Stranger in the Moonlight Read online

  Joe stood there for a moment and it struck him that he and his son might be more alike than he thought. “I love bossy women,” he said aloud, then followed Lucy into the sewing room.

  Five

  Kim was in her shop, showing some rings she’d made last summer to a young married couple. They were in town just for the day and couldn’t stop talking about how “quaint” Edilean was. The word always made Kim smile. Her cousin’s wife, Tess, said they should put up a sign on the road into town saying WE AIN’T QUAINT.

  Kim tried to give her attention back to the couple, who she felt sure were going to buy an inexpensive piece.

  “Which one do you like best?” the girl asked Kim as she gazed at the tray containing six rings.

  She wanted to tell the truth, that she liked them all, since she had designed everything in the shop. “It all depends on what you like, but I think—”

  There was the whoosh of the door opening, and she heard Carla draw in her breath. That was her “man sound,” as Carla was always on the make.

  Kim looked up to see Travis standing in the doorway. He had on a forest green shirt and jeans, and with his dark hair and eyes he looked as virile as any man ever had. He seemed to exude masculinity, as though it were an aura around him.

  “I am in love,” Carla said under her breath as she moved next to Kim. Since Travis had eyes only for Kim, Carla added, “Please tell me he’s one of your relatives so he’s available to the rest of us.”

  Kim didn’t answer as she gave her attention back to the couple—but the girl was looking at Travis, and her young husband was frowning. Customers lost, Kim thought.

  Travis came forward and stopped close to the young woman. When she smiled at him, he smiled back.

  “I think we should go,” the young man said, but his wife ignored him.

  “I see you in aquamarines,” Travis said in a voice Kim had never heard him use before. It was soft and sultry, silky.

  “Really?” the girl asked, sounding about fourteen.

  “With your eyes, what else could you wear?”

  The young woman wasn’t especially pretty and her eyes were a nondescript brown. On the other hand, the ring Travis was nodding toward was one of the most expensive in the shop.

  “I’ve never thought of wearing aquamarines before.” Turning, she batted her eyelashes at her husband. “What do you think, honey?”

  Before the young man could answer, Travis leaned across the counter so his upper torso was in front of the girl. “But if you want something less expensive, those little amber rings would be all right. They don’t sparkle in the same way, but the price is easier on the credit card.”

  The young woman was looking at Travis’s neck, at the way his hair curled along his golden skin. She looked as though she were in a hypnotic trance. When she lifted her hand as though she was going to touch his hair, her husband leaned in front of her. Travis stepped back.

  “We’ll take that ring and the earrings too,” the man said, pointing to the aquamarines.

  “Good choice,” Travis said as he turned and smiled at Kim.

  Part of her wanted to say thanks, but the larger part was disgusted by what he’d just done.

  “You ready for lunch?” he asked Kim.

  She nodded to Carla to write up the sale, then went behind the far counter with Travis following her. “It’s ten A.M.,” she said, her voice cool. “It isn’t time for lunch.”

  “Are you angry at me?”

  “Of course not!” she snapped as she pulled out a tray of bracelets and began to rearrange them.

  Travis picked up one and held it up to the light. “Nice.”

  The bracelet was the smallest but the most intricate, and the stones were the best quality. It was also the most expensive item she carried. She took it from him. “You seem to have learned something about jewelry.”

  “I’ve had a lot of experience.” He leaned toward her. “I have things to tell you, so let’s go walk somewhere and have lunch.”

  “Travis, I have a business to run. I can’t come and go at your whim.”

  He looked at Carla, who hadn’t stopped watching him, and smiled at her. “She looks capable of taking care of the place.”

  Kim lowered her voice. “Stop flirting with the women in my shop.”

  “Then come out with me.”

  “Where were you this morning?”

  His face turned serious. “I got up at five, drove into the wilderness, and went for a run. When I got back you’d left for work. It’s nice of you to be concerned.”

  “I’m not,” she said as she locked the glass case. He was smiling at her. “All right! So I was worried. With the way you drive you could have run off a mountain and no one would know you were there.”

  “Sorry,” he said, and he did look contrite. “I’m not used to telling anyone where I’m going or when I’ll return.” He hesitated. “Or anyone caring. Can you go out with me now? Please?”

  His dark eyes were pleading, enticing even. She gave in. She went to Carla and asked if she’d look after the store for a while.

  Carla bent down behind a counter and motioned for Kim to come down too. “Who is he? Where did you find him? Is he the emergency you had Sunday? Does Dave know about him?”

  Kim stood up.

  “Does he know about Dave?” Carla asked from her squatting position.

  Kim rolled her eyes, got her purse out of the back, and left the store with Travis.

  Before them was the entire town of Edilean, which meant there were two squares, one with a giant oak tree in the center of it.

  “Shall we go sit over there?” Travis asked as he nodded toward the benches under the tree. He’d dropped his flirtatious demeanor and was again the Travis she knew.

  There wasn’t much traffic in the little town as they crossed the road. Politely, he let her sit down before he sat beside her.

  “Your shop is nice. Maybe someday when there are no customers, you’ll show me around it.”

  “But would you enjoy it without customers?”

  “I promise, no more flirting with them. Although they did buy some nice pieces. I like your things better than what I’ve seen in jewelry stores in New York.”

  She knew he was flattering her, but he looked so worried that she wouldn’t forgive him, that she did. She smiled at him. “So what did you want to talk to me about?” When he didn’t answer right away, she said, “Last night, how bad was it with your mother?”

  For a moment he looked ahead and didn’t answer, and she got the idea that something was bothering him. “Remember that I said she could go either way, happy or angry?”

  “I know that you said women are unpredictable.”

  “And you promised me Star Wars disks.”

  “Star Trek, and no they’re not the same. Which way did your mom go?”

  “Angry.”

  Kim looked at him in sympathy, and she could tell that there was more to what had been said than just for Travis to stay out of it. “Was it very bad?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “My father bawls me out all the time. He has a vile temper and he uses it to scare people.”

  “Are you afraid of him?”

  “Not in the least.” Travis gave a little half smile. “In fact, I like to do things to set him off.”

  “But if he fired you . . . ?”

  Travis laughed. “Think I don’t want him to? Which he knows. Anyway, Dad says things to me that should be demoralizing and I laugh at him. But my sweet little mother . . .” He waved his hand.

  “I understand,” Kim said. “My mother screams at me until her face is red, but I pay no attention to her. But one time when I was in the fourth grade my father said, ‘Kim, I’m disappointed in you.’ I got so upset my mother made him apologize to me.”

  Looking at her, Travis shook his head. “Your family sounds so normal. I can’t imagine my mother ‘making’ my dad do anything. She crumbles in front of him.”

  Kim had some ideas about