Free The Scent of Jasmine by Jude Deveraux Page B

“Was he passionately in love with her?”
    “Insanely. My mother said that when Bathsheba married another man, Uncle T.C. nearly killed himself in grief.”
    “I know that feeling,” Alex said softly. “I know it very well.”
    Cay wanted to say more, even wanted to argue with him. She wasn’t especially sleepy, and the night around them, with the rain coming down, made her nervous. “And you loved your wife very much?” she asked softly.
    “With all my heart and soul.”
    “And you knew that in just three weeks?”
    “I knew it in the first moment. Her eyes met mine and I was hers.”
    “But you knew nothing about her, not her personality, not what she liked or disliked, what her hopes for the future were, nothing?”
    “And I guess you know all about the men you’re considering marrying.”
    “Of course.”
    “Make lists, do you?”
    Cay thought of her notebook full of her comparisons of the men she might possibly marry. She had compared ages, houses, backgrounds, whatever she could think of. She knew that marriage was a serious matter and she didn’t want to make a mistake. She wanted a marriage as good as her parents’. “Of course I didn’t do any such thing,” she lied. “I’m going to let my heart make the decision for me. Isn’t that what a bride should do?”
    “If you’re asking me what I think you should do, I think you should lie down and go to sleep. We’ll leave early tomorrow, before light, so you need to get as much rest as you can.”
    Reluctantly, Cay lay down on the hard ground and tried to still her mind, but it kept working. “Have you finished making a plan for me yet?”
    “Aye, I have, but I’m not going to tell you what’s in my mind, so there’s no use in nagging me now.”
    “I don’t nag,” she said.
    “You could give lessons in it. You could open a school that teaches how to nag a man until he’s crying for relief from your tongue.”
    She truly hated the way he treated her like a child! “Micah Bassett didn’t want relief from my tongue. In fact—”
    “Lass, you’re alone in the forest with a convicted murderer. Tell me you’re not going to talk to him about what a girl can do with her tongue.”
    “I, uh . . .” Cay couldn’t think of what to say to explain herself, but then there was no explanation she could give. Instead, she rolled to one side of the cloak and, after a moment’s hesitation, she threw the other side over him. He grunted his thanks, and when he moved closer to her, she could feel his body heat on her back. Maybe it was the comfort or maybe it was the soft sounds of the rain, but she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Seven

    “I am not going to dress as a boy,” Cay said. “Absolutely, positively no! That’s the end of it, and I won’t discuss it anymore.”
    “Good!” Alex said. “Then I won’t have to hear more of your complaining. When you get dressed—as a boy—you can keep your mouth shut—unless you meet some man you think you should marry, then you can do other things with your mouth.”
    “You are disgusting. You’re worse than any of my brothers.”
    “Does that include Adam?” he asked. “Or is he too perfect for unchurchlike thoughts?”
    She was pulling the cinch on her mare and she looked under the horse’s neck to glare at him. He didn’t look at her, but she could see that he was pleased with himself, thinking that he’d bested her in a duel of words. “My brother Adam doesn’t have any thoughts that he couldn’t repeat in front of a congregation in church. Are you ready to go or do you need help?”
    “I don’t need any help, and your brother sounds like a bore,” Alex said as he walked around her horse, bent, grabbed Cay by the calf, and nearly threw her up into the saddle.
    Only years of experience and very strong thigh muscles kept her from going over the other side. But she refused to give him the satisfaction of complaining.
    “Look at that, you’re half male already.” He looked