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“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.”


Tags: Jude Deveraux Edilean Romance