Jayce would rather discuss nitroglycerin than Malika and her unsteady ways.“I thought so last night.I’m not as sure of it this morning.”
Tilly Wynn was another wild card, even after six years.He’d run into her—literally—at a horse auction in Grand, Montana.She was picking pockets, and doing a good job of it, too, by all accounts, but got overconfident when she targeted Adam, who knew a thing or two about picking pockets, himself.She had a good head start on him, though, because a bad leg slowed him down, but Jayce, who’d missed the opening credits to the main feature, had felt obligated to step in when he spotted Adam in hot pursuit.
To this day, they didn’t know Tilly’s story.Her sister Loretta’s, either.But that the sisters were hungry and desperate went undisputed, and Jayce was almost as big a sucker for women in trouble as Adam.
These days, Loretta ran Burning Scrub’s dairy and kept mostly to herself.Tilly was smart, and a whiz with computers, and much more outgoing.She turned out to be the little sister Jayce hadn’t known he didn’t want.
On the outside, Tilly looked young for her age, and as cherubic as Linda.Inside, however, lurked the soul of a bandit.One with no common sense.Of all the people at that horse auction whose pockets she could have picked, she’d targeted Adam.
“Keep an eye on those two,” Adam said, indicating Malika and Tilly.“No soiling of doves.The sheik wants us to keep his sister out of trouble, and he’s already paid us for it.We don’t want to have to give the money back.But it’s about more than the money.Our reputation’s at stake.”
A hot lump of guilt seared Jayce’s chest.Burning Scrub relied on clients like Sheik Ali to spread the word to their rich family and friends, meaning kissing Ali’s sister had been a major mistake on his part, because that wasn’t the word the town wanted to spread.Malika was engaged to someone her brother had chosen for her.
She was unlikely to confide in her brother as to what happened, because Ali would be almost as unhappy with her as with him.That was the good news.
But he hoped she didn’t confide in Tilly either, because that would be bad.Very bad.If she did, he was doomed.The women in this town liked to gossip.Why had he kissed her?
He knew full well why he had.He’d do it again, given the chance.He couldn’t look at her directly, because whenever he did, all he could think of was sex.She looked back at him in a way that said she was thinking about it too.
And Adam had noticed.
“No idea what you’re talking about, pardner,” he said to Adam.“I’m just a poor, honorable cowboy whose duty it is to keep a young lady out of harm’s way while her brother escapes ruthless killers.”
Adam clapped him on the back.
“That’s the spirit,” he said.
Chapter Nine
Malika
The windows inMavis’s kitchen were thrown open wide.The wood stove was stoked and the whole house very warm.Making pies out of the berries wasn’t as much fun as picking them had been, but Malika was determined to learn.
She could already imagine how impressed Jayce would be.
“I don’t understand why I have to help,” Tilly complained.
A blond curl, gone astray from the kerchief covering her hair, harassed her forehead.They were rolling out pie crusts, and she had flour from her apron to the tip of her nose.
“Someday you might change your mind and decide to marry and start a family, and when you do, it’s your duty to make your home happy.Your family will expect to be fed, and food is the center of happiness,” Malika told her.“Sex is the only thing other than food that makes a man happy.Except men aren’t interested in sex with an old woman, of course, which is why women need to know how to cook.For when they are old.”
Tilly’s expression reflected her awe.“Who told you that?”
“Mavis.She’s very wise.”Malika beamed at her.
“That’s not the message I was trying to send,” Mavis said.
Malika was certain she hadn’t misunderstood.“That’s what you said.”
“Yes, but…”
“If the man is smart, he’s going to want me to be happy too,” Tilly said darkly.
Malika began to despair.American women were woefully uninformed about the duties of marriage.Not much wonder the country’s divorce rates were so high.“Your husband is required to please you in the bedroom.The same way you must please him.”
Tilly and Mavis were both staring now.Tilly seemed by far the more confused.She was the one with the questions.
“How are you supposed to please each other in the bedroom if you haven’t met until after the marriage is already arranged?”
