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“Two hundred dollars a day. And that’s blackmail money, so it’s different, isn’t it?” She regarded him smugly.
His gaze swept over the outfit she’d chosen for today: a short denim skirt in persimmon with a cream-colored top tucked into it. The top had a garden scene printed on it, complete with a pair of bluebirds. “Nice shirt.”
“Thank you. My fifth form students gave it to me at the end of the term.”
As they rode along the freeway, she finally had a chance to take in the sights of this state she knew only from history books. The collections of strip malls, billboards, and fast food restaurants held little interest to her, but the sheer size of it took her breath away. She couldn’t imagine anything more different from Lower Tilbey or from St. Gert’s aged red brick buildings, tidy lawns, and ancient trees. What must Lady Sarah Thornton have thought when she saw such a vast stretch of land and sky?
She leaned forward as Kenny began to pull into another handicapped space. “Absolutely not.”
“I wasn’t going to park here,” he said with an air of injured innocence. “Shopping with a lady isn’t my favorite activity, so I’m just dropping you off while I hit some balls at the practice range. I’ll pick you up in three hours.”
“Gracious, I know exactly what I want, and it won’t take me nearly that long.” She whipped his keys from the ignition. “Come along, then.”
He snatched his keys back, but he came with her, although he grumbled the entire way into the mall. “You’d better not take more than half an hour. I mean it, Lady Emma. After half an hour, me and my Caddy are taking off whether you’re with us or not.”
“Uhm.” She studied the shop windows and, almost immediately, saw what she wanted. She gestured toward a rounded concrete bench. “Wait right here. I won’t be a moment.”
“You are the damnedest, most order-giving female it’s ever been my misfortune to meet up with! Do you think I can just sit in the middle of a major American shopping mall without starting a near riot?”
“Whatever are you talking about?”
“I’m a semi-famous person, that’s what.”
As if to prove his words, two young women carrying pink Victoria’s Secret shopping bags came charging toward him. “Kinny!”
He glared at her. “Now see what you’ve done?”
“I won’t be long. I promise.”
She wasn’t, but by the time she’d returned, he had a small crowd gathered around him, and he seemed to be holding an impromptu golf clinic.
“After you get to the top, make sure you start down nice and smooth. You want to build up that speed as you go through. . . .”
She caught his eye, but, for all his former protesting, he appeared to be enjoying himself and didn’t seem in any hurry to get away. She ducked into an accessory place and added a few pieces of inexpensive costume jewelry to her purchases before he finally broke away from his admirers and led her back to the car.
“Now the tattoo,” she said when they were once again on the road.
“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
He thought for a few minutes. “All right, if you’re dead set, I’ll help you. But it’s going to take me a little time to find a place where you can be sure they’re using clean needles.”
“Needles?”
“How do you think they put those tattoos on?”
“Yes, of course. I mean . . . I know they use needles. It was just the way you said the word.”
“It’s going to hurt, Queen Elizabeth. So if you can’t take the pain, maybe you’d better rethink this.”
“It won’t be that painful.”
His snort wasn’t encouraging.
“You’re just trying to unnerve me.”
“Well, excuse me for being a compassionate and caring human being.”
