Okay, time to come clean. “Not exactly.”
That brought the expected frown. “Explain, please.”
She winced at the frostiness of his tone. Perhaps she really should have let him in on her plans sooner. “I have an errand to run for Cora Beth and thought we’d handle that bit of business first.”
“An errand?”
Did she detect a note of suspicion in his question? “Yes. I need to fetch something she needs.” Oh dear, was he slowing the horse? “I assure you it’s important. We just need to go a little further down this road.”
He pursed his lips as if unhappy with the unplanned detour, so she quickly added, “And I promise you, Cora Beth will be very grateful.”
Finally he nodded, and to her relief he allowed the horse to resume its earlier pace. “I suppose, if Mrs. Collins asked you to do this, it’s the least we could do. But I hadn’t expected to be gone all day.”
“You won’t be.”
A few minutes later he cut her another sideways glance. “I’m beginning to feel like we took a wrong turn. Are you certain you know where we’re going?”
“Absolutely. I asked Danny to run through the directions twice and I’ve seen several of the landmarks he gave me. It should be just a little farther along.”
He didn’t seem reassured. “Exactly what is the nature of this errand you are running for Mrs. Collins?”
Sadie took a deep breath and then offered him her brightest smile.
He was not going to like the answer to that question.
Chapter Four
“Actually, I’m looking for Josie’s honey tree.”
Eli thought for a moment he’d misheard. “You’re what?”
“Looking for Josie’s honey tree.” She made the statement as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. “I want to replace the honey that spilled out on the floor yesterday.”
He pulled the buggy to a stop and set the brake. He couldn’t believe he’d gone all this way down a rutted-pig’s-trail-of-a-road on such a fool’s errand. When he turned to speak to her again it was all he could do not to growl. “And Mrs. Collins asked you to do this?”
“Actually, I intended it as a surprise.” Before he could say anything she rushed on. “I never said Cora Beth asked me. I just said we were fetching something for her. Which we are.” She grimaced, then sat up straighter. “I’m sorry. I do know that a lie by omission is still a lie. You’re right to be angry. I should have been more up-front with you.”
Her honesty was disarming but it still didn’t make him any fonder of the current situation. “If you felt the need to replace the honey you ruined, why couldn’t you just purchase a jar at the mercantile?”
A flash of some strong emotion crossed her face, but then she shook it off. “Because that honey was special.” Her tone was earnest but he noticed the way she clasped and unclasped her hands in her lap. “It was the last of a batch of wild honey that has a unique flavor. Cora Beth uses it to make those wonderful fruitcakes that she sells. She didn’t say anything but I know she’s worried about missing some of her regular delivery dates, what with her hurt arm. And now this. She counts on the income from those cakes to help her make ends meet.”
Something she would have no need to do once she became his wife. Not that he could say that to Miss Lassiter.
“The location of the hive is supposed to be secret,” she continued, her voice a nervous babble, “but I had a suspicion Danny would know where it might be.” Her expression turned smug. “I grew up with two brothers of my own and they weren’t likely to let a secret like that get the better of them. Sure enough, when I questioned Danny he admitted he followed Josie, all sneaky-like, on one of her trips. He couldn’t get real close—seems he swells up something awful when he gets stung, but he got close enough to spot the general vicinity.”
That was it? That was what she’d based this ill thought-out expedition on? “I’m going to find a place to turn this buggy around and we’re going to head right back to the main road.”
Dismay clouded her expression. “You can’t, not when we’ve already come this far. Look, right over there is the turtle back rock Danny told me about. We’re close, I know it.”
“Miss Lassiter, I don’t—”
She placed a hand on his arm. “Please. If not for me, do it for Cora Beth. This would mean a great deal to her.”
Her action, as well as the touch of desperation in her tone, startled him.
As if seeing him weaken, she pressed her case. “Give it just ten more minutes. If we haven’t found the hive by then, I’ll go without complaint.” She gave him a cajoling smile. “Besides, who doesn’t like the idea of a treasure hunt?”
He had to bite back a smile at that—the woman really was incorrigible. “Oh very well—ten minutes.” He hoped he didn’t regret the decision. “What’s the next landmark we’re looking for?”
She released his arm and settled back into her seat. “Thank you. There should be a small cabin of some sort just a little way farther along. Then we’ll need to go the rest of the way by foot.”
Of course they would. But he absolutely drew the line at wondering through the woods. If it wasn’t in easy sight of the trail he would most definitely put an end to her quest. “If Danny didn’t set eyes on the hive itself, how do you know you can find it?”
“He says he got close enough to hear her working. Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”
The small cabin turned out to be a one room building that looked as if it would topple over with the next good wind that blew by.
Eli tied the horse to a bit of brush, then paused as he considered a possible flaw in her plan. “Do you even know how to collect honey?”
But she nodded confidently. “I’ve done it a time or two—remember, I have two brothers and I grew up on a ranch.” She smiled as he took her hand to help her down. “How about you?”
“I have not yet had that pleasure.”
His sarcasm seemed lost on her. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you how. I have some netting and gloves for the two of us so we shouldn’t have to worry much about getting stung. And I also have some oil-soaked rags for smoking the little critters, along with a bucket to collect the honey comb in.”
He’d wondered why she’d packed so many provisions to deliver to her brother’s ranch. “Sounds like you came prepared.”
“Of course. Actually, I don’t know how Josie managed it on her own. I’ve always thought of this as a two-person job. Come to think of it, it’ll be interesting to see how she managed to not destroy the hive while she was at it.”
He stepped forward to assist as she reached behind the seat of the buggy to collect her supplies.
