Benny gargled a mouthful of cider, swallowed, then contemplated his glass.“We haven’t had research scientists driving them out of their ranges before, either.”
Grizzlies were solitary animals and not usually territorial.Their home ranges often overlapped with other bears and with people.The safest way to keep one from making Burning Scrub part of its range was to make the town unattractive to it, and food was what attracted bears most.
With scientists traipsing the mountains and driving small game off, however, bears had no choice but to seek out other food sources.Thirty-six adults, nine children, and tourists with no concept of danger, would look like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Tilly barged in, ending talk of fences and bears, and ending the card game, as well.More women crowded behind her.
Belle and Malika weren’t with them.Jayce wondered why not, and what it might mean.
Likely nothing.
He hoped.
“Let’s get this party started,” Tilly said briskly.“Retta, you take the piano.Beau, grab your guitar.”She rubbed her hands together and scanned the room for her first victim.“Now.Who wants to dance?”
Ali raked in his mound of pennies.“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure.I’m going to call it a night.”He nodded to Beau.“May blessings be showered upon you and your bride and unite you in goodness.”
Beau’s agent nudged Beau with an elbow.“There’s the opening line of a sappy love song for you.Put that to music.”
Jayce didn’t have any blessings to shower on Beau and his bride, so he simply slipped out once the music began and no one was looking.
The moon was a sliver from full and drenched the dirt street in a torrent of light that made a lantern redundant.Ali, who moved with the stealth of a panther at night, was long gone.The talk about bears had put Jayce on edge.A quick check to make sure Ali made it safely back to the lodge might be wise.And Ali had made Malika his problem too.She’d gone to Belle’s bridal shower.Why wasn’t she at the saloon with the others?The possibility of her and Belle making friends caused him no end of angst.He didn’t need Malika telling Belle tales about him.
He couldn’t go to sleep without finding out where she was.It was too much like having a rogue cow loose in the barn and just closing the door on it, hoping for the best.Malika was trouble.
He shoved his hands in his coat pockets and started to walk.
He could have found his way to the lodge in pitch black or a whiteout, so he let his thoughts wander too.He’d been a part of Burning Scrub for more years than he could recall.He’d been involved early on in discussions regarding how to make the town turn a profit, and these days, he was part of the show.Gunfighter was the role he liked best.Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost.Last year, he lost.To Beau Jones, the worst cowboy in the history of Montana—but a decent shot at close range.
Maybe it was time for him to pull out.To go someplace with more people, where he’d stand a better chance of meeting a woman who looked at him the way Belle looked at Beau.To start the next generation of Hansons on the Ride No More Ranch while his parents were still young enough to enjoy having grandkids underfoot.
The downstairs windows of Belle’s house were dark.Upstairs, Belle and her future in-laws were getting ready for bed as he walked past.He could see shadows moving about behind the closed curtains.
A few minutes later, and after a short, shadowy stroll through the trees, he reached the lodge.
The lights were on.Everything seemed in order.
But to be sure, he walked around to the back.Malika had commented on the magical fairyland outside of her window, which meant her bedroom butted up to the trees.
He spotted her balcony at once.Light spilled through open glass doors.She stood at the rail, her head tipped back and facing the sky, her long hair flowing freely behind her.The moon bathed her bare skin.She was naked.
Naked.
He ducked into the shadows, his heart pounding, and squeezed his eyes shut, but it was too late.That wasn’t a sight he’d be forgetting anytime soon.What the heck was she thinking, standing naked outside, for the whole world to see?He sneaked another quick peek to confirm that his eyes weren’t making things up.
They were not.She was stark, bare-ass-to-the-breeze, naked, and completely indifferent as to who might be watching.To make things infinitely worse, at least from his perspective, she ran her hands over her breasts, as if she were, indeed, bathing in moonlight.
The woman was shameless.
He collected his thoughts and his wits.She was here, safe and sound.No need to hang around any longer.He should go.
Except his feet wouldn’t move.His eyes refused to stay shut.
And he continued to watch until she returned to her room.
*
Malika
