Read Cactus Flower for Free Online Page B

Taggart?”
           “Eat?”
He still sounded annoyed.
           “Yes.
Eat. You do know what the word means, don’t you?”
           “Yes,
I know what the word means. I’m thinking.”
           “Don’t
strain yourself.” She pulled the ostrich feather out of her hair,
gently disengaged the pearls, and began brushing. When she’d brushed
out all the tangles, she wound her hair into a soft knot and pinned
it up.
           “You’re
a real peach, you know that, Miss Gibb? Do you have to practice being
rude, or does it come naturally?”
           “It
comes naturally.” Eulalie picked up her corset, and an awful thought
struck her. Blast it, she was going to have to ask him to help her lace
up the wretched thing.
           “At
least you admit it.”
           Nick
Taggart sounded grumpy. Eulalie couldn’t really fault him much. She
had, after all, been especially impolite to him.
           “There’s
no reason not to admit it. I’m not ashamed to treat men the way they
deserve to be treated.” She eyed the offending garment, wondering
where her brain had gone begging when she’d laid out her clothes.
She should have chosen the one that laced in the front. But she hadn’t,
and there was no getting away from it. She certainly couldn’t appear
in front of the men she’d just entertained sans corset, or
they’d never believe she was interested only in singing for them.
           Of
course, she could put her costume back on and go fetch the other corset
from her trunk. She peered at the bright pink, and intolerably tight,
garment she’d just removed and decided she couldn’t bear it. She
sighed deeply.
           “You
don’t even know me. How the hell do you know how I deserve to be treated?”
           “Simple,”
she said, thrusting her arms through the corset straps. “You’re
a man.” She might have to get his help, but she wasn’t going to
give him more of a show than she had to. She paused to contemplate her
conclusion.
           On
the other hand, this might be a good test. If he seemed intrigued by
the sight of her bare flesh, and if she decided she needed him further,
this would give her a chance to gauge his reaction to her charms. If
he was like most men, he’d react like a rutting pig. That was the
result she determined she wanted to achieve.
           She
stepped into her petticoats and tied the tapes at her waist. Then she
walked out from behind the modesty screen, holding the corset to her
bosom.
           Nick
Taggart looked as if he were enormously peeved. He stood at her dressing
table, frowning down at her makeup pots and fingering a powder puff.
“What does being a man have to do with—”
           He
made the mistake of turning before he’d finished his question. Eulalie
was encouraged to see his mouth drop open and his eyes open wide. It
looked to her as though whatever words he’d planned to say had been
snatched from his head as if by a thieving magpie. She smiled at him,
making sure it was one of her honey-was-no-sweeter-than-she-
was smiles.
           “I
beg your pardon, Mr. Taggart. I don’t believe you finished your thought.”
She waited, pressing the whale-boned instrument of torture to her bosom
in order to enhance her cleavage. This was the second—maybe the third—time
today she’d found cause to be grateful to her rather large bosom.
Men were so predictable.
           “What—”
Nick had to stop and lick his lips. “What are you doing?”
           “I
was trying to get dressed, but I find I need help. May I get it from
you? My corset laces in back.”
           Nick
stood there for several more seconds, watching her as if he suspected
her of ulterior motives. Which, Eulalie knew, she possessed in abundance,
although he couldn’t possibly know what they were. He probably thought
she was trying to seduce