Page 73 of Hot to Trot

That heifer. She was feeding pie to her-

To her what? Her man? Not hardly. But it felt that way, as though Sophie had her elegant, and no doubt sanitized, hands all over Scarlet's man.

That pissed her off and hurt her like nothing else she could recall. Not even when John had tenderly, and almost gentlemanly, revealed he no longer loved her. Unfathomable to think she felt this way about Adam, but it was true.

The waves of pain were followed very swiftly by rage. She clenched her hands and shot darts of poison at Adam, who chewed slowly, then gave a sweet smile to the laughing blonde.

"Scarlet?" Kate looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

Scarlet ripped her gaze from Adam and looked at the woman sitting at her feet cradling her baby bump. "Hmm?"

Kate wrinkled her nose, probably because Scarlet's bare foot had pinned down a paper plate holding several cookies. She then turned her head in the direction Scarlet had been staring. "Oh."

Scarlet didn't bother answering. She was too busy with the tsunami of emotions washing over her.

That bastard had never looked at her that way.

Sweet. Tender. Like a suitor.

She stepped off Kate's blanket and charged toward the couple. She may have stepped on a few quilts and she was fairly certain she'd knocked a kid's iPad from his grasp, but nothing would stop her from giving Adam Hinton a piece of her mind.Nothing.A freight train. Wild horses. And any other stupid euphemism that didn't make sense in the twenty-first century.

No one.

Except John.

Her former lover stepped right in front of her. "Scarlet."

She stopped. Took one step backward. Then another.

John?

John was here in Oak Stand. Adam held Sophie's hand. People stared at her dressed like a lunatic. Her heart thudded so loud in her ears that she lifted her hands to them.

"Scarlet." John reached out a hand as if in slow motion. She looked at him. At his hand. Then she saw a swoosh of color.

Green. Blue.

Black.

ADAM HAD NOTICEDSCARLET heading his way just after he'd taken a bite of the lemon pie Sophie had made. He caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and his mind sent out a warning. Because the fireball actress looked incensed. Like pissed off, pissed on, and ready to knock his teeth out.

Part of him had been secretly pleased she was jealous. And part of him lowered his hand to protect his fellas.

But then a man had stepped in front of her, and her expression had Adam pushing the plate Sophie held aside and sliding off the car. Scarlet looked scared. Stunned. Lost.

"Scarlet!" he called, his exclamation mixing with that of the older gentleman who had also said her name.

She stepped away from the man. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she went down like a lightweight riding a knockout punch.

Someone screamed amid several shrieks of dismay. Adam ran, but the older man reached for her first.

"Move back," Adam said, pushing against the man's shoulder. But the man didn't budge. Adam shifted to her other side and crouched. She had landed in the middle of Kitty Lou Monk's floral quilt, and her face had collided with a plate of potato salad.

He rolled her over. "Scarlet?"

She didn't move.

''Let's raise her feet," he said, relieved to see her chest rising steadily. He turned to the older gentleman who clutched Scarlet's hand. "Take her feet and lift them up."

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