An Unlikely Match (14 page)

“We found him, Ellie. We found old Curly!”

“You found the cat?” She rushed forward.

“Odelia found him,” Kent said, carefully beginning to fold back the flaps on the box. “He was upstairs in my room.”

“Upstairs!”

“In my room,” Kent confirmed, folding back the last flap.

“All this time?”

Ellie peered into the box. A rag-and-bones Curly lay atop a soiled towel, his dark eyes rolling. Not only had he lost weight, patches of charred black and raw red marred his mottled yellow fur.

“Don’t touch him,” Kent warned. “He’s been injured, poor old thing.”

Ellie studied the cat’s hide. “Grandpa, that cat’s been burned!”

“Yes, that’s what I figure, too.”

“Don’t you see what this could mean?”

“Yes, of course. It’s very serious. Though if he’s lived this long, I expect he’ll make it.”

Ellie clapped a hand down onto her grandfather’s shoulder. “It means that the cat was in the house when the fire started. Grandpa, it means that Curly could have started the fire!”

Kent reared back. “But…how?”

“He must’ve come through the open window,” Ellie theorized. “He could’ve knocked over the bucket while using it to jump up onto the sofa table.”

“And then knocked over the lamp,” Kent mused.

“It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done that,” Ellie pointed out excitedly. “But it would be the first time for the paint thinner.”

Kent dropped down onto the sofa. “Good grief, that’s the answer.”

“We must tell Asher,” Odelia pointed out, patting Kent’s shoulder.

“Yes, yes, you’re right.” He looked to Ellie. “You’ll take care of it, won’t you, dear?”

Ellie rocked back on her heels. “Oh, um, you should talk to Asher about this. He’s
your
attorney, and this is official business, so to speak.”

“Ah. Well, if you think that best.”

He traded a look with Odelia, who said brightly, “I’ll just call my nephew Reeves and find out which veterinarian he uses for his daughter’s cat.” After patting Kent’s shoulder again, she hurried away, leaving Ellie to smile serenely at her grandfather.

“I’m sure Curly will recover. It’s been a while already, as you said, and he’s still with us, after all.”

“So he is,” Kent acknowledged, nodding. He leaned over the box and crooned, “I think this warrants a dish of cream, old man. Don’t you?”

“Well, I’ll just let Dallas know the news,” Ellie said, moving toward her bedroom.

Closing the box, her grandfather rose. He smiled at Ellie, a look of compassion in his eyes. “You do that, sweet girl, and I’ll take care of her brother.”

It appeared that he understood only too well that she was avoiding Asher. He couldn’t know why, of course, but he had to realize that a rift had opened between them. What no one but God Almighty could know was whether that kiss had served to bridge that fracture in any way.

“Thank you, Grandpa,” Ellie answered softly.
May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed,
she thought.
Even if He doesn’t do the same for me.

B
owing his head over his desk, Asher pressed the fingertips of both hands to his aching temples. He had not slept well. Again. Every time he’d closed his eyes, that kiss had played through his mind. To make matters worse, he’d repeatedly confessed his foolishness in instigating the event but had never quite felt absolved. It felt, in fact, as if God was laughing at him. Well, chuckling, anyway, as if to say that he was old enough to know better than to get himself into this mess. In desperation, Asher had resorted to enumerating all the reasons why a romance with Ellie Monroe was a bad idea. He felt the need to run down the list again now.

One, he’d already tried and failed at being half of a couple. Two, she was not the sort of woman he’d ever envisioned pairing up with—not that he’d envisioned pairing up with anyone in a very long time. Three, quirky was not a trait he’d ever valued. Four, he hardly even knew the girl, really! Even if he somehow felt that he did. Five, she interrupted everyone. Six, she was too young. Seven, she could be an arsonist. Okay, he didn’t really believe that, but no lawyer worth his salt would entirely discount the possibility. Eight, she was almost
painfully beautiful, and why he hadn’t realized that before he couldn’t understand.

No, wait. Scratch that last.

Frowning, Asher bludgeoned his mind for the remainder of the list. At times he’d gotten as far as twelve, but somehow during the night he’d lost a few of those reasons. What really troubled him, though, was that he could feel his will to keep Ellie at arm’s length going the same way.

When Barb buzzed him to say that Kent Monroe had “dropped by for a word,” Asher figured that he need not worry about keeping Ellie at a distance any longer. He fully expected that Kent would walk in, fire him and walk out again. He told himself that he was relieved, but the way his gut roiled put the lie to that. The last thing he expected was the beaming bonhomie with which the older man greeted him.

“Asher, my boy, great news! Great news!”

Surprised, Asher didn’t even make it all the way to his feet. Kent bustled across the room and dropped down into the armchair in front of the desk, grinning broadly.

“It was the cat,” he said the instant that Asher’s behind touched the chair seat again. “Pardon?”

“We found him, my old tom, Curly, holed up licking his wounds. Burns,” he clarified significantly, crossing his thick legs. “Vet says he’ll mend, though he probably won’t have hair in places.” Kent waved that away, explaining all that he’d discovered.

Listening, Asher’s understanding grew. He smacked himself in the forehead with the heel of his hand. “That’s it. That’s the answer.”

Kent made a wiping motion across his own forehead.
“Whew! That’s a relief, I don’t mind telling you.” He shifted in his chair, adding, “Fact is, I can’t rightly remember turning on the lamp that night. Then again, I forgot to lock the front door, didn’t I? Odelia says the shock of the fire has confounded my brain.”

Asher thought it best not to comment on that statement. Instead, he glanced at the clock and reached for his electronic address book. “I’ll call the insurance company today.”

“Yes, yes. The sooner the better. Again, I can’t tell you how relieved I am. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been entirely forthcoming with you.”

Asher set aside the handheld gadget, his senses pricking. “No. Really?”

If Kent suspected sarcasm, he didn’t signal as much. Grimacing, he said, “I took out a private mortgage.”

Asher sat back in his chair. “Ah.” No wonder the insurance adjustor had hinted at financial impropriety.

“Just a small one,” Kent went on. “Less than fifteen thousand. I didn’t have the cash to finish the renovations, you see, but I didn’t want Ellie to know. It’s all for her, for her inheritance, but she never thinks of herself and wouldn’t have wanted me to go into debt.” He tilted his head, saying in his gravelly voice, “I hope you won’t tell her.”

Asher shook his head. “Let’s just leave Ellie out of this, shall we? She fired me, anyway.”

Kent’s bushy eyebrows leapt upward. “What?”

“We, um, had a difference of opinion,” Asher confessed, feeling the burn of guilt. “Actually, I offended her, and she fired me. I no longer represent her.”

“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Kent murmured, obviously troubled.

“I’ll understand if you’d prefer to let someone else
handle things from here on out,” Asher offered carefully. To his relief, Kent shook his head.

“No, no, no. I’m sure you’ll work out your differences between you. Besides, we could be family soon, you and I.”

Asher reared back in shock. Kent couldn’t really expect him to marry Ellie. Could he? They hadn’t even been out on a date! “What makes you say that?”

Kent Monroe squared his shoulders and set both feet flat on the floor. “I should tell you bluntly that I intend, very soon, to…again…ask your dear aunt to marry me.”

Asher worked hard at keeping his expression placid. Of course. He should have expected that. “I see. Well, since we’re being blunt, I feel I should warn you that Aunt Odelia has told me, quite recently, that she has no intention of ever leaving her sisters.”

Kent waved that away with a swipe of his hand. “I’m not a man who makes the same mistake twice. If she doesn’t want to leave Chatam House, then we won’t. My house is going to Ellie anyway.” Kent shifted in his seat and added, “I had thought to give it to the two of you.”

Nothing Asher could do would keep his jaw in place. “I beg your p-pardon?”

Kent leaned forward. “I admit I’ve been distracted, but a blind man could see that the two of you have feelings for each other.”

Asher rubbed his ear in an effort to hide his embarrassment. That obvious, was it? What was just as obvious was that Kent Monroe approved.

“You should hear the way she speaks of you,” Kent told him. “I don’t think she even realizes she’s doing it. ‘Ash will take care everything.’ ‘Ash is so generous.’
‘Ash says this, Ash says that.’ I’ve never heard the like from her.”

She called him “Ash” in private, did she? Only his closest friends and family called him that. It thrilled him to know that she thought of him that way. But that didn’t really change anything, did it?

He met Kent Monroe’s frank gaze. “You don’t think I’m too old for her?”

Kent looked surprised. “I’ve always thought that an adult is an adult.”

Clearly, in Kent’s mind, his granddaughter was an adult. That made it difficult for Asher to hold on to the idea that Ellie was too young for him. And she wasn’t his client anymore, either. That meant that the only thing standing between them was…

What shall we call this, Lord?
he asked silently.
Caution? Fear? My own stiff-necked stupidity?
Whatever it was, maybe it was time to get it out of the way.

For Kent Monroe, he had only a smile and a wish. “May you know every happiness, sir, and my aunt along with you.”

They both got to their feet and shook hands before Asher walked the older man to the door. As soon as Kent had gone, Asher turned back to his desk and picked up the phone. He had plans to make.

Three days,
Ellie thought. Three days since that kiss. She’d hoped that he would show up at the Monday practice, but he’d been conspicuously absent, and she hadn’t seen any sign of him on this Wednesday afternoon, either. If he was going to come see her, he’d have done so by now. No, she had to face facts.

Two of her kids were hip-bumping when they should have been paying attention to the ball.

“Chuck, Miguel, eyes on the prize!” she called.

Asher might be attracted to her, but he was apparently able to put her out of mind easily enough, while she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him. Well, what had she expected? Hadn’t she known all along that she wasn’t the sort of woman to inspire devotion in a man like him? Or perhaps any man?

Keeping the kids on task seemed to require a huge effort of will, but Ellie managed to stumble through the lengthy scrimmage.

“Good job!” she praised when it was time to pack it in. “I’ll see y’all on Friday,” she called, as the kids ran off the field.

“Turned out to be a pretty day,” Ilene commented, shoving balls into a net bag while Ellie swigged down a bottle of water Ilene had handed her. “Um-hm.”

She hadn’t really noticed, but the sun was out and the sky was clear on a day so mild that the temperature didn’t even register with her. Hadn’t it been gray earlier? She couldn’t remember. Her mood was so gray that it probably colored everything around her. Sighing, she turned to help Ilene carry the cooler to the trunk of her car. They were halfway there when she saw him.

Dressed in a brown suit and a white shirt with an open collar, Asher stood next to his SUV in the distance, ankles crossed as he leaned against the fender. Ellie stumbled, and in the instant required to right herself, he pushed away from the vehicle, starting toward her with a long, loose-limbed stride.

They reached the rear of Ilene’s car and lifted the cooler into the trunk. Ellie turned away as Ilene started loading kids into the backseat.

“See you Friday.”

“See you.”

Walking over to her truck, Ellie pulled her keys from the pocket of her shorts and unlocked the driver’s door. Then she simply stood there and waited for him.

“What’s up?” she asked as he drew near, determined to show him that she had maintained an even keel despite that kiss.

He reached inside his coat and pulled out a dollar bill. “I came to return this,” he told her, holding it out.

Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s your retainer. Now that we’ve ended our professional relationship, I need to return it.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think we can agree that you’ve earned your retainer.”

“Take it, Ellie. To ease my mind.”

“To ease your mind?” she said angrily. “Is that what this is about? Well, let me do that by telling you that the cat did it. The stupid cat started the fire.” The slightest of smiles curved his lips, but he just waved the dollar bill. “You already knew, didn’t you?” she realized.

Reaching for her hand, he turned it palm up and plopped the bill into it. She curled her fingers around it, eyeing him as he smoothly told her, “I am ethically constrained from discussing cases with anyone but my clients.” He leaned forward slightly and reminded her, “You are no longer my client.”

“Fine,” she snapped, clasping the top of the truck door in preparation for sliding into the cab.

He covered her hand with his, halting her in midaction. “I’d be happy to discuss the ethics of my profession with you.”

Like she needed a lecture on why he regretted kissing
her and wanted to keep his distance. “Sorry,” she told him. “I happen to be really hungry at the moment.”

“That actually works well for me,” he said. “We’ll have dinner.”

“Dinner,” Ellie echoed stupidly. She glanced down at herself. “I don’t think so. I’m not exactly dressed to go out for dinner. Unless you intend to do a drive-through.”

“Actually, I have something else in mind. And you’re perfectly dressed for it.”

Ellie blinked. So, this had to do with soccer after all. “Okay. Where are we going?”

“Why don’t you just ride along with me,” he suggested, taking her by the arm. “I’ll bring you back to your truck later.”

She glanced around at the busy parking lot. There were a few empty spaces, so she supposed she wouldn’t be putting anyone out by leaving her truck here for an hour or so. Shrugging, she backed out of the truck and locked the door.

He walked her to his SUV and handed her up inside before taking his place behind the steering wheel.

“So how did practice go?”

“Pretty well,” she said, not interested in providing further details. Asher got the message.

They drove in silence until Ellie realized that they had left the business district behind and were instead driving through his neighborhood.

“Where is this restaurant we’re going to?”

“Who said anything about a restaurant?” Asher asked lightly, making the turn into the drive. She realized that they’d pulled up behind his house when he hit a button overhead and the garage door started to go up.

“So it’s a dinner meeting at your place?”

“That’s right.”

He pulled the truck into the garage, killed the engine and got out. Ellie slipped out on her side before he could come around to open the door. He went to the door that led into the house. She glanced around her, noting that his garage was neater than most people’s living rooms.

She followed him into a dark, narrow hallway that led past a sizable laundry and a small powder room to the kitchen. Backtracking to the laundry, she quickly stepped out of her cleats, returning to the kitchen in her stocking feet. He stood peering into the refrigerator when she got back.

“How do you feel about an omelet?” he asked. “It’s that or a sandwich, and I can’t vouch for how long this sliced turkey’s been here.”

Ellie froze in the act of sliding up onto a tall chair placed at the kitchen bar. “What had you planned to fix?”

“I hadn’t planned anything,” he told her, taking out a tray of eggs.

Now, wasn’t that just like a man! “Well, how many are you expecting?”

He cast her a dry look. “We’re all here.”

Ellie hopped down off the chair she’d just settled on. “You mean it’s just the two of us?”

Asher placed the eggs on the counter, then braced his hands against it. “Listen, Ellie. Let’s just scramble up some eggs and see where that takes us. Okay?”

Her heart fluttered and began slamming inside her chest. “Yeah. Okay. I can go with that.”

He took down a bowl and started cracking eggs into it. “There’s a game on TV if you want to go into the other room and turn on the set.”

“Oh, ah, why don’t you handle that and let me take care of the eggs?”

Smiling, he dropped the eggshells as if they were hot rocks. “Look around for whatever you need. I’ll be right back.”

His shoulder brushed hers as he passed by on his way into the living room. Ellie stayed where she was for a moment, then carefully moved around the bar to the island countertop where the eggs awaited her.