Page 45 of Herding Cat

“I wasn’t injured—”

The bloodthirsty munchkin raked her avid gaze over him...and then frowned. “He doesn’t look injured now.”

“You needn’t sound so disappointed,” he muttered.

“Well, he was. Very injured.”

“Not.” And when Cat frowned at him, he added, “Much.”

“Anyway, we had to stop there first. But, darling, I thought we agreed you wouldn’t run away again.”

“I didn’t agree. And I didn’t run away.”

“Mrs. Parsons will be worried.”

“She’s a worrier.”

Cat shot a concerned look at her security team. “We should take her back to the orphanage. But it’s nearly time for my meeting. Can one of you take her back?”

“Oh please!” The way Mae fell into Cat’s arms, weeping as she did, made Garrett wonder if she were bucking for an Oscar nomination. “Let me go with you! I’ll be soooo good.”

Luke and Tate exchanged a glance. “It’s probably better to take her along at this point.” Luke tipped his head in Garrett’s direction. “He can watch the girl.”

Mae clapped her hands and jumped up and down and made a dismaying sound that was probably some form of female delight.

Garrett had never spent much time with children, never had any burning passion to have a kid, but Mae was so damn cute. It made his heart ache in the strangest way.

He decided it was probably best to ignore the feeling. But as they made their way into the block-square market, his gaze kept drifting to her. Or maybe it drifted to Catherine. The two walked side by side, fingers entwined, arguing over the best places to eat nearby.

Once they stepped inside the Jade Market, Mae bolted forward, dancing from stall to stall, exploring the wares. Cat laughed as she chased after—apparently the girl knew the market as well as she did.

To Garrett’s surprise, he found the market fascinating as well. Jade wasn’t the only thing for sale. There were tables laden with wooden beads and polished rocks, lengths of pearls and semiprecious stones hanging from the stall ceilings and festooning the walls, rings, bracelets, pendants, carvings, statues, chops and more.

They met Mr. Chin at his stall, and he welcomed Catherine behind the curtain for tea as they conducted their meeting. Naturally, Mae went with her. Luke insisted on going in too, but it was fine with Garrett to be left behind. He was on vacation after all. While Catherine took care of her business, he browsed the nearby stalls and discovered he had a fascination for jade as well.

Not that he bought a few pieces.

But he did.

Yeah, he could definitely see the attraction.

By the time Cat finally emerged—with a smile on her face—he had a pocketful of treasures. She stilled as she noticed the bulge. A sly smile crossed her face but before he could say anything, she murmured, “Did you buy some jade?”

He had no idea why she smirked when he nodded. “Just a few pieces.”

“Well,” she huffed as she passed him. “I hope you didn’t spend much.” He had. Not a fortune, but still... “Because most of this is not true jade.”

“What?” He shouldn’t have squawked, but he couldn’t help it. “It’s the Jade Market.”

Her laugh was a melody. “I know. But real jade merchants sell elsewhere...and at significantly higher prices.” She patted his chest. “Most of this is for tourists.”

“But you were here. Doing business!”

“Right. For buttons. Mr. Chin has some of the most delightful designs. But we both know it’s not real jade.”

Well hell.

He put out a lip. “But it’s pretty.” It was.