She stopped breathing, shocked at her thoughts.
Did she want this to not be a joke?
Catching her staring, Trick slipped her a wink. “Come, we’ll cut it together, leannan.”
He was an enigma, but at least he was a nice one. Kendra drew a calming breath as they sliced the cake, his hand guiding hers. She placed a piece on Amy’s plate, then one on her own.
All the while, Trick remained standing beside her. She could feel his gaze, feel him suddenly shifting, but before she had time to react, he’d reached and plucked the veil from her head.
“What!” She turned and snatched it from his hands.
“I wanted to see your…hair,” he finished lamely, blinking at her in seeming bemusement. “What on earth did you do to it?”
“Do to it?”
“The…” He waved a finger, drawing spirals in the air. “The…”
“Curls?” Kendra supplied helpfully. She couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. “Jane worked on it for more than an hour. Do you like it?”
“No,” he said flatly. “I liked it before.”
“Oh.” She felt a blush heat her face. Perhaps he wasn’t so nice after all. “After this, I’ll take it down.”
He stepped close and spoke in a low tone that made her spine tingle. “After this, I’ll take it down.”
The wispy lace fluttered from her fingers to the soft blue Oriental carpet. Feeling more confused by the moment, she plopped back onto her chair.
“Mmm…porcupine,” Trick said, reseating himself with a satisfied smile. “At least I’ve married into a family that appreciates good food.”
The “porcupine” was actually a stuffed breast of veal, larded all over and studded with small strips of ham, bacon, and pickled cucumber. Trick added a healthy portion to his already-loaded plate.
“Leave room—we’ve surprise as well,” Colin warned. Spearing a bite of cake, Kendra looked up as a servant set the dish called surprise on the table. A stuffed calf’s head served up in its original shape, it had bunches of myrtle stuck into its eyes and looked very surprised indeed.
The steam rose off it in tantalizing swirls…and it bellowed.
Kendra screamed. A piece of cake went flying off Amy’s fork, splattering on one of the diamond-paned leaded windows. Ford jumped up, his lattice-backed chair clunking to the floor behind him. Trick’s and Jason’s mouths dropped open.
When the calf bellowed again, Kendra rushed from her chair to take shelter in the door frame with Cait, both poised for flight. Stopping only to snatch up baby Jewel, Amy joined them. The ladies all clung together, staring. Squished between their bodies, Jewel let out a wail.
The calf’s head bellowed once more…
No, it croaked.
With a half-amused, half-disgusted groan, Trick dropped his fork, reached to pry the calf’s mouth open wider, and lifted its heavy pink tongue. A toad hopped out and looked around, blinking its bulbous eyes before it leapt off the table and headed toward the door.
The ladies broke apart to let it pass between them. Amongst gales of laughter from the gentlemen, Kendra thwacked Colin on the head as she returned to her seat. “For goodness’ sake! Have you no sense of propriety?”
“A question of propriety from your lips, little sister?” Colin rubbed his head good-naturedly. “Was it not just yesterday we found you—”
“Hush, Colin.” Amy dumped their sobbing daughter on her husband’s lap. “Here. You made her cry, she’s yours.” She seated herself and raised her fork, but not before sending him a tolerant smile.
Jewel quieted when Colin bounced her on his knee. “Well, you’ve seen us at our worst now,” he said to Trick around a mouthful of dressed artichoke bottoms. “Welcome to the family.”
Trick shrugged noncommittally. Watching him scan the group around the table, Kendra tried to imagine what he was thinking.
It couldn’t be good.
It was time to bring this charade to an end. She turned to Jason. She’d been the female head of his household since their parents died seventeen years ago—or at least since she grew old enough to accept the responsibility. “How will you get along without me here to direct the household?”
“We’ll manage,” her brother said blithely, wrapping an arm around his competent wife. His fingertips played idly in her dark-blond hair. “I set Jane to packing your things.”
Trick touched Kendra’s hand. “Jane is your maid, I presume? She can follow tomorrow. You’ll send her along, Cainewood?”
“Certainly.”
“But—” Kendra started.
“Tomorrow,” Trick said firmly “You won’t be needing her tonight.”
Kendra’s spoon hung in the air, its bite of cake forgotten. Trick was acting as though they were really married, talking of maids and spending the night together.
Did highwaymen even have servants? She certainly hadn’t seen any at the cottage. Was she really married to this man? Toying with the bracelet around her wrist, she recalled what little she knew of him.
It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t good.
“But you’re—” Something in his golden eyes made her falter. “—a highwayman,” she finished weakly.
Jason reached for the bread. “Yes, we need to talk about that.”
Trick tore his gaze from Kendra. “Aye?”
“It has got to stop.”
Trick chewed thoughtfully, then sipped some wine. The silence stretched between him and Jason, almost as though it were a palpable barrier.
“I mean it, Trick. You don’t need the money.”
“Aye? You think not?” A corner of Trick’s wide mouth turned up, and Kendra would swear he was about to start laughing.
Did he really not need the money? Had he enough put aside, then? Could highway robbery be that lucrative?
There was something missing here. But she couldn’t seem to think straight in his presence; it had been that way since she’d first laid eyes on him. She felt all hot and bothered, and her brain refused to work.
“Why do you do it?” Ford asked.
Trick favored her twin with a mild look. “Maybe it’s a pleasant amusement.”
“You’re finished, Trick.” Jason’s voice brooked no nonsense. He set down his fork. “Find your amusement somewhere else.”
The golden gaze
