Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

In an instant, Mike’s bad temper left him and he managed to get off the couch and cook a decent dinner for Tess. Two days later, she went home to Edilean.

As Mike drove away from Williamsburg, he wondered if he should bother cooking. He was bending over backward to impress Sara, but no matter what he did, he made her furious. Never before had he had trouble with women. In fact, one of his big problems in life had been that women liked him too much. They flirted with him and teased him. In fact, he’d never had to do any work to get a woman he wanted.

But that wasn’t the case with Miss Sara Shaw. She had disliked him from the moment she saw him, and her animosity toward him had increased rapidly since then. But then, as he’d told the captain, women like Sara were a complete and total mystery to him.

When he got back to Edilean Manor, he almost expected the door to the apartment to be bolted, but it was unlocked. The detective in him came to the fore. Maybe he’d conduct classes on home safety in Edilean and talk to them about the importance of keeping their doors locked. He saw Luke at Sara’s apartment, carrying out what looked to be the kitchen sink, and again Mike felt sorry for her. The entire town was against her, and he thought that if he were in her shoes, he might marry a person just to spite them.

Inside Tess’s apartment, he glanced down the hall to the bedroom Sara was using, but it was empty. As he put the folio from the title company on the table, he thought that maybe later he would talk to her about what the town was doing to her. Maybe that would loosen things up between them. Or he could talk to her about becoming the owner of a farm. She might help him relax about taking on such a heavy responsibility.

When he looked out the window, he saw Sara outside, sitting under a big tree, her cell in her hand, with her never-ending sewing on the table beside her. This morning the captain had sent him information through Tess. Just as they’d hoped would happen, Stefan’s temper had erupted when he’d talked to the police about his wife’s arrest. Within minutes, he was handcuffed and put in a holding cell. The captain had gleefully told Tess of the accusations and threats that Vandlo had shouted at the police as he was put into jail. And Stefan kept saying that he “had to get back,” which was taken to mean that he had to return to Sara and the scam he had going with her.

When he’d been taken into custody, his phone had been confiscated, so they saw all the e-mails and text messages that Sara had sent Stefan Vandlo since he’d left Edilean in such a hurry.

Sara’s messages to him were a mixture of anger and pleading. She kept asking him where he was and when he’d be back. She’d only alluded to Mike by saying that she’d had some “problems” at home that she needed Greg’s help with.

Mike was told that Vandlo had never answered her, even when he’d had his phone returned to him.

After he’d made some iced tea, M

ike took it outside to Sara. He was prepared for more anger, but when she smiled at him, he was relieved.

“About last night …” she began, but Mike cut her off.

“I didn’t mean to upset you and you’re right that I ask too many questions. Another hazard of my job. Did anybody tell you that I did good deeds today?”

“Not one,” Sara said, smiling and sipping her tea. “Did you put your crusader cape in mothballs?”

“It’s not the cape I want to get rid of. Did your mother tell you she ordered me a couple of skirts?” When Sara laughed, he liked the sound and wanted to hear more of it. “No, really. I saw Luke and asked where the best place in town to buy organic food was and he—”

“Sent you to my mother. I know. She told me.”

“I thought she wouldn’t want customers at that time of morning, but she was there, unloading boxes of cauliflower.”

“My father says the best time of day is the two hours after Mother leaves the house and before he has to get up.” She looked at Mike in speculation. “So what did she say to get you to agree to participate in the games?”

“You mean I had a choice? As far as I could tell, she’d already decided before I got there. Tess has always told me how fast news flies around this town, but I was shocked that she already knew so much.”

Sara nodded. “You told Tess, who told Rams, who called Luke, who told Joce, and she called my mother.”

Mike laughed. “If only our government worked so efficiently.”

“The government isn’t as nosy as this town is. So what about the kilts?”

“Your mother—” Mike looked at his glass.

“You aren’t blushing, are you?” Sara leaned toward him. He’d shaved, and without his black whiskers, he looked less like a pirate. “I’m afraid to ask what she did.”

“Took off my jacket, pulled up my shirt, and put her arms around me.”

“I assume she was holding a tape measure.”

Mike nodded.

“In case you don’t know, putting you in the fair is her way of making you part of Edilean. She’d had a few hours of knowing that another man was near me, and that’s all it took for her to decide that you were better for me than the man I’m going to marry.”

“About that—” Mike began, but Sara interrupted.

“It’s all right. I know what they think, since most of them have told me. It’s almost as though Greg works to annoy the people in this town.”