Moonlight Masquerade by Jude Deveraux

isn’t it? It used to be the sheriff’s apartment. His office is next door and the apartment is above both of them.”
    â€œWhere did this furniture come from?”
    â€œGrandma’s attic.”
    â€œThat was my guess. Kim, I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but what am I supposed to do here?”
    â€œMake him stay.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œReede agreed to stay in Edilean for three years while the original doctor, Dr. Tris, works in New York to be near Jecca.”
    â€œThe other doctor is who Jecca married? This Dr. Tris?”
    â€œSorry. I keep thinking you know everything that’s happened. Yes, Jecca married Dr. Tris, but then she got a job in New York and Tris went there to be with her. But that left Edilean without a doctor. When he gets back in about two and a half years, my brother is going to hit the road again. Until then he’s staying in that hideous apartment.”
    Sophie tried to digest this news and her heart went out to Dr. Reede. How many men would do such a noble thing? “Isn’t there a house he can rent here in Edilean?”
    â€œThe man hardly has time to sleep, much less to go looking for a place to live. Sophie?”
    â€œYes,” she said.
    â€œMy brother is miserable. He took a job he didn’t want and got stuck with it for years. I’d appreciate anything you can do to make his life more comfortable. And you have carte blanche to do whatever you want to that horrible apartment.”
    â€œI don’t know . . . ” Sophie said as she looked around the place. “I’m not sure . . . ”
    â€œYou can do it,” Kim said and began a pep talk.
    Sophie had to smile. Kim was a doer, a go-getter. Tell her something was impossible and she went after it. Right now she seemed to believe that Sophie’s problemwas a lack of belief in herself. That was far from the truth. Sophie was tempted to interrupt Kim’s little speech by saying “I’m just concerned that the FBI might be after me,” but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “You’re saying I should be a cleaning woman, a secretary, a cook, and an interior decorator. It sounds like a wife. Tell me, is sex included in this job?”
    Sophie meant it as a joke, but Kim didn’t miss a beat. “I would imagine that some all-night, mind-blowing sex would cheer both of you up. It’s done wonders for me. Speaking of which, Travis is pointing at his watch. I have to go. Oh, and Sophie, help yourself to my clothes. After all I’ve bought on this trip, I’m going to need the closet space.” With that, she hung up, and Sophie stood there, staring at her phone.
    â€œÂ â€˜All-night, mind-blowing sex,’ ” she said aloud, and that made her think of Carter. Kim knew nothing about what Sophie had been through since they graduated. For that matter, she and Jecca didn’t know the truth about Sophie’s life before college.
    She set the phone on the kitchen counter and looked around. The women had said Dr. Reede wouldn’t be home until this evening, and Kim had asked Sophie to make him stay. Maybe she only had this day before she was found and had to face the consequences of what she’d done, so she was going to use the time to the best of her ability.
    She went downstairs and asked if she made a list of things she needed, could someone get everything for her. The three women nearly fell over themselves saying yes. “Including my things from inside my junked car?” Sophie asked. She looked at Heather as she saidthis, and the young woman’s face turned red. Sophie had an idea her car wasn’t as bad as she’d been told, but then, it looked as though the women wanted her to help their beloved Dr. Reede. And why not? He was an overworked doctor who thought of other people before himself. He should have the best.
    With that thought in mind, she went back