Moonlight Masquerade Read online

  There was a knock on the glass door and Roan opened it to let Heather in. She was out of breath from running with Reede’s heavy medical bag.

  “What happened?” she asked, looking at Carter’s bloody face. “You look like you ran into the side of a building.”

  “Reede hit him,” Roan said proudly.

  “Not possible,” Heather said. “He wouldn’t—” She looked at the doc. “You hit him?”

  “Temporary insanity,” Reede said as he gently examined Carter’s nose. Heather and Sophie went to get some hot water and clean cloths.

  “I take it Sophie told you what I did to her,” Carter said softly.

  “Oh yeah,” Reede said.

  Roan was hovering in the background, watching the two men. Carter Treeborne was as blond as Reede was dark, as gentle-seeming as Reede was intense. It looked like the second time around Sophie had chosen a different direction.

  Sophie and Heather returned with cloths and water, and Reede stood back as Heather cleaned Carter’s face.

  Sophie put her hand on Reede’s arm and nodded upward. He followed her up the stairs.

  The instant they were alone, he started apologizing. “I’m sorry. I’ve never hit anybody. At least not since I was in grade school. I know I have a temper, but this was—”

  He stopped talking because Sophie kissed him. It was a sweet kiss and he couldn’t help feeling that it had more meaning than the more intimate times they’d shared together. “What was that for?”

  “To say thanks. I’ve never before had anyone do something like that for me. It was wrong, of course, and you shouldn’t have done it, but thank you.”

  “It was a gut reaction and you’re right, I shouldn’t have. As a doctor I took an oath to—”

  “I know,” she said. “Come in the kitchen and I’ll get you something to eat.”

  He followed her and sat on a stool and watched while she pulled leftover chicken and salad out of the fridge. “Why is he here?”

  “I don’t know,” Sophie said.

  “He wants you back.”

  “That’s a nice thought.”

  “What?!”

  She smiled as she put the plate before him. “Every woman dreams of the man who dumped her begging her to return. Do you think he’ll go on his knees to me?”

  “Excuse me if I don’t find any humor in this.”

  “Roan said I’d turned you into a blithering idiot but I didn’t believe him until today.”

  “My cousin talks too much.” He bit into the chicken. “You have to tell him to leave.”

  “I’m not going to,” Sophie said.

  Reede nearly choked on his food. “You can’t . . . ” He trailed off. “But maybe you want him. Maybe you want to go back to Texas and live with some kid who’s going to own a mega corporation. Maybe you—”

  “If you’re trying to make me angry, you’re succeeding,” she said.

  Reede stopped talking.

  “Carter was good help today, and I need that.”

  “You said that Russell is sending someone.”

  “I know.” She told him of Russ’s offer of a job teaching sculpting.

  “But that’s great! You can set up a studio in the craft house.”

  “Run that and this place too?” she asked.

  Reede looked at her but said nothing. He knew what he wanted. Since he’d met Sophie he’d felt strongly about her. From their first phone call when he’d poured his heart out to her he’d felt the connection. On the surface it looked as though they hadn’t known each other long, but he knew that what he felt was timeless. He’d loved only two women in his life.

  When the first one didn’t want him he’d been so devastated that he’d almost taken his own life. For years he’d been only half alive.

  The truth was that he’d only truly revived after he’d met Sophie. He’d told himself that he’d never again feel that deep bond with another woman, but he’d felt it with her.

  He liked everything about her, from the look of her to the way she was afraid of things but didn’t let that stop her.

  But now, facing this situation of dealing with this man who had hurt her, this man whom she’d loved, was terrifying him. In Africa he’d once faced a lioness on the hunt. He’d been alone, with no weapon, and no cover, but he’d stood his ground and she’d walked away. Later, Reede’s legs had given out from under him and he’d collapsed, but he knew what he’d faced.

  That day and that lioness were nothing compared to the thought of Sophie being alone with her former lover.

  He remembered Al quoting Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater and that’s exactly how Reede felt now. He wanted to grab Sophie and lock her away. He didn’t want to do anything to risk losing her.

  He took a deep breath. What he was about to say was the hardest, most courageous thing he’d ever said in his life. “Sophie, what do you want to do?”

  “What an extraordinary thought,” she said as she turned away. Her first impulse was to say that she wanted him, Reede, but then she remembered quiet times with Carter. No walking across beams, no dealing with men pinned to trees. Every moment she’d spent with Carter had been good—up until the very last, that is. If it was true that he’d come back here for her, didn’t she owe it to herself to find out what she wanted? Reede? Carter? Or maybe she’d get a job as a sculptor at some movie studio in LA and work on the next Hobbit film.

  When she turned back to Reede she was smiling. “I don’t know.”

  “You look like that’s a good thing.” There was no smile on his face.

  “I have choices,” she said. “Wonderful choices and I’m going to take my time deciding what I want to do.”

  “But—” he began.

  “First of all, I’m going to talk to Carter. Alone. I’m going to see what he’s after, whether it’s me as a woman or me as a thief. For my own peace of mind I need to get the cookbook problem settled.”

  Reede sat down on the couch in the living room and watched her. This was a Sophie he hadn’t seen before. But he liked her. “And what if he’s here for you?”

  She looked into Reede’s eyes and thought about lying, but she couldn’t do it. “I’ll have to see about that. I don’t know if I genuinely loved him or not. He’s a Treeborne in a town owned by that family. I think that had a lot of influence on me. To go from high school boys making lewd remarks to me to the same kids holding doors open for me was heady. It felt so good it changed me. Changed how I felt about myself. Does that make sense?”

  “I understand what you’re saying, but the people in Edilean hold doors open for you because you’re a fellow human being.”

  “I know,” she said. “I’ve seen that. But they’ve also done things for me because of you.” Her face changed to pleading. “I want to see if I can do things on my own. Is that so difficult to understand?”

  “No, it’s not,” he said as he stood up and looked at her. “I grew up here but I needed to find my own place in the world. Sophie, I’m going to tell you the truth. I love you. I’ve been in love with you almost from our first conversation. If I were a pirate I’d kidnap you and hold you prisoner until you said you loved me too. If this were medieval times I’d offer your guardian a cartload of gold for your hand.”

  She couldn’t help but take a step toward him.

  “But I can’t do any of those things, so I’m going to wait. And I’m going to do anything I can to help you. But first—”

  He took a step toward her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. He kissed her with all the longing, all the desire, and most of all, with all the love that he felt for her.

  Her knees went weak, her arms limp at her side—and Reede dropped her. He just flat out let her go, and she fell down onto the couch.

  “But I warn you that I don’t play fair,” he said as she stared up at him, still unable to catch her breath.

  She sat there blinking as he left her apartment.

  Nineteen

  Heather came up the stairs,