Moonlight in the Morning Read online

  “Would you believe me if I told you she guessed?”

  “Definitely. Don’t worry about it. She only wants what’s k whhei best for me.”

  “And I’m not?”

  “She knows I’m not going to live here, that I’m going back to New York. Since your life is here, she’s concerned about me—and about you too.”

  “I know you’re leaving,” Tris said. “But I refuse to think of that. I believe in enjoying the moment.”

  “Me too,” she said, smiling. “I want to ask you something.”

  “Anything,” he said.

  “Who’s the mystery man in Kim’s life?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Sophie and I used to talk about him. Kim was always searching for some man on the Internet. She joined several of those personal search Web sites, the kind where you pay thirty-five dollars to find the address of someone. I’ve always wondered if she found him.”

  “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “I thought maybe some high school guy came and went.”

  “I wouldn’t know. When Kim was that age, I was away at school. I could ask her—”

  “No!” Jecca said.

  “You don’t want Kim to know you were snooping, do you?”

  “Right,” Jecca said, and they were silent for a moment.

  “I want to know about your day,” he said.

  “Yours sounds more interesting. Who else did you tell about us?”

  “I didn’t tell Kim. She has a sixth sense when it comes to you.”

  “Are you avoiding telling me what you did today? Is there some secret?”

  Tristan laughed. “I’m caught! If you’re this perceptive when you can’t see my grimaces, what are you like in the daylight?”

  “You’re still avoiding answering me.”

  “Okay!” Tris was laughing. “My sister called, and I have to fly to Miami in the morning.”

  “Oh,” Jecca said and she couldn’t believe how the news was bringing her down. No more nighttime meetings.

  “Her husband, Jake, is being released from the hospital, and I’m going down to help them come back to Edilean.”

  “How can you help them move if you have only one arm?”

  “Actually, my sister wants me to look after my niece, Nell. I’m the designated babysitter. Mom’s driving down to Miami from Sarasota, so she and Addy will arrange everything. I’m just to look over Jake and see that the doctors haven’t missed anything, then Nell and I will be told to go occupy ourselves.”

  “Which I’ve heard that you love to do,” Jecca said.

  “Oh yeah. Nell’s up for any adventure. She’s going to love your artwork.”

  “You told her about me?” Jecca asked.

  “Not yet, but I will.”

  Jecca smiled. “How about your parents and sister?”

  Tristan took his time answering. “When I tell them, things will become serious. They’ll start wanting to know about your parents, your job, your plans for the future . . . everything.”

  “Do they want to know that about all the women in your life?”

  “The ones I’ve told them about, yes,” Tris said. “You wouldn’t like to go away with Nell and me for a week or so, would you?”

  Jecca’s first thought was that she should work, not run off with this man she’d only known a few days. And there was his niece, who she’d never met. They were strangers to each other. But she couldn’t bring herself to say that. “Where and when?”

  Tristan’s smile was so big she could feel it in the dark. “Nell wants to visit Roan at his cabin. He’s a cousin of ours and—”

  “There’s a surprise!”

  “Don’t make fun of Edilean.” This time she knew he was teasing. “Roan is the last of the McTerns, who were the oldest family to settle in Edilean back in the 1760s.”

  “What does he do in his cabin?”

  “Eats squirrels and possums. The usual.” When Jecca was silent, Tris laughed. “Roan lives in California and teaches philosophy at Berkeley.”

  “Oh my. An intellectual.”

  “Sort of. You wouldn’t think so if you met him. Anyway, he has a cabin in the preserve and he visits whenever he can. He’s taking a sabbatical this year to do some writing, so he’s there by himself.”

  “What’s he writing? The philosophy of what?”

  “Actually, he’s working on a mystery novel.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. He’s worn out from teaching and wants to do something else. Will you go with us? Roan has two bedrooms. You and Nell can have one, and we’ll all share cooking duties. You like to fish?”

  “I’d like to paint wildflowers,” she said.

  “That’s a good idea,” he said. “Kim’s ad campaign might just as well be based around daisies as Miltonias.” He paused to chew. “But I have a favor to ask of you.”

  “What is it?”

  “I know that if Nell sees your artwork she’ll want to try it. Could you give me a list of supplies she’ll need and I’ll get them while I’m in Miami?”

  “That’s a favor? To make a list?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Is there something wrong with that?”

  Jecca was glad he couldn’t see her face. She knew she must be looking at him in adoration. In her experience, when a man asked for a “favor” it wasn’t so he could help out his niece. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “I’ll take care of Nell. At the rate I’m going in producing work I may end up teaching elementary school art.”

  Tristan wasn’t sure if he should reply to that. He feared revealing what Kim had told him about Jecca’s paintings not selling. “I own a couple of buildings downtown, and Roan owns half a dozen.”

  “Good for you guys.” She was puzzled by his comment.

  “I was just thinking that Edilean could use a place where people could study art.”

  “Hmmm,” she said. “That’s an idea. I could teach senior citizens how to paint pictures of their dogs. Or maybe I should teach kids how to make pottery. Or—”

  “I get it,” Tris said, laughing. “But you do set a man a challenge.”

  “How so?”

  “To get you to stay I have to find you a new career.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “I somehow don’t think that’s going to happen. How often do you get to New York?”

  “About every three years.”

  Jecca knew it made no sense to feel that she was going to miss this man she’d never seen, but she did. When he started moving things about, she knew what he was doing. He was making a place so she could lean against him. She waited, sipping her champagne, until she felt him hold out his arm.

  She didn’t hesitate as she turned and moved back toward him, between his outstretched legs, her back against his front. When he lifted his injured arm to slide down over her body, it felt familiar to her. She snuggled back against him, and for a while they sat there in silence and listened to the water and the night sounds.

  “I’m going to miss you,” he said softly, his mouth very close to her ear. “Mind if I call you while I’m away?”

  “I would love it if you did. Every day I’ll tell you all about whatever aerobic torture my two ladies put me through.”

  “Did you guys do the belly dancing this afternoon?”

  “Oh yes. Lucy’s rather good at it, but Mrs. Wingate and I will never be more than amateurs.”

  “I think you should let me be the judge,” Tristan said. “As a doctor, I could watch and—”

  “In your dreams.”

  He chuckled. “Are you looking forward to seeing Reede again?”

  “It’s all I can think about.” When Tristan said nothing, Jecca turned her face up toward his. “I know it’s impossible, but you sound jealous.”

  “My km">aited, sipgirl fantasizes about the . . . what did you say? . . . ‘naked beauty’ of another man and I’m not supposed to be even a bit jealous?”

  “When did I become ‘yo