Tempting the Ringmaster by Aleah Barley Read Free Book Online Page A

dance floor cleared beside the jukebox in the back. There were only a handful of customers on a Thursday night, and the waitresses were leaning against the counter to gossip.
    “Graham!” A young woman in a green halter top stepped in front of them. “I went past your house tonight. You weren’t there.”
    Graham shrugged. “Can’t say I was.”
    “I let myself in, just to stick a casserole in the fridge. Macaroni and chicken.”
    “That’s not necessary, Suzy.”
    “Of course it was, you were so helpful with my car last week. I even tucked in some lemon squares, I know they’re you’re favorite.” Suzy’s gaze darted back and forth between Belle and Graham, clearly trying to figure out how they knew each other. “I hear you don’t have a date for the Winter Social, do you want to—“
    “It’s been great talking to you,” Graham cut her off. “I’ll look for that casserole.”
    He moved past Suzy, leading Belle towards an empty booth against the far wall. It was slow going. There weren’t many people in the bar, but every single one of them wanted to talk to Graham about his health, the weather, or the graffiti that appeared to be the only crime in Buck Falls.
    The women all asked whether he’d found a date for the Winter Social, their gaze gliding over Belle like she wasn’t even worth considering.
    Her teeth ground together angrily. It was only one drink, maybe a burger—the food on the whirling trays looked damn good—not a lifetime commitment made at the little slate roofed church they’d passed on the road with pictures published in the paper, but that was no reason for the women to completely ignore her. Why couldn’t she be his date to the Winter Social?
    Finally, they sat down and managed to order from a teenager with a nose ring who giggled every time Graham looked in her direction.
    “Do you know everyone in the place?” Belle demanded.
    “I’m the police chief.” He shrugged. “I’ve lived here my entire life. I’m sure it’s the same for you, back home.”
    “That’s different.” Of course, she knew everyone at the circus, she was responsible for their safety and well-being. “I sign their paychecks at the end of every week. Anyway, I assume your town has more people than my caravan.”
    “Not the circus,” he said. “I’m talking about your home. Where you’re from originally? Where your parents live—“
    “My father died last year.”
    It hadn’t even been a full year, not really.
    If Belle closed her eyes, she could still hear the phone ringing in her Chicago apartment the night Frank had called to break the news and summon her back to the life she’d thought she’d left forever.
    “My mother died when I was a kid. I don’t really remember her. She lived with us in the winter—down in Florida—but she never came on tour. She loved my father, but she hated the circus.”
    “Your father was a performer?”
    “Barnaby was a star—larger than life—he’d walk out into the center of the ring, and the crowd would go wild.” She shifted uncomfortably in her borrowed dress. “My family’s been in the circus since the beginning of time—two hundred years—my great grandfather was the one who started Black Shadows. We’ve still got his original tent in one of the trucks.”
    The thing was an antique. The red and yellow striped big top was stained, patched, and smaller than the one they performed under now. The big king pole that held it up from the center was a single solid piece of wood, crafted from the trunk of a mighty tree.
    “We don’t even have the equipment—or the manpower—to put it up, but Barnaby insisted on carting it around anyway. Other people have lucky coins. His luck was in thousands of pounds of canvas and wood.”
    ‘The old girl’s still got life in her yet’ he’d always said, with a sparkle in his eye. ‘Trust me, one day you’re going to be glad we didn’t leave it on the side of the road. As long as you’ve got this