When the calf bellowed again, Kendra rushed from her chair to take shelter in the door frame with Cait, both poised for flight. Stopping only to snatch up baby Jewel, Amy joined them. The women all clung together, staring. Squished between their bodies, Jewel let out a wail.
The calf’s head bellowed once more…
No, it croaked.
With a half-amused, half-disgusted groan, Trick dropped his fork, reached to pry the calf’s mouth open wider, and lifted its heavy pink tongue. A toad hopped out and looked around, blinking its bulbous eyes before it leapt off the table and headed toward the door.
The women broke apart to let it pass between them. Amongst gales of laughter from the men, Kendra thwacked Colin on the head as she returned to her seat. “For the love of God! Have you no sense of propriety?”
“A question of propriety fromyourlips, little sister?” Colin rubbed his head good-naturedly. “Was it not just yesterday we found you—”
“Hush, Colin.” Amy dumped their sobbing daughter on her husband’s lap. “Here. You made her cry, she’s yours.” She seated herself and raised her fork, but not before sending him a tolerant smile.
Jewel quieted when Colin bounced her on his knee. “Well, you’ve seen us at our worst now,” he said to Trick around a mouthful of dressed artichoke bottoms. “Welcome to the family.”
Trick shrugged noncommittally. Watching him scan the group around the table, Kendra tried to imagine what he was thinking.
It couldn’t be good.
It was time to bring this charade to an end. She turned to Jason. “How will you get along without me here to direct the household?”
“We’ll manage,” her brother said blithely, wrapping an arm around his competent wife. His fingertips played idly in her dark-blond hair. “I set Jane to packing your things.”
Trick touched Kendra’s hand. “Jane is your maid, I presume? She can follow tomorrow. You’ll send her along, Cainewood?”
“Certainly.”
“But—” Kendra started.
“Tomorrow,” Trick repeated, cutting her off. “You won’t be needing her tonight.”
At the look in his eyes—the keen hunger—Kendra’s spoon clattered to her plate. He was acting as though they were really married, talking of maids and spending the night together.
Did highwaymen even have servants? She certainly hadn’t seen any at the cottage. Was she really married to this man? Fingering the bracelet around her wrist, she recalled what little she knew of him.
It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t good.
“But you’re—” Something in his warm eyes made her falter. “—a highwayman,” she finished weakly.
Jason reached for the bread. “Yes, we need to talk about that.”
Trick tore his gaze from Kendra. “Aye?”
“It has got to stop.”
Trick chewed thoughtfully, then sipped some wine. The silence stretched between him and Jason, almost as though it were a palpable barrier.
“I mean it, Trick. You don’t need the money.”
“Aye? You think not?” A corner of Trick’s wide mouth turned up, and Kendra would swear he was about to start laughing.
Did he really not need the money? Had he enough put aside, then? Could highway robbery bethatlucrative?
There was something missing here. But she couldn’t seem to think straight in his presence; it had been that way since she’d first laid eyes on him. She felt all hot and bothered, and her brain refused to work.
“Why do you do it?” Ford asked.
With a shake of his head, Trick tossed the hair from his eyes and looked straight at her twin. “Maybe it’s a pleasant amusement.”
