The Scent of Jasmine Read online

  “Is that right, lad?” Eli asked, looking at Cay’s wet form in sympathy.

  The three of them were watching her, waiting for her answer, and Cay was tempted to tell the truth—but she knew that was the female way. She’d seen her brothers do awful things to one another, but they’d die before they told. It seemed to be some misdirected code of male honor to hide the truth.

  She had to bite her tongue but she said, “Yes, I fell.”

  “There now,” Eli said kindly. “At least you weren’t hurt.”

  Alex put his arm around her shoulders protectively. “Come on, let’s get you into some dry clothes.” He looked at Eli. “We’ll see you both early tomorrow morning.”

  “Mr. Grady should be here by noon,” Eli said. “I’ll let you tell him we have no recorder.”

  “I will,” Alex said and started to lead Cay away.

  But she turned back. “I forgot my hat.” When she’d fallen into the water, her hat had come off and landed on the wharf. As she picked it up, the boy Tim was standing there, smirking at her in triumph. Water was running down Cay’s hair and dripping onto her nose. She knew she shouldn’t be so childish and she certainly shouldn’t stoop to that hateful boy’s level, but she couldn’t help herself. Maybe the male clothes she was wearing were turning her into Tally. As she came up from getting her hat, she stuck out her leg and hooked her foot around his ankle. His feet flew out from under him and he fell forward, his face hitting the side of a wooden crate.

  Cay put her straw hat firmly on her head and walked past him with her chin in the air.

  “He gave me a bloody nose!” Tim yelled from behind her.

  Eli gave the boy a hard look. “But it was your own fault, wasn’t it, lad? Just as you said it was young Cay’s fault that he fell in the river, so was your mishap an accident. Wasn’t it?”

  Cay kept her back turned and her breath held.

  “Yeah, I tripped,” Tim said with reluctance.

  Smiling, Cay looked up at Alex. “Are you ready to go?”

  “I am unless you want to do something else. Maybe you’d like to run the boy over with a wagon.”

  “No. A bloody nose is enough.” She was smiling sweetly up at him. “Do you think we could buy me some new clothes? Otherwise I’ll have to run around naked until these dry.”

  “Cay, lass, after what you did to that boy, I’ll obey whatever you say.”

  “If only that were so,” she said with a sigh, making Alex laugh.

  Thirteen

  Cay held her wet clothes at arm’s length and straightened her pretty new waistcoat. The owner of the trading post said he’d purchased it from a young gentleman who needed money for supplies before he set off into the wilderness.

  “He never came back,” the man said, his eyes wide as he tried to frighten Cay. “He probably got eaten by something.”

  “My brother isn’t going on the trip,” Alex said with no humor in his voice. The last thing he wanted was for Cay to be more afraid than she was already. “How much is the waistcoat?”

  Now, Alex frowned at the way Cay kept looking at the embroidery around the edge of the vest. It was of honeybees buzzing about a border of wildflowers. His personal opinion was that she looked so feminine already that she should have put on the old, nearly worn out garments that he’d chosen for her. But nothing would do for her but to buy the decorated waistcoat. “Stop that or people will know you’re a girl,” he said under his breath.

  “That man thought I was a boy. And that hideous Tim thought so, and Eli didn’t doubt that I was male. It’s only you who thinks I look like a girl.”

  “They’re all blind.”

  Moving ahead of him, she turned around and walked backward. “Are you telling me that if you saw me now, if you didn’t know me that is, and had never seen me before, that you’d somehow know that I was a girl?”

  “Yes,” Alex said. “You walk like a girl, talk like one, and you nag like a girl. I’ve never seen anyone more feminine than you are.”

  “I think there’s a compliment in there.”

  “No, there isn’t.” Alex was frowning. “If I leave you here, you’re going to be found out, and when someone realizes that you’re hiding your true identity, they’re going to ask why.”

  “So take me with you.” The idea had been playing in her mind all day, but she’d meant to slowly ease Alex into it, not drop it on him like a blacksmith’s anvil. “I can—” She’d started to tell him that she could draw, but he cut her off.

  “Absolutely not! Under no circumstances. No, no, and no.” He strode ahead of her toward the boardinghouse.

  “But—” She caught up with him. “Maybe going with you would be better than staying here alone and unprotected.”

  “No. Going into uncharted territory where every corner reveals a new danger is not better than staying here in safety. And I don’t want to hear another word about it.” As he opened the door to the boardinghouse, he gave Cay a look that said he wasn’t going to listen to anything she had to say.

  Cay put her shoulders back and walked inside ahead of him. She wanted to make a sharp retort, but she was instantly overwhelmed by the two girls they’d seen outside when they rode into town.

  “We knew it was you,” one said, her eyes wide as she looked at Cay. “I told Alice that you’d be staying with us.”

  They were twins, looking to be identical, and not especially attractive. They wore dresses that had been washed many times and were faded. Next to them, Cay, in her beautifully embroidered waistcoat, looked resplendent.

  “You’re the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen,” the second girl said as she slipped her arm through Cay’s.

  The first girl took Cay’s other arm. “Come into the dining room and we’ll feed you. You’re very thin.”

  “Is it true that you’re going to be staying with us for months and months?”

  Cay looked over her shoulder at Alex, her eyes begging him to rescue her, but he was smiling in a way that she’d come to know well. He was thoroughly enjoying her discomfort—and glad she’d be occupied for a while.

  “I have some things that I need to take care of,” he said, his voice full of laughter. “I’ll see you later, little brother. Have a good evening.”

  Cay sent him a look that said she’d get him back for leaving her, but he just smiled broader as he left, closing the door behind him.

  The second she was alone with the two young girls, they bombarded her with questions.

  “How old are you?”

  “Where does your family live?”

  “Are you married? Engaged?”

  “What’s your favorite food? I’m an excellent cook.”

  “I saw you riding a horse. I like horses, too. I think we have a lot in common.”

  “Are you really going to stay for months? We can go riding together every day. Just the two of us. Alone. I’ll take a picnic lunch, and if we get lost we can stay out all night.”

  When the girl who’d made this offer started caressing Cay’s hand, she snatched it back and sat down at the dining table.

  “Out!” came a voice from behind her. “Both of you get out of here this minute and leave this young man alone.”

  Turning, Cay say a woman standing in the doorway, a plate of food and a mug in her hands. She was tall and handsome, but she was a bit old to be considered pretty. Cay guessed her to be in her early thirties, but there was a look in her eyes that made her seem older, as though she’d seen and done too much in her short life.

  As she set the food in front of Cay, she gave the girls a threatening look, and reluctantly, they left the room.

  “I apologize for them,” the woman said. “We don’t get too many young men staying here, and I’m afraid they went a bit overboard. I’ll do my best to keep them away from you while you’re here.”

  On Cay’s plate was a roast bird that didn’t look like a chicken or any other flying creature that she’d ever seen, and she wondered what they hunted in this country.