“I’m just me.” She scowled now. “Not rich or pretentious.”
“You’re wrong about the rich part.”
“Don’t be silly. I had to swap out euro for dollars in your wallet. Thanks, by the way. I’ve got to get to a bank and exchange my money.”
Wiping his mouth and hands on a napkin, Logan reached in his back pocket. “How much do you have? I’m going tomorrow, so I can take care of it for you.”
“Really?” She fished through her tote and found the leather money pouch she’d made in Italy and extracted a few bills.
“Count for me again. I’m not good with the exchange rate.” He opened his wallet, revealing rows of bills.
Leaning over, Rach flipped through some, pulled out a few, and then handed over hers. “Not down to the penny, but fair enough. Thanks. This is all I have to my name before I get paid from King’s.”
“Funny!”
“It’s true. Look, I had a few months in Florence, Milan, Venice, Rome, and lots of others in between. I did not budget well there.” She lifted a shoulder. “But going to the village and working with the craftsmen and raw materials in the end made every experience well worth the trip.”
“Rach, you’re serious? You don’t know?” Something grabbed him in his throat, fierce and choking.
She pointed to his plate and the last slider. “You going to eat that?”
Shaking his head, he said, “Your trust fund?”
“Nice in theory. Never happened.”
Shock raced through him. Numb, he stared at her. “Tell me you’re joking.” He swore his heart stopped and then hammered in his chest.
“Look, the intentions were good, but the finances weren’t. Grammy needed the funds for Darling Enterprises. There was nothing to spare.”
He’d kept so much from her, but not this. Why hadn’t he checked into this before now? Why hadn’t it even crossed his mind? There was nothing in the papers her grandmother gave him. “Rach, I know there was.”
Her moans as she ate the slider stopped abruptly. “Huh? You? Why? Nothing makes sense.”
“My grandfather made sure of it.”
As frowns go, the one she gave him seemed especially dark and stormy.
“After our folks and your grandfather died in the accident, everyone was a wreck. Grandpa had to take over the mess, sort through things, pay the creditors, sift through the assets and liabilities, expenses.” He grabbed for his beer and gulped half of it down.
“Your grandpa was good to us. He gave Grammy the seed money for Darling Enterprises. He knew she couldn’t get a nine-to-five and make a decent living while raising me. You remind me of him.” The last came out soft and tender.
It tugged at his heart. If he could be half the man his grandfather had been, Logan would be honored. Now, it nagged at him for what he was doing. “Thanks. But, Rach, you have to know, he took care of you, too. He set up that trust fund.”
“Maybe he meant to…” She trailed off.
“He did.” It came out strong and vibrated between them.
One of the teams must have scored; the cheers on the TV blared and some of the patrons seated at tables behind them added theirs. But Rach froze, gripping the edge of the bar, her knuckles turning white.
Reaching over, he covered her hand until she finally relaxed enough to stop scaring him. “He was hell-bent on making certain you and I wouldn’t suffer any more if anything happened to the rest of the adults. And rightly so; he only lasted a few more years after them. His heart couldn’t withstand that constant pain.”
“It felt like our world crashed in on us again, didn’t it? I mean, yours was worse.”
“I know.” A fresh wave of that pain washed over him now and he barely had time to catch his breath.
She gasped. “Logan, has everything been put in storage at my grandmother’s?”
“The big furniture, of course.” It was his turn to frown. “Paperwork boxed and stored. Why?”
“Maybe not all of it. Take me there.”
***
“I thought you could drive?” He led her down the walkway to the mansion.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve been behind the wheel of an actual car. Bikes, as in bicycles, and scooters have been my means of transportation for a while. Hey, and don’t blame me for braking too hard back there—you decided to have that beer tonight.”
He groaned. “This sounds like the first driving lesson I ever gave you.”
Rach giggled, looking up and noticing the tiny white scar near his hairline. “You forgot to put on your seat belt. And that furry thing ran out in front of us.”
Rubbing that spot now, he chuckled. “You are a very dangerous woman.”
“One time.”
“What about all the others you can add to it?” He waited until she opened the big front door with her key. “Kick ball means you hit the ball, not my shin.”
“Oops! I missed.”
“The key?”
“No, I was remembering the time my foot skidded over the surface and I, ah, hit the wrong ball.” She covered her mouth and chuckled.
Logan groaned at the memory and the pain. “No one ever said you had the best aim. Hopefully, there will be no residual effects.”
“As in?”
“Fathering children.” He shot her a grin and turned the doorknob, shoving the door open.
Her gaze darted to the front of his jeans and back up again. “Kids? You want some of them?”
“Why not? With the right woman, of course.”
Did he have someone in mind? This was the first she’d heard about it. Love and anything lasting wasn’t in the cards for him. Or so he’d told her time and time again. And was the woman just a baby factory or a more permanent fixture in his life? Note to self: he didn’t say wife.
“As the saying goes, whatever floats your boat.” Turning away, she stomped into the house, flicking on the light switch near the door along the way. Going from dark to bright nearly blinded her. But the tarps, paint buckets, and equipment scattered in the grand foyer pulled her up short.
“Looks worse instead of better,” Logan murmured.
With her heart hurting from the disarray and the troubling thoughts about Logan with his baby mama, Rach forced her leaden feet to her grandmother’s office slash library. The big oak desk was now covered and not another object of hers was in sight among the empty bookshelves and painting gear. “Desk all cleaned out?”
“I did it myself and had the personal boxes sent to storage and business related documents to the company office. Rach, it was never in this room.”
She twirled around, facing him in the doorway. “There’s one other place.”
Shaking his head, he frowned. “Where? Did I miss something?”
Before she answered, she rushed out of the room, brushing by him and feeling his heat. She bit back on a moan and made her way to the stairway, and then raced up the stairs with Logan on her heels.
She glimpsed the wide open doors of the empty, hollow rooms lining the hallway as she marched by, another death knell sounding in her head as the discovery sank in. Her home was no longer. A breath hitched in her throat when she came upon her old room, her steps faltering as she peeked in to find it cold, bare, and with an ugly gray primer covering the walls.
“Hey, you all right?” Logan asked, coming up behind her.
“No,” she whispered, gazing up and finding his gorgeous eyes filled with concern for her. In that moment, she realized her life was never going to be the same ever again. You couldn’t undo this back to a home. And you couldn’t undo your heart from loving someone. Logan!
He brushed back some hair from her cheek, grazing the backs of his fingers along her skin. It was so gentle, so unlike him that she wanted to cry.
Reaching up, she tugged his hand down, but he held hers.
“Nothing’s left here. We should go.”
Rach sucked in a shaky breath and wondered if he was talking about them. Nothing of who they were
to one another was left. Except memories. They’d changed and grown up. It was time to move on. An ache crashed over her. How was she going to live without him in her life? “Big girl panty time,” she murmured, fighting back a few tears.
“Your grandmother’s?” He shivered in disgust.
She swatted him away and walked backward down the hall. “Time to face the music, my friend.” The last she choked out before she turned to enter her grandmother’s room.
It seemed as lonely and lost as the others, stripped bare and with that sickening primer covering the walls and ceiling, and spattered painter cloths and tape over the windows. Rach shoved that image aside and marched to the cavernous walk-in closet.
“Some families could live in this space alone,” she muttered, the words bouncing off the walls and all around her.
“Maybe even two,” Logan said, chuckling.
Ah, that sound, delicious and wicked at the same time, sent tingles along her spine. Her face warmed and her toes curled.
“It’s empty.”
Turning halfway, she stuck a thumb over her shoulder. “The hidden safe.”
His eyes opened wide. “She never told me.”
“Some things, Logan Wolfe, a gal just has to keep secret.” Like my heart from you.
“And someday I’m going to get you to fess up about yours.” His teasing tone turned serious.
“Fat chance!” she murmured, but her words carried.
He chuckled again and it wrapped around her and through her. Her knees could hardly hold her up as she took the last few steps to the back wall.
Rach felt along the bottom of what looked like a part of the wall design with slim wooden pieces, almost like ornamental frames lined side by side and painted to blend with the wall color, and found the latch. It sprung open easily, the hidden door revealing itself.
“I never knew that was there.” Awe laced his words. He stood behind her now and his body heat enveloped her.
“You do now,” she teased, slowly stepping back as she pulled the shoulder- high cupboard door with her. The black safe sat there with its gold dial staring back. She gulped hard. With shaky fingers, she twisted the disc to the first number, then twirled it back to the second, and then finally to the last one. Reaching out, she yanked down on the handle. It clicked loudly in the hushed room.
“Bingo,” Logan said.
Beads of perspiration dotted her forehead as she opened the heavy steel door. Black nothingness glared back.
“It’s empty.” His voice rushed out like he’d been holding his breath.
“Maybe not,” she whispered, feeling for the light. She flicked it on and it was two large feet of bare. “She moved her jewels before she left.”
“Into a safety deposit box.”
Rach nodded curtly. “Makes sense.” Pulling back, she went to drown the light, but she began to look at the safe, sizing it. “The measurements don’t add up.” She pointed out the and flaw: big safe but not as much space inside it.
“The company made it that way?” He shrugged, standing so close to her she could smell that intoxicating cologne of his. Or was that just him?
Part dizziness from his drugging scent and part preservation, Rach stepped closer to the safe and away from him. Dropping her tote by her feet, she reached in the cavernous opening with both hands, feeling along the metal bottom and walls. “Nothing! Dang! Pick me up.”
“What?”
“Just lift me a little higher.” Her fingertips grazed the back wall.
His strong hands and long fingers wrapped around her middle. She sucked in a sharp breath. “You asked for it.” He gripped her there and lifted her off her feet.
“Have you been working out?” It was lame, but the only thing that came to mind at the moment.
“Stop wiggling,” he bit out as she slipped. The edge of his fingers brushed the underside of her breasts. “Any higher and you’ll have me arrested.”
Would that be such a bad thing? The feeling part, that is. The heat from his big hands warmed her in more places than he was actually touching. “Just a few more inches,” she said.
“Are you talking dirty to me?”
Now, her face flamed. Thank goodness he couldn’t see. “Leverage, Logan.”
“Okay, if you say so.” He shifted, pressing his hips and pelvis firmly in her behind while gripping her tighter.
“What!” He was solid and firm and growing. “Oh my God!”
“Hurry up,” he bit out.
“But…you’re…”
“Impatient? Yes. Aroused? Definitely. Any more questions?”
“Uh…” A dozen questions popped into her head. The pulsing going on against her backside scattered them into the wind.
“Finish this, Rach.”
Shaking her head, she tried to concentrate. With her fingertips, she felt along the back. Nothing! A vague memory of watching her grandmother stow away her things after a long day hinted at something more. A flash of something. “There’s got to be...”
“Why don’t I let you down and I’ll have a look?” Logan asked between gritted teeth.
“I don’t like giving up, you know that. One more try…”
He groaned.
Was it because of her persistence or the awkward position they were in?
With both hands, she retraced every part of that safe, every nook and cranny, and she was about to throw in the towel when she brushed against something round in the steel. “Ow! There’s…” She moved it, like a tiny gear, and a small compartment in the back snapped open. “Hey, there is a hidden compartment.”
“Well, look, already, will you? You’re killing me.”
“If you’re trying to tell me I put on some pounds while in Italy, you don’t have to remind me.”
“Weight? That’s not an issue.”
He was hard against her. Very hard. “Never mind.” But a little smile played around her lips as she nabbed the folded-up papers and checked for anything else. “Got it! Reverse, Logan.” She tried to shift backward, but she didn’t budge.
“No wiggling allowed.” Gingerly, he eased her back out of the safe and to the floor. But he didn’t back away. “You’re shaking.”
“I thought that was you.” Her knees wobbled.
“I’d hardly call that shaking. Throbbing, is more like it.” Slowly, he stepped away and dropped his hands from her.
Clutching the papers in her hand, she turned in painstaking degrees until she faced him. His eyes, dark and liquid, pierced her, causing fluttery sensations in her belly. The flush along the top of his cheekbones sent warmth from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. His breathing came in short, shallow pants.
“For the record, this is not the first time I wanted to do that to you.”
She gasped. “Before Italy or since?”
He advanced toward her, a wolfish grin teasing his lips. “Since. I want to kiss you. Again.”
Her heart lurched upward somewhere near her throat. She backed away until her heels hit the wall. “No escaping, is there?”
Halting, he held up his hands. “Your call.”
This might be the last time she ever had this chance. “Kiss away.” She shrugged, clutching the old, rolled-up papers in her hands.
“Are you scared?” His voice dropped, making it sound like velvet brushing her cheek.
“Of you? No.” She bit her lip. “Of what I feel.” Swallowing hard, she waited for him to respond.
Reaching out, he tipped her chin up, capturing her gaze.
His eyes were questioning, debating. She’d known him so long, she could read his jumpy emotions chasing across his features. “One and done.” Her offer that this be the last kiss seemed to spur him on.
“You mean two and done.”
“Yeah, that first kiss did count.”
Without warning, he lowered his head and brushed her lips with his.
Rach sucked in a breath. “More, please.”
He chuckled, the feel of it tickling
her mouth. “So two isn’t enough?” he whispered.
“Foul play. It wasn’t even a real two.”
“I’ll have to remedy that.” This time he pressed slightly more, tasting, lingering, and drawing out her response.
Tingles danced along her nerves. She moaned. Logan sucked in a sharp breath, capturing the sound. A whoosh of heat blasted through her core. Leaning into him, she welcomed the growing ache building inside her.
He untangled her hands, nudging them apart and drawing her closer to his chest.
Solid muscle met her soft curves and she sunk into his strength and warmth. Rach raised her hands to his shoulders, only now realizing she still clutched the papers. Without thought, she released them and they fluttered to the floor.
But it seemed to have awakened Logan. He stilled, and then withdrew. It wasn’t sudden. No, it was torturous and drawn out, making them both highly aware of the shock pulsing in the small enclosure.
“I guess that means round two is over,” she whispered, the blood pounding in her ears. Were they over, too? Her heart lurched.
Chapter 12
Silence wrapped around them as Logan walked down the hall behind Rach and away from the scene of the crime. Their steps, muted by the lush carpet, were rushed. Neither could comprehend what just happened.
Words stayed trapped in his throat. How could he have let things get carried away like that?
She practically raced down the stairs and then at the bottom, she halted abruptly and sank down.
Logan caught up with her there, dropping down beside her. “Rach. I don’t know what to say…”
“Maybe we shouldn’t even talk right now.” She glanced at him for a second and turned away. “The papers.” With her hand shaking, she unfurled the pages, smoothing them out on her raised knee. “These first ten or a dozen look like ledger pages.”
His heart jolted. Sliding closer, he peered at the neat letters and precision placement of figures in the squares. Grandpa’s writing! It caught him, hard and fast, in his belly.
“It’s accounting pages. Your grandfather’s? From his business?”
He swallowed hard when he latched on to the meaning—the jagged edges of the pages torn from the actual ledger book, the dates listed, and the titles of each column and the jarring amount of each entry. This is what was missing from his grandfather’s personal ledger. Years of wondering and debating flashed through his mind.
once upon a romance 09 - hoodwinked by a wolfe Page 7
