Moonlight Masquerade Read online

  He glanced back at her and when he saw the worried look on her face he frowned. A minute later his cell buzzed. He read the message, then handed his phone over the seat to Sophie.

  FIFTY LBS OF SCULPTOR’S CLAY AND TOOLS TO BE DELIVERED TO STUDIO OF RENTAL HOUSE. OKAY? BETSY

  Sophie read the text three times before handing the phone back to Reede. When he raised his eyebrows in question, she gave a quick nod and turned to look out the window. Just this once, she thought. Just this one more time she’d let herself be taken care of. Tomorrow for sure she was going to regain control of her own life.

  When Reede told the man driving the car to take them to the newly rented house, he glanced at Sophie to see if she agreed. Yes. The sooner she started on the sculptures the faster they’d get done, then she could begin making soups and sandwiches.

  After the man dropped them off, she and Reede stood there for a moment, not seeming to know what to do next. But then the wind changed and the temperature dropped. Sophie rubbed her upper arms as she followed him into the house.

  It was just as she’d seen it the first time, with little furniture, but the late sun coming through the sun-room windows made it very welcoming. The rooms looked to be cleaner, but it still needed a new coat of paint. Three stools had been placed at the open kitchen counter, and Sophie sat on one.

  Reede walked around the counter and looked in the refrigerator. It was full of food. “Looks like the girls did the shopping.”

  “Do they wait on you hand and foot?”

  “They do for Tristan but not for me.”

  “From what I heard, you don’t deserve being waited on.”

  Reede chuckled. “True. At least not until you came, I didn’t.” He was rummaging in the deli drawer and pulled out packets of sandwich meat. “Hungry?”

  “Yes.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Maybe I should look in the Treeborne cookbook and make something.”

  “Are you going to be mad at me about that?” he asked.

  “What makes me angry is your presumption. All I asked you to do was drop off a package and that’s what you should have done.”

  Her tone didn’t bother him. “What are you so afraid of when it comes to this Treeborne guy?” Reede was slicing a tomato and at that name his hand clutched the handle hard. “Are you still in love with him?”

  Sophie took a moment to answer. “If love can be killed by one sentence was it really love?”

  “If that sentence is someone telling you to get lost, then yes one sentence can kill love.” He was putting mayonnaise on four slices of bread. “What if this guy . . . Carson?”

  “Carter.”

  “What if this Carter came here and said he didn’t mean what he said, that his father made him say it? Would you forgive him?”

  Sophie took a breath. “It’s almost as though you know him.”

  “I’ve met his type, afraid to stand up for what he believes. Afraid of himself and what he might do.”

  “Like run off with something as low as a town girl?”

  “Is that what he said about you?” Reede asked as he put the sandwiches together and cut them on the diagonal.

  “He said . . . ”

  Reede waited for her to finish.

  “He said that I’m the type of girl you go to bed with but you don’t marry.” Sophie looked at Reede with her heart in her eyes. On the long drive from Texas to Edilean, in her mind, she’d heard Carter say those words over and over. She’d looked at them from every angle and tried to see what had been behind them. She’d gone over everything, from her family, the way she dressed, her jobs, to her table manners. While it was true that she hadn’t been raised in the luxury he was used to, she’d been to college, and—

  The sound of Reede’s laughter made her stop thinking. Obviously he thought that what she’d said was amusing. She got off the stool and headed for the front door, grabbing her purse on the way out.

  Reede caught her before she got there and put his hands on her shoulders. “Sophie, I was laughing at the absurdity of what he said. From what you’ve told me about that coward and from what I’ve read—and yes I did an Internet search—he’s ruled by his father. It’s my guess his old man has some other girl picked out for him.”

  Sophie was staring at Reede, still not placated for his laughter.

  “Sophie, you are the type men marry. This whole town is full of men wanting to walk down an aisle with you.”

  “That’s ridiculous. They may want . . . you know, from me, but . . . ” She stepped back from him. “This is an absurd conversation. No man—”

  Reede pulled her into his arms and held her. It wasn’t a lustful hug but one of comfort. “I’m sorry he hurt you,” he said softly. “You gave up everything to help your sister. You walked away from a college education to take on low-paying jobs so you could protect her. You gave up your friends, and most of all, you gave up your passion for sculpting to help someone else. Can you tell me that a woman who’d do something like that isn’t someone every man on this earth would want for his wife? To be the mother to his children?”

  Sophie couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes. She had loved Carter. Against all that she—and everyone in town had warned her about—she’d grown to love his quiet gentleness. Their days in the summer-house, on his boat, of just being together, had taken away the harshness of her life. Then, in one horrible night to find out that it was all a lie, that he hadn’t come close to feeling what she had, had nearly broken her.

  She clung to Reede’s strong body, her cheek against his chest, and she couldn’t stop her tears.

  “It’s all right,” he said as he stroked her hair. “He won’t be back and he can’t hurt you again. And just because he said that doesn’t make it true.”

  He pulled back to look at her. “But that doesn’t help much, does it? I was very low after some woman told me that she didn’t love me and that being around me and hearing of all I wanted to do in life had always scared her.”

  “That’s stupid!” Sophie said. “You got me across that beam when I was terrified. I would trust you with my life.”

  He took her hand in his and led her back to the kitchen. “I was so afraid she was right that as soon as I got out of school I went to Africa and Guatemala and anywhere else in the world where they’d have me. And you know what?”

  “They all loved you?”

  Reede smiled. “No. Not by a long shot. But they did trust me.” He led her back to the stool and pulled the sandwiches toward them.

  Sophie went into the kitchen to find the ingredients to make iced tea. “I want to hear more about your travels. You once said that you wanted me to get to know the real you, the one inside that you don’t show to other people.”

  “Only if you agree to do the same for me.”

  “All right,” she said.

  He took a bite of his sandwich. “How about if I tell you about the time Kim’s husband, Travis, nearly killed me and my donkey? And he destroyed medicines that had taken me six months to get.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes. It was in Morocco and it was horrible. There was an international race that day, but the idiots in two of the cars were on the wrong road! Later I found out that they were following each other, some sort of personal vendetta, one-upmanship. The first guy decided to cut a few miles off the course by not going around the village but through it, and the other one, Travis, followed him.”

  “But what about the people who lived there?”

  “Exactly,” Reede said. “Someone saw the first car coming so they began to warn everyone and they managed to get out of the way.”

  “Except you,” Sophie said.

  “I had a donkey loaded with boxes of medicines and the animal froze, wouldn’t move. The first car ran past us, with sand flying everywhere, and the poor creature freaked. Refused to take a step. I couldn’t believe it when another car came right behind the first one. It was heading directly toward us.”

  “What did y