He smelled ozone again.“Hard to imagine.Miners really love pies.Ask Mavis.”
She ignored his attempt to divert her.“I will teach miners to flirt.”
He stumbled and bumped shoulders with Saber.“You’ll teach them towhat?”
“To flirt.They spend so much time alone, or with other men, that they don’t know how to approach women.I’ll teach them how to be charming.To make women desire them.”She cut a glance sideways at him, from under her lashes, putting action to words.“You could use a few lessons too.”
Panic gnawed at his gut, like a trapped animal chewing off a leg to escape.She’d known it was him, watching her from the shadows last night.Like a wolf stalking sheep, she’d found the weakest lamb in the flock.
Then, his backbone delivered a roundhouse kick to his brain.What the hell was the matter with him?Was he always this slow?Unsettling others was how she asserted herself.She couldn’t tell her brother she didn’t want to marry a man he’d chosen for her.It probably hadn’t even occurred to her to do so.Instead, she was going to do whatever she could to make herself unfit for the marriage he chose.
That was behind the adventure she’d dreamt up to give Mavis.A ruined woman represented freedom, whereas sheltered, pampered-princess Malika had none.Even here, in Burning Scrub, freedom was an illusion for her.
If she wanted to pretend to be a ruined woman as part of her adventure, what was the harm?The rest of it was none of his business.
Twenty-five million dollars.
There was no need for guilt.
They reached the stable.The moon reemerged from the clouds and the smell of ozone abated.If they’d been in for a thunderstorm, the threat was now over.He pushed the stable door open.He turned, and moonlight captured her face.
She looked so pretty.So young.So optimistic.
So weirdly naïve.Teaching grown men to flirt…
He wasn’t one hundred percent sure she knew what the word meant.He could see that business venture going sideways on her real fast.Burning Scrub didn’t have many unmarried men, but there were a few, and Jayce didn’t trust any of them.He didn’t trust Andy Danvers, in particular.His sense of honor was the kind found among thieves.
He’d have to tell Mavis about Malika’s plan.Between them, they’d keep her out of trouble.For the ranch’s cut of twenty-five million, his dad could manage without him this summer.
“I surely could use a few lessons,” he said, breathing easier now that his head was on straighter and he’d made his mind up.“But you might want to think about pie-baking too.My great-grandma always said—the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“Good food does help to make a home happy,” Malika said thoughtfully.
He had no idea what she was going on about now.
He could see that she’d saddled Saber herself, though, and done a decent job of it, which he took note of when he checked the straps before removing the saddle.She then helped him bed Saber down for the night without needing direction, proving she really did know a few things about horses.Neither did she get all girly about the skittering noises in the dark recesses of the stable, or fret about mice in the hay before she grabbed up an armful.
She was a puzzle.
By the time they finished with Saber, and began the trek to the lodge, the town had gone completely silent.All its windows were black.
There were only so many questions he could ask without stepping out of his role, and sound carried when nights were still, like tonight, so he didn’t bother.Malika was quiet, too, which was okay with him.He never knew what she was talking about.And if she was planning to attempt another escape, he was already on it.He’d sleep in the stable.
They left the town behind.Shortly after, the black shape of the lodge loomed at the end of the woods path.
“Why did you stay in the shadows last night?”Malika asked, out of the blue.“Why didn’t you join me?”
He’d been trying hard not to think about that.There was nothing honorable about it.It wasn’t part of his role.He’d hoped they could pretend it hadn’t happened.
He should have known better.
“No idea what you’re talking about, ma’am,” he said, sweating a little.“I slept in the bunkhouse last night.”
She touched his arm.She tilted her head, looking up at him from a slight angle.Moonlight brightened her eyes.“Where will you be sleeping tonight?”
She continued to shock him.The invitation could not be more explicit.
He wasn’t stupid enough to accept, even though the memory of the way she touched herself while he watched—and how much he’d enjoyed the display, despite how shocked he’d been by it—had him in a state of unrest that was going to plague him tonight and for many more nights to come.He doubted very much if this was what her brother had in mind when he’d said to make her adventure realistic.
