“No.That’s why Adam hid it.But in the 1800s, we were allowed to shoot bears.Now the government put collars on them so researchers can track them.”
“Benny says the government puts trackers in vaccines so they can track people too.”Linda held out her arm.“I’ve got a tracker in me right here.See?Belle put it in me.”
“You do not have a tracker in you,” Tilly said.“Belle gave you protection against measles, rubella, and pertussis.”
“Does it work on bears too?”Linda asked.
“No.That’s why we had to bring Jayce along.He’s our bear protection.”
Jayce picked up his rifle.“How about I go sit down over here and catch my breath for a little bit while you ladies pick berries?”
Tilly handed the picnic basket to him.“You might as well protect the lunch too.”
Malika began picking ripe berries and dropping them into her basket.She checked on Jayce every few minutes to make sure he was alive.He kept rubbing his chest and shaking his arm.
“Should we be worried about him?”she asked Tilly.
“Good heavens, no.”Tilly dumped a handful of berries into Linda’s abandoned basket.The little girl was more interested in exploring the tiny worlds that existed under the bushes.“He’s a full-grown, healthy man.He got a little jolt of electricity, and he’s using it as an excuse to avoid women’s work.”
Women’s work wasn’t the only thing he was avoiding.Malika had reconciled herself to the fact that no flirting or ruining would occur this morning.She could use this opportunity, however, to learn more about him.
“Has Jayce always been in love with Belle?”
“Jayce was never in love with Belle.He was in love with what she represented, and he got that wrong too,” Tilly said, wiping her hand on the apron that covered her skirt and leaving a bright smear of juice.“Belle’s adoctor.She’s interested in medical research, and she’s always got her nose in a book.She and Beau work well together because their careers are important to them, and they respect that about each other.She was never going to be the perfect little housewife Jayce thinks he wants.”
Tilly’s opinion regarding Jayce and Belle’s domestic compatibility matched Malika’s exactly, but it made her wonder how Tilly had reached her conclusions.
“Are you in love with Jayce?”
“He should be so lucky.”Tilly tipped another handful of berries into the basket.“No.I prefer my men twenty-first century.Jayce is more like a brother.”
That was good news, although it raised other questions.“If you prefer twenty-first century men, why are you living in nineteenth century Montana?”
“Nineteenth century Montana suits me.I don’t need a man in either century.”
“I don’t need a man, either.But I love looking at them, and I love flirting with them.The century they live in doesn’t matter.”Malika sighed mournfully.Jayce wasn’t paying any attention to her.He seemed to believe that a bear rampage would erupt any second if he didn’t remain vigilant.“How can a man who is so very beautiful be so completely hopeless with women?He doesn’t even know how to flirt.”
“Jayce?”Tilly sniffed.“He doesn’t know how to flirt because he’s never had to.Women have been throwing themselves at him since he was twelve.Then Belle comes along, and she has no interest in him, so he decides right then and there that she must be the one.”
Malika had never given her own marriage much thought.It was her brother’s business, not hers, so the American ritual of choosing their own marriage partner amazed her.It seemed so… risky.So dangerous.Her sisters and mother had shared many stories of women who married men not preapproved by their families, and the dire consequences that resulted.
Besides, her brother had done well for her sisters.They were all happy.None of them were second wives.
Hurt wriggled into her heart.Why hadn’t he gone to the same trouble for her?
Because you’re the last and he forgot all about you.
She refused to believe it.She was impossible for anyone to forget.
Not that it mattered.She would reject the marriage he’d arranged for her, and she’d be ruined for real in his eyes and not only as part of the adventure she’d had thrust upon her.She blinked hard to clear her blurred vision.
“Why would Jayce think Belle is the right one if she showed no interest in him?”she asked Tilly.
“He’s never had a woman not want him before, so I don’t think he noticed.He’s ready to settle down—his parents are more than ready for it.Huck doesn’t mind telling the world how much he wants grandchildren.Jayce’s dilemma is Burning Scrub and its relationship with the Ride No More Ranch.There aren’t a whole lot of twenty-first century women interested in living a nineteenth century Montana life.Belle fits into both worlds, the same as his mother, so she seemed perfect to him.”
Malika pondered his dilemma.Waiting for the right woman to come along was the wrong approach.He’d be better off learning how to please women who already desired him.If he pleased one of them enough, surely, she would be willing to live in the nineteenth century with him.
They both could learn so much from each other.
