The Best Man (21 page)

Heat flared inside her, filling her with longing and warming secret parts of her body. She inhaled through her nostrils and smoothed the terry cloth robe over her thighs, trying to relieve the tension gripping her body.

What if Luke didn’t want her? What if all his kindness came from friendship? Or worse, what if all his concern stemmed for the actions of a partner in the law firm and not from personal feelings?

She wanted Luke.

She admitted that, now, when she’d denied it all this time. It didn’t matter that she intended reinventing the future on her own. Wanting Luke wasn’t new. Her feelings resurfaced after her return from Thailand, as did the awful truth about her disastrous marriage to Joel. And she couldn’t act on either.

Privately, she accepted the truth, that she’d had feelings for Luke before Joel arrived in her life. But she couldn’t show how clearly she could see things after nearly dying because of Joel. His spoiled playground bully mentality demanded he always take what someone else wanted.

Though, to be truthful, she could tell Joel had changed. Maybe the near death experience opened his eyes. He seemed to care deeply for Laurel. Kate respected that, but still she kept her emotions hidden.

Even if Joel had changed, she couldn’t risk letting Luke see how she felt, especially after they’d made love.

She knew him too well.

Luke kept his emotions in tight control. He would never let sentiment rule him. She knew that fact as well as she knew her own name. The fact that they had spent the night together changed everything.

Luke wasn’t like her father. He wasn’t one of those men who could distance themselves from a woman they cared about. That’s how her father had slipped up and created a baby with the wife he didn’t love.

Luke wasn’t cold blooded, like her father, but he wouldn’t appreciate learning the memory of their night of lovemaking stayed in her head, yet she kept her distance. But she hadn’t worked out some things that troubled her. And she couldn’t form a relationship until she had answers.

She couldn’t make her impression of Luke fit. Luke kept control of his emotions, yet he had gone searching for her after the disaster. Until she understood his actions, she couldn’t expose her feelings.

And she didn’t dare ask him...the future of the law firm was at stake. Never mind her personal feelings. She had to put the law firm first. The firm had become more than just the evidence of her father’s absence in her childhood.

The firm was more than her inheritance. Yes, several people’s livelihood depended on the firm and she was one of them. But after recent events, she realized the firm’s importance extended beyond having a secure position.

After hearing what the director of the Crisis Center had to say, Kate realized success of the firm was part of her success at gaining independence. She had chosen to stay at the law practice. And with that decision, she’d made succeeding as an attorney a part of her goal.

If her reaction to Luke’s explanation caused tension in the firm, or resulted in the firm losing clients, then the words of the Center’s director carried a note of truth. Kate refused to believe any other firm could give the Center more, could help clients more, than she had. And she intended to prove the director wrong.

But the firm’s welfare was just an excuse. Deep down, she knew the real reason she couldn’t just blurt out the question to Luke.

If his answer was something she found it impossible to live with, what then? She could think of several responses that would destroy their working relationship. Things like the insurance company covering the members of the firm demanding a personal identification or a body. Or maybe authorities needed identification of remains and Joel refused to return to Thailand.

Or, the absolute worst answer possible, what if Luke went to Thailand because of her father’s wishes? If he’d gone out of duty...

Trouble was, she new what she wanted him to say. With every fiber of her being, she wanted Luke to say he’d gone to search for her because he cared for her. And if that wasn’t the answer to her question, she and the rest of the people working at the firm, were better off not knowing why he’d made that trip.

“That makes no sense at all,” Luke said after long seconds. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head..

“I didn’t understand—”

“This is ridiculous. You’ve given too much time and helped too many women, for the director to say something like. It doesn’t make sense.”

Kate’s breath caught. She jerked upright. Blood raced through her veins as she stared at him and voiced her thoughts aloud. “Maybe it does?”

“Come on, Kate—”

Kate leaned forward eagerly. “No, think for a minute…what if this was...I don’t know... a code, maybe.”

“What code?” Luke sank back in the chair. “You mean a hidden message?”

Kate bobbed up and down, breathless in her excitement. “Yes, exactly.”

“Kate—”

“It could be. Think about it. You said the director should appreciate all the time I’ve given the Center, instead of asking me to leave.” She gulped air. “She is grateful for everything I do, I know she is. She’s told me several times how much my help has meant to her and the Center’s residents.” Kate bounced on the cushion, her eyes glowing. “She’s trying to send me a message, Luke. I know it.”

“Wait a minute.” Luke leaned forward, bringing him close to her. “What kind of message?” Lifting a hand, he ticked off points on his fingers. “You said she wanted volunteers that attracts attention—”

Kate leaped to her feet. “That’s it!” She paced in front of the sofa and whirled around to face him. “It’s so obvious, now. How did I miss that?”

“Miss what?”

Kate rushed to him and perched on the arm of his chair. “Attract attention…don’t you see? The director didn’t mean a word she said. She’s trying to get my attention. Send me a message.”

“Kate—” Luke’s voice sounded uneven against the thumping roar coming from the pizza parlor.

Kate stared down at his handsome face and remembered the warmth of his arms. He was so close she could see the color of his hazel eyes. The dark lashes lining his eyes were long enough to make any female weep. She tore her thoughts of Luke away and sighed. “What if it was a signal, Luke? What if she needs help and was trying to send a message? What time is it?”

Kate grabbed his wrist. His skin was warm under her fingers. Dark hair made the skin of his arm look tanned. But the energy surging up her arm made her recoil and drop his wrist. “I-I can’t read your watch.”

Blood roared in her ears. Heat pooled low in her abdomen. His scent filled the air she inhaled and clogged her brain of thoughts of their night together.

“It’s ten-thirty.”

Kate jumped up and darted toward her bedroom. “I’ve wasted an hour and a half! She’ll think I deserted her! I’ve got to get dressed, and get back there.”

“Kate—”

“Not now, Luke,” she called over her shoulder as she slammed the door. “I can’t do anything while I’m naked.”

Luke tried to breath around the boulder sitting on his chest. Naked? He could think of several things Kate could do while she was naked. If his memory served him right, she was very efficient at making him feel helpless when she didn’t have clothes on. He swallowed.

This wasn’t the time…or the place. But blood sizzling in his veins took control. Luke wanted to take Kate in his arms, feel her body under his, responding...

He gulped. He wanted Kate more than he had ever wanted another woman in his whole life. It was time to tell her how he felt about her. He paced in front of the sofa. When this was over, when Kate got this current bee out of her bonnet and realized the director hadn’t been sending her a coded message, he was going to put his feeling on the table.

The sound of her bedroom door opening had him turning to face her. “Kate—”

“I’ve got a plan!” Kate hurried out, buttoning her blouse. “I’ll say I forgot something, that I have to get back in the Center to search—”

“You can’t go back in there.”

“Why not?” She stopped mid-step and stared at him.

Luke snorted. “Why? You said there’s something odd going on in there. You can’t take the risk of stepping into a dangerous situation.”

“Luke…I’ll pretend I forgot my cell phone. Everybody on the planet knows we go ballistic if we lose our phone.” She gasped air. “When I get in, I’ll take a quick peep around to check on things. How serious can that be?”

“You can’t do this! It’s dangerous! I-I forbid you—”

“You. Forbid. Me?” Kate’s gaping mouth, and the ringing of her words in the silence of the room brought Luke up sharp.

Chin lifted, he held her furious gaze. He had blown it now. Kate wasn’t some weak female willing to take orders. Since returning from the tsunami, she had been unstoppable. Her strength and determination thrilled and frightened him. He loved seeing the strong confident side of her in action. But dealing with her fearless attitude on this issue had him shaking in his shoes.

He could handle it was fine when Kate challenged Joel in the office. He gloated when she forced her former husband to back down on issues involving the firm. But this situation was different.

Kate could get hurt. Worse, she could be putting other lives in danger. He knew her well enough to know she couldn’t live with herself if someone got hurt because of her actions.

Then it hit him…

Luke filled his lungs with air. “I didn’t mean it like that—”

“I should hope not!” Kate flung her purse over her shoulder as she sent him a freezing look.

“Kate, I—”

“Give it up, Luke. I’m going. I have to help those women.” She pushed past him and headed for the door.

Luke’s fists clenched as he struggled for an even tone. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to stop him from grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking some sense into her. But that would make him little better than the men her clients feared.

He didn’t have a dangerous bone in his body, but feelings for Kate sent him spinning. His fear for her safety made him ready to do something drastic. Anything that would keep her out of danger, and that thought brought him to his senses.

He wasn’t like the men her clients feared. He controlled his emotions. Right? He gulped for a breath of air. For the first time in his life, he felt like a loose cannon, and suddenly, all the reasons for keeping his emotions in control fell away.

For once, something mattered more to him than being in control of the situation. Kate’s safety meant more to him than keeping his head or doing the sensible thing. And in that instant, he faced the danger he’d battled against all his life.

He fought to prevent the rush of memories threatening to escape the secured lock he’d placed on them. He wouldn’t open himself up to the pain of reliving those memories.

He couldn’t let Kate risk her life, either.

Didn’t she realize there was more at stake here than her need to help others? Couldn’t she understand that the very victims she worked so hard to help could suffer, yet again, if she made a mistake?

“I know what you’re feeling, but let me call for back-up—”

Kate’s head whipped around. “And alert the person inside so they can do more damage?” Kate scrambled in her handbag. Pulled out her cell phone. Laid it on the table by the door. “No, Luke. It will be safer this way. No warning. No threat.”

Lungs starved fir air, he said. “You can’t go in there without a phone.”

Without a way to call for help.

Kate sent him a doubtful look over her shoulder. For a second, Luke thought he had gotten through to her, but then she shook her head.

“It’s too risky. If he searched me and found I was carrying a phone, after claiming I had lost it, he would know I was lying. I can’t risk his reaction because I was careless.”

Luke followed her out the door. “Kate, look, I—”

She turned to look at him as she twisted the knob to make sure she’d locked the door. In the dim light from the parking lot below, her eyes were soft dark pools of light. He could drown in those eyes. He wanted to hit another button, switch on all the lights in her apartment and make love turn her eyes into pools of need...and passion.

Shoving away the pain in his chest, he found the sanity to admire her beauty and strength. Under his stare, her eyes took on a misty look. He was still trying to decide if mist was in her eyes, or his own, when Kate reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips.

Luke’s heart thumped like a well-oiled engine.

Heat warmed his blood under her touch. The kiss had lasted for only a few seconds. More like the brush of butterfly wings than a real kiss. But the affect on him was intense. Instinct sounded an alert. His need to protect the woman filling his head, day and night, almost brought him to his knees.

Or, was it his reaction to Kate? He r breath tickled his cheek. His senses filled with the scent her, a mixture of soap, shampoo, and something floral that teased his memory when she wasn’t around.

He managed to swallow, despite his dry mouth. This was it…decision time. Everything was on the line. If he tried to stop her now, he would lose the foundation he worked so hard to build between them over the past weeks. If he let her go, he could lose her forever.