Chapter Sixteen #3
Malika smiled up at him. The sea green of her eyes, framed by a dark fringe of lashes—lashes she liked to flutter like sheets on a clothesline in a strong wind—reminded him of just how appealing she was.
Appealing enough to grab the attention of a very rich, much older man, whose age would be no issue for her, because she’d spent her whole life expecting to marry a man exactly like this.
Warning bells, red flags, and smoke detectors all sounded alarms. A rich older man wasn’t likely to care whether a beautiful young woman who’d caught his attention was ruined.
Not if he was intent on ruining her too.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Malika said.
They were both looking at Jayce. It took him a second to figure out they were waiting for him to make a formal introduction.
“Miss Malika, this here’s Robert Parker,” he said, giving her Butch Cassidy’s real name, because his outlaw name would have caused chaos in a Wild Western town, especially one with a bank. “He’s new to these parts. Mister Parker, meet Miss Malika George.”
Cassidy continued to stare at her in a way Jayce didn’t like—as if she were something he planned to buy. He’d spent a million dollars for a week’s adventure, and in his world, everything was likely for sale.
Sorry. Not Malika.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” she said to Cassidy, then proceeded to give him her life story.
“You won’t want to be seen in my company, though.
My brother promised me to a rich and powerful man, but I took a lover instead, and now I am ruined for a fine gentleman such as yourself.
” Her gaze shifted to Jayce, and she fluttered her lashes some more.
“In fact, I’ve taken another lover already. He’s magnificent.”
Flames bit at his ears and burned his cheeks. She sure knew how to rewrite a script, although her acting skills could use some fine-tuning.
He wasn’t sure magnificent lover was a role he could pull off, either. Attentive, perhaps. Definitely sincere. But defining him as magnificent was going to give him performance anxiety for sure. Especially if the Mexicans caught wind of the ad-lib. Dave liked to talk.
If she’d shocked Cassidy, he managed to hide it. He might be an imperious jackass with Jayce, but with Malika, he was all charm.
If he kissed her hand, Jayce was afraid he might hurl.
“Your lover is a very lucky man, Miss Malika,” Cassidy said.
Jayce inched his horse in between them. “We should be on our way.”
The other man tipped his ten-gallon hat to Malika. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Malika.”
“Take good care of my man,” she said sweetly.
Jayce and the client rode on.
Jayce’s ears continued to burn. He couldn’t figure out why she’d chosen to announce their relationship to a client, even if part of him was quietly glad.
He wasn’t normally the jealous type—one of the advantages of being so good-looking—but looks weren’t always a match for money.
The good news on that front was that she had no idea what a dollar was worth and no interest in finding out.
The bank, pristine in its fresh coat of paint, was next door to the saloon.
Grady, in his role as manager, sat outside in a chair.
The front door of the bank was wide open.
Inside, smack dab in the center of the room and facing the street, the safe door was wide open too, revealing stacks of freshly minted notes to the whole world as it passed by.
In real life, bank robberies in the Wild West were rare, and exposing the contents of the safe was common practice.
The display was meant to reassure the locals as to how wealthy their bank was.
Grady scowled and stared at them as they rode by, the way a good bank manager should, when two strangers passed. It showed what a good actor he was, because normally, he was the kindest and most soft-spoken of men.
The sheriff’s office and jailhouse were the next place to check out.
The town gallows, used for an adventure last year, had been moved from the center of the street to the side of the jailhouse.
Even though it was no longer in use, because Belle had declared it unsafe, it wasn’t dismantled.
Instead, it served as a reminder of what happened to murderers and thieves, although Adam clung to the hope that Belle might change her mind, since they’d hung half the town with only one minor incident to report.
Cassidy remained very quiet. Jayce couldn’t get an accurate read as to how he felt about his adventure so far, or what he thought of the town. They reached the path that stretched from the stable to the bunkhouse. Wilderness lay beyond.
“The gang’s waiting for us about a mile up the mountain,” Jayce said. “We’ve got a bank robbery to plan.”
Cassidy’s face acquired the look of a man used to people who jumped when he gave a command, and not one who took orders. The Mexicans would go full on, nineteenth century Comanche if he looked at them in that way.
But the bank robbery wasn’t what Cassidy had on his mind.
“I want Malika George with us,” he said.