The Best Man

by Carol Hutchens

  Except, Luke said he wanted to save the firm. And why not? He had invested sweat equity in the firm just as her father had. Her first week on the job had revealed Luke’s dedication. Could she just turn her back on his efforts and walk away? Luke had offered the only kindness she’d received when she first joined the firm. Her father had been his distant self. Laurel had reflected his coldness until she and Kate gotten better acquainted.

  Could she stand by Luke, now, when he needed her? Did she dare go back to the firm and risk being back in Joel’s influence? Still...if she walked away, what did that say about her? Didn’t that make her just as cold-hearted as her father?

  But she had to take care of herself. Guard her safety. She’d learned she couldn’t depend on others. Even her own husband.

  “Does he,” Kate cleared the hoarse note from her throat, “does Joel have a buyer?”

  “Not one willing to keep the firm’s name intact.”

  Feeling chilled and face burning at the same time, Kate frowned. “Why buy an existing firm, anyway? Why not just start a firm of their own?”

  Air spewed from Luke’s lips as his gaze skimmed over the way she clutched her arms around her middle. “They’re after the client base.”

  Kate jerked her attention away from the shape of Luke’s lips and focused on the signs of frustration written on his face. Reluctance at telling him of her intention to leave the firm grew to the size of a boulder in her chest. Now was not the time to tell him she wanted a new life.

  Even with her new goal fresh in her mind, she knew she couldn’t turn her back and oppose Luke’s wishes. It wasn’t right. From day one, he offered friendship and support in her efforts to win her father’s approval. “But clients have a choice. They could leave if another lawyer takes over the firm.”

  “True,” Luke shrugged, “but it’s worth the risk for the buyer. That’s why I bought in with your father. Why Joel…”

  “You can say it, Luke. I figured out the truth. It’s why Joel married the senior partner’s daughter.”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “You don’t have to. Joel fooled me for a while, but I’ve had time to think since the tsunami. I worked things out.”

  “Kate, I—”

  “That’s why I decided I would leave the firm if I ever got home alive.”

  “You can’t,” Luke lowered his voice. “Not now. The firm is your inheritance from your father.” Luke frowned. “You need to protect the effort he put into his life’s work.”

  “Why?” Kate cleared her throat, hating that she felt like a spoiled child when Luke mentioned her father’s firm. “He chose his career and the firm over his family.”

  “That’s what men do, Kate.”

  His tone said, face it and grow up. But Kate saw the compassion and the shadows darkening his eyes. “Is that what your father did, Luke? Is that why you understand of my father’s choices? Well, it isn’t easy growing up without a father.”

  “I know that.” Luke ran a hand through his hair. His gaze darted away from her for long seconds. Then he squared his shoulders and blew out a long breath. “I grew up without a father figure just like you did, Kate.”

  “Luke, I’m—”

  “Except, my father lived in the same house with us, but he was never home. Never showed interest in what my mom and I were doing.” He shrugged. “He spent more time with his other women than he did under his own roof.”

  It was the first time he’d ever mentioned his home life to Kate, and she was startled by what he’d revealed. How it tainted her view of their past friendship. Could it be that Luke hadn’t befriended her because he like her, but because he felt sorry for her? Had her need for her father’s approval struck a note with him?

  She’d thought she and Luke were kindred spirits. Turns out they had more in common than she’d known. But she wanted Luke’s respect, for her skill as an attorney and her choices. She did not want his pity.

  This changed everything. Why show allegiance to the man who befriended her because he felt sorry for her? “What happens to you if Joel sells the firm?”

  “He can’t sell. Now that you’re home, his hands are tied.” A frown wrinkled Luke’s brow as he studied her expression. “Unless...you agree with his decision to sell.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. What happens to you if the firm is sold?”

  “This isn’t about me, Kate. This is about saving your father’s dream, his life’s work.”

  Kate wrapped her arms around her middle. Since her father had chosen to make Joel a partner, instead of her, she could care less about his legacy. All she had ever wanted was his love.

  Then, just when she thought she’d earned his respect, if not his love, he had passed her over and given the partnership to Joel. His rejection, and intentional infliction of pain, had hurt more because Joel used her to gain her father’s favor. “Level with me, Luke.”

  Luke rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. “My future depends on the deal Joel works out. I might be offered a position with the new management, or I might choose to relocate and start over.”

  “But you like Raleigh. You’ve always said the museums and social life around the university made Raleigh the perfect place to live.”

  Luke shrugged. “I don’t want to sell for obvious reasons. I worked hard to earn your father’s trust before he offered me a chance to buy into the firm. If I’m honest, I admit I don’t want to lose all that effort.”

  “So…you’re against selling out for a big bundle of cash?”

  “Aren’t you?” Luke’s brow wrinkled as he studied her. “Your father devoted his career to building that firm. He left his share to you. Do you want to see his name erased by new ownership?”

  Kate jumped to her feet and paced in front of the large window looking over Raleigh’s skyline. Something about this apartment, the sleek setting hinting at party lifestyle, didn’t ring true anymore than her reaction to Luke’s words.

  All she’d ever had of her father was his last name. What good was a name without the family connections associated with it? Without love? She stared out at the sparkling lights of the city and cleared her throat. Her decision, the words she was about to speak, could change Luke’s life as much as her own. She glanced at him over her shoulder.

  “I came home with one goal in mind, Luke. I want to start over.”

  Long moments of silence followed. Luke’s gaze bored into her, looked deep into her soul as if he were reading her mind. Finally, he spoke in a strong steady voice. “Then that’s what you should do, Kate.”

  Kate’s shoulders slumped. She’d expected a battle. Expected Luke to put forth an argument listing all the reasons she should stay with the firm. Instead, he was telling her to go. Agree to sell. Was he so eager to get rid of her? As eager as Joel had been?

  “But that means Joel wins again.” Kate leaned her shoulder against the glass as she studied Luke. “He’ll destroy everything you and my father worked for, and fill his pockets.”

  “I opposed the deal because you weren’t here to voice your opinion, Kate. I wanted to protect your inheritance. Now, you’re home, it’s your decision to make. Don’t concern yourself about me.”

  “So, there’s nothing wrong at the firm?” Kate settled back on the sofa and picked up the food container.

  “Why do you ask?” Surprise and something like relief chased across Luke’s face. “We have more cases than we can handle.”

  “I just wondered, I mean…my father’s death could cause us to lose clients.” She stabbed at the noodles with her chopsticks and tried to think of how to phrase her next words. “When I went missing…Joel could have been so messed up that you didn’t have enough help.”

  “It was nothing like that.” Luke’s shoulders slumped against the back of the sofa. Kate looked so serious with her eyes framed by the new short haircut. How could he explain and not hurt her? How could he reassure her, and not reveal that her husband had been remarkably calm after he ret
urned from the disaster?

  “Joel…buried himself in work after he returned home.” Working long hours with his secretary at his side to offer comfort, but Luke wasn’t about to tell Kate that. “It seemed to help him adjust.” Right. The SOB had wasted no time moving into his secretary’s bed.

  Kate sent him a pensive look. “It’s just...things don’t feel right. I seem to remember you collected abstract art.” She flung a hand to indicate the blank walls in the living room. “I haven’t seen one painting in this apartment.”

  Heat crawled up Luke’s neck and filled his face with color. He wracked his brain for an answer that would satisfy her curiosity and not be a lie. He never intended to mislead Kate again. He had done so once, by keeping his mouth shut and not revealing his feelings for her. Never again. Still, he didn’t want her to feel guilty. Didn’t want to scare her way with the intensity of his feelings.

  If he had loved her enough when Joel appeared, if...

  “I collected art for a while.” Luke looked around at walls as stark as the day he moved in this apartment. “By the time I was ready to move, none of that stuff appealed to me enough to go through the headache of packing it up to relocate.” Don’t ask when I moved…or why! Don’t poke around in my private life and uncover my weak spot.

  Kate’s brow arched. A grin pulled at one corner of her mouth. “If you didn’t sell your collection because you needed money for the firm, then it sounds like woman trouble to me.”

  “Oh?” A single choked sound…maybe a chuckle, burst from his lips. “You think?” Luke studied the room with a frown, hoping she would never suspect how close she’d hit home. His glance settled on the shopping bag. “Don’t forget your new clothes. I picked up a few things so you could change. Why don’t you grab a shower and wash the jetlag away?”

  Face turning the color of old paste, Kate got to her feet. Great, he’d reminded her how little her callous husband had cared for her. Luke stifled the urge rush over, pull her in his arms, and promise never to let her go. But he didn’t have the right. Their past friendship extended only so far.

  He’d pushed the boundaries by bringing her to his apartment. Had risked revealing his deepest secret. It had been close. Kate had spotted the blank walls, remembered his paintings, but he would not make her feel responsible for his choices.

  He would not expose his deepest feelings for her and add to her burdens. Besides, Kate wasn’t asking for someone to lean on. The thing he’d noticed most about her, after the shock of her appearance, was her self-reliance. They were equals. Partners in a law firm.

  “Keep a tally of what I owe you, okay?” Kate reached for the bag and pulled out a handful of items, in vibrant colors. A pair of denim Capri's caught her eye. Holding them up, seeing the slender legs, she tossed him a grin. “Not exactly office attire.”

  Luke made a face and hid deeper emotions with a shrug. “I thought you should pick out the important stuff. This will get you by for a couple a days. Besides, you’re a partner in the firm. You can wear what you want to the office.”

  Kate blinked, determined not to react to the unknown quality in his voice. Her goal to reclaim her life had run into problems. How was she supposed to support herself if she pulled out of the firm and insisted on starting over? What was she going to do if she didn’t practice law? As long as she could remember, since she was ten and learned her father was an attorney, she had wanted to practice law. Years of study and hard work had not changed her mind.

  Lowering her glance to the scraps of color still in the bag, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. Reaching into the plastic bag, she pulled out a handful of bikini panties and waved them in front of her face to cool the heat pooling there. “You thought of everything I see.”

  Luke pretended to frown. “You think a bachelor doesn’t know his way around women’s clothing?”

  They laughed, but tension hung in the air as their eyes met and clung for long seconds. The moment brought back memory of the fun she and Luke had shared before Joel appeared in their lives.

  Kate hugged the clothes to her chest. “Thanks, Luke.” She meant the words to cover more than the scraps of clothing, but she wasn’t sure she could explain what she was feeling without revealing her innermost thoughts to him.

  Everything had happened so fast. It was too soon to start something new.

  She had just learned she was...almost...a divorced woman. Admitting to herself that her love for her husband had slowly disappeared before the disaster, was easy. Returning home, facing public opinion was proving harder than she expected. The guests at the church reacted as if she’d made a choice to remain on the island. Their speculative glances implied she had somehow wounded Joel, not the other way around.

  But she had to let it go. Had to forget Joel had left her for dead. Had never loved her. If she didn’t, anger would eat her alive. She’d returned for the dead once, but she wasn’t sure she had the strength to live through that again. She settled for an attempted grin. “Thanks for the clothes. You’re a good friend, Luke.”

  “It was my pleasure.” Luke heard the words echo around the room and fought to pull his emotions back in control. If he didn’t, he would end up telling Kate how much he’d missed her. That would be a mistake. Grabbing the empty food containers to keep from reaching for Kate, he nodded toward the hall. “Guest room is on the right. Make yourself at home.”

  He took his time clearing away the evidence of their meal then approached the guestroom door. When he heard the distant sound of the shower running, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and headed back to the kitchen.

  ***

  Kate stood under the spray of hot water pouring over her head and sighed at the luxury of the shower. Of all the modern conveniences she had missed, the shower topped the list.

  She was home now and safe. Readjusting should be easy after months away. But everything about her life had changed. Joel deserted her, had her declared dead, and tried to divorce her. Her father died, leaving her his share of the law firm. She stared at the soap bubbles in her hands, recalling her conversation with Luke.

  Joel wanted to sell her father’s law firm.

  Odd that the idea left her feeling so unsettled, since leaving the firm had been part of her plan to starting over. Cutting all connections to her father’s rejection and Joel’s, had made sense when she’d been on an island half-way around the world.

  But Luke’s comment about trying to protect her inheritance had caught her attention.

  All this time she’d looked at the firm as the thing that detracted her father’s attention from his family. But she was wiser, now. After all the soul searching she’d done on the island while she waited for transportation home, she realized the law firm wasn’t to blame. Her father could have spent time with her during her childhood, if he had cared.

  If he had cared.

  That one thought held her emotions in a grip.

  Luke cared. He’d tried to save her inheritance. Tried to protect what her father worked hard to build. Oh sure, Luke had invested time in the firm, too, but with his experience, he could work for any law firm in the city. Any firm in the state, for that matter, even her father had respected Luke’s accomplishments in the courtroom.

  Could she walk away, allowing Luke’s efforts to go for nothing, just because she wanted to get away from Joel? Was the need to start over worth throwing away time and effort Luke and her father had invested in the firm?

  Then the truth hit her.

  Selling the law firm wouldn’t bring her relief. Destroying the efforts made to build the firm’s success would prove her unworthy, just as her father’s lack of interest had made her feel undeserving.

  The only way to prove him wrong, to make her feel worthy, was to stay and make a success of the firm, despite her father’s death.

  ***

  Luke stopped punching in the number and stared down at the phone. Torn by the confusion clouding Kate’s brown eyes as they had talked, Luke’s first instinct w
as to turn away. He’d survived by protecting himself from emotional entanglement.

  But this was Kate. The Kate he’d never expected to see again. Not just a new partner in the law firm, either. Kate was the woman holding his heart in her hands, even if she didn’t know it. Anything that happened to Kate, affected him. He felt connected to her.

  Besides, he had never run from anything his entire life. Running was easy. Facing his father’s disapproval had taken strength.

  Luke called on that force inside him now. Kate needed him, not her father or Joel, but Luke. He was the only one who could help her with issues at the firm. Having her back in his life, and alive, meant her needs came first, before his career, before his emotional safety.

  Kate!

  Her safe return was all that he had wished and prayed for, but now their troubles really began. While she had been missing, he’d made allowances for Joel because he’d thought Kate cared for the man she married. But now that she back home, she seemed relieved at their parting, and Luke intended to take action.

  Reaching the kitchen, he punched the in the last number and got an answer on the first ring.

  “Where did you take her?” Joel demanded.

  Luke ignored the question. “We have to talk.”

  “Where are you? Where’s Kate?”

  Luke tightened his grip on the phone. “That doesn’t matter. You need to get moving and make sure your actions haven’t put any kinks in Kate’s life.”

  “Are you crazy? You don’t know what it’s like over here—”

  Luke clenched his fingers around the phone. “I don’t care what you’re dealing with, get to work. You need to file all legal documents by first thing Monday morning.”

  “But Laurel—”

  “Joel! You’re not listening. Laurel won’t have a life. You won’t have a life, and neither will Kate, until you straighten out the mess you created.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Forget it, Joel. It’s time you stepped up and did the right thing for once.”