Jayce walked with Malika.He carried his rifle because the bear threat was real.She could tell he’d figured out who Butch Cassidy was by the way he watched Cassidy watching her.If he had an opinion about it, he kept it to himself, but he didn’t seem angry with her for not letting him in on her plan, which she was optimistic about.She didn’t want him to get in trouble with the town or with Adeel, which was why she hadn’t told him, but she didn’t want to be in trouble with him.She adored him.
They entered the clearing.
“Are you going to help us pick berries?”Malika asked.
“I’ll leave that to you.You seem to have everything under control.”
He smiled at her with his eyes, and she knew everything was okay between them.Contrary to her first impressions of him, he did have a sense of humor buried under all that male beauty.They were going to have a wonderful life together.
Just as soon as she got rid of Eli.
And took care of Adeel.
“Come along, Mr.Cassidy,” she said to Eli.“I’ll show you how it’s done.”
She used a fold of her skirt to create a pocket for berries.Once she filled it with a few handfuls, she tipped the berries into the kettle.“See how easy it is?”
Eli’s enthusiasm for the activity was on par with Jayce’s.The Mexicans were much better sports, although they ate more than they added to the communal kettle.Linda’s task was to keep Jayce occupied.She darted back and forth between the berry bushes, Jayce, and the sparkling creek.
Malika moved farther away from the Mexicans, who’d started a competition to see who could stuff the most berries in their mouth, in search of berry bushes that hadn’t been thoroughly picked over.Eli moved with her, adding his contributions to the pocket she’d created.
He was a quiet, stern man with very little fun in him, despite her efforts to engage him in conversation.She was angry all over again that Adeel thought he would suit her, and that she should be grateful.
“Sundance tells me you’re planning to rob the bank,” she said.“How exciting.”
“Sundance told you that, did he?”
“He tells me everything.We have no secrets in bed.We’re deeply in love.American romance is wonderful, don’t you think?”
“It has its charm,” Eli said.
She was getting nowhere with him.
She dropped her skirt.Berries spilled onto the ground and rolled under the bushes.
“Oh, no,” she cried.She got down on her hands and knees.“Mr.Cassidy.Can you help me?”She wriggled farther into the bushes.
There it was.
Eli shifted his bowl to his other hand.He reached down to grasp hers.She grabbed the wire under the bush at the same time.
The jolt of electricity pulsed from the fence, up her arm, through her chest, and to the hand connecting her to Eli.She hadn’t known how much it would hurt.Every muscle enroute tightened and cramped.Her chest squeezed into one giant spasm.
The pulse of electricity peaked, then it stopped.She released her hold on the wire.The roots of her hair and her fingertips tingled.
The effect on Eli was much worse, as Jayce had predicted.She let go of his hand.His whole body had gone rigid.He toppled over, clutching his chest, as his muscles unclenched.He curled into a ball on his side on the ground and drew his knees to his stomach.She thought she smelled smoke.
She’d killed him.
That resolved one problem, but it might have created another.
Jayce and the Mexicans trotted over.Eli moaned, proving he was alive.Everyone crowded around him.Jayce knelt and took his pulse.
Eli’s eyes popped open.He said something indelicate in his native language, and Malika gasped.She clapped her hands over Linda’s ears, even though the little girl wouldn’t understand the words.
“Mr.Cassidy.There’s a child present,” Malika said.
She could never be happy married to a man who believed it was okay to swear around children.
