Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

Her mother’s voice brought her back to the present. “And you, missy,” she heard her mother say with a tap on the door, “unless you want me to come in there and dress you, I suggest you get up now.”

“So much for being treated like an adult,” Sara murmured as she got her clothes and went to the bathroom.

When she came out, still only partially dressed, she caught a glimpse of plaid in the living room and went to see it. Her mother had helped Mike dress in the full regalia of a Scotsman. It wasn’t the dress kilt that he’d wear on the last day, but the one he’d have on when he competed in the games. His big shirt had gathered sleeves, and the kilt reached to his knees. He had on thick Scottish brogues with woolen socks that went over his muscular calves. He was gorgeous! He looked like something out of a storybook about conflicts of honor. She could almost hear the bagpipes and smell the heather.

“Oh, my,” Sara said.

“Yeah,” Mike said with a grimace. “Girl’s clothes.”

Sara looked at her mother, and they smiled at each other. There was nothing on earth more masculine than a man in the ancient Scottish costume.

Mike was looking at Sara in the long mirror that Ellie had set against the wall, and he read what was on her face.

“There’s no time for that,” Ellie said. “You two’ll have to wait until tonight.”

“Since when did you ever wait for what you want?” Mike asked his mother-in-law.

Ellie laughed. “Not often. Sara! Go put on your skirt. I’ll give him back to you after the first battle. If the Fraziers haven’t mutilated him, that is.”

“Hmph!” Sara said. “My Mike will pulverize them.” With her nose in the air, she went back to the bedroom.

Mike was looking after her and smiling until he saw Ellie glaring at him in the mirror.

“You hurt her and—”

“I know,” Mike said. “I’ve already been warned. You won’t mind that she lives with me in Fort Lauderdale for a few years until we move back here?”

“All I want is for my girls to be happy.” Bending, she pulled on the hem of his kilt. “Everything will go all right today, won’t it?”

“As soon as Sara sees Anders and tells him she’s married, she’ll be taken away from here until they’re all in custody.”

Ellie nodded as she adjusted Mike’s shirt, and he was quiet because he could see that she had more to say. “About the marriage … I know you did it for the case, but—”

Mike smiled at her. “That was just an excuse. There’ve been a lot of women I could have saved by marrying them, but I didn’t. Stop worrying. Concern yourself about what those giant cousins of mine are going to do to me today.”

“Now that I’m not worried about,” Ellie said as she turned away, but then she went back and hugged Mike. “Thank you. It was horrible to have to stand by and see my daughter so unhappy after the way Brian treated her. I understood why she took up with a jerk like Greg Anders, but I still didn’t like it.”

Mike said nothing. Later, as he bandaged Sara’s hand to hide her wedding rings, he thought that if Ellie knew the truth about Brian Tolworthy and what had been done to him and why, she’d probably kidnap her own daughter and hide her away somewhere safe. That’s just what Mike wanted to do, but he knew that as long as the Vandlos were out there, Sara would never be out of danger. Mitzi was well known for taking revenge, and if only her son were in custody, she would go after Sara for destroying what had taken them a long time to put into motion.

Today, the main goal for all of them was to catch Mitzi Vandlo.

When Mike got to the fairgrounds, his curiosity about the Fraziers came into play. Size didn’t always make the best fighters. Luke had told him the basics of the mock sword fight he was to perform with the Fraziers today, but Mike wasn’t interested in that. What he wanted to know was how the Fraziers felt about Sara. She spoke of them with affection, but then she sounded that way about everyone in Edilean. Even while she complained about her sisters, you could hear the love in her voice.

The way she talks to me, Mike thought and couldn’t help his smile.

Minutes before, he’d reminded Sara that she wanted to tell Colin Frazier what she thought about his not telling her that Greg Anders was having affairs. Mike wanted to see how the oldest Frazier son reacted to being bawled out by a woman half his size.

Surreptitiously, Mike made his way around the fairgrounds as he followed Sara. Twice, he gave a slight nod to men he knew were there undercover. When Sara reached Colin, Mike stepped into the shadows.

He had to admit that it was amusing to watch Sara talking to Colin. As she talked to the huge young man, her head was so far back it was almost touching her spinal column. Colin kept his eyes on her and seemed to be giving her his total attention. But when he glanced to the side and saw a wooden crate beside one of the rides, he took Sara’s arm and led her there. From the way she didn’t stop talking as she stepped up on the crate, Mike thought it was something they’d done many times before.

Two rides over from them was a Ferris wheel; Colin was facing it, and Sara had her back to it. Mike heard a yell and saw a red snow cone dropping down from the sky, and it looked like it was going to hit Sara. Mike started to leave his hiding place, but then Colin put his hands on Sara’s waist and moved her to the right, her feet not touching the ground. The snow cone splattered on the ground, inches from where she’d been standing, then Colin set her back on the crate and kept listening.

Grinning, Mike started to move away. He’d seen what he’d wanted to: Sara was being protected. But before he could move, Colin looked straight into Mike’s eyes. He’d known all along that Mike was there and watching.

There was a question on Colin’s face, asking if he’d passed the test. Mike gave a nod, then slipped away into the crowd. If he was to have cousins, he could do worse. The fight that was to take place in about an hour was going to be more interesting than he’d originally thought.

Sara was sitting on the bleachers, wedged between three women from her church. Two benches below her, Ariel was sitting beside her youngest brother, Shamus, and Luke was making his way toward Sara.