Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

“Add a mother-in-law to the list of relatives I now have,” he mumbled as he left the tent.

“Think of our nice, quiet apartment in Fort Lauderdale,” she called after him.

“Yeah, there we’ll only have crooks living upstairs.”

And a baby or two downstairs? she wondered.

For the rest of the evening, Ellie kept her daughter so busy that Sara saw little of Mike. When she did catch a glimpse of him, he was on his phone, so they couldn’t have talked anyway. Plus, he spent so much time with Luke that Sara thought that if she were a different person she might have been jealous.

She saw Ariel once, chomping away on a big caramel apple. When she saw Mike walk past in his clinging T-shirt, Ariel’s mouth fell open so far a sticky piece of fruit fell down the front of her gown. If she’d been wearing something Sara had made, she would have helped her clean it, but Ariel had ordered her medieval-style dress from a place in New York. Sara’d been told the sleeve seams had ripped out twice.

When Ariel looked up again, Sara was smiling, and she hurried forward to hook her arm around Mike’s. Maybe she wouldn’t change his shirt after all.

“What are you up to?” Mike asked.

“Girl stuff. So where’s Greg now?”

“He just left a filling station. Bought some Twinkies.”

“Is that your ultimate condemnation? What state’s he in now?” she added quickly.

“What kind of underwear do you have on under that thing?”

“None whatever. Why don’t you point out who in this crowd is with you and who are just tourists?”

“Did you see Lang snooping around Joce’s tent?”

“Are you ever going to directly answer one of my questions?” she asked.

“Not if I can get out of it.”

“Want me to introduce you to your cousins the Fraziers?”

“Tomorrow I’m to fight them with broadswords, so I’ll meet them then. I already know two of them. How many more are there?”

“The big three. Colin is the oldest, then Pere, that’s for Peregrine—the same name as his father—and Lanny, which is for Lancaster.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t named by their parents.”

“They’re old family names. The Fraziers stick to them.”

“Sara!” her mother called, and she groaned.

“More work to do. See you tonight?”

“Yeah.” He kissed her cheek. “I have some calls to make so I might be late.”

He started to turn away but she saw a glint in his eyes that made her catch his arm. She studied his face. “What’s happened? You’re excited about something.”

“Nothing. It’s just the anticipation of tomorrow.”

“No. There’s something else. You look … happy.”

“Of course I’m happy. Beautiful day, gorgeous girl, good food thanks to your mother, and—”

“There’s something else in your eyes. And I think I saw the same look on Luke’s face. What are you two up to?”

“Little girls who ask questions don’t get surprises.”