Promises in Moonlight

Part 13

Seth spotted them immediately. His eyes scanned Amelia, surprise registered as he noted her figure. Amazing how much difference clothes made, he thought as he considered the way her lycra outfit drew attention to her lithe figure.

"Hi Amelia." He sauntered toward her. He wasn't at all surprised to see the look of bemusement on her face. She was the town's claim to fame, for she was one of those wonder children who whizzed through school. He'd known her for a short period of time, and was still trying to figure out what lay beneath that veneer of calm.

"Oh, hi." She glanced around, as if she was looking for someone, and when she spotted who she was after she turned back to face Seth and said, "Er, if you're looking for Jane, she's over there." She indicated with her head as she held onto her bike with both hands.

"I'm not. I was looking for you." Seth smiled at her, and noted the look of alarm that flitted through her eyes.

The look of absolute panic almost made him laugh.

"Me?" Amelia all but squeaked. What would this man want with her?

"Yes." He smiled and decided to let her off the hook, as he tacked on, "I thought Evangeline might be with you. She's not here yet?" He saw the relief and his smiled turned into a grin just before he decided to rattle her composure just a touch more. "Can I just say that you really do suit lycra!"

Amelia's eyebrow quirked at his blatant audacity. Was he teasing? "Thank you. I think." She muttered and frowned at him before answering his query. "Evie has gone to get me some chocolate!" Amelia admitted in a whisper before saying in a more normal tone of voice, "Jack made us empty our gear and took away all the stuff he considered surplus. Chocolate too. I can't function without my dose of chocolate." She shrugged as if rambling on was a normal course of action for her. When in reality she was usually more reticent. But she'd bought her Lycra shorts specifically to attract some attention. It was just a pity that it appeared to be attracting the wrong sort of attraction. She was not interested in Seth. Now had Jack mentioned her Lycra, that would be a whole different matter. "Evie went to replenish my stolen stock." She waited a beat before much to his surprise she asked rather bluntly, "Can I assume this sudden interest in Evie is because you are just that, interested? Do you like her?"

He grinned at her prim and loyal stance. "You know for someone with a reputation for being reserved and reticent, you are incredibly loyal and protective."

"You haven't answered my question." She reminded him pointedly. She might be reserved but she was not gullible.

"And determined." He muttered with resignation. "Yes. I'm interested. And yes, I like her." He added when she quirked a brow. He hadn't expected to have to run through a vetting process, but it would appear that Evie's friends were not simply going to allow him to pursue Evie.

"You are?" Amelia asked, in surprise. "Really?" Of course she hoped he would be, but given the way he had treated Evie in recent months suggested he was anything but interested.

Seth nodded. "Yes."

"And you do that by going out with Jane? Interesting strategy you deploy." Then much to his amazement, Amelia smiled in absolute delight. "But if you are interested in Evie, and really like her, that's great." Then she frowned, and threw all tact and diplomacy to the wind as she asked, "So what about Jane?"

"What about her?" Seth folded his arms and studied the young woman in front of him. He was starting to realise that Evie's friends were very loyal. They were also rather direct as he was about to find out.

"I thought you fancied Jane." Amelia told him and banked the additional statement, that he had poor taste because Jane was a bitch!

Seth laughed at her directness. She waited. He nearly smiled. This woman was determined and while many probably saw her as timid, it would appear that under that prim exterior was the makings of a strong woman.

"We went out, just the once." He stated flatly. He saw no point in keeping that information to himself. "Not sure why exactly I asked Jane out, but we had just one date."

"Oh, right. Ok." Amelia wasn't sure whether to believe him.

"One date was enough for me!" Seth told Amelia with a wink.

Amelia laughed instantly. In light of what she had just heard from Seth, Jane was obviously preparing a pathway toward her next target, Jack or Ben. Seth clearly had not worked out. That probably explained why Jane needed another potential mug. But even hearing Seth had no interest in Jane, did not mean that he could simply substitute one woman for another and abruptly turn his attention to Evie. "Why are you suddenly interested in Evie?"

"What's sudden about it?" He challenged. He knew that most of the town knew that his grandmother was keen to see Evie and Seth together and had tried to persuade him to make her an offer for her farm. He also knew that most of the town knew that he had declined to bail Evie's farm out of the crisis. And most assumed it was because it came with too high a price tag, taking on Evie. That announcement in the paper, followed by his one date with Jane had convinced many that Evie had overstepped the mark.

Amelia decided that as he'd taken her bluntness so well, she should simply continue in that vein. "Your grandmother was practically throwing you at each other and you've been running at the speed of light in the opposite direction."

"True." He nodded.

"Evie said you thought she was after you as a meal ticket given what's happening with the farm. She also said you were blunt! That you told her you weren't interested. In her or the farm. Now you've done an U-turn and you don't think that's sudden!"

Seth poked his tongue into his check, as he considered his options. "I kissed her." Seth announced with equal directness. After all, it looked like this woman were into being blunt. If Amelia wanted plain speaking, he could give her that. In any case he wanted know if Evie had told her friends about her feelings about the kiss.

Amelia's eyebrows shot up. "Who?" Amelia asked without thinking then her eyes widened, and she added, "Evie? You kissed Evie?"

"She clearly didn't tell you." He ran a hand through his hair, as he realised that he had probably lost a few more points with Evie because he was speaking out of turn, "Shit! I'm saying no more." He muttered to himself and glanced around, wondering whether there was any chance of rectifying the situation before Evie returned.

"You kissed her!" Amelia grinned in utter satisfaction. Then she became a touch more nosey as she pried, "Just the once?" Evie hadn't mentioned anything about a kiss. Wait till Ella heard about this, Amelia banked her smile.