The Scent of Jasmine Read online

  Leading her horse into the dense trees beside the road, she waited. When the men came into view, she was glad she’d had the sense to conceal herself. There were four of them, all dirty, and from the way they sat their horses, they didn’t look fully sober.

  “They’ve been drinking all night,” said a voice in her ear. Cay couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the Scotsman beside her.

  “What was that?” one of the half-drunk men said as he jerked on the reins, halted his horse, and got down.

  “Nothin’,” one of the other men said. “Let’s go home.”

  “I tell you, I heard somethin’.”

  The first man moved closer to the trees and stared into the dense shade.

  Alex put his arm around Cay’s shoulders, threw the hood of the cloak over her head, and pulled her down to the ground beside him.

  “Yates said—”

  “That ol’ liar? You believed that he had two murderers in his barn last night?”

  “Why not? That killer from Charleston escaped with his lady friend, so why not hide in Yates’s barn?”

  “Because a match would burn it down. If they’re murderers, why didn’t they kill Yates? I know I’ve wanted to many a time.”

  “He had those coins, so where did he get them?”

  “I’ve always thought he has money. He’s just too cheap to buy his own beer. Come on, let’s go home. You probably heard a cat.”

  Alex and Cay watched as the first man reluctantly turned away, mounted his horse, and they all left.

  When Alex moved away from Cay, she rolled on to her back, and looked up at him.

  “You are free to go,” he said, anger in his voice. “I’m no jailer and I won’t be thought of as one. You may leave whenever you want, but if you stay with me, you have to—” He broke off and looked as though he was trying to figure out how to arrange his words. “At least listen to what I say and give it some consideration.”

  Cay wanted to be defiant and tell him she was going to leave, but the words of the men rang in her ears. That the news of the Scotsman’s escape had spread this far south was frightening. Even worse was that she was still being considered as his accomplice.

  “You must not have sisters or you’d know not to tell them to ‘obey’ you.” She was still lying on the ground and looking up at him.

  He shook his head. “No sisters nor brothers. I am my father’s only child.”

  “And your mother?”

  “Died when I was nine.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. He was looking down at her, his blue eyes with no humor in them, and waiting for her answer.

  Cay didn’t want to give it. She didn’t want to plight her course with this man. She wanted to go home, to be with her family, to take a hot bath and put on clean clothes. She just wanted all of this to be over with!

  Alex’s eyes softened as he sat down beside her, his legs drawn up and his arms around them. “Lass, I know how you feel. I didn’t ask for any of this either. One minute I was racing my horses and winning money from those lazy, rich boys in Charleston, I was to marry the most beautiful woman alive, and the next thing I knew, I was in a filthy prison and about to be hanged.” His voice lowered. “And the woman I loved was dead.”

  His face was in profile and she could see the sadness—no, the grief—in his eyes. She hadn’t really had time to think of the situation from his point of view.

  When she said nothing, Alex went to his horse and tightened the cinch. “I’ll take you back,” he said. “You don’t deserve to be part of this.”

  Getting up, she went to stand beside him. “You mean to Virginia?”

  “Aye, to Virginia, or to wherever you want to go.”

  “But what about the danger to my family?”

  “Better that than you have to stay with a murderer.” He untied his horse and was about to get into the saddle, but Cay blocked him.

  “We need to talk about this.”

  “Nothing to talk about,” he said as he swung up into the saddle. “I think we should leave, but then saying that might make you think you have to obey me, so do what you want.”

  She didn’t move. “Maybe we should take the time to make a plan.”

  He was on his horse while she was standing on the ground—and she looked so very small. Her glorious hair was down about her shoulders and there were sticks and leaves in it, but they didn’t take away from her beauty. Nate had never mentioned his sister’s hair, except to say it was red and her brothers teased her about it. Tally once dyed an old wig red and pranced around the house pretending to be Cay. She stopped him by dropping one of her mother’s prized Chinese vases over the balcony and barely missing his head. Alex had laughed at how both children had been punished by spending a week doing the household laundry.

  “That’s a good idea,” Alex said. “You have any thoughts about what we should do?”

  She blinked at him a few times, taken off guard by his honesty, but the truth was that she had no idea how to escape when being hunted. As she usually did in her life, she fell back on humor to cover herself. “We’ll put you in a dress and we’ll go back to Virginia together as two old women.” Her eyes were laughing. “Of course that would mean you’d have to shave and even take a bath.” She moved her horse close to a tree stump, climbed on it, and mounted.

  “If it means a bath, then I can’t do that,” he said, and his tone was so serious that Cay wasn’t sure if he was teasing or not. “And I willna wear a dress.” He looked at her, his eyes very serious. “Do we go north or south?”

  Cay swallowed. Never in her life had she had to make such a decision. It was the thought of what might possibly be done to her family that decided her. If her brothers were in this situation, they’d never hesitate in protecting their loved ones. “South,” she whispered at last.

  She started to say more, but he gave a quick nod and reined his horse away, and they started riding at a rapid pace. They stopped twice to water themselves and the horses, then went on.

  At one break, Cay asked how far he thought they’d have to go before they were out of the gossip area. She’d not so much as seen T.C.’s map. All she knew was that they were going south, with the sun always in her face.

  “People love horror stories, and my guess is that we’ll have to reach Florida before we escape the talk.”

  Florida, she thought, and couldn’t repress her shiver. Swamps and alligators and plants that eat people. At least that’s one of the stories Uncle T.C. used to tell her and Tally when they were little. Adam said it wasn’t true, and he’d been the one who held her that night when she screamed in a nightmare.

  “Don’t worry,” Alex said. “You won’t go with me into the swamps. I’ll leave you with T.C.’s friends.” He went to his horse, checked the pack, and handed Cay a piece of beef jerky.

  “I hate this,” she said as she reluctantly chewed it. “I thought you said you didn’t have a plan.”

  “I didn’t if you meant to have me take you to Virginia.”

  When he said nothing more, she said, “So? Do you intend to share it or not?”

  He held out his hands to help her mount her horse. “Not.”

  Annoyed, Cay put her hand on his shoulder and moved her foot to his thigh. It was a move she’d often done to her brothers and it was guaranteed to throw them off balance. But Alex was ready for her, and he stepped back in a way that made Cay nearly fall backward. He caught her hand before she hit the ground.

  She started to bawl him out, but what she could see of his face looked so pleased with himself that she couldn’t help smiling. “Are you sure you don’t have sisters?”

  “None, but I’m learning that I just think of the most devious thing you can do and that’s what you will do.”

  Cay opened her mouth and closed it a few times, meaning to defend herself, but then she laughed. “You may be weaker and older than my brothers, but you might be smarter. Except for Adam, of course.”

  He held out his cupped hands, she