Home to Eden by Dallas Schulze Read Free Book Online Page A

told him to let it drop. The less he knew about Kate Moran, the better.
    "There is no but," Dilly said, then caught his eye and shrugged. "I worry a bit that maybe Gareth loves her a great deal more than she loves him. It's probably my imagination and I know for certain that it's none of my business. Or yours, for that matter."
    She was right, of course. It was none of his business, but the comment lingered in his mind. He wondered if she was right. And if so, did Gareth know?
    ❧
    "So, what do you think of Nick?" Brenda's eyes were bright with curiosity.
    "Nick?" Kate gave her friend a deliberately blank look.
    Brenda clicked her tongue in exasperation. "Nick Blackthorne? About six-one, dark hair, dark eyes, body like a Greek god, face to die for? You know the one I mean?''
    "I know who you mean." Kate wished the description had been a little less accurate. It brought his image all too sharply to mind. She moved farther down the aisle between two tables of bedding plants, waving the watering wand over them. Brenda followed, her long floral skirt brushing against the trailing leaves of a fuchsia sitting near the edge of the table.
    ''Well?" she prompted.
    "Well what?" Kate wasn't trying to be deliberately obtuse so much as she was giving herself time to formulate an answer. She'd been expecting this. Eden wasn't a village, but the town was small enough that news traveled fast. Brenda had gone to school with the Blackthornes. Naturally, she'd be interested to hear that Nick had returned. Now that Kate thought about it, it was astonishing that he'd been back for almost a week and Brenda was just now questioning her about him.
    "You have met him, right?"
    "I was having dinner at his parents' house the night he came home," Kate admitted.
    "And you didn't say anything?" Brenda's eyes widened in surprise.
    "I didn't think of it." Kate shrugged lightly and then wondered if her nose was going to grow. In the week since Nick's return, she'd thought of little else. She hadn't seen him again but that hadn't prevented him from dominating her thoughts.
    "Well?" Brenda prompted.
    "Well, what?"
    "What did you think of him?"
    "What's to think?" Kate shrugged again. "He seems nice enough."
    "Nice enough?" Brenda's voice rose in disbelief. "You're talking about the guy that had half the girls in high school panting with lust every time he walked into a classroom and all you can say is he seems nice enough?"
    "Maybe if I was in high school, I'd be a little more overwhelmed," Kate said. She glanced over her shoulder in time to catch Brenda's disgusted look.
    "You don't have to be in high school to appreciate looks like that. You just have to be breathing."
    "I am engaged, you know." Kate wished she could find more comfort in the reminder.
    "I don't see any reason why an engagement ring should make a woman blind to the wonders of nature," Brenda complained. "Nick Blackthorne is good-looking enough to make a nun take a second look."
    "Hmm." Kate made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat and concentrated on watering a flat of pansies.
    "It's not like Vm suggesting you sleep with the guy. Hey!" Brenda jumped back in surprise as Kate's hand jerked and water sprayed into the pathway. "Watch it with that thing. I might melt, you know."
    "Sorry." Kate angled the long watering wand over the flats and hoped Brenda couldn't see that her hand was trembling. Idiot, she thought. It was just a casual remark, not an accusation.
    "No harm done." Brenda brushed at the dampness on her skirt. Satisfied that there was no permanent damage, she fixed Kate with a bright, inquiring look. "Now, tell me what you really think of Nick."
    Kate indulged in a brief moment of fantasy, picturing herself turning the water onto Brenda full force, drowning out the subject of Nick Blackthorne. But she knew her friend well enough to know that, short of physical violence, there was no way to shut her up. She smothered a sigh and gave in.
    "He seems pleasant. And very