The Girl From Summer Hill Read online

  But when he asked Casey to come in, she backed away, her hands raised in horror. “No thanks. I have to get ready for dinner, and besides, it’s been a very long day.”

  “Mind if I walk you back?”

  “Please do,” she said.

  He put the basket down and they walked toward the guesthouse. “I heard that you auditioned for the role of Elizabeth Bennet.”

  “Not really,” she said. “I mean, I did sort of.”

  “What did Kit say about it?”

  Casey stopped walking. “Sorry, but…Men! The audition was a fiasco. I got really angry and was embarrassed by what happened, but people cheered and—” She waved her hand. “Kit loved it. He was ecstatic. I was still in the dressing room when he came in and told me I was going to be Elizabeth. Then he left. Just like that! He made an autocratic decree about me, and added—like it meant nothing—that the movie star was probably going to play Darcy. Then Kit just walked away like it was a done deal. I ran after him and told him I’d sooner cook with aluminum pans, let my knives get dull, whatever, than be in a play with Tate Landers. I said— Oh.” She looked at Jack. “Sorry again. I know he’s your friend, but he makes me furious. But then, if you spend a lot of time around him, I’m sure you’re used to women saying that.”

  “No, actually,” Jack said, “you’re the first.”

  They were at the guesthouse. “I suspect the women were too dazzled by his good looks to notice what he’s really like. If he were ugly, women wouldn’t have anything to do with him.”

  “Isn’t that always true?”

  “So now you’re saying that all women are superficial and are attracted only by a man’s pecs and abs?”

  Jack raised his eyebrows in a way that made Casey laugh in spite of herself. “Okay. You have a point,” she said. “Come in and I’ll make you a drink. How about some twelve-year-old Scotch on the rocks?”

  “Sounds great.” He sat down on the same stool as he had before and she poured him a drink. While he sipped it, he watched her move about the kitchen as she put things away. “Are you going to take the role?”

  “I’m no actress. All the passion I put into the lines came from my anger at Tate Landers.” She turned to Jack. “Do you know what he was doing in my bedroom?”

  “I have no idea.” He wasn’t being entirely truthful.

  She dropped two stainless bowls into a drawer, making a clatter. “I think he undressed, because his shirt was hanging off the porch roof. All day I was dreading what I’d find up there when I got home.”

  “And?” Jack asked.

  “My pajamas were on the floor, and everything on my dresser had been rearranged. It’s as though he went through all my things.” She looked at Jack. “There was a peacock feather sticking out from under the bed. Bright green with an eye on it. Finding that in my bedroom was really creepy! Tomorrow Josh is going to put some dead bolts on my doors, and I’ll have to close all the windows and lock them.”

  Jack was frowning. “None of this sounds like Tate.”

  “I guess we can never see the truth about our friends.” She went back to cleaning.

  “Casey,” Jack said tentatively, “I think I should say something about Devlin Haines.”

  It didn’t take much to know what he was going to say. “Do you know the man personally or have you just heard what Landers says about his ex-brother-in-law?” Her eyes were challenging his.

  “Just what I’ve been told,” Jack said. He put his drink up to his mouth and said nothing more.

  Casey took a breath. “That’s enough about me. You seemed really taken with Gizzy.”

  Jack looked down at his drink. “She’s nice, very sweet. She makes me feel like I should put on armor and protect her.”

  “Um…Jack…” Casey leaned across the island toward him. “Maybe you know that Gizzy is my half sister. We share some things, but we’re also very different.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Gizzy is as beautiful as a spring day, I’ll give you that. Men follow her wherever she goes.”

  Jack didn’t seem to notice that she hadn’t answered his question. “I heard that her dad is tough on men who try to date her. But I understand. She needs to be protected.”

  “Actually, Reverend Nolan tries to protect the men.”

  “Oh, no.” Jack groaned. “Tell me she’s not insane. In the last two years every girlfriend I’ve had has been crazy. One danced for three days with no sleep, then spent six days in bed saying she hated life, then she got up and did it all over again. And if you tell the press that, I’ll sue you.”

  “No, Gizzy isn’t crazy. She’s quite sane. I don’t know how to explain. You know how movie princesses used to stand around and wait for a man to rescue them? But now they grab a sword and fight their own way out?”

  “Yes, but that’s good. In my last movie the girl saved me twice.”

  “I loved that part. Was that really you climbing up that wall and later hanging from the helicopter? Did you dive into the ocean from that cliff?”

  “All me. I was told the insurance guy fainted at the dive, but I did it anyway.”

  “Then you’ll be fine with Gizzy. Now, I don’t mean to run you out, but I need to shower and change. I have a date tonight.”

  Jack stood up. For a moment, he looked like he might say something else, but he didn’t. “That’s great. He’s a lucky man.”

  “Thanks,” Casey said.

  Jack started for the door, but then he turned and kissed Casey’s cheek.

  “That’ll get you squab for dinner tomorrow night.”

  “What’s that steak two people share?”

  “Chateaubriand,” she said.

  “Keep that in mind. I’ll tell you when I need it.”

  “Gladly.” Smiling, Casey watched him walk away, then closed and locked the door. “If Gizzy doesn’t decide to catch some grasshoppers and fry them,” she muttered as she glanced toward the stairs. She’d only spent a few minutes in her bedroom earlier, but she’d been so creeped out by what she saw there that she’d run back down. She’d quickly prepared dinner for four and taken two meals to Jack. She hated including enough food for Tate as well, but he was her landlord and he was staying there. Besides, she couldn’t bear to let anyone go hungry.

  At the foot of the stairs, she took a breath before going up. Maybe she should burn some sage sticks to get his presence out of her house.

  In her bedroom, she again looked around. Earlier, she’d hastily put things back to the way they had been. The little red jewelry box her mother had given her went to the left; her two awards for Best Chef went on the right. The photo of her with her mom in Appalachia, surrounded by a dozen grinning children, went in the center. Her big hairbrush was on a linen cloth beside her comb.

  She’d checked the insides of the drawers, but nothing seemed to have been moved. As she’d picked her pajamas up off the floor and thrown them into the clothes basket, she wondered if she’d ever wear them again.

  While locking the bedroom door and checking that the windows were secure, she again wondered what he’d been doing in her bedroom. Was the answer one of those creepy male things where a man just liked to touch female possessions?

  She showered quickly and got ready for Devlin’s arrival, putting on a cotton dress with a little pink shrug and pale sandals. Not too daring, but modest and demure. As she gave a last glance at the mirror, she told herself that tonight she was not going to even mention Tate Landers.

  Her head came up. What if she played Elizabeth and Devlin played Darcy? Josh could be Wickham. Not a bad idea, she thought. Tomorrow, she’d be firm and tell Kit that the only way she’d play Elizabeth was if Devlin could be Darcy.

  Smiling, she went downstairs to set the table with candles and her prettiest wineglasses.

  “You should have been there!” Tate said.

  It was after dinner and he and Jack were in the library of the old house. Jack was sitting on the leather chesterfield sofa, sipping