Cay looked at everything the best she could while keeping up with the grueling pace Alex set. Once in a while, he’d turn and ask if she was all right and she always nodded.
The sun became brighter, the sky more blue, the people and buildings more sparse. She pulled her straw hat down over her head to shade her eyes from the glare and kept riding.
At noon they stopped by a stream and ate and drank.
“Still wishing you were home?” Alex asked.
She looked about her at the tall, narrow-trunked palm trees and the huge ferns. “No, I don’t think I do.”
“Not even for your two men?”
“Three men.”
“You aren’t really serious about the one with grown children, are you? How old is the oldest child?”
“A son, eighteen.”
Alex put the stopper back in the canteen. “He’ll climb into bed with you.”
“He would never do such a thing. He’s a very nice boy. He’s studying law.”
“Oh, then, if he’s a lawyer he must be of sterling character.”
“You’re horrible.”
“Never said I wasn’t.” He mounted his horse and looked down at her. “If you eliminate the old man, that leaves you with a preacher and a gambler. Lass, you need to think hard about who you’re going to marry.” Chuckling, he led his horse back to the narrow road.
As Cay mounted her mare, she stuck her tongue out at Alex’s back. But he turned and saw her—and he laughed in a way that made her want to hit him.
They rode for hours more, and the roads narrowed until they were little more than pathways. Twice they stopped at houses so Alex could ask directions. Each time the people invited them inside, as the owners were hungry for company and news of the outside world. Cay wanted to stay, wanted to get off the horse and walk around, but Alex always said no. At one house, a pretty girl, about sixteen, looked at Cay from under her lashes and gave her a big piece of cornbread. But the girl offered nothing to Alex.
When they were back on their horses, Cay ate the cornbread with gusto. “I do believe this is the very best cornbread I’ve ever had. Mmmm. So delicious.” She didn’t offer Alex even a bite. “You do know why she gave this to me, don’t you?” she asked.
Alex said nothing.
“She was flirting with me, that’s why. And she was flirting because she thought I was a boy.”
Alex looked her up and down. Her breeches clung to her thighs, her hair was about her shoulders, and her big hat made a shade like a veil over her face. He thought she couldn’t look more feminine. “You have just proven that people are stupid.”
“They see what they’re supposed to. When are we going to stop for the night? Are there any taverns around here?”
“Not on this road. Are you going to share that or no
t?”
Cay had a big chunk of uneaten cornbread in her hand. “I’ll sell it to you.”
“You have the money.”
“I don’t want money. I want you to tell me what the plan for me is.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “As if you haven’t already figured that out.”
“You mean you saw behind all my subtle questions?”
“You don’t know the meaning of subtle.”
“All right, so tell me a story about when you were a little boy.”