One Night With You (14 page)

“No, sweetheart. I'll get a rental car and be back here for you in forty-five minutes. The fact that you offered is good enough for me, and I won't forget it, but I'm not going to take advantage of your generosity.”

After phoning for the rental car, Reid took a shower and packed what he needed. Philip would have tools, but he wanted to be sure that he had the essentials. He stood at the door of the building in which he lived, and when the rental car arrived he dashed to it and got in. “I'll return it Monday morning,” he told the driver. Normally, he would have driven the man back to the rental-car office, but doing that would mean leaving Kendra open to gossip. Seeing her leave town with him when they both carried suitcases would be too tempting a subject for most of the local citizens to pass up.

Reid couldn't drive as fast as he liked because the rain made that hazardous. Nonetheless, they reached the estate around seven that evening. As he'd done on their previous visit, Philip came out to greet them.

“You don't know how glad I am to see you, friend,” he said to Reid. “You can show these fellows how to repair these buildings.” He greeted Kendra. “Thank you for coming. I know Reid wanted to stay and take care of your house. You're a very big person to do this.”

“It's important to him,” she said simply.

“You're in time for supper,” he told them, “and since I know approximately what time you left Queenstown, I know you didn't stop to eat. I'll take you up to your rooms.” He picked up Kendra's suitcase. “Neither of you will ever know what your coming here this evening means to me.”

He put her bag in the same room she'd had previously. “You're over there, Reid. Doris is waiting supper, so come on down.”

“I'm going to turn in early tonight, sweetheart,” Reid told Kendra after supper, “because I want to be up at four-thirty, but you may sleep as long as you like.” He brushed her lips with his own, hugged her and headed for his room. The less time he spent in her company, the better, for he faced some back-breaking work in the morning, and making love all night was not a way to prepare for it.

“I've never harvested lettuce,” Kendra said to Doris, Max, Philip and Philip's father after Reid went to his room, “but I know when strawberries are ripe, and I can pick them. I can also tie up the limbs of saplings, and I can hand shingles and boards to the men.”

The three of them stared at her. “I didn't know you intended to help,” Philip said. “I think it's best that you walk around, see what you want to do, and if you feel inclined, do that.”

“All right. Thanks for that great meal, Doris. See you in the morning.”

She slept well, and found that getting up at four-thirty posed no problem. She walked into the kitchen a few minutes after five, stunning Philip, Reid, Doris and Max.

“What's the matter?” she said with a laugh. “Did the four of you think I had the backbone of a piece of twine? Bring on the grits, scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and strong coffee. I'm ready for a man-sized workday.”

Her words brought a round of laughter, and as Doris rose from the table, Kendra placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know where the stove is, Doris.” She helped herself to a plateful of food, poured a cup of coffee and went back to the table.

“I could get used to eating good food that I don't have to cook. I suppose Doris said grace.”

“Oh, she did,” Max said, “or none of us would be eating. You can bet on that.”

She quickly found a job sorting shingles that had become detached from the roof of the barn. Half of them were useful only for burning.

“These are perfect,” she told Max shortly before lunch, “but this pile is good for nothing but starting a fire. I counted seven hundred good ones and about as many useless ones.”

“It's good you counted them,” Max replied. “Reid will know about how many Philip has to buy. It's a quarter past eleven, and we eat at noon. Do you want to rest now?”

“Not really. I'm tired, but I'm not exhausted. Give me something to put them in, and I'll pick some strawberries if you show me how.”

He got a crate of empty cups and walked with her down to the strawberry patch. “Take them by the stem and break the stem with your fingernails. Like this. Run your hands over and through the leaves and especially along the sides where the sunshine strikes them. You ought to get about a quart every two feet of row, sometimes more. We usually hire berry pickers, but there's no help anywhere around today. People are cleaning up after the storm. Put this marker on the row where you stop.”

She filled the crate in no time, picked it up and started toward the house with it.

Reid came toward her, shaking his head as if perplexed. “What the hell are you doing carrying that thing? What
is
that?” He got close enough for a good look. “You picked strawberries? Max told me you sorted those shingles. That's back-breaking work.” He took the crate of berries from her and kissed her cheek. “Looks as if Philip finally got a modern crate for these berries.”

“I picked them, and it was fun,” she told him.

“You must be exhausted.”

“I wouldn't be able to run in a marathon right now, but I'm not ready to keel over, either.”

After lunch, he suggested that they swim, but she knew that if she hadn't been there, he wouldn't have considered it, not with the work facing them. “Maybe after dinner—'scuse me, I mean supper—if you don't mind swimming at night,” she told him. “I didn't pick more than twenty feet of that row of berries, and there must be a hundred more rows.”

“You want to pick berries?” Reid asked her.

“I want to help, Reid. I didn't come here to pose while everyone else works. At least I'm being useful if I pick strawberries.”

“You were useful this morning when you sorted all those shingles. Philip ordered what he needs for a replacement, and tomorrow morning I'll show Jack and Max how to repair the roof of the barn and the stables.”

“Have we accomplished much so far?” she asked him.

“Yes, indeed. We'll finish the men's quarters today. A couple of the men have put supports on the biggest trees with sagging limbs and cut away the limbs that couldn't be saved.”

“Then I think I'll pick strawberries. When you see Max, please ask him to get me some more empty cups. I have only about a dozen out there.” Reid didn't know what to make of her, she realized, but it was time he accepted that she wasn't a fragile doll, but a flesh-and-blood woman who didn't mind rolling up her sleeves and doing what had to be done.

She said as much to Doris later that day when they sat in the living room, along with the three men, relaxing with drinks before supper.

“Max had to learn that,” Doris said. “I work all day here looking as if I'm almost ready to go dancing, but when we're alone in our apartment, I let my hair down and allow him to feast his eyes and body on the woman he married. I'm always there for him when he needs me, and, honey, I know he needs me. It's a great feeling.”

“I imagine it is,” Kendra said.

“Honey, don't you know Reid needs you? Funny thing is you've had him completely flabbergasted all day. Maybe he thought that since you're a judge, you won't soil your hands. He came in here this morning, sat down and asked me if I thought you'd get angry if he told you to come down off that stable. I told him to give you a sturdy ladder and leave you alone.”

Kendra couldn't help laughing at that, because she didn't think that was the advice Reid wanted to hear. “He's very protective,” she told Doris.

“Yeah, and bossy, too. I've been working here since Philip was seven. I raised him. Of all the men Philip has helped find a new life—and there've been at least thirty—Reid is the only one who's come back after getting on his feet and leaving. They write and call, but they don't come back. Reid is an exceptional man. Loyal as they come.”

Kendra hadn't thought a great deal about Doris, but she realized that if she got to know the woman, she would probably like her. “Thank you for telling me this,” she said.

After supper, Philip turned on the lights around the pool area. “I'd wait at least an hour before going in,” he said.

She looked at Reid, whose gaze, she discovered, had been locked on her. “You want to swim for a little while?” he asked her.

“Why not? My muscles could use it.”

“Philip said we should give our food an hour to digest, so I'll be back down in about an hour.”

Once in her room, she showered, applied lotion to her body and put on her red bathing suit. “This must be the skimpiest bathing suit ever made,” she said aloud, wishing she'd brought the more generously cut yellow one instead. She wrapped the floor-length transparent red and tan beach skirt around her hips, but, still dissatisfied with what she regarded as her near-nudity, she put on the white terry-cloth robe that she found in the closet.

She told herself that she'd experienced a sudden case of modesty because she didn't want to shock Philip's father, but in truth, she feared that Reid might be embarrassed, though she didn't know why she felt that way. She put on the flip-flops she found in the closet and went downstairs. Reid met her at the bottom of the stairs.

“I was beginning to think you'd fallen asleep. You look pretty. It's hard to believe you worked in that sun all day.” He wrapped his arms around her and bent to kiss her.

“Please,” she said, stunning him. “Do you want me to drown?”

“Do I want you to…What's come over you?”

“Kissing you makes me drunk, and if I swim while I'm drunk, I'll drown.”

She could almost see the words sinking in, along with the slow exposure of his pearl-white teeth and the grin that gradually changed the contours of his face until at last, he doubled up with laughter.

“I wouldn't take anything for you,” he said and brought her into his arms. Though his kiss was brief, through the thin fabric of her swim top, her nipples felt the naked skin of his chest, and desire sent her hot blood racing to her loins.

He looked down at her. “You were right. That wasn't such a good idea.”

“For Christmas, I'm giving you a pair of red bathing trunks,” she said. “Boy, what a sight that is.”

They left the house by a side door off the dining room and found Philip sitting on the deck beside the pool drinking a margarita. “You're getting fresh,” Reid whispered to her.

“Just because I said you look cute in that nothing you're wearing? Be glad that's all I said,” she whispered.

“You seem as fresh as if it were morning, Kendra,” Philip said. “I know you don't drink much, Reid,” he said, “but I have lemonade and soft drinks or wine.” He pointed to the bar. “You two help yourselves to whatever you want.”

“Thanks,” she said, smothering a laugh, because he'd used the same word to describe her that Reid had used, though in a different sense. “I think I'll swim first.” She dropped the robe on a chair, untied the skirt, threw it across the robe, strolled out to the pool and dived in. What a luxury, she thought. There was much to be said for wealth, and Philip Dickerson had a good share of it. She didn't envy him; he was too nice a person, a man whose hard work and common decency had made him a blessed individual.

She heard a splash and knew that Reid had joined her. They swam together for three laps until she began to tire. “I think I've had enough,” she told him. “A few more minutes, and you'll have to carry me into the house.”

“Want me to get your robe?” he asked her after they climbed out of the pool.

Taken aback, she stared at him. “Why?”

“Because…because…your…You haven't got anything on.”

She looked down at her bikini, saw that it was still there and relaxed. “If I get it myself, you'll be mad, won't you?”

“He can see the same thing I can see, and his attitude toward what he sees will be the same as mine.”

“What if we compromise, and I go in the house through the kitchen, on up to my room and change into a shirt and a pair of shorts?”

“Uh…all right. I didn't know you were so stubborn.”

“Well,” she said. “If I'm stubborn and you're bossy, are we going to make a go of it?”

“We'll probably learn to compromise. At least I hope so.”

When she got back downstairs, Reid and Philip were laughing about something and Arnold, Philip's father, had joined them. “I think I'll have a glass of white wine,” she said. Arnold got up immediately, poured a glass of wine and brought it to her.

“You and I haven't had a chance to talk, Kendra,” he said, “but I want you to know that you had my admiration when you first visited us, but today you won my deep affection and gratitude. I wish my son had met you first.”

“Thank you,” she said. “That's the nicest compliment you could have paid me.” They talked for an hour, about her work as a judge and his before he retired as an automotive engineer.