staying a little longer?”
“I was invited to a party on Saturday night.”
At the restaurant last night, Elizabeth had extended an invitation to Reed for Liberty’s largest annual fundraising gala.
“You were noncommittal. I thought that was your polite way of turning her down.” Truth was, Katrina had also thought he was signaling to her his intention to leave before the weekend.
He chuckled. “Do you think she cares if I’m polite?”
“She liked you,” Katrina told him honestly. She’d rarely seen Elizabeth warm up to someone the way she’d warmed up to Reed. It was obvious enough that Katrina had felt a little jealous at the time. Maybe that’s why she’d pushed him so hard to sleep with her last night.
Oh, wow. That wasn’t particularly admirable.
Then she let herself off the hook. Sleeping with Reed had nothing to do with Elizabeth. Katrina simply wasn’t ready to let go of the intimacy they’d found together in the line shack.
He was a great guy and an amazing lover. And she couldn’t imagine herself with anybody else. Which meant, once this was over, lovemaking was over for her for a very, very long time.
“I liked her, too,” said Reed.
“So, you’re coming to the party?”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind meeting a few more of the Liberty Ballet notables.”
“You’re going to need a tux. This is a pretty high-end affair.”
“No problem. I’ll go see Salvatore.”
“You’re going back to Brooklyn for a tux?”
“I like Salvatore. Besides, I own part of his company now. He’ll have to give me a good price.”
“Just out of curiosity.” Katrina turned and leaned her back against the rounded metal rail, asking a question that had nagged at her since last night. “How did you decide to buy into a tailor shop in Brooklyn?”
He shrugged. “Instinct more than anything. I was in Brooklyn yesterday, and Nico recommended Salvatore. We got to talking about his business. He needed some help, and it made sense to me to help him out. In the end, I looked him in the eyes. I liked him, and I liked his business.”
“Who’s Nico?”
“The guy who owns the bakery I’m buying into.”
Katrina got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Are you saying this all happened yesterday?”
“While you were rehearsing.”
She was dying to ask him how much he’d invested. She was terrified that Nico and this Salvatore character had seen Reed coming. “How do you know he didn’t rip you off?”
“I’m a good judge of character.”
“Maybe in Colorado. But this is New York City.”
“Are you questioning my judgment?”
“Yes,” she answered honestly.
The muscles in his neck went tight, and she braced herself.
But when he finally spoke, his tone was neutral. “Don’t worry about it.”
“How much—” She stopped herself. “Never mind. None of my business.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m sorry.”
The wind whistled past them.
“I have a plan,” he said.
“Do tell.”
“The baker. The tailor. And the limo guy. They all have the same problem, great little businesses, solid work ethic, and short-term cash-flow issues.”
“Oh, Reed, no.” Not the limo business, too.
“They’re good guys, family businesses that have been around for generations. I make a few more of these small investments, and when they pay off, I reinvest the profits in the next person.”
“And what if there are no profits? What if you lose? Reed, this is a very big city. Con artists are everywhere.”
“In a small bake shop in Brooklyn with a broken-down delivery truck, just waiting for a guy like me to come along and bail him out?”
Okay, that did sound far-fetched for a sting operation. But it didn’t mean these guys weren’t opportunistic.
“I’m not going to lose, Katrina,” said Reed. “I’m willing to bet people are people just about anywhere. Some good, some bad, most just trying to get by.”
“I didn’t know they taught philosophy at Lyndon Valley High School.”
His jawline set, and his eyes turned to charcoal, and she knew she’d gone too far. Then, his voice went hard as steel “Well, I’d already guessed they taught snobbery at the Upper Cavendar Dramatic Arts Academy.”
Regret shot through her. “Reed, I didn’t—”
“We’re docking,” he pointed out, turning on his heel to head for the gangway.
Sitting in row G, center orchestra, in the opulent Emperor’s Theater, Reed’s anger had long since disappeared. Katrina’s ballet performance had blown him away, and he felt like the biggest jerk in the world for barking at the ethereal angel who’d held the audience enthralled throughout the evening. He wondered how quickly the well-heeled crowd would turn on him if they knew how he’d behaved.
Mere minutes into the performance,