His Secretive Lover (The Thorpe Brothers) (15 page)

She couldn’t believe she’d just spoken to her father like that, but
then again, neither could he.  For the first time in her life, she was really irritated that his past was interfering in her future.  She’d always protected the “family business” and all of the secrets that came along with their nefarious activities.   But for some reason, probably her afternoon of drinking and getting to know the three women whom she admired greatly, she wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.  All the lies, the secrets, the illegal activities and the strange code of ethics, they were no longer hers.  And she wasn’t going to live with them any longer. 

“Dad…” she started to say.

But he interrupted her.  “Before you say another word, you need to know that your mother is in town as well and she’s…”

“She
can speak for herself,” her mother interrupted imperiously from behind him, her elegant figure coming around the corner to stand beside the table.   

Cricket had always admired her mother for her
sophistication and fashion sense.  Tonight was no exception.  Her mother was wearing a lovely, pale blue Versace suit that hugged her figure in all the right places.  Her hair was perfectly coiffed and pulled back off of her face to show off those famous cheekbones that had gotten her into more high society parties than any other thief in the world.  Possibly because of the alcohol she’d imbibed, Cricket actually giggled at the enormous diamond necklace that graced her mother’s neck.  Which was completely fake! 

With a
haughty wave of her hand, Lydia Fairchild silently told one of the waiters to bring two more chairs to the table.  Within moments, her directions had been completed.  Ryker was already standing, taking her mother’s hand. 

“Ryker, this is my mother, Lydia Fairchild,” Cricket explained with a sigh of resignation.  “All of the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray…” she quoted Robert Burns and leaned back in her chair. 

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Thorpe,” her mother said with sincerity and a wide, gracious smile.  “I’m assuming you are the gentleman who put that beautiful ring on my daughter’s finger recently?” she asked.

“I am,” Ryker responded
calmly despite his dinner plans going so awry. 

Cricket caught her father’s eyes
as they snapped towards her hand and his anger actually increased.  She could feel his anger but she wasn’t afraid of it any longer. 

“Sit down, Mother,” Cricket said.  “Father, you too,” she told him, ignoring his glare in her direction. 

She was relieved when they both sat down, Ryker following as well.  “Now that we’re all here,” she said and looked at her mother and father with irritation, “I want you to know that Ryker has asked me to marry him,” she explained.

Lydia smiled, her eyes brightening with happiness.  “I’m so glad for you dear.  I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t ever find
the same exhilaration your father and I have shared throughout our lives.”   She looked over at Ryker, then back at her daughter.  “I can tell that you have.  And he is a good man,” she confirmed, looking down at the diamond on her finger.

Cricket rolled her eyes.  “Mother, Ryker is a good man
because he is smart and sensitive and makes me laugh.  Not because he has excellent taste in jewelry.”

“It’s always a good sign though, my love.”  Her mother winked at Ryker who only chuckled at the conversation. 

Cricket turned to face her father, confronting his glare head on instead of avoiding the reason behind it.  “Father, I know that you’re worried about Mother, but I don’t think…” 

“Wait just a moment, dear,” she interrupted and leaned forward.  “Edward,” she glared across the table at him.  “How long have you known about Cricket’s romance?” she asked carefully. 

Cricket’s eyes widened when her father actually squirmed in his chair.  “Well, dear…”

“Don’t you dare ‘dear’ me, Edward.  What have you done?” She demanded angrily. 

The waiter arrived at that moment, the real waiter, and was startled to find a guest sitting at the table in the restaurant’s uniform.  “Don’t ask,” Ryker stepped in for the benefit of the confused waiter.  “Can you bring us a bottle of Hiedsieck Diamont Bleu, please?” 

The waiter immediately bowed and stepped backwards, eager to bring the requested champagne quickly. 
But Ryker called him back, “And some coffee.” 

Cricket didn’t even blush when Ryker looked at her overly flushed cheeks.  She only smiled back at him, silently thanking him because she really didn’t want to mix alcohols. 

With the waiter gone, Ryker turned back to Cricket, silently asking her to proceed. 

Cricket took a deep breath and looked back to her father.  “Dad, I know that you are worried about Mom’s reaction, but…”

“She’s thrilled!” Lydia interrupted, speaking for herself and looking at her husband as if to say, “You’re in trouble if you say another word.”

Cricket stared at her mother, then at her father.  “So what was all this stuff earlier ab
out not worrying mom?” she demanded of her father.

Edward leaned forward, trying to smooth things over.  “Your mother was shopping
...”

“And she can
still speak for herself,” she interrupted again.  “I’m thrilled dear.  I’m very excited that you’ve finally found someone to love.  And I wish you all the best.”  She leaned over and kissed Cricket’s cheek, then sat back and glared at her husband once again.

Cricket watched the interplay between her mother and father, wishing both of them could understand what she was about to do. 
“I’m telling Ryker everything.”

Her mother smiled gently.  “Dear, there isn’t really anything to tell.”

Cricket blinked, then shook her head.  “What does that mean?”

Lydia smiled gently.  “Darling, we haven’t had any special projects since you were about eight or nine years old.”

“When we knew how much it bothered you,” her father grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest despite the fact that the action looked uncomfortable in the ridiculous and ill-fitting waiter’s jacket. 

She couldn’t believe what they were saying.  They didn’t steal?  They didn’t pick up “baubles” when they needed some excitement?  They were the best in the business! 
“But, you trained me in all the ways.”  Could they really have retired so long ago?

“Honey, we taught you everything we know.  That’s what parents do,” Lydia explained with a
dramatic wave of her hands. 

Cricket shook her head
, stunned by this latest revelation.  “No mother.  Parents teach their children to read and turn in their homework on time, to avoid horrible men and not get drunk while at college.”

Edward grunted.  “You taught yourself all that stuff,” he grumbled.  “We taught you what you didn’t know.  We gave you a legacy.”

Cricket didn’t understand.  “So all these years, what have you been living off of?  How have you been able to afford your lifestyle?”

Edward smiled
proudly and sat up straighter in his chair.  “Just because we aren’t in the business any longer doesn’t mean we didn’t invest our…profits well over the years.”  Edward glanced at Ryker, trying to gauge the new man’s understanding of the conversation and all that it implied. 

“Your father is very good at investing,
dear,” her mother said with pride. 

She glanced between her beautiful, elegant mother and her normally handsome father, stunned. 
“So neither of you do…anything?”

“Well, we keep our skills up,” she explained with an indignant tone.  “But no, we haven’t profited from our endeavors in any way.  We didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable any longer.”

Her mind was spinning with the news that her parents hadn’t stolen anything in years.  Decades almost!  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

Both her mother and father shrugged.  “We thought you knew.” 

Cricket fell backwards, shaking her head.  “So what was all that about last week, Dad?” she demanded. 

Her father sighed.  “I just…”

Lydia watched her husband carefully, her heart melting for the man who had loved their daughter so deeply over the years.  “He didn’t want you to find a man to replace him,” she said, staring pointedly at her husband.  “Apologize to your daughter, Edward.”

Edward shifted uncomfortably.  “I didn’t think you would be happy with this guy,” he mumbled.

Cricket shook her head.  “This is like a really bad movie!” she stated with anger rising inside of her.  “Do you know what you’ve done to me?  I was trying to protect Ryker!  I thought someone was following me!  But it was you all the time, wasn’t it?” she asked.

The waiter arrived, startled by the rising tension
from the participants at a table who, in his mind, should be celebrating.  Nevertheless, he poured the sparkling wine, set the silver pot of coffee and china cup on the edge of the table, then backed away as quickly as possible, leaving the bottle in the ice bucket. 

Ryker looked around the table, amazed that so much had happened in such a short period of time.  “So let me get this straight, just to make sure I understand everything that has been said over the past few minutes.”  He looked at Edward.  “You and you’re wife,” he glanced at Lydia, “are thieves, am I correct?”
  He watched them carefully, looking for signs that he was way off base. 

“Retired
collectors,” Edward corrected firmly.  “I enjoyed art collecting and my wife, she was more into the sparkly things.  She collected beautiful diamonds.”

Ryker’s mind worked quickly.  “And both of you retired as soon as you realized that Cricket didn’t like the lifestyle, but you taught her all the tricks of the trade, just in case she grew up and realized that she enjoyed doing that sort of thing.”
  Everything was clicking into place:  her aversion to stealing, her midnight video where she wrapped things up, and her collection of pens in her bedroom. 

“And because she had the talent for it,” Edward confirmed, proud of his daughter’s accomplishments.

“She’s exceptionally good at it,” Lydia agreed, smiling at her daughter with delight.  “If only she could stomach the details.”  She sighed dramatically as if the details included filing papers or folding laundry versus fencing stolen articles on the black market, relieving rightful owners of their property, etcetera. 

Ryker was finally getting a good picture of what was going on. 
“Cricket enjoys breaking into offices and pulling pranks and, up until last week, she hadn’t ever gotten caught.”  He paused for a moment.  “Am I missing anything?” he asked. 

All three people shook their heads, Cricket smiling at how good he was at reading between the not-so-subtle lines.  And what was even better?  He didn’t appear to be upset by any of what he’d heard. 

Or perhaps he wasn’t as calm as she thought.  His next words didn’t leave any room for doubt.  “As Cricket’s lawyer, I have to inform you that, anything you tell me is privileged information, but if I ever become aware of a crime that is about to be committed, I am required by law to inform the police.”

Edward huffed and puffed a bit, irritated that someone would dare to give him orders. 
“So we won’t talk about any of our activities with you around,” Edward stated firmly as if that were the most obvious conclusion to come to.

Cricket laughed and shook her head.  “That means he won’t be
doing anything wrong,” she translated, looking directly at her father until he harrumphed and crossed his arms over his chest in a different direction. 

When she’d gotten his grudging acceptance, she turned to Ryker, lifting her
coffee cup in a celebratory toast.  “That’s all settled then,” she said, her mood just as bubbly as the wine.  “To the future,” she said with joy.

They all raised their glass and clinked each other’s, but there was something in Ryker’s eyes that caused her to hesitate.  She sipped
her coffee, but it was hard to swallow.  She was worried, wondering if perhaps he was already having second thoughts about marrying her.  She had a crazy family and he didn’t even know the half of it despite her father’s insane disguise right at the moment. 

Ryker knew exactly where her mind was going.  “Don’t even think it, Cricket.  We’re getting married.  The sooner the better.”

She turned to look at him more directly, wanting to understand him.  That understanding probably should come before the engagement, but she hadn’t done anything normal in her life so far, why start now?  “So what’s on your mind now?”

“That’s for later tonight,” he said.  “Let’s have some dinner.”

She smiled slightly, but was still nervous about whatever he wanted to discuss with her.  She picked at her meal, unable to swallow anything with her muscles clenching in fear that she was about to lose the one man who really knew how to talk to her, not to mention all the other things he did so well.  She actually blushed at that thought and the man sitting across from her saw the blush.  Those dark, sexy eyebrows that could silently speak so eloquently, went up in question.  But when she shook her head slightly, he smiled right back at her with a wink. 

Darn it!  He knew exactly what she’d been thinking!