When Sophie pulled a red silk corset out of the tissue paper, both women gasped. It would take two people to pull the cords that fastened it.
“I . . . ” Sophie began as she held it up and looked at it. “I don’t think . . . ”
Heather’s eyes lit up. Great. If this pretty young woman wore this very sexy costume maybe Dr. Reede would be so happy he’d stop snapping at everyone. “I think it’s perfect!” Heather said energetically. “And I can tell that it’ll fit you. Maybe it’s a little small on top, but some spillover will be nice.”
“Spillover?” Sophie said. “This thing wouldn’t cover a preteen. I can’t possibly—”
In Heather’s mind she was fighting for her future children. If something didn’t take away Dr. Reede’s bad temper she was going to have to quit, which meant that she’d have to get a job that paid less, which meant that she’d have to postpone having children. If it took coaxing a reluctant woman into a shiny red corset that left most of the top half of her exposed, so be it. It was certainly for a good cause. Maybe she’d name her first daughter after Sophie.
“Is your real name Sophia?”
“What?” Sophie asked as she stared at the corset. “My name? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing, really. Now,” Heather said briskly, “let’s get you out of those clothes and into these.”
“But I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to wear something like this,” Sophie said. “I’m not sure—”
“That’s okay. I’m a nurse so I’m used to nudity.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Sophie said. “I—”
“I hear Dr. Reade is going to arrive on a black horse.”
Sophie’s eyes widened.
“Wearing a cape.”
Sophie’s eyebrows raised.
“And a black mask.”
Sophie blinked a few times.
“Oh look, there’s a blouse to cover the corset.” Heather held up a filmy garment that was made entirely of black lace. It was so transparent it wouldn’t cover anything.
Sophie’s mouth fell open.
Heather knew she was going to have to take a firmer hand. “He’s wearing boots!” she said loudly. “Tall black leather boots. He’s on a horse! He’s wearing a cape and a black mask! Now get out of those clothes!”
Sophie got her face under control and said, “Yes.”
By the time Sophie was ready, she found she was quite nervous. Heather had left, saying that Dr. Reede wouldn’t like for her to be there. From what Sophie had seen and heard, she thought maybe the real problem was that Heather didn’t want to see her beloved Dr. Reede with another woman.
Sophie went out to the front of Kim’s house, but the cool air gave her goose bumps. The sky had darkened, as though there was going to be a storm, and in the distance she saw a strike of lightning. The mask she was wearing rubbed on her eyelashes, and she adjusted it. Heather had pulled the strings on the corset so tight Sophie could hardly breathe and her breasts were so high above the top she felt that she looked like a poster for the sale of melons. If it hadn’t been for Heather’s encouragement, Sophie never would have dared wear such a thing.
She was dressed as though for a Zorro film. Besides the red corset and filmy black jacket, she had on an ankle-length silk skirt of red and black stripes with a slit that went halfway up her thighs. Soft black boots over black stockings completed the ensemble.
With her hands holding her upper arms, she turned to go back into the house. But she halted. Coming out of the trees was a man on a horse. Both of them were dark, and against the background of the faraway light, they stood out dramatically.
In an instant, Sophie forgot all her discomfort and stood there staring. In the last few days she’d felt she’d come to know this man, but there’d always been the missing visual of him. Her eyes seemed to devour him. He was the perfect Zorro to match her outfit.
Even though he was high up on the big black horse, she could see that he was tall. A gust of wind plastered the shirt with its big sleeves around him, and she saw well-defined pecs, a flat stomach, arms sculpted by muscle. A wide black leather belt encircled his slim waist, and black trousers stretched across heavily muscled thighs.
As Heather had said, his calves were covered by tall leather boots.
Sophie looked back up at his face, but the upper half of it was hidden behind a mask and under a wide-brimmed hat. His eyes were concealed but his lips were full and beautifully formed. As he rode forward, he smiled at her, showing even, white teeth.
A flash of lightning struck closer and, just like in a movie, the horse reared. As Reede fought to control it, she heard his deep voice, soft and soothing.
“Down, girl,” he said as he leaned forward and stroked the mare’s neck.
When he stopped near her, Sophie looked up at him, and for a moment they just stood there in silence, staring at each other, she at his big dark form and he at her barely concealed figure. It took another flash of lightning before he bent toward her. When he put his hand down to her, she didn’t hesitate. She stepped up on a low stone wall that bordered a flower bed, took his hand, and let his strong arm pull her up into the saddle behind him.
As he led the horse around, he paused, as though waiting for something, but Sophie didn’t know what it was. For a moment she was puzzled, but then she slid her arms around his waist. Reede laughed, a soft, sultry sound. She’d got it right.
He picked up one of her hands and kissed the back of it. “You are beautiful,” he said, his head turned so his cheek was near her face. He had a bit of dark whisker stubble, and she was tempted to kiss his neck, but she didn’t.
In the next moment he urged the horse forward, its feet clomping on the asphalt road. When the horse yet again lifted its front legs off the ground, Sophie gasped in alarm, tightened her arms around Reede, and put her face against the back of him.
“That’s my girl,” Reede muttered, and she didn’t know whether he meant her or the horse. Nor did she care. She snuggled her face against his back and closed her eyes for a moment. The man, the growing storm, the horse, were all a wonderful fantasy.
They rode down the road for a few minutes, and if anyone came out of their houses to stare, she didn’t see them. Sophie and Reede may as well have been alone on the planet.
They soon left the pavement and went into what Sophie knew was the nature preserve that surrounded the little town. Reede expertly led the horse down a rutted road, clicking at it encouragingly when he encountered a deep rut. At one jolt, he turned back to her. “All right?” he asked, and she nodded against him.
Twice she sat up straighter so her breasts in the undersize corset weren’t pressed against him, but both times the horse jerked to the side. In fear of falling, Sophie clung to Reede. She thought maybe he was doing it on purpose, and when he laughed, she was sure.
“Not far now,” he said softly after they’d been on the horse for quite a while. Sophie had an idea he’d taken them on a roundabout trip through the preserve. For her part she could have continued all day, but it was growing darker by the moment.
When she felt the first drops of rain, he turned to her. “Ready to make a run for it?”
Sophie looked up at him. His lips were beautiful and so very, very close to hers. All she could do was nod.
“Hold on,” he said.
Sophie’s arms tightened around him.
“Is that the best you can do?” he murmured.
She scooted forward another inch, moved her thighs even closer to his, and snuggled her nearly bare breasts so tight against his back that she could feel his skin through the cloth.
Again Reede laughed, then he moved his heels into the horse’s flanks and they shot forward. Sophie wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but her arms pulled him even closer.
All too soon, he slowed down. Ducking, he led the horse under an overhang that was attached to a small shed. After a moment’s hesitation he slid down and held up his hands to
her. She fell forward, her hands going onto his shoulders, his onto her waist.
When her feet touched the ground, he didn’t let go of her but stood there, his hands on her waist, almost encircling it. For a moment, Sophie thought he was going to kiss her but he moved away. “We’d better go inside or we’ll get caught in the rain.”
When Sophie didn’t move, he stepped around her. “I better . . . ” He trailed off as he went to the horse and removed the saddle. Like all of his costume, the leather was solid black.
She watched while he took the saddle off the horse and made the animal comfortable. Food and water had been left there, so it looked as though arrangements had been made for their arrival. He cares about animals as well as people, she thought.
There was a quick flash of lightning, then a clap of thunder so loud that Sophie jumped.
Reede held out his hand to her. “Let’s go,” he said.
She took his hand and followed him as they ran out of the shed and down a brick path to a house that was barely visible. Vines grew up trellises on the walls, and overgrown shrubs obscured the windows. She doubted that the building could be seen from the road.
Reede had some trouble getting the door open. It wasn’t locked but it was stuck—and he knew exactly where to kick it so it opened.
“It’s always been like that,” he said as, still holding her hand, he led her inside.
They entered a big room that was open all the way up to the roof. A double row of heavy wooden beams was overhead. There were a few pieces of furniture about, but it all looked old and used. The house had an air of vacancy about it, as though no one had lived in it for years.
Turning, she looked up at him in question. His eyes were obscured by the mask, but she could see that they were blue and his lashes were long. Dr. Reede Aldredge was a gorgeous man. She wondered why she didn’t remember seeing photos of him in college, and if he’d visited Kim, why hadn’t she seen him? But then she remembered. He’d said there’d never been anything between him and Jecca, but that wasn’t quite true. “Jecca is why I don’t remember you,” she said.
He looked at her in puzzlement for a moment, then smiled. Dropping her hand, he went around a corner of the big room and into a kitchen. On the old countertop was a big picnic basket.
“You’re right. Kim hoped to marry me off to Jecca,” he said as he opened the lid and looked inside.
“I’d forgotten that. Every time you visited, I was sent away. But Jecca didn’t . . . ”
“Marry me?” he asked, smiling. “Tris got to her first.”
“Right,” Sophie said and suddenly felt let down. It looked like she was second choice.
Reede gave her a long, lingering, full-body look. “I’m glad he did. Jecca can’t make a sculpture of me with the children I came to love, she can’t make a home out of an old warehouse, and she does not look like you.” He gave her a look of such appreciation that Sophie felt her face turn red.
“Now,” he said, “where should we eat?”
Sophie wanted to say “Nowhere,” because when they finished they’d have to leave. She wanted to postpone the end. “Is this your house?”
“No,” he said, and stepped away from the basket. “But I know it well. Would you like to see it?”
“Sure.”
For a moment he was silent, as though trying to decide what to say. He looked at Sophie and smiled. It should have been odd, since they were both wearing masks, but that seemed to add to the intimacy of the moment. “I wanted to buy this house,” he said. “It belonged to the family of a friend of mine, and when I was a kid I often stayed here. I—” Suddenly, the rain increased, and the torrent was loud. Reede’s eyes widened. “Quick!” he said as he hurried around the countertop and started throwing open cabinet doors. He pulled out a stack of beat-up old pots and held out a couple to Sophie.
She had no idea what he was doing, but then a drop of rain hit her head. “Oh!”
“Right! Oh,” Reede said as he ran to the far end of the room and put a big pan on the floor. In the next second a trickle of rain came down and went directly into the pot. Sophie stepped back and put a plastic tub where she’d been standing, and the rain dripped into it. “Where else?” she asked Reede.
“There, in that corner.”
It took them minutes of scurrying about, running from leak to leak, to get all the kettles and pots and saucepans down. They ran back into the kitchen—which seemed to be dry—to look at their handiwork.
“Did we get them all?” Sophie asked.
“I think so.” He was looking at her with pride. “Thanks for the help, and I must say that it was a joy to watch you run about the room.”
She started to say something modest but changed her mind. “Those tall boots of yours are doing it for me.”
Reede laughed. “I’ll have to thank Sara.” He put his hand on the picnic basket. “We could sit at the table and eat.”
The way he said it seemed to have a question at the end. “Or . . . ?” she asked.
He stepped back into the living room and looked upward. “See those little doors up there?”
High up, at one end of the tall, open ceiling was a set of louvered doors no more than three feet tall.
“We could sit up there and look out over this room. I’ve spent a lot of time up there, and the view is good.”
She could tell that that’s where he wanted to go, and more importantly, she felt that he hadn’t shared this place with anyone else. To the left was a staircase and Sophie hurried to it. “Race you up the stairs,” she said and started running.
She’d only meant to tease him, but the next moment she heard him thundering across the floor. She wasn’t prepared for when he picked her up in his arms and ran with her up the stairs.
“I win,” he said when they reached the landing. As he stood there holding her he didn’t seem to have any intention of putting her down.
“You cheated,” Sophie said, looking up at him. She couldn’t help thinking that she didn’t mind if he never set her down. She had to resist the temptation to snuggle her head into his shoulder. “I must be heavy,” she managed to say.
“Not at all.” He was looking into her eyes. In the run he’d lost his hat and she could see his eyes more clearly. “I don’t know how I missed seeing you all those years ago. You’re so very pretty. And small. But—” He looked down at her body. “So perfectly formed. You’re like a pocket Venus.”
“A what?” she asked.
But he knew she’d heard him. Reluctantly, he set her down, then stood there, staring at her.
He was doing a great deal for her ego! “So where’s the basket?”
Reede smiled. “Left it downstairs. Come through here.” He took her hand and led her past a bedroom and a bath, then into another bedroom.
Sophie couldn’t help frowning. Into a bedroom already?! She pulled her hand out of his and turned back toward the door. But Reede went to the far end of the room and opened what looked to be a closet door, then disappeared inside and she heard scraping sounds.
Curious, Sophie went to see where he’d gone. At the back of the closet, which still contained a lot of old clothing, was a little panel. It wasn’t really a door, as it had no hinges and didn’t reach the floor. Reede had pulled it out of the wall, set it to one side, and seemed to have disappeared into the hole.
Sophie looked inside to see an area about eight feet by three. It was very dark, but then Reede opened the little doors and light came in from the living room below. She stepped into the space to crouch next to him.
“It’s shorter than I remember,” he said.
She smiled but didn’t state the obvious, that he was now taller. It was very intimate in the little space and she liked being so near him. She also liked that she’d been wrong when she’d thought he’d been leading them to a bed.
“Not claustrophobic?” he asked. Above them they could hear the rain, and it made the space seem even cozier.
“No,” she answered
.
“When I was a kid my friend Tommy and I used to eat meals up here,” he said, his eyes looking at her in question.
“I’d love to,” she said, knowing that was what he was asking.
“Stay here and I’ll get the basket.” He started to leave and got one leg through to the closet when he turned back. She couldn’t see all of his face, but his eyes seemed to be serious. “Since it’s just the two of us, maybe we should remove our masks.”
“And ruin the fantasy?” Sophie said. “I was just thinking that I’m sorry the hat’s gone.”
Reede’s smile was so warm, so . . . happy, that Sophie again felt her face turning red. “Go on, get the food,” she said and he left.
She started to sit on the floor but then she went back into the bedroom and got four pillows and a quilt that she tossed through the opening and made a sort of couch. When she sat down she saw why Reede liked the place so much. Through the doors was a lovely view down into the living room. She smiled at their pans placed around with the rain dripping into them. For all that the roof leaked and the house was quite dirty, it looked to be in good shape.
“Hello!” Reede called from the floor below and Sophie waved to him. She watched him check on the buckets. The rain was coming down steadily but the containers didn’t seem to be filling rapidly.
“See this?” Reede asked as he went to the far side of the room. There was an old iron ladder bolted to the wall and she saw that it went all the way up to the exposed rafters. “When I was a kid I used to climb out of where you are, walk across that beam, and come down this way.”
As Sophie looked where he was pointing, she drew in her breath. That was a very dangerous walk. It would be bad for an adult, and she didn’t want to think about a child up there. “I hope your friend’s parents stopped you from doing it,” she said sternly.
“They never knew about it,” he said. He climbed up the ladder about halfway, then halted. “I’ve always wanted to try something.”
She didn’t know what it was about his tone that upset her, but something did. She remembered the framed photo of him that Kim had hung on their apartment wall. It was a newspaper shot of a man being lowered down a cable into a turbulent ocean to rescue people whose boat had sunk. “My idiot brother!” Kim had said of the photo, but there was so much pride in her voice that everyone knew she was pleased by his heroism.
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