Marking Time (14 page)

“Everything okay, Kate?” Studying her with those soft brown eyes, he seemed to see everything she was trying so hard to keep hidden from him.

A keen burst of longing shot through her, and she was certain he could see it. How could he not? “Why do you ask?”

“You seem jittery. Are you nervous or something?”

Her first impulse was to deny it, but she couldn’t. “Sort of.”

“Why?”

She met his gaze. “I’m not sure.”

Neither of them looked away for a long moment during which it became clear to Kate that he had feelings for her, too. Her heart gave a happy lift at what she saw on his face. Desire. Pure and simple.

He held out a hand to her. “Let’s ride.”

She took his hand as if she’d done it a hundred times before and followed him into the stable where more than a dozen horses peeked out from their stalls to inspect the visitors.

“Oh, they’re beautiful!” Kate cried. “Are they all yours?”

“Half of them. The rest belong to friends of Ashton’s who board them here.”

“That’s nice of you.”

He shrugged. “It was a good way to keep all the kids coming around when they were in high school and college. They come out most weekends to ride.”

“Afternoon, Mr. M,” an elderly groom said when he came out of the tack room.

“Hi there, Derek. This is Kate Harrington, a new friend. She might be out to ride now and then when we’re not home.”

“That’d be fine. We’ll make her feel right at home.”

“Thank you,” Kate said.

“I’ve saddled up Thunder for you, Mr. M, and Sugar for Miss Kate like you asked.” Derek handed Kate a carrot he pulled from his jacket pocket so she could get acquainted with Sugar.

“Thanks, Derek,” Reid said a few minutes later when he gave Kate a leg up on the gentle snow-white mare.

While Kate got comfortable in Sugar’s saddle, she watched Reid stash two saddlebags on Thunder’s back. “He’s beautiful,” she said. The compliment was rewarded with a loud whicker that made her laugh.

“He must like you,” Reid said. “He only talks to people he likes.”

They walked the horses out of the gated training area.

“Is Sugar one of yours?”

“No, she belongs to a friend of Ashton’s who’s away for a few weeks. She asked me to make sure Sugar gets some exercise. Come on, let’s give them a workout.” He touched his heels to Thunder’s side, and the horse bounded into a canter.

Kate followed his lead, urging Sugar into an all-out gallop across the rolling green hills. After they’d gone a good distance, Reid slowed Thunder to a trot and directed him to a creek.

Kate was laughing when she caught up to him. “That was fabulous. I haven’t ridden like that in ages.”

“Thunder gets ornery if we don’t get in a good run every few days.”

Thunder snickered, and Kate chuckled with delight. “He’s human!”

“I’ve been convinced of that since he was just a foal.” Reid helped Kate down from Sugar, and they walked the horses to the creek for a drink.

“What a beautiful place you have.”

“I’m glad you like it. I hope you’ll make yourself right at home here any time you need to escape the city.”

“Thank you,” she said, feeling shy again. Just standing close to him made her light-headed.

He reached up to retrieve the saddlebags from Thunder’s back. “Martha packed us some sandwiches. Are you hungry?”

“Sure.” Kate followed him to a spot under a large oak tree where he spread a plaid blanket on the grass. He seemed so comfortable in his own skin as he stretched out on the blanket. Kate appreciated being with a man who exuded that kind of easy confidence. She’d grown tired of boys pretending to be men. This was a real man, and it was shocking to acknowledge that she wanted him in a way she had never wanted any of the boys who’d pursued her at home.

“Are you going to sit?” he asked with a grin.

Startled out of her thoughts, Kate kneeled on the far edge of the blanket.

He chewed on a blade of grass and watched her with those eyes that saw everything, even the secrets she was trying desperately to keep from him. “What’s with you today, darlin’? You’re like a cat on a hot tin roof.”

Her cheeks heated. “Nothing.”

He watched her for another long moment before he shrugged and opened the second bag. “I hope turkey’s okay,” he said, handing her one of the thick sandwiches and a diet soda.

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

Kate stole glances at him while they ate in silence. The more she looked, the harder it became to swallow. She’d never had feelings like these before and had no idea how to handle them. The tension soon became unbearable. She had to get away from him before she embarrassed herself, so she put her sandwich down, got up, and walked back to the creek where she rested her head against Sugar’s soft neck. She startled when Reid came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

“I wish you’d tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I can’t,” she whispered.

He turned her to face him. “Now you’re worrying me.”

Looking up at him, she couldn’t resist the urge to caress his face.

His eyes flashed with awareness as he took her hand from his face and kissed the palm. “Kate, honey, you’re so beautiful, but you’re too young for me. I’m an old man.”

“You’re not.” She rested her head against his chest. “You’re perfect.” Encircling his neck with her arms, she tilted her face, daring him to kiss her.

He reached up to take her hands and gently extricated himself from her embrace. “Sweetheart,
please
. Your daddy asked me to keep an eye out for you, but I don’t think this is what he had in mind.”

She tightened her grip on his hands. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

“This isn’t going to happen, Kate.”

“It already is.”

“It can’t.”

“Why not? We’re both adults.”

“You could be my daughter.”

“But I’m not,” she said, running her finger along his jaw.

“I’m flattered, honey, I really am.”

She pulled her hand free of his. “But you’re not interested.”

“Of course I’m interested, but I’m not going to take advantage of a young girl. That’s just not who I am.”

“You know what?” she said, suddenly furious. “You can save your whole ‘little girl’ speech. I stopped being a little girl the day my mother was hit by a car right in front of me, so spare me the bullshit.” She swung herself up onto Sugar’s back and was gone before he could reply. Back at the stable, she turned Sugar over to a startled Derek. She was on her way to her car when Reid stormed into the yard on Thunder.

He was off the horse before it came to a stop. “Kate! Damn it!
Kate!
”

She reached for the car door, but his hand on hers stopped her.

“Don’t go,” he said. “Talk to me. Please.”

“There’s nothing left to say.”

His eyes implored her. “Stay.”

Over Reid’s shoulder, she saw Derek come out to collect Thunder from the yard and discreetly disappear back into the stables.

She looked into Reid’s eyes. “If you treat me like a child, you’ll break my heart.”

His jaw tight with tension, he nodded and took her hand to lead her into the house. “Can I get you anything?”

She shook her head and followed him into the drawing room.

He tugged her down next to him on the sofa. “I’m sorry,” he said, cupping her face with his hand. “I don’t think of you as a little girl, Kate, and that’s the problem. You look like a grown woman, and you act like one. I just can’t get past the fact that you’re only eighteen. People would call me a dirty old man.”

“No one would have to know.”

Resting his forehead against hers, he smiled. “Sweetheart, after that scene in the yard, I think Derek’s already on to us, and nothing’s even happened yet.”

His use of the word “yet” stirred hope within her. He was coming around.

“What you said back at the creek, about your mother. Tell me about it.” He put an arm around her to draw her to him. When she tensed, he looked down at her. “What is it?”

“What about Martha?”

“She visits her family on Sunday afternoons.”

Knowing they were alone, Kate relaxed against him. “I was fourteen,” she said, letting her mind wander back to her darkest day. “We had the best life. My parents were awesome—not like a lot of my friends’ parents. They were still so in love, and we always knew it. I had my sisters, my friends, school, my music. I was happy, you know?”

He ran a hand over her blonde hair and nodded.

“Then one day my sisters and I went shopping with my mom. As we were leaving the mall, this car came barreling at us. It was totally out of control.” Tears rolled down her face.

Reid wiped them away.

“My sisters and I jumped out of the way, but my mom just stood there frozen. We screamed and screamed at her to move, but she didn’t. The car hit her, and she went over the top of it. There was blood everywhere.” Kate shuddered at the memory. “We heard later that the driver had had a fatal heart attack, which is why the car was going so fast. I can still remember the way my dad looked when he came running into the emergency room. He had this wild look in his eyes that stayed there for a long time afterward. In some ways, it was like we lost them both that day.”

Reid tightened his arms around her and rested his cheek against her hair. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said in the lilting Southern accent she already loved.

“Nothing was ever the same. She never came out of the coma they induced after the accident. Time went by, and he seemed to get better when he realized sitting by her bed around the clock wasn’t going to bring her back. Then he met Andi.”

“What did you think of that?”

“I was so relieved to see him happy again that it didn’t really bother me. Jill didn’t like it at first, but she warmed up eventually. Andi’s special. I think in some ways she saved us all.”

“That’s just what your dad said when he told me about her.”

“It’s true. She was just what we needed.”

“But then your mother recovered.”

Kate nodded. “It made me a believer in miracles. After all that time, she just opened her eyes and looked at my dad like five minutes had passed. But Andi was pregnant with the twins by then, so it was complicated.”

“Your dad told me. Your mother sounds like a brave woman. Not many people could do what she did. It must’ve been so hard for her to give him up.”

“Yeah, well, I wonder if she isn’t having some regrets. It’s like everything’s sunk in now that she’s home from the hospital. She’s gone up to Vermont for a few months to get away from it all.”

“Did you ever find out why she didn’t get out of the way of the car?”

She nodded and slipped an arm around his waist.

He kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I want to, but it’s just so awful.” She paused and took a deep breath. “She was a Realtor. She was showing a guy a house when he raped her. He said he’d kill one of us if she ever told anyone.”

“Christ,” Reid whispered.

“So she didn’t say a word. She just lived with it. A couple of months after she recovered from the coma, she remembered everything and realized she saw the car as a way out. She thought if she was dead, he would never come after us.”

“God almighty.”

Kate turned so she could see him. “You know what the worst part is? All that time, all the time she was lost to us, I wondered if I could’ve pushed her out of the way of the car. I was close enough, but I just assumed she’d move before it was too late.”

“Oh, honey, you might’ve been hit yourself.”

“I’ve never told anyone that,” she confessed.

“I’m glad you told me.”

“I’m not a little girl, Reid.” She tipped her face up to his and kissed him lightly on the lips.

This time he let her.

A
fter two afternoons at the bookstore, Clare felt confident she could handle her duties behind the counter. The small shop had a surprisingly complex computer system, but Bea was patient as she showed Clare how to ring up sales, record new inventory, and locate items within the store. She learned to keep the coffeepot full and the woodstove stoked. More than anything, she discovered the tiny bookstore was a hub of activity in the small town. Bea knew everyone and introduced her new employee to many of Stowe’s year-round residents. She also invited Clare to attend her Thursday-evening book club meeting.

“I’d love to, but I haven’t read the book,” Clare said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bea said. “The book is the least of what we discuss at those meetings. Plus, I want you to meet the rest of my friends.”

Clare gladly accepted her invitation.

Aidan O’Malley was scheduled to start work at the house in a few days. The two other quotes she’d gotten had come in lower than his, but Bea had such high praise for his work and his reputation that Clare consulted with her brother, and he agreed the extra money was worth it.

“I just hope he leaves his snarky personality at the door,” Clare said to Bea after she decided to hire Aidan.

Bea chuckled. “It’s part of the package. He’s one sexy devil, isn’t he?”

“I didn’t notice.”

“Liar!”

“You said he’s a celebrity around here. With that personality, I can’t imagine he has many friends.”

“Oh, he has
lots
of friends. He’s a celebrity with the women.”

“I’m sure he gets around.”

“Actually, he doesn’t. They chase him relentlessly, but in all the years I’ve known him, I don’t think he’s been seriously involved with anyone. His resistance makes him even more appealing to the ladies in town. The thrill of the chase.”

“God, I hate that. Women can be so pathetic.”

“You may be singing a new tune after you’ve had him underfoot for a couple of months.”

Clare made a face of distaste. “I doubt it.”

“We’ll see,” Bea said with a knowing smile.

Clare was delighted to find Diana Cummings from the diner among the women who gathered at the Book Nook for the meeting on Thursday. Clare was a frequent customer at McHugh’s and enjoyed talking to Diana.

“Hi, Clare,” Diana said. “Bea told me she’d roped you into our group.”