“You were the one bragging about your abilities, not me.” Cay was bewildered by his attitude. She never would have guessed that he’d be a sore loser. “Are you angry because I can paint better pictures than you can?”
He gave her a look that told her that was an absurd idea.
“Then what’s made you so angry?” As soon as she said it, she knew. “You’re angry because you don’t want me to go with you.”
“I haven’t made that clear?”
She was glaring at him, her hands on her hips. “You were so sure you were going to win the contest that you made a bet with me, but you had no intention of honoring your wager, did you? You’re a vain man who can’t admit he was wrong.”
“Put your arms down! No male ever stood like you are.”
Cay was so angry she could hardly speak. “Try and make me.”
Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side of the building, and down a path that led through the palms and shrubs that grew along the edges. Within minutes, they were out of sight of the settlement. Halting in a clearing, he turned back to her. “You don’t seem to realize how dangerous this trip is going to be. There are creatures living in this Florida that people have never seen. You could be killed in any number of ways. You could be—”
Cay took a step away from him, her eyes wide as she came to a realization. “You’re not afraid for me to go on this journey. There’s something else. I traveled with a wanted murderer, with men chasing me, hunting me wherever we went, but you weren’t afraid for my safety then. You and I built fires, we broke into a store, and you took time to dance with me. There’s another reason you don’t want me to go with you, isn’t there?”
“No, of course not,” he said quickly, but he avoided her eyes.
She stepped closer to him and bent her head so she could look up into his eyes. Sometimes, with his heavy beard, it was difficult to see his expression. “I like to think,” she said softly, “that in these last weeks you and I have become close. We’ve been through a lot together, so aren’t we friends?”
Alex started to answer her, but they were in a quiet place, surrounded by lush greenery, with the calls of birds in the background, and the fragrance of flowers around them. He couldn’t help himself, but he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. At first, it was a gentle kiss, but Cay leaned back and looked at him in astonishment. She blinked a few times, her long lashes making shadows, and she put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
He knew that in spite of all her talk, she was very inexperienced, so he was gentle with her, his lips on hers soft, undemanding, but she pressed her body close to his and deepened the kiss. She opened her lips under his, inviting his tongue into her mouth.
It took all his will power, but he thrust her away from him. “That was ill done!” he said, his heart pounding, his breath coming fast.
Cay’s heart was also beating hard, and she was looking at him in wide-eyed question. “The other men I’ve kissed weren’t like you.”
“Will you put me on your list of suitors?” His remark was more angry than he’d meant it to sound, but he didn’t like to think of her kissing other men.
“I’m going to put you at the top of all my lists.”
She said it with so much enthusiasm that he laughed. She always seemed able to make his ill humor go away.
“Now do you see why I can’t take you with me?” he asked.
“You mean because you desire me above all things in life, and because I make your blood boil?”
“More or less,” he said. “At least now you see that you and I can’t travel together, and we certainly can’t stay in the same tent.”
“You do have a problem.” She turned away for a moment, then looked back at him. “Are you in love with me?”
“I’ll be honest with you, lass, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to love again. Maybe a person gets only one true love in his life and I married mine.”
Cay tried not to show her disappointment. She wasn’t in love with him, either, but a girl liked to think there were at least half a dozen men pining away for her. “So it’s just . . . nature that’s the hindrance to our traveling together.”
“Aye, nature.”
She held out the sides of her breeches. “That I’m wearing men’s clothes doesn’t help dampen your feelings?”
“If anything, that makes it worse. If all women start wearing men’s trousers and showing the true form of their legs, I don’t know how we men would be able to stand it.”
“That’s because you haven’t seen as many legs of women as I have,” Cay said. “I can tell you that there are more unsightly ones than there are nice ones.”
“Is that so?”
“Are you laughing at me already?”