Page 33 of Fairy Tale Marriage

Untilnow.

“Shouldn’t push her, boss,” Jumbo advised cheerfully, dropping a dinner plate in front of him. “Maybe she doesn’t like wine. If you’re still hopin’ to get her drunk, Ican fetch some of that hard stuff you have hidden in your desk drawer. We could lace her coffee with it.”

“Repeat that word.”

Jumbo’s face collapsed into lines of contemplation. “What word?”

“The ‘b’ word.”

“What? Boss?”

“Yeah. That word. Iwant you to reflect on it and all its many connotations before opening your mouth again. That way you might keep your job past the end of the meal.”

Jumbo's impressive eyebrow bunched together, like a fuzzy caterpillar rolling into a ball to escape a predator. “What? What did I say?”

“First, you’re buttin’ in where you have no business buttin’.” Chaz fought to keep his voice down, with only limited success. “Second, you’re giving out far too much information. And third, I’m not trying to get my wife drunk.”

“Oh, yeah? You give up on that plan? Didn’t much care for it, myself.”

“Jumbo!”

Perhaps it was the volume that finally penetrated. “You want me to shut up?”

“Either you can do it, or I’ll do it for you.” Chaz flexed his hands, just incase.

Jumbo’s caterpillar brow thrashed around in apparent death throes before rippling into a straight mortally wounded line. “Won’t say another word.”

“Good.”

He set an overloaded dinner plate in front of Shayne. “Anything else I can get you?” He shot Chaz a defensive look. “And just so we’re clear, Iwasn’t buttin’ in. Asking her that is part of my job. Can’t very well fetch her something if I don’t know what needs fetching.”

“No, thanks, Jumbo,” Shayne hastened tosay.

“But you’re gonna eat all I brung you, right?”

Shayne blinked in surprise. “To be honest, I’m not very hungry.”

Jumbo planted his massive fists on his equally massive hips. “Not a good idea.”

Her eyes widened. “No?”

“Not even a little. If you kept this up, Mojo's gonna come charging out of the kitchen with a meat cleaver in hand, demanding retribution. He doesn't take well to people giving his food such short shrift.”

“Jumbo!”

His employee spun around, his right elbow missing the top of Shayne’s head by a scant inch. “Do you want your wife chopped into itty-bitty pieces, boss? I’m just trying to protect your property.”

“She’s not my property!” Chaz roared.

What was it with people considering his wife property? First Rafe and now Jumbo. Couldn’t they tell by looking at her that she was as strong and independent as they came? Perhaps it was because she appeared so fragile and was possibly the most delightful bit of femininity to ever grace his home. No doubt it roused the protective instincts in the male species.

“She’s a woman with a will of her own,” he explained, painfully aware of Shayne’s attentive regard. “Not to mention, the ability to make her own decisions.”

“Now, see...” Jumbo took a seat. “There’s your first mistake. You tell a woman stuff like that and things get way out of control.”

“Jumbo’s not the most enlightened of men,” Chaz explained to his wife. “Perhaps that explains why he’s never been married.”

“You want my advice?” Jumbo asked. Not that it was really a question.

---