Read Online Secret Nights at Nine Oaks by Amy J. Fetzer - Free Book Online Page B

that much?”
    His head snapped up, his gaze sharp and suddenly icy.
    â€œYour wife, Lily. She must have been a wonderful person.”
    â€œIs that what you think? That I’m mourning her?” Oh for pity sake, Cain thought. The rest of the world thought that, but he didn’t want Phoebe believing the lie. Yet he wouldn’t tell her the truth, either.
    â€œWell, yes…no, I mean, my mind doesn’t sit still so I can think of all sorts of reasons, but Suzannah believes—”
    â€œSuzannah hasn’t a clue.”
    â€œBecause you won’t confide in her.”
    â€œShe doesn’t need to know and neither do you.”
    She reared back for a second, hurt by the razor bite in his tone. For a moment, he looked so torturedand ashamed that she knew she had to be misreading the look.
    â€œCain? Look at me.”
    He didn’t, closing jars and wrapping food instead. “Don’t think I’m so noble, Phoebe. You’ll be sorely disappointed.”
    He strode out abruptly, leaving her feeling suddenly cold and unprotected. She stared at the empty doorway for a moment, then finished cleaning up the mess. She stopped to eat the untouched half of his sandwich and as she munched, one thing stuck in her thoughts: he wasn’t mourning Lily. So why on earth was he torturing himself with hiding away here?
    Â 
    â€œDon’t look at me like that, Benson,” Phoebe said. “He’ll do it.”
    Benson’s stoic expression spoke his doubt. “I wish only to spare you heartache, Miss Phoebe.” The butler handed her the picnic basket and draped the blanket over her arm. “He will not join you.”
    â€œDoesn’t hurt to try, does it?”
    Phoebe understood his concern and she was touched, since a wiser, more sensible part of herself agreed with him, and warned her to leave Cain alone, mind her own business and enjoy the estate.
    Yet another part of her ached for the man he’d become. The one she saw last night. Gone were theeasy smiles, the charm from years ago. Though his mere presence still set her heart pounding and her body—well…on fire, it was her soul that cried for him.
    Like I’ve known him for centuries, she thought again.
    She ignored the fact that by focusing on him she didn’t have time to think about Kreeg and his band of lawyers and what else she’d lose. Those problems seemed so trivial right now. The wiser part of her lost. Easily.
    It was her nature to interfere.
    Especially when Benson told her that although they’d argued, Cain waited for her in the dining room to join her for dinner. As far as she was concerned, she owed him a meal.
    She walked briskly out the front door, then around the west wing toward the veranda outside the library. The best way to get him to come with her would be to coax him out on this beautiful day. Which he could see from his cave.
    Tempt him with food, she thought, and rapped on the glass door, waiting, her stomach in knots.
    Cain left his chair, frowning and wondering who the hell was disturbing him from the patio. When he flung open the door, he was struck first by how beautiful she was in the afternoon light, the sun gleaming off her hair blowing in the breeze, the bright smile she offered despite how he’d snapped at her last night. When he finally dragged his gaze from her compact body in shorts and a simple T-shirt, and those incredible legs, he saw the basket on her arm.
    â€œNo.”
    Her smile melted, and he hated himself for it.
    â€œBut you haven’t heard my proposition.”
    â€œIt’s rather obvious, Phoebe.”
    â€œAren’t you hungry? Wouldn’t you like a break from that dark dismal room with all those computers and phone calls and people bugging you?”
    â€œDoes that include you?”
    â€œOf course not,” she said with an easy smile. If she had to use force, she would, and she grabbed his arm, pulling him toward