Moonlight Masquerade (40 page)

“What's going on?” Roan asked and Kelli told him.

Even though there was a line at the register, Danni
left it to ask what they were looking at, and Roan explained. By that time everyone in the shop had caught the tension and had stopped to look at the man with the big plate of desserts.

“Does he like coffee?” Danni asked Carter.

“Yeah, sure.”

She poured a big mug of it. “Sugar? Cream? Milk?”

“No,” Carter said. “Black.”

The crowded restaurant was quiet as Danni took the mug of coffee and set it on the table beside the man.

He took a sip.

“Good, huh?” Danni asked.

“The coffee or the pies?” Lewis asked.

“Both.”

He took his time in replying. “Not bad.” As he stood up, he didn't say which one he meant, but he'd tasted each of the pastries.

The whole restaurant was silent as Lewis Tree-borne walked to the front door. He didn't look at any of them, but paused, his back to all of them. “Eight tonight,” he said loudly. He opened the door. “Both of you.” He left the restaurant.

It took a moment for everyone to release their breaths and start talking at once. Roan, used to crowds, tried to answer the questions shot at them, while Carter, Kelli, and Sophie went back to work. But the three of them exchanged looks that were full of hope—and questions.

“Where will the meeting be?” Kelli asked.

“Williamsburg Inn,” Carter and Sophie said in unison. It was the best in the area. Old World elegance.

“You have to go with us,” Kelli said to Sophie, then looked at Carter. “But then, maybe your dad meant Sophie when he said ‘both of you.' ”

Carter and Sophie looked at each other.

“No,” Sophie said. “I'm of no use to him.”

“She's right,” Carter said. “He wants you and your magic hands.”

Sophie stepped away from the two of them. The looks they were giving each other said everything. As she went to clear a table she couldn't help looking at the two couples. Carter and Kelli had their heads together, whispering and planning. She heard them talking about what Kelli could cook to take with them that night. At the other end of the store Roan and Danni were quietly talking and working in such unison that it seemed they'd always known each other.

Sophie had to look away. She envied them very much!

Just before closing, as she thought he'd do, Henry came in. He had a big manila envelope with him and she knew what it contained: his proposal. The others took over while Sophie sat down with him.

“I thought I'd bring this by now and not interrupt your Christmas.” He pushed the envelope across the table toward her.

She didn't open it.

“It's all in there,” he said. “It's a job offer and I think it's a good one. The studio will be done by April and you can start then. Sophie, you can do whatever you want. You can teach classes or you can work on your own projects. The salary is enough to live on, and you
can supplement it with sales of your own work. Does that sound good?”

“Perfect,” she said but she didn't smile.

Henry frowned a bit as he continued. “And there are benefits, health and dental. If you should marry, the plan extends to your husband. And Sophie—”

“Yes?”

“The plan will cover him wherever he is in the world. I saw to that. If he needs to be airlifted out of some godforsaken place, that's covered too.”

“Good,” she said and managed a weak smile. “What about funding for Reede?”

“It's all in there. I have several men ready to help with this. If your young doctor wants a fully equipped medical ship, he can have it. If he wants mobile clinics or to open a hospital somewhere, he can have that too.”

Henry put his hand on hers and squeezed. “Anything he wants I will do my best to get it for him.”

“Thank you,” she said and tried to smile.

He leaned back in his chair. “And, Sophie, if you two should get married I negotiated that every year all expenses will be paid for you to have two visits of two weeks each. You can meet anywhere in the world. And of course he'll come home to you often.”

“He hasn't asked me to marry him,” Sophie said.

“He will. The whole town says so.” Henry smiled broadly. He'd been worried at her glum expression and was afraid that his offer was what was making her sad. But it looked like her unhappiness was caused by her lazy boyfriend. Henry squeezed her hand again. “I'm
sure he will ask you. Maybe tomorrow, for Christmas, he'll get down on one knee.”

Sophie picked up the envelope. “I'll go over all this with Reede and let you know. It's a very generous offer and I thank you for it.”

“It's my pleasure,” Henry said, but he was watching her closely and trying not to frown. He wished he knew her better so he could reassure her.

On the other hand he wasn't sure how Dr. Reede would react to the offer. If Sophie gave him the packet, saying that his trips would be funded, what would that mean to Sophie? Would he give her a kiss, say “Thanks, babe,” and run away?

If he did, Henry thought, he'd make sure the young man lost his future funding. Sophie was a nice girl and she didn't deserve being treated like that.

After Henry left, Sophie went back to help clean up. They'd be closed for Christmas Day, so they wanted everything especially tidy.

Kelli and Carter were talking quietly about what they were going to do at the meeting with his father, and their excitement filled the air. At the other end of the restaurant Roan and Danni were sitting in a booth and talking. They seemed to be planning where they were going to spend Christmas.

An hour later the four of them left, wishing Sophie a very merry Christmas. She made herself a pot of tea and sat down to go through the packet Henry had given her. It was, indeed, a very generous offer. There was no specific amount for the funding but seemed to be open-ended. However much whatever Reede chose
to do cost, that's how much would be available. She couldn't help but wonder how many favors Henry'd had to call in to get such a generous proposal.

As for her, what he offered was equally generous. She'd be paid for working in a fabulous studio, and she could supplement her income in any way she could imagine. The insurance benefits were excellent. All in all, the plan couldn't be better. Nothing had been left out.

So why did the sight of it depress her?

She went through the documents one by one and took out everything that had her name on it or pertained to her and Reede as a couple. For all that he wanted her to move in with him, he'd certainly never mentioned marriage. It would be embarrassing to hand him papers that referred to their marriage as though it were a done deal.

When Reede picked her up at five she did her best to be cheerful, but it wasn't easy. “We're going to Sara's tomorrow?” she asked as he was driving them to his house.

“Sure. Unless you don't want to. We could go into Williamsburg and see the programs there. We can do whatever you want.”

“When were you going to tell me about Dr. Becks?” she asked softly.

“Nothing to tell,” Reede said.

“That's not what he told me. He's offering to take over the practice so you can leave.”

“It's more complicated than that,” Reede said. “I need funding. I let every business contact I had drop because I was here. It would take me months to reorganize everything. By that time Tyler will be gone.”

Sophie took a breath. “I have something to show you. It's something that you're going to like very much.”

“So that's it?”
Colin asked. It was Christmas Day, and he and Reede were in the back parlor of Sara and Mike's old house. They could hear carols on the other side of the closed door, and people were laughing and talking, but it was relatively quiet in this room. “You have it all now. Funding, someone to take over the practice, and you and Sophie are mad about each other. What else is there?”

“I don't know,” Reede said. There was a blaze in the old fireplace, and Sara had a little Christmas tree in the corner. “Sophie has everything. It took me hours last night before I could get her to tell me why that guy Henry was offering me all this. He gave her a fabulous job.” He told Colin the details, even down to the dental plan.

“She can't turn down something as good as that and leave with you,” Colin said softly. He'd been through this problem with Tris and Jecca. Her job was one place and his another. “What are you going to do?”

“Stay here,” Reede said. “As Sara said, I don't fall in love easily. I lost the woman I love the first time; I'm not going to do it again.”

“But you hate it here.”

“I'm adjusting,” Reede said. “It's certainly more pleasant now that Sophie is here. And I can't bear to lose her! That idiot Treeborne spends every day
with her. If I left town he'd be after her in a second.”

“From what I heard he wants that girl who bakes.”

Reede shrugged. “That's only because he thinks he can't have Sophie.”

Colin couldn't argue with that, as he felt the same way about his wife, Gemma. To him she was the most beautiful, desirable female on earth and he was sure every other male saw her that way. “Have you told Sophie yet?”

“I will tomorrow. I hope it cheers her up. She seems pretty down about it all. But then when I think of leaving her I feel bad too.”

“So she gets the job she's always wanted, but
you
get stuck here in Edilean.” Colin shook his head. “For you to turn down an offer like this must hurt a lot.”

Roan groaned. “More than you can imagine. It's what I dreamed of for years. I was planning to hit my new brother-in-law up to fund something like it. At least now I won't have that embarrassment. And there's always Sophie's job. She really is the most talented person I've ever met. She deserves to be known in the art world.”

“I agree. I saw that little sculpture she made for you. By the way, what did you get her for Christmas?”

“A camera. I figured she could use it to photograph her work.”

“Maybe you should visit Kim's shop,” Colin said, referring to the beautiful little jewelry store.

“Yeah. Right. I'll get Sophie a ring and ask her to marry me. It's just that . . . ”

“Afraid she'll say no?”

“Terrified of it. I . . . I mean I . . . She's . . . ”

“I know exactly what you mean. Overwhelming, isn't it?”

“She's more important to me than anything else,” Reede said. “And I'd do anything for her.”

“Even to giving up an offer that you've wanted all your adult life?”

“Yes,” Reede said. “I'd give up everything for Sophie.”

“As far as I can tell that's exactly what you
are
giving up. Everything.”

“That's not the way I see it. I'll have Sophie and she'll be able to create. It's what Kim and Jecca wanted so much that they were willing to give up the men they loved. I know that if I leave here I'll lose her.”

“Maybe she could—”

Reede knew what his cousin was going to say. Maybe Sophie could go with him. “I'm not even going to suggest it,” he said, “because she might agree to do it. Then what? Follow me around the world? And never use that talent of hers? I couldn't ask that of her. It would be like her asking me to give up medicine. I'll stay here and do some volunteer work at some free clinics.”

“Great,” Colin muttered. “Half your patients will be drug addicts, not people who desperately need you.”

Reede shrugged. “I don't see any other way, do you?”

“I think you should talk to Sophie and tell her the truth.”

Reede got up and went to the door. “And have her sacrifice everything for
me
? No thanks. I don't want to live with a martyr.” Reede left the room, closing the door behind him.

“So
you
are going to be the martyr,” Colin said after
he left. He went out to join the others but he couldn't bring himself to smile at Sophie. She was such a pretty little thing and part of him was glad that Reede had found someone to love. On the other hand, he hated that she'd changed Reede's three-year sentence into a lifetime of unhappiness. Colin well remembered when he'd visited Reede in the field. That man—dynamic, energetic, forceful, and above all else,
happy
—was not the man he saw in Edilean. Trapped in an office all day, dealing with people who came in with splinters in their fingers, wasn't what Reede wanted to do with his life. Tris loved it, loved the people and their problems, but Reede couldn't bear it.

But now, because of this young woman who'd come to town and made Reede fall for her, he was going to spend a lifetime doing what he hated.

When Sophie, laughing at something one of the children said, looked up at Colin, he didn't smile back at her. He tried to keep his expression even, but he couldn't. Reede was his cousin, his friend, and this woman was ruining his life. He wished she'd never come to Edilean.