“He didn’t kidnap women,” Grady said slowly.Working changes into the script was part of his job, and he was good at it.“But a woman named Etta Place ran with his gang.Rumor had it that she was more Sundance’s companion than his, and since you’re Sundance, we could make it work.”
Jayce didn’t want it to work.He didn’t like Cassidy’s interest in her.“She’s already been introduced as Malika George.”
“That shouldn’t matter.No one knows for certain what Etta’s real name was, or her occupation.She could have been a music teacher, a prostitute, or a cattle rustler.Whatever else she was, she was a good liar.The physical description fits, too.Beautiful, sophisticated, dark-haired, and wild.”
It really did fit.But she didn’t give the impression of a prostitute or a cattle rustler, or a ruined woman, either—hard as she tried—although he supposed music teacher wasn’t a big stretch.
“It’s not a big deal,” Benny cut in, proving he hadn’t paid much attention to her.“You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on her for Ali, so the new character role plays into her adventure too.The Mexicans can keep her out of trouble when you’re not around.Belle said she had a great time with them when they kidnapped her last year.”
Which raised another concern.
“About the Mexicans,” Jayce said.“They aren’t very happy.”
Benny brushed that off, as well.“Their mood will improve once payday rolls around.”
Which was easy for him to say, because he didn’t have hostile Natives masquerading as Mexicans sleeping around a campfire with him.They were about two heartbeats from burning Butch Cassidy at the stake, then raiding Burning Scrub and burning it to the ground too.
They weren’t friendly with Jayce anymore, either.They’d been whispering amongst themselves and going silent whenever he came too close.Dave tried to trip him when he was sneaking out of camp to come to the meeting tonight.He smelled a revolt in the works.
“I’ll let Malika in on the kidnapping,” he said, because he knew from personal experience how well that was likely to land if they caught her off guard.
“No.Let the kidnapping play out naturally.It’ll be more realistic that way,” Mavis said, adding her opinion to the discussion.“It will give the Mexicans something to do while Adam sets the robbery in motion.”
Jayce started to explain that Malika didn’t take naturally to being cast as a victim, and acting helpless wasn’t exactly her style, but Mavis lived with her, so she’d already know that.Dave and his friends might be less antagonistic with her around, so that was a plus.They might find her flirting with them entertaining, as well.If she flirted with Cassidy, though, she and Jayce were going to have words.Jayce trusted him a lot less than he trusted Andy, and he didn’t trust Andy at all.There was just something about Cassidy that Jayce didn’t like.
The meeting wrapped up shortly before midnight.
Malika was waiting when he stepped outside, looking pretty and fresh in her high-collared blouse, a crocheted cotton shawl, and long cotton skirt.Even though Mavis no longer kept her under close watch, and he was happy to see her, she was taking a risk.
He knew things between them weren’t ideal, and that she had concerns about the depth of his feelings for her.For all her brazenness, underneath it, she might be a touch insecure.He wasn’t good when it came to women and romance.But until he’d had a chance to talk to her brother and formulate some sort of plan regarding the twenty-five million dollars at stake that he didn’t have, it couldn’t be helped.
He looked up and down the dark, empty street.There was no one else around.Mavis and Benny had left a few minutes before him, while he chatted with Grady.
He took her hand and pulled her around the side of the boardinghouse and into the alley between it and the building next door.Light filtered into the alley through the drawn curtains of the window above the sink in Grady’s kitchen.
He gathered her in his arms and kissed her, pouring all his bottled-up frustration into it.A dark alley wasn’t the place to do all the things he wanted to do, but pretending she didn’t drive him crazy was making him nuts.
She clung to the front of his shirt and leaned into him for support, then tracked a finger down his chest, before looking up at him while batting her lashes.She was ridiculously brazen, and while her flirting amused him for that very reason, it also filled his head with ideas, because she never knew when to quit, and it shocked his willpower into submission.
“You’re going to be kidnapped,” he told her, because he’d decided to do it himself, and he didn’t want to risk the damage she might do to him through a simple misunderstanding.“Cassidy thinks we should have a woman in camp, so Grady tinkered with the script.”
“Wonderful!”Malika exclaimed, clapping her hands with enough enthusiasm to make him suspicious.“Kidnap me right now.”
Her attitude towards kidnapping had certainly changed.
He couldn’t think of a reason why they should wait, or what real harm she could do to the script, outside of her bad acting skills.He hesitated mostly because he wasn’t sure she understood that this kidnapping meant she’d have to sleep on the ground, under the stars, and that the stars didn’t twinkle when it was raining.
She hadn’t complained about the many inconveniences women associated with life in a nineteenth century, Wild Western town, however.If the novelty didn’t extend to roughing it around a campfire in the rain, he could always arrange for her to escape.
He couldn’t delay his return to camp, with or without her, for much longer.Someone had to make sure the Mexicans didn’t knock off the client, and sadly, that someone was him.
First things first.
There were a few insecurities he’d like to address.“I’ve missed you,” he said, and he meant it.Hostile fake Mexicans on the brink of revolt were a whole lot less trouble than her, but also a lot less appealing.
He’d never once felt an urge to kiss Dave.
She toyed with one of his buttons, popping it free.“I’ve missed you, too.My sister Yara says sex standing up is very good if your husband is strong.”She dipped her finger inside his shirt and swirled the hair on his chest.“You’re a very strong man.”
