Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

Author:Beverly Jenkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

He led her past the dry goods, miners’ equipment, and three ice cream churns for sale, to another area of the large store that held his perishables like cabbage, celery, cucumbers, and corn. Most of the vegetables came from the local farmers but the fruit came via trains from California. Eddy saw the large display of oranges and smiled. “May I buy a dozen or so?”

“You may buy two dozen if you like, there are more than enough.”

“Thank you, Mr. Rossetti.”

“You’re welcome. Let me get back to my other customers. I’ll drive the wringer over to the orphanage tomorrow.”

Eddy thanked him again and still brimming with happiness at his generosity, opened the cloth sack she’d brought along and spent some time finding just the right candidates to purchase for her marmalade. She needed them to be fresh, fragrant, and firm.

“Good morning, Miss Carmichael.”

The familiar baritone voice of Rhine Fontaine caught her so by surprise, she dropped the two oranges in her hand and they rolled away. Chastising herself for being rattled, she waited while he bent and retrieved them. Wearing a knowing look, he held them out for her to take, which she did but was careful not to let her flesh brush his. “Good morning, Mr. Fontaine. How are you?”

“I’m well, and you?”

“I’m well, also.” Ignoring his veiled amusement, she turned back to the crates of oranges.

He asked, “Are you planning on using those to lure away more of my customers?”

She smiled. “I’m making marmalade for Sylvia and the boarders.”

“You make marmalade?” he asked with the same wondrous tone Sylvia had.

“I do. Usually from peaches, but when Mr. Rossetti told me he had oranges coming in, I wanted to treat Sylvia as my way of thanking her for being so kind.” Eddy saw some of the other customers eyeing them. “I need to finish my shopping.”

“And I get no reward for finding you in the desert?” he asked, seemingly deaf to her hint to end their conversation.

“You have my thanks of course.” A few short feet away, Eddy saw the frown on the face of a woman ostensibly picking out strawberries. She was obviously eavesdropping. “People are watching us,” she whispered. “Go away.”

“We’re just discussing oranges.”

“Scat.”

He smiled, picked up a few oranges, but stayed right where he was. “Natalie said you were in the dress shop this morning when she cancelled her wedding costume.”

“Yes, she told Vera she’d tossed you over. Shouldn’t you be home mourning or something?”

“You’ve met her. What do you think?”

“My opinion doesn’t matter.”

“Honestly, we weren’t well suited from the start. She wanted me to sell my saloon and I realized I wanted a woman with more depth.”

Eddy looked up into his eyes and saw an intensity in them that made her swallow dryly.

“We really need to have dinner, Eddy. With candlelight, I’m thinking.”

Fighting to keep herself on an even keel, she whispered sharply, “If I make you marmalade, too, will you leave me be?”

“Probably not, but I will take the marmalade. I thought we were supposed to be adults?”

She didn’t like having her words come back to haunt her.

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