Free Florida Knight by Blair Bancroft Page A

good at that. Experienced.
    But she couldn’t repress a nagging question. Had he ever been married? Dear God, perhaps he was married! She didn’t have the nerve to ask. But, surely, before they spent a weekend together, she ought to know.
    When Michael came back into the living room, wearing jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers, Kate was relieved. He looked a lot better than he had when he arrived. And far less lethal than when dressed as the man who would be known to LALOC as Raven.
    “Remember,” she said, “as soon after four as you can make it on Friday.”
    “Right.” Michael didn’t move. “Kate?”
    “Yes?”
    “Thanks.” They both knew the thanks was for more than the costumes, more than the food.
    Kate started to smile, discovered she couldn’t. Her emotions were so tangled, they were unrecognizable. “Goodnight,” she managed.
    The door closed behind him. The 4Runner cranked into life. Tires scrunched on the shell and gravel drive. He was gone.
    Kate’s legs gave way. She sat down hard on a kitchen chair. Relief. Glorious relief.
    For about ten seconds.
    However was she going to survive actually living with him for the weekend?

 
    Chapter 6
     
    “You’re what ?” The rolled-up sleeping bag Mona Ellis had been holding above her head thudded onto the driveway. From Kate’s vantage point on the roof of the van, she stared down at her friend. She huffed a sigh as she sank onto a mound of tenting equipment already stacked on top of the burgundy Dodge Ram.
    It was Thursday night. Before leaving for his new job stocking groceries at the local Publix, Bubba had slung the bags of tent equipment on top of the van with his customary ease, given the girls a big grin and a wave before setting off to work on his bicycle. Secretly, each girl prayed this was the job he could keep. That Bubba wouldn’t forget what he was supposed to do. That the manager wouldn’t find him intimidating. That the teenagers working beside him wouldn’t decide he was the evening’s entertainment.
    Mona had been jarred out of her worry over Bubba by Kate’s sudden pronouncement from on high. They were adding a fourth person to their LALOC road trip. “Tell me!” she demanded, tilting her head back to look up at Kate, the sleeping bag forgotten at her feet.
    “There’s nothing to tell , ” Kate insisted, determined on nonchalance. “He’s another one of Barbara’s fixer-uppers. One I couldn’t say no to.” Keeping your lies as close to the truth as possible was excellent advice, but Kate doubted she could take this line of reasoning much farther.
    “Kate,” Mona enunciated slowly, “you’ve said no to every last one of your boss’s so-called dates. You’ve turned down every hunky and not-so-hunky male in LALOC. You’ve given the cold shoulder to every guy who hit on you any time, anywhere. So why, for heaven’s sake, are you taking on this one?”
    Kate ducked her head, studied a softly swaying strand of hot pink bougainvillea that trailed onto the mound of tenting. She was caught. There was only one possible explanation which Mona would accept, and it was absolutely, positively not in her to give it. It was the Big Lie. Contrary to all her tightly held principles.
    Who was she kidding? She wanted it to be a lie, but the words came out with disconcerting truthfulness. “I guess this one’s different,” she mumbled, still examining the bright curving branch of bougainvillea.
    “Oh, my God!” Mona’s jaw dropped, her eyes shone. “It’s happened? It’s really happened? You’ve fallen for a guy!” Mona bounced up and down on the gravel while Kate cringed at every chortle. “Oh, wow, wait’ll I tell Bubba. He’s gonna go nuts. He’ll be so pleased. I’m pleased. Kate, this is great!”
    “Look . . . it’s nothing,” Kate protested. Weakly. “He was interested in LALOC. I agreed to take him with us. Nothing may come of it at all.”
    Mona shook her head. “That is so lame. The man’s a hunk. Not a