly opened the door wide and waved her inside, obviously keeping her attention away from the battered Bug. “I’ll do my best to give you whatever else you need, too.”
Christy settled on a stool at the counter while Milly moved around the place, putting her purse away and switching on appliances. She went into the kitchen area for a while, then came back out with a cake plate piled with doughnuts.
“I don’t know if you’re a healthy eater or not, but I love a good doughnut in the morning. That along with a mug of strong coffee. Until it’s ready, though, how about we dig into the sweet stuff?”
Christy tried to eat a well-balanced diet, but if there was ever a time for a little comfort junk food, this was it. She took a glazed doughnut, hesitated, then pinched a chocolate-covered one, too. “Please don’t think I’m a pig.”
“I won’t if you do the same for me.” Milly pulled out four doughnuts, took a huge bite of a powdered sugar one and moaned. “I swear, if there’s anything better than sex, it’s one of Mack’s doughnuts.”
“Mack?”
“He’s my cook. Or at least he usually is. He left last night with his ma—wife on vacation. The man works like a dog and has never taken off for more than a day or so. I finally had to kick his butt out to get him to take a break.”
“So are you doing the cooking today?”
“God, no. I’d have to have every customer sign a release form stating that they wouldn’t sue me when they came down with food poisoning. Nope. Leggy Lucy’s going to man the grill.”
“Leggy Lucy?” Christy took her first bite and almost forgot what she’d asked. The doughnut melted in her mouth, the chocolate coating her tongue. It tasted like sin and heaven all at once. “Oh, mamma, but that’s good.”
“It is, right? Mack makes the best doughnuts, but you’ve got to eat a slice of one of Lucy’s buttercream cakes. I swear it’ll make your knees go weak. And believe it or not, but she can eat her cake all day without gaining an ounce. It’s almost too much to bear that she can eat that way and still stay tall, slim, with legs that go on from here to the Canadian border. That’s why the men around here call her Leggy. I just wish she wasn’t so damn nice so I could hate her because she’s beautiful.”
Christy took another bite, then a third. “You shouldn’t have let me taste these. I’m going to gain ten pounds by the time I’m done.”
“Girlfriend, sometimes ya gotta give your body what it’s cravin’. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Be back in a sec.” Milly hurried back toward the commercial coffeemaker and filled two cups. “Let me guess. You like milk or cream in yours. Am I right?”
“I shouldn’t, but yes, cream please. And none of those fake creamers, either. How else do you think I filled out my jeans?”
Milly laughed and set the steaming cup in front of her. “From the way the men were checking you out yesterday, I’m thinking the way you fill them out is just fine.”
“Are you talking about Grant, Duncan, and Lance?”
A smile, one that was all too knowing, lifted the corners of Milly’s mouth. “Among others. So tell me. What’d you think of them?”
She took a sip, trying to stall her answer, then set the cup back down when the liquid burned her lip.
“That’ll teach you to try and dodge my question.”
Milly was a smart lady and one she didn’t want to try and fool any longer. “I think they’re amazing. I’ve never met anyone like them.”
Milly put her hand over hers. “Oh, hon, you don’t know anything yet. Let me give you a rundown, okay?”
“Sure.” She took another sinful bite.
“Okay, Grant Harkness has owned the Crescent Moon Ranch for as long as I can recall. He’s an honest man and one you can count on to be there when you need help. If there’s anything wrong with him, it’s that he can be a little uptight at times. A stickler for keeping to a plan. He bends, but not without a lot of pushing, if you get what I mean.”
She wasn’t certain she did, but she was too busy eating another delicious doughnut to say so. The horrors she’d experienced at the hands of Merle and Gabe seemed less awful with each bite.
“Lance and Duncan are cousins, but they’re more like brothers, if you ask me. Duncan’s the more impulsive of the two, but Lance is no stick-in-the-mud, either. They both work hard and they play hard, too. If you’re looking for two men who’ll keep you on your toes and laughing about it most of the time, then the Thorne cousins are the men for you.”