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“Miss,” she said, returning his friendly smile. “Mercy Douglas.”
“I am very pleased to meet you, Miss Douglas. I’m Jason Sunshine.”
Her eyebrows rose at that, but it wasn’t the strangest name she’d ever heard. “Sunshine is an unusual last name.”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. Not the one I was born with, either, but my mama always said I was her very own ray of sunshine and the name just sort of stuck.”
“It does, indeed, fit you,” Mercy agreed.
Gray snorted, and she shot him a scathing look before turning a pleasant smile back on Jason.
“So, Mr. Sunshine, what brings you to Desolation?”
Before he could answer, Gray jumped in. “He’s been followin’ me around like a newborn duck for weeks. Wanting to learn the ‘tricks of the trade.’” Mercy raised her brows, but Gray had turned to Jason.
“There aren’t any tricks. Shoot faster than the other guy. End of lesson. Now go away.”
Jason simply grinned at Gray, who threw his hands up and stormed back to the table, resuming his meal with a great deal of muttering and dish clattering.
Mercy glanced back at Jason, struck again at the fresh good looks of him. Not that she was on the market, even without her fake engagement to Gray. But she wasn’t dead, either. Mr. Sunshine was just pure adorable. He couldn’t be more than twenty-two or so…maybe twenty-five, with a chiseled jawline that could cut glass. And despite his supposed choice of professions, he had a cheerful, innocent quality to him that was very appealing. If Gray was a thunderstorm, this man was the bolt of sunshine that broke through the dark clouds.
Handsome as he was, he wasn’t asinterestingas Gray, though she was embarrassed to attach that word to her fiancé, even in her own mind. Gray was a surly bastard, no doubt about it. In fact, he reminded her of an old, mangy dog she’d found when she was a child. The animal had been missing an ear, most of its teeth, and had fur that was so matted it was hard to tell it was a dog at first. But it had turned out to be the sweetest old thing she’d ever met. She glanced at Gray skeptically. Maybe she had to cut away more of the matted layers before she found his sweet center.
He looked up suddenly and met her gaze, and a bolt of heat hit her straight in the gut and she sucked in a little breath. And then Gray turned that smoldering gaze of his at Jason, and he grimaced.
Mercy turned to their guest and smiled. “Mr. Sunshine, there’s plenty of food if you’d care to join us.”
Gray growled a protest, but Mercy looped her arm around the young man’s. “Ignore him.”
Jason grinned. “I’d be much appreciative of a good meal, ma’am.”
Gray snorted at that. “You haven’t tried it yet.”
She threw a quick glare his way before ushering Jason to the kitchen. “If you’d care to wash up first, there’s a rain barrel on the side of the house and some fresh towels hanging on the line.”
Jason gave her a little nod. “Thank you kindly, ma’am. I’ll be right back.”
She watched him hustle out the door to go wash up before rejoining Gray at the table.
He put down his chicken leg and licked his fingers, sitting back to stare at her.
“What?” she asked.
“You like him.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know him.”
“You like him,” he said again.
She sighed. “Do I like a handsome young man smiling at me? Sure. What woman wouldn’t?”
Gray scowled. “He’s not that good-looking.”
Mercy ignored him and took a bite of her food, chewing a minute before giving up and swallowing the piece nearly whole. “Why won’t you teach him?”
“Same reason I won’t teach you. I’ve got no time for teachin’.”
“You’ve got nothingbuttime.”
