The Scent of Jasmine by Jude Deveraux

find cloth she could use to bind her breasts. In a back corner were rolls of fabric and scissors, so she cut a bit of white muslin and made a big bandage of it. She didn’t pull too hard, just enough to stop the movement and make her chest into a lump, and she put the shirt back on. If she kept it loose, she thought it would work.
    It didn’t take long to put on the other clothes. She traded her torn silk stockings for a boy’s thick white ones, and breeches went easily over her slim legs. She had a great deal of trouble fastening them at the waist, what with all the buttons and ties, but she figured it out. She tucked the shirt into the trousers, slipped her arms through a vest, found a lightweight wool coat, and put it on. As she started for the front of the store, she grabbed a big straw hat off the shelf, and went to the front counter.
    “Well?” she said to Alex’s back.
    Turning, he gave her a long look, but said nothing.
    “You don’t like it? Did I do something wrong? I’m not used to breeches, but I think I fastened them properly.”
    Silently, he went behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her toward the mirror. Her reflection showed a girl in boy’s clothing. Her hair hung past her shoulders in thick curls, and she was still wearing her pearl earrings. It was amazing that they’d stayed on as long as they had—but then she’d tightened them often.
    Without a word, Alex held out his hand, and she knew what he meant. She unscrewed the earrings and put them in his palm.
    “I’ll put these with your other clothes and take them with us.”
    “Of course we’re going to take my dress. Maybe it can be repaired. I don’t plan to wear these hideous clothes forever. Once you’ve left on your travels with the other men, maybe I can go back to being a girl.”
    “And travel all the way back to Virginia as a lone female? No, you will not.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she was again twisting about.
    “What are you doing now?”
    “Moving. It feels odd not to have on a corset. I’ve worn one every day of my life since I was twelve.”
    “Twelve?” Alex said. “You’ve been tied into that thing since you were little more than a babe?”
    “Of course. How else does a grown woman get a small waist? You don’t think a mother would wait until her daughter was an adult, then try to pull her waist in, do you?”
    “I can honestly say that I never wondered how a woman got a small waist. I guess I thought they were born with them.”
    Cay shook her head at him. “Next you’ll be telling me that you think women naturally have a shine to their hair and roses in their cheeks.”
    Since that was true, Alex could only stare at her in silence.
    “I think you missed out on a lot in life by having no mother or sisters.”
    “I think I was a babe in the woods until I met you,” Alex said under his breath, then louder, “Are you ready to go, lass?”
    “You’ll have to stop calling me that, now that I’m supposed to be a boy.”
    “When we do something with your hair so you don’t look like one, I will.”
    All humor left Cay’s face. “I think that if I wash it and comb it back when it’s wet, it might be manageable just as it is.”
    He didn’t like the sadness in her eyes. “Might as well say that about a lion’s mane,” he said and was glad when she smiled.
    “Truly?”
    “Completely. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever before seen so much hair on one person. And the color is truly magnificent.” As he talked he was walking toward the door and Cay was following him.
    “You don’t think it’s too red?” she asked, her eyes wide in innocence. She wanted to distract him enough so that he didn’t see the things she was putting into the bag.
    With his eyes on her, he picked up the big bag of goods and held the door open for her. “I wouldn’t change a strand of it.” He glanced back into the store,