Concealed (5 page)

The men in the room laughed and continued their good-natured ribbing with one another as the bidding went on. The auctioneer loved Luke because he took great pleasure in outbidding the husbands, forcing them to dig deeper into their pockets to win their wives’ favor. For the time being, it had Sydney laughing, but as the numbers on the pies crept higher, her hands began to shake. The mere thought of being on the auction block was terrifying.

Where Luke’s hand was constantly bobbing up and down to bid, Wade sat back and watched. He hadn’t taken his hands out of his pockets, not once tempted to bid, even when the pie that obviously belonged to Pamela Wilson named Silky Strawberry Seduction was on the block. The pink sprinkles and obscene amount of whipped cream on top of the pie made it the least appetizing thing Sydney had ever seen. However, the men in the room felt differently. They flailed about, their hands flying into the air with each call of the auctioneer, bidding each other up to a ridiculous final total of two hundred dollars for her pie. The whole time that was going on, Wade stared at Sydney.

“What a tramp,” Melissa whispered, covering Faith’s ears. “Did you see Pamela flick open the button on her blouse when the bidding hit a hundred dollars and then again at two hundred?” Melissa rolled her eyes. “So much for keeping it anonymous.”

“As soon as I heard the name of the pie and saw the sprinkles, I knew it was hers. So did everyone else in this room. Who else would give their pie such a trashy name?” Sydney whispered as Melissa uncovered Faith’s ears.

“When is it your turn, Mommy?” Faith was bouncing with excitement.

“Soon,” Sydney said with a nervous laugh. “But we can’t tell anyone when it’s my pie. It has to be a surprise, remember?” Reflexively her eyes searched out Wade who had moved away from the wall and was slowly inching closer to the front of the room.

Melissa noticed, too, and snickered. “Someone’s jockeying for better bidding position.” The smug, sing-song tone of her voice made Sydney blush from head to toe.

“Stop it,” she said, shooing Melissa away. Her hands went to her burning cheeks. Was he moving closer to bid on her pie or someone else’s? Sydney’s heart stopped when the auctioneer closed the bidding on number fifteen and introduced the next pie.

“Now up for auction, number sixteen!”

Sydney’s heart raced as the panic set in. Wide-eyed, she looked out into the cheering crowd. Wade had moved through the throng of people and was front and center. His hands were out of his pockets and now resting firmly on his hips. From all appearances, there was a distinct possibility he might bid on her pie. The mere thought of it tripled Sydney’s pulse rate and made her a little dizzy. Luke was standing behind Wade, glaring at the back of his head. When the auctioneer asked for an opening bid of twenty dollars, multiple hands flew into the air.

Not one of them was Wade’s.

She tried to keep her face calm even though her heart was about to burst from her chest. Hurt, disappointment, and confusion swirled in her mind but she prayed she kept her face stoic through it all. So much for Melissa’s brilliant idea. She scanned the crowd to investigate the bidders she recognized. Luke, of course, was one of them. He’d bid on every pie so far. A nice guy, a friend, but if she was being honest, not the man she wanted to go on a date with. That man was stubbornly standing a few feet away with his jaw clenched, watching other men bid on her pie.

Luke was definitely the best of the initial bidders. The other two were Matt Schuller, whose young wife was glaring at him so ferociously, Sydney was certain his hand wasn’t going up in the air again and Johnny. There probably wasn’t anyone in the entire room more distasteful than him. He was self-centered, abrasive, and obnoxious. If she had to listen to his mortician talk for an evening, Melissa was going to be sorry.

As predicted, Matt’s hand remained firmly in his pocket and the others fell by the wayside, but Luke and Johnny continued bidding back and forth. The price of her pie soon reached seventy-five dollars. Luke kept his attention toward the auctioneer the whole time. He was too engrossed in the spectacle of it all to try and match the pie to the woman who had made it. With each dollar that was added, Sydney’s hope that Wade would raise his hand faded. Melissa was so annoyed she began to inch her way through the crowd, looking like she might throw his hand into the air herself. Sydney caught Melissa’s eye and shook her head.

If Wade wanted her, he was going to have to do it on his own.

The bidding slowed with Luke still in the lead at ninety dollars. Johnny looked back at the table, apparently debating if the blackberry creation was worth a few dollars more. As he opened his mouth to bid, Sydney felt someone watching her. She searched for the only person who made her skin tingle that way. Wade. He looked her in the eye, his hand high above his shoulders. In a deep voice that made her heart squeeze, he called out, “One hundred dollars.”

Any thought Johnny had about bidding ended the moment Wade upped the stakes. Where Johnny bowed out quietly, Luke’s body language said it all. He was not about to be outbid by Wade. When his hand went back into the air and he called out one hundred and twenty-five dollars, the auctioneer sensed the shift in the bidding. So could everyone else in the room. He quickly asked for one hundred and fifty-dollars, which Wade returned with a subtle nod. He continued looking at Sydney to make it clear he was going to win this auction, and her.

He knows it’s my pie.
Her heart soared at the thought but she kept her face as calm as she could with Wade’s heated stare fixed on her.

“Now this must be a quality pie.” The auctioneer laughed as the crowd cheered in return. The excitement in the hall was palpable. “Any other men want to get in on this?” When no one else dared to raise their hand, he focused his attention back on Wade and Luke, determined to find a victor but not before convincing them to part with a bit more of their cash. “Now, let me repeat myself. I have a bid of one hundred and fifty dollars for this delicacy. Can I get one hundred and sixty?”

Melissa was nearly jumping up and down in the audience mouthing, “I told you so!” and pointing at Wade. Faith was perched on a chair watching the two men banter back and forth with the auctioneer.

“Who’s gonna win, Mommy?” Faith asked wide eyed as the dollar amounts went higher and higher.

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to see.”

Some of Melissa must have rubbed off on Sydney’s daughter because she suddenly whispered, “Who do you want to win, Mommy?”

Sydney felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she tickled her ornery daughter. “Don’t you worry about that. Now hush and watch the auction.”

Luke accepted the next bid, then someone in the crowd shouted, “Come on, Sheriff, raise that hand! You’re always at Pete’s eating pie.” There was excitement in the air now that Wade had entered the bidding. Luke was furious, but the crowd was thrilled. A few of the older women had followed Wade’s attention to Sydney and were nodding their heads approvingly. Through it all, Sydney managed to keep her face neutral and simply looked back at Wade even though the heat of his gaze was so intense she felt like it was melting her bones. There was no doubt he knew the pie was hers and he looked damn determined to win it.

A night alone with Wade Jenkins.
The thought sent a delicious shiver down her spine. The chemistry between them was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Since he admitted he was thinking about kissing her, Sydney’s imagination had been running wild.

As if sensing the direction of Sydney’s thoughts, Wade winked at her then accepted the next outrageous bid, much to the delight of the auctioneer. Not to be outdone, Luke agreed before the auctioneer finished saying the follow-up price. In the blink of an eye, her pie was up to one hundred and ninety dollars. Feeding off the momentum of the men, the auctioneer rapidly called for two hundred dollars, and you could have heard a pin drop in the hall.

“Whoever she is, she better be worth it,” a deep voice shouted from the back of the room. The crowd laughed good-naturedly and even the corner of Wade’s mouth turned up into a grin.

“I’m betting she is,” Wade said and nodded to the auctioneer.

Sydney could feel Melissa and countless other women staring at her with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. Wade Jenkins always played his cards close to his chest. He rarely shared his feelings and here he was, in front of the entire town, expressing interest in her.

When Luke growled, “Two fifty,” Wade finally broke eye contact with Sydney long enough to look at his competitor, the animosity between them clear. “How high are you willing to go, Sheriff?” His nasty taunt reached Sydney’s ears. She couldn’t tell if he was bidding to win the pie, or simply to beat Wade. Knowing that it was probably the latter left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Wade mumbled something to Luke under his breath, and then turned to the auctioneer. “Three hundred dollars.”

A whoop came up from the crowd, as people voiced their excitement. She heard the woman beside her mumble, “That’s a new record!” She smiled at Sydney. “You must be quiet the little baker.”

It was supposed to be anonymous, but Wade was making it obvious who he was bidding on and Sydney felt exposed to the crowd. In contrast, Luke hadn’t once looked her direction, his attention solely on Wade. At a bid of three hundred and fifty dollars, Luke cursed, shook his head in surrender, and stormed to the back of the hall. A cheer went out to celebrate the generous donation from the sheriff.

Wade won her pie. She had a date with Wade Jenkins.

Sydney was in a complete daze as the last few pies were auctioned off without nearly as much fanfare as hers had garnered. It was all so surreal. Melissa was beaming. Faith fed off the excitement in the room and was bouncing up and down at her side. Soon the auction came to an end.

“I’m thrilled to announce that we have set a new fundraising record, nearly doubling the amount we raised last year for the elementary school’s library.”

A loud thunder of applause rumbled through the room. The principal beamed with appreciation on the stage. Sydney was happy to know it had all been for a good cause and the children in town would benefit from it. She tried to focus on that fact as they called the ladies who had entered the contest to the front of the room for the reveal.

Any questions about whose pie Wade had been bidding on were about to be answered. And who he had a date with.

“Now for the fun part of the evening!” The announcer, who Sydney thought might have had a little too much coffee this afternoon, excitedly launched into introductions. “Pie number one was made by Mrs. Walter, and the winner of that delicious pie and a date with Misty is none other than… Reverend Walter. No surprise there, he’s been eating that delicious Mayflower pie for years! Come on up, Reverend, and claim your pie and your date.”

Applause rang through the room as the names were read and winners announced. Every pie had been purchased, thank goodness, and names continued to be rattled off. As predicted, husbands were paired with their wives. After some encouragement from the crowd, Pete laid a huge kiss on Cara as he claimed her signature cherry pie.

“It’s almost your turn, Momma!” Faith was far more excited than Sydney about the impending announcement. A swarm of butterflies were raging in her stomach, making it difficult to breathe. There was no doubt she and Wade would become the talk of Elton. Even if it was only one date, the gossip mill would be working overtime.

Luke offered her a brief distraction from her panic. “Did you enter, Sydney? I had no idea.”

“Funny, neither did I.” She shot Melissa a withering look. “Did you have fun bidding on all those pies?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You should have told me what number you were and I could have saved you from one of these idiots.” He waved his hand at the crowd of men who were left.

“Well, like I said, I had no idea I was being turned into a paid escort for the night. And besides,” she peeked toward Wade and noticed him watching her talk to Luke, her heart rate picking up, “I’m pretty sure that’s against the rules.”

“Momma was number sixteen,” Faith whispered with a grin. She was terrible at keeping secrets, unlike her mother. “You almost won her pie.”

“Faith,” Sydney reprimanded, “you weren’t supposed to tell.”

“That was you he was bidding on?” Of course Luke would be annoyed that it was Sydney’s pie Wade had won, but the venom in his voice was over the top. Melissa didn’t hesitate to put him in his place.

“If you would have looked around a little instead of staring holes into the back of Wade’s head you might have noticed, Luke,” Melissa chastised him. “You really have to let it go. Not everything is a competition.”

“Right,” he said as he looked at Sydney with a frown then walked away.

“I think he’s sad he lost,” Faith whispered tugging on her mother’s arm. Any further conversation was interrupted by the over-caffeinated announcer gathering everyone’s attention.

“Now, for my favorite part of the night. The big winner. The record price for a pie, set a few years back by the mayor’s wife has been shattered tonight!” Excited applause came from those still in attendance.

“He’s going to have to spend big bucks to reclaim the title for his wife next year. He’s such a cheapskate, too, it’ll kill him to throw out extra cash,” Melissa said with a laugh.