Read Online Knot Guilty by Betty Hechtman - Free Book Online Page A

realize there was an auction.”
    â€œThe money all goes to a women and children’s shelter. You can bid on the silent auction pieces until closing time on Saturday, and the live auction is at the banquet that night.”
    I thanked him and said I’d check back later when all the donations were there.
    I started down the main aisle and saw that everything was still in setup mode. There was an open space at the back of the room. Some chairs had been scattered around rather randomly, and there was a snack bar and a coffee wagon. I was glad there wasn’t a line and ordered my drink.
    The smell of the red eye was perking me up as I turned to go back. For the first time I noted there were some booths on the ends of the aisles that faced the open area and was glad we weren’t stuck back here. I recognized the rack of knitted pieces in one of the spots. Maybe Adele was right about Rain Bergere just pretending she was supposed to have part of our space. This was yarn show Siberia.
    Mr. Royal was standing in the entrance to our booth when I returned. “I’m just about finished,” he said, showing off his work. I knew he wanted to get back to the bookstore. With me and Adele both gone, Mrs. Shedd was going to need his help.
    â€œYou can go now, if you want,” I said. “Adele should be back any minute.” I glanced toward the entrance to see if she was on her way in. There was no Adele, but my mouth fell open when I saw who had walked in.
    Mason Fields? Was I seeing things or was the solidly built man in the beautifully tailored gray suit really him? And if it was him, what was he doing here? I’d told him that I was tied up for the weekend with some yarn thing for the bookstore, but I hadn’t given any details. Had he somehow tracked me down? When I saw the lock of dark hair that had fallen across his forehead, I knew for sure it was him. I always thought it made him appear hardworking and earnest. He said it was just what his hair did on its own.
    It had been months since I’d seen him in person, even if we had been talking on the phone for the past couple of days. I was all set to catch his eye and then do one of those movie things, where you see each other and are drawn together like there is this giant magnet at work. In the movies it’s often in slow motion, but in real life, I thought I’d just run into his arms. But then I saw that he wasn’t alone. A tall, elegant-looking woman accompanied him.
    I felt a pang of jealousy until I got a closer look and recognized her as Audrey Stewart. She’d been the “It” girl for a while and starred in a string of romantic comedies with titles like
Love, Really?
,
Sweet Home Iowa
,
Sleepy in Cincinnati
and
You’ve Got a Tweet
. Now that I thought about it, the only thing I’d heard about her lately was that she’d gotten into some kind of trouble. It was one of those really non-news items that got stuck in with real things like a typhoon hitting India. Now I was sorry I hadn’t paid attention to the details since she was obviously the client Mason had referred to.
    It was impossible to miss K.D.’s mane of silvery hair, and I saw her come to a stop next to Mason and Audrey. Delvin had rejoined her, but it seemed K.D.’s daughter had gone off to tweet or post on Facebook by herself.
    All I could see was their body language. Mason got ready to speak to K.D. and appeared a combination of calm and friendly. But Audrey moved a little in front of him and said something first. Whatever the actress said, K.D. seemed to be annoyed and actually shook her finger at Audrey. Mason physically stepped between them and took over. Even at this distance, his effort to smooth things over was apparent. And just as apparent was that it wasn’t working.
    Thea Scott had come out into the aisle and was watching with me. “Any idea what’s going on?” I asked, noticing that the Knit Style Yarn