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Tegan eyed her, the wistful longing in her tone finding a comfy spot in her own chest. She eyed the group of men by the Basilique again. “So, you said those Twelve over yonder are taking wives?”
Juliette laughed. “Over yonder?”
“What? That’s how I say it.”
She laughed more. “You’re just too cute! That’s some of them. Nitro is one, the one in need of your bat equipment. But he found his wife, Felix. Both are at Patches’ hospital palace. And Lesion, the one he left with has a woman too—Tully. Seer isn’t one of the Twelve but he counts close enough. Spook is a Twelve and he married Beth’s sister, Maggie. They’ll be coming later. She’s another story all by herself.”
Tegan mentally counted. “That’s four with that Seer one. That leaves eight.”
“Leaves seven if you count my brother.” She jerked toward her a little. “Why? You looking to marry? I can introduce you.”
Tegan drew back. “Lord no, I was just curious.”
She shrugged, then held up a hand, counting them off. “So, there’s Bacon, Bullets, Shank, Spar, Traps, Hurricane, and Patches left for marrying.”
Tegan’s heart sputtered in her chest before dropping to her stomach. “Patches?”
Juliette eyed her then quirked a brow. “You like him,” she said, bloody reading her damn mind. “I knew it.”
“How could you possibly know such a thing?” she quietly begged to differ. “Are you saying he’s one of The Twelve?”
“Yep. And ready to marry.”
“You sure about that?” she highly doubted.
“Oh, I am. He done picked three to court. But he ain’t in no hurry, I hear.”
“From who?”
“Mah-Mah and Beth. The keepers of the Bayou Ball everybody’s waiting for. All the qualified maidens of the land have been invited to participate for The Twelve to pick from.”
Qualified. “What qualifies them?”
“Well, so far, all the men picked women from out of town. I heard a couple of them say they wouldn’t marry out of the bayou, didn’t think it right.”
She burned to know which ones said that but wasn’t about to give Little Miss Juliette more clues than she clearly already had. Or luckily guessed. She didn’tlikelike Patches, she barely knew him. He was pleasant and easy to talk to without feeling sexed up by roving eyeballs and sexual innuendos dripping in their tones. But damn he was sexy in every other way.
“I think it’s honorable,” Tegan said.
“What is?”
“Marrying inside the…clan or whatever.”
She shrugged. “Patches would agree,” she muttered, her look telling her she was still somehow dropping clues.
“He does seem like that type.”
“What type?” she sweetly pressed.
“The marrying in the family type. Old fashioned. You know,” she pressed.
“I saw how he looked at you,” she muttered, scattering her pulse.
“Don’t even go there,” Tegan ordered.
“Oh, I know things,” she assured lightly.
“I’m sure you do.”And I’m not about to ask.
