Moonlight Masquerade by Jude Deveraux

rich.”
    â€œDid he?” Reede pulled his shirt off but his hands got stuck in the cuffs.
    â€œHe did. He had that arrogant, bored look that comes from never having to worry about money.”
    Reede stopped pulling on his cuff and gave his attention to what Sophie was saying. “Surely not everyone who can pay his bills is arrogant.”
    â€œMaybe not,” Sophie said. “Maybe I’m generalizing based on my recent experience, but the man in the bar looked bored rich.”
    â€œÂ â€˜Bored rich,’ ” he said and couldn’t help smiling at her phrasing. He unbuttoned a cuff. “Was the man ugly?”
    â€œNo. He was actually rather handsome. Not as beautiful as Russell, but passable.”
    Reede smiled broader. “You wouldn’t like to go on a date with me, would you?”
    Sophie was glad she was on the phone so he couldn’t see her grin. After what Carter had said to her about her looks, it was nice to think a man did like her as a person. And Dr. Reede had never even seen her. That made her feel even better. “Yes,” she said, “that would be nice. When?”
    Reede took a breath. “Saturday. In costume.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWe’ll have a date in costume. For Halloween. At a house owned by a friend of mine. Eleven. We’ll have lunch.” He knew his sentences were staccato, but he was so nervous he couldn’t think clearly. “Afterward we can go to the McTern party. It’s big. In costume.”
    Sophie’s first thought was that this wasn’t possible. She didn’t have anything appropriate to wear, and she had work to do. But then she remembered that she was no longer supporting her sister and stepfather, so she could afford to have only one job.
    â€œBad idea?” he asked softly in her silence.
    â€œNo . . . I . . . I rather like it, but I don’t have a costume. Maybe Kim has one in her closet.”
    Reede let out the breath he’d been holding. “It’s all arranged. My cousin Sara will make anything you want. Any ideas on that?”
    It had been so many years since there’d been any frivolity in her life, that Sophie was having trouble adjusting to the idea. She and Carter had never gone to a party together. He’d always said it was because he hated them and just wanted to be alone with her. At the time she’d been pleased by what he’d said. Now she realized it was because he didn’t want people to see them together.
    â€œI’ll match you,” Sophie said.
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œIf you go as Edward the Seventh, I’ll go as—”
    â€œQueen Alexandra.”
    â€œAbsolutely not!” she said. “I’ll be Lillie Langtry.”
    â€œYeah?” Reede asked, smiling. “So how about Spider-Man?”
    â€œMary Jane.”
    â€œPapa Bear?”
    â€œGoldilocks for sure.”
    â€œIs she the one in the blue dress with the head-band?”
    â€œThat’s Alice in Wonderland, and you’d have to go as the Mad Hatter.”
    â€œI could do that.”
    â€œWell?” Sophie asked. “Who are you going to be?”
    â€œI think I’ll let my cousin Sara tell you. She makes costumes for all of us.” And she can tell me, he added to himself. What could he wear that would put Sophie in something red? And low cut?
    Sophie was smiling deeply for the first time in avery long while. “You have no idea what you’re going to wear, do you?”
    Reede laughed. “I am caught! None whatever. I’ve had a very busy morning and—”
    â€œDoes Sara know your sizes?”
    â€œSix one, one eighty-five,” he said. “What about you?”
    â€œFive three and you’d have to put me in a hospital before I told you how much I weigh.”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound bad. I know a place—” He stopped as he remembered the circumstances