* * *
After giving Rachel a few days to get settled in, Lucas arrived at his stepdad’s company. Rachel wasn’t at her desk when he went into Joseph’s office.
“It’s about time you showed up here,” his dad said.
Lucas shut the door and went to the chair before the big desk.
“When are you going to tell Rachel the truth?” his stepdad asked.
“When I’m sure she had nothing to do with Luella’s murder.”
“She isn’t the type of woman to do that. Marcy just told me all about her. Apparently, they’ve been getting close through her training. Did you know her parents died when she was thirteen?”
“Rachel’s?” She hadn’t mentioned it, but then, they didn’t know each other yet. And she kept her distance from him.
“Ran away from two foster homes. Arrested for theft.”
She sounded like a perfect suspect. “And you want me to tell her who I am?”
“She stole food and money. She lost her parents. She was going through a rough time. She’s a sweet girl, Lucas.”
He couldn’t believe it. His stepdad had fallen for Rachel.
“She just might be good for you.”
“I barely know her. And you don’t, either.” It hadn’t even been a week, and Joseph had him seeing Rachel romantically.
“She got her GED at twenty, and now she’s going to graduate with a business degree. She’s turned her life around. You should tell her before it’s too late. You should have never lied in the first place.”
“I want her to talk about her relationship with Jared.”
“Well, hurry up and do it. I don’t like being part of this deception.”
All right. Lucas would step up the pace, turn on the heat a little more—seductive heat. With Rachel, that would be easy.
* * *
Rachel looked up as she heard Joseph’s office door open, startled to see Luke appear. She hadn’t seen him come in. She shouldn’t be surprised to see him. He and Joseph were friends.
“Rachel,” he said with a disarming smile.
She prepared herself to be wooed. “Hello.”
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
For a moment he tempted her. But something about him still kept her wary. “I have to study.”
“I’ve given you a few days. Now it’s time for you to thank me for getting you this job.”
“Thank you for getting me this job.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Behind him, Joseph stood in the doorway. “Go on, Rachel, he doesn’t bite.”
She caught the wily way Luke glanced at him and wondered what the exchange meant. Well, she had an opportunity to ask him, get him to open up.
“All right. Dinner.” She reached for her purse.
“I’ll have a car brought around,” Joseph said.
While Rachel wondered why he went out of his way to accommodate, Luke extended his hand to her.
She stood without taking it. “Slow down, fancy man.”
Joseph had a limo waiting for them by the time they made it down to the lobby. Her suspicion grew.
“What did the two of you talk about?” she asked.
The driver opened the door and she got in, Luke behind her.
“You,” he surprised her by saying.
“Me?”
“He told me about your parents.”
Not expecting that, Rachel faced forward.
“I’m sorry. That must have been rough on you.”
Rough. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to not having them around, or the sudden way they had been ripped out of her life. All through junior high and high school, she’d felt so different from everyone else. No one understood her loss. Other kids had parents who picked them up and took them to activities and showed up for events at school. Not her. She had to take care of herself. As an only child, she’d been close to both her parents.
“They were a lot of fun to be with,” she said.
“Any kid would have rebelled. I hope you don’t regret what you did.”
She didn’t respond for a while. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to Marcy.” She’d been so easy to talk to, though, once she realized she had nothing to fear from her.
“You straightened your life out.”
She breathed out a scoff.
“You’re not in jail.”
No. Not in jail. She’d been close to crossing a bad line.
“What changed it for you?” Luke asked.
She found the question awfully insightful for a man who knew so little about her. He and Joseph must have really had a talk about her. He got her thinking about that. The only thing she hadn’t told Marcy was about Jared. The juvenile record must have come up in her background check through the hiring process.
“After my third arrest, the judge made me go to counseling and said if I didn’t go he’d keep me in jail. The counselor helped me. He talked to me about my parents and reached me. He asked what my parents would think of the way I was behaving.” That still had the power to choke her up. Such a simple thing to ask, and yet such a profound impact on her. “They would have been upset. Disappointed. Unhappy. I didn’t want to do anything that would make my parents unhappy. It took me a few years to figure out what to do. I worked a job or two but stayed at my third foster home until I got my GED and saved enough money to get a place of my own.”
“So it was the counselor who changed it for you?”
She hadn’t thought about the path in her life like this before, that there had been some exterior trigger that had steered her in the right direction. But it hadn’t been the counselor. He’d helped her emotionally.
“No,” she said. “It was the job I got at an insurance company, my first real job. I made good money for someone who had a juvie record. I felt really lucky.” And then she’d discovered something about the company that had ruined it all. As her thoughts ran into everything that had followed, she didn’t feel like talking anymore.
“What company?”
The limo had stopped in front of the restaurant.
“We’re here,” she said, and got out before the driver could open her door.
Stepping up to the entrance, she endured Luke’s curious glances. He’d noticed her unwillingness to talk further about her one and only good job. She stole a closer look at him. He met her gaze and in the brief moment, they connected, enough for her to see suspicion...or maybe disappointment.
* * *
Lucas rode in the back of the limo with Rachel, neither of them saying anything since leaving the restaurant. He’d tried to get her to talk about her job at the insurance company over dinner, but she’d fielded his questions—or more like blatantly changed the subject. She handled herself professionally, graciously countering his attempts with questions of her own.
How did your friend get his business going?
How long have you known Joseph?
Have you ever worked