Scarlet Nights (35 page)

“Then what is it?” Mike asked. “You can tell me.”

But she couldn’t tell him. Her pride and her fear of yet another rejection wouldn’t allow her to tell him what was bothering her.

They lay together in silence for a while. Sara knew they should get up and start getting ready for the fair. Mike would have to put on a kilt, and she knew that would cause a lot of laughter. And Sara had some long-skirted, medieval-looking dresses she wore, and of course Luke would have saved one of his wildflower circlets for her hair. She looked forward to it all, but right now she couldn’t bear to separate from Mike.

Lifting her left hand up, he looked at her rings.

Sara turned onto her back, her body pressed against his. She could feel the fabric of his trousers against her bare legs. Again “the last time” rang in her head.

“They look good on you,” he said.

“They’re the most beautiful rings in the world.”

“Everything was such a rush when I chose the diamond ring that I wasn’t sure I was getting the right one.”

“My mother didn’t help you?”

“No. She stood by the computer and hovered over me like a bird of prey. I don’t think anyone’s ever made me as nervous as your mother does.”

“Me either.”

“When I said I wanted
this
ring, she kissed me on the cheek. I think maybe there were tears in her eyes.”

“She knew I’d like it, that’s why. Kim makes some modern rings that I don’t care for.”

“I saw those, but I couldn’t see you wearing one of them. Do the rings fit? Will you have trouble getting them off?”

Sara’s fingers curled up and she put her hand under the small of her back. “I’m not removing them. Ever.”

He turned to look at her. “You have to. If the people of Edilean see the rings before Stefan gets there, they’ll talk. Mitzi will hear, and she might call her son and warn him. As much as we want to, we can’t tap into those throwaway phones they use.”

“I guess you’ll just have to figure out a way to keep my rings from showing because I am
not
removing them.” She said this in her fiercest voice, letting him know that no matter how much he tried, he wasn’t going to win.

But Mike didn’t protest. Instead, he just lay there beside her, his arm under her shoulders.

“I, uh … I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said at last.

Here it comes, Sara thought, and her body went rigid.

“As soon as this case is done, meaning that the Vandlos are taken
away, I have to go back to Fort Lauderdale. I have three other cases pending, and I need to take care of them. The Vandlos aren’t really my problem. I was just asked to help out because I have a sister here and …” He trailed off.

“And what?” she asked in a whisper.

“I was pretty angry that they burned down my apartment, but it worked out well, didn’t it? That place the captain got me is nice, isn’t it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

“A bit big though,” he said.

“Quite large,” she answered.

He was silent for a moment, and she almost didn’t breathe.

“Sara,” he said at last, “I know your life is here in this town and all your friends and relatives are here, but—”

“So are yours.”

“My what?”

“All your relatives are here. And you and Luke seem to be hitting it off. And I think you’ll like Ramsey.”

“Yeah,” he said, “but that isn’t what I meant. I can live anywhere. But you’ve only lived here in this little town, so leaving it might be too much for you.”

Slowly, it was dawning on her what he was saying. “You think I couldn’t bear to get away from my mother who thinks it’s her duty to tell me how to live? That I can’t be away from snooping relatives who click their tongues at me because they thought the man I dated for four years ran off and left me? Get away from their pity because I was swept up by a man nobody can stand? Is that what you’re asking me?”

She could feel his smile.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I was asking. I know we don’t know each other very well, but we’ve hardly ever argued and we seem to agree on most things.”

“Except for food and the right to lie down for three straight hours to watch TV without doing even one form of exercise. And—”

When Mike laughed, Sara moved her hand to his flat, hard stomach. She could feel the ridges of muscle there.

Moving onto his side, he propped his head on his hand. “But we do agree on the fundamentals.”

“Such as that you think I should do exactly what you tell me to every minute of the day?” she asked innocently.

“I was thinking of important things, like music.”

“You like opera and I like—” She broke off because he kissed her, and her arms went around his neck.

He pulled away to look at her. “You want to go back to Fort Lauderdale with me and see if we can make this marriage work?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’d like that very much.”

He kissed her again, but in a way he’d never kissed her before. From the first moment they’d come together, there’d been great passion between them. They’d had sex on every conceivable surface, and in every position that Sara’s flexible body and Mike’s muscle could come up with.

But this kiss was different. There was something in it besides passion. There was a yearning, a longing for a great deal more than they’d given each other before. For all that Sara was surrounded by people who knew her, and for all of Mike’s frequent conquests, essentially, they were alone. They clung to each other.

Mike moved back from the tender kiss. His body was half on top of hers and his hands smoothed her hair back as he looked at her face as though memorizing her features.

Sara held her breath. Was he going to say those three little words that she so very much wanted to hear?

“You know, Sara …”

“Yes?” she whispered, her breath held in anticipation.

“I hate those dishes you picked out.”

“What?”

He rolled off of her and onto his back. “Those dishes with the flowers on them, I can’t stand them.”

She moved half on top of him. “Those dishes are Villeroy and Boch and they’re great.” She was kissing his neck.

Mike unbuckled his trousers. “I don’t care what they are. I still don’t like them.”

“You better get used to them because I’m going to register that pattern and everyone in Edilean will give us place settings.”

He held her away for a moment. “We’ll get wedding gifts?”

“Sure, of course. Everyone in town will—”

“In
this
town? That’ll get us what? Four gifts?” He slid the straps of her teddy down her arms.

“Very funny! Did you forget that the Fraziers are your relatives? I’ll get Mrs. Frazier to throw a reception for us at their house. They’ll invite the governor.” Mike’s mouth was on her breast. “And of course we’re both related to the McDowells, and they’re rich. I’ll get the Fraziers and the McDowells to compete as to who can give us the most.”

Mike stopped kissing to look at her. “I had no idea you were so mercenary.”

She gave an evil little laugh. “I want every person who’s said ‘poor Sara’ to
pay
!”

“You are truly wicked,” he said, smiling.

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby,” she said as her lips moved much lower on his body.

Mike didn’t reply.

An hour later, Mike said she’d kept him too busy to get his work done. And her mother had left him four text messages asking
him where he was and saying he had to go to her house to get dressed.

“Maybe I should show up like this,” he said as he headed toward the shower. He was naked.

“You may think you’d scare my mother, but far from it. You’d end up being the one with the red face.”

“Speaking of red body parts, I don’t really have to wear—”

“There’s no way you’ll get out of putting on a kilt, so don’t even try. I’ll meet you at the fairgrounds in a little while. I’m going to go see Joce.”

“Sure you don’t want to join me in the shower?”

“You’re postponing the inevitable.” She wanted the time to dress properly and to think about her future—her new life.

“You’re dying to tell your friend that you managed to tie a ball and chain around me, aren’t you?”

“You’re free to run back to the life you had. Oh! Wait! You didn’t
have
a life.”

Mike grinned. “Go. I’ll see you at the fair. I’ll be wearing a skirt. Half naked.”

Laughing, Sara left the apartment.

Joce’s eyes widened when she saw her friend. “Sara! What’s wrong with your neck? You look like you were burned.”

She put her hand up to her throat. “It’s nothing.”

“But that’s not ‘nothing.’ Did you show that rash to your father?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Ah,” Joce said slowly. “It’s whisker burn, isn’t it?”

Sara didn’t answer.

“How far does it extend?”

Sara raised her eyebrows in a way that made Joce laugh. “You have to tell Tess.”

Sara looked at her in disbelief. “Tell Mike’s sister that I’m having a great time in bed with her brother? I don’t think so. But …”

“But what?” Joce asked.

“Mike asked me to go to Fort Lauderdale to live with him. We’re to see if our marriage will work.” Sara held out her left hand to show her ring.

“I’m telling Tess,” Joce said as she admired the three-diamond engagement ring. “She’ll be as glad for you as I am.” She picked up her phone. “We’ll have to tell Tess in a way that’ll make her laugh. Rams told Luke the hormones are getting to her and she’s crying a lot.”

“
Tess
is crying?”

“Yes. Wait until you’re—Okay, too soon for that, but we must tell her about you and Mike.”

Sara typed, handed the phone to Joce, who read it and said, “Perfect.” She pushed Send.

In Venice, Tess’s cell buzzed and she picked it up just before Rams made a flying leap for it.

“If it’s that brother of yours and he makes you cry again, I’ll—”

“It’s Sara.” Tess read the text and burst into tears.

“I’m going to kill him,” Rams said as he snatched the little machine from his wife.

“Good cry. Good news,” Tess sobbed. “Hormones.”

“Yeah, I know. They’re six hundred times normal.” He was pushing buttons to bring up Sara’s message. “Damnation!” he muttered. “I’m going to have to talk to my cousin about sending porno over the airwaves.”

Tess blew her nose. “You’re a prude. Give that back to me.”

Grimacing, he handed her the phone.

“I’m going to get Joce to tell me the details. Oh! But I wish we could go home.” Again, she looked at Sara’s text message.

YOUR BROTHER PUT WHISKER BURNS ALL OVER MY BODY. DIDN’T MISS A SPOT. HE ASKED ME TO GO TO FORT LAUDERDALE TO LIVE WITH HIM. SARA.

Sara spent over an hour with Joce, helping her memorize her lines for her role as a fortune-teller. Luke had ordered a copy of a fortune-telling book published in 1891 that explained how fortunes had been told for centuries by people without any psychic ability.

“Okay,” Sara said, “let’s go over it again,” even though she knew Joce had it down pat.

“To an unmarried woman, I say, ‘You are often lonely, but at the same time, you enjoy your time alone.’ To a married woman, I say, ‘You often feel that your husband doesn’t understand you.’” Joce glanced down again. “An older man gets, ‘You were once unfairly punished for a good deed you did someone.’” She looked at Sara. “Do you think that’s universal enough that every old man will think it’s true?”