Ginny’s side. “I have to go. Duke, I’ll leave you to discuss that other matter with my niece.”
A light that said “with pleasure” glimmered in Rick’s eyes.
Ginny grabbed her uncle’s arm. “There is no way I’m working with him.”
Her uncle gave Rick-slash-Duke a once-over, while Rick had the gall to just stand there—the picture of innocence. “He looks a little rough, but you’ll like him once you get to know him.”
Rough? Her uncle should’ve seen Rick with his head shaved. This new soldierlike buzz cut made him look almost decent.
But she knew better than to trust appearances. She’d give him one more chance to bow out, and if he was too cocky to take it, he’d be sorry.
Uncle Emile paused at the door of his BMW. “It’s not as if the two of you will work together that closely. But for today, Duke’s your man. He’ll answer all your questions.”
Oh, she doubted that.
As soon as Uncle Emile drove away, she turned on Rick. “What are you doing here?”
His steel-blue eyes searched hers, slowly, thoroughly. “It’s good to see you again, Ginny.”
Her name toppled from his lips with a huskiness that made her skin tingle. Long-buried feelings resurfaced, more fervent than ever. She dug her fingernails into her palms and fought to escape the emotional ambush.
In the distance, thunder rumbled, low and ominous.
“Do you seriously think I’ll fall for your smooth talk a second time?” Her mind reeled back to the day they’d met. From the moment she’d seen him across the gym, those magnetic eyes had compelled her to look past the intimidating baldguy appearance to the man inside. And his patient coaching of the special-needs kids had won her heart.
His gaze dropped to the ground. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Right. Like after dating for two months, his easy camaraderie with the leering gang member who’d spotted them outside a restaurant in Hamilton shouldn’t have upset her. She could still remember how the creep’s tongue made a slow circuit around his lips and then flicked out of his mouth like the tongue of the snake tattooed on his arm. And Rick’s “Hey, bro!” followed by his nervous glance at her. And the near-total transformation from the security guard he’d claimed to be into the gang member he clearly was.
Oh yeah, he’d been into security all right—how to bypass it. She hadn’t needed to hang around and listen to the rest of Snake Man’s loosely veiled robbery scheme to figure that out. Or to figure out that Rick wasn’t the God-fearing man he’d let her believe.
She’d ended the relationship on the spot. Almost changed her phone number, even contemplated moving, but she hadn’t needed to bother. He didn’t attempt to defend himself, let alone try to see her again.
“How’s Lori doing? Still playing basketball?” he asked now, and the warmth in his tone stole Ginny’s thunder.
He’d always been kind to her mentally challenged sister. Part of her longed to know that Rick again. But she’d never really known him, had she?
“Stop answering my questions with questions. I don’t know why you lied to my uncle about who you are, but I expect you to resign immediately.” She’d promised she’d see this group home finished and she wasn’t about to let Lori, or their dying mother, down by inviting trouble.
Rick’s gaze darted to the newest spray-painted threat. “Since when do you fundraise for building projects? You told me you wrote web copy.”
The irritation in Rick’s voice scraped away any vestige of hope that the man Ginny once loved had been real. “How dare you make me sound like the one pretending to be someone I’m not? If you don’t quit, I will tell my uncle you’re an imposter.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Oh? And what am I thinking, Rick? Is Rick even your real name? I have no idea who you are. How can you know what I’m thinking?”
Rick glanced down at the hard hat he twisted in his hands. “All I’m asking is for a chance to start over. I really need this job.”
“Yeah, a guy who switches identities every year would. And lying about who you are—that’s a great way to start over.” She straightened her shoulders. “I don’t know who you expected to see out here today, but from the shocked look on your face, I’m certain it wasn’t me. So don’t feed me any more lines about starting over. I need a man who knows right from wrong. A man without any shadows in his life. A man like my uncle Emile. Someone honorable.”
If not for the flinch in Rick’s cheek, his face might’ve been carved from stone—kind of like his heart. Except not even the gray drizzle that streamed unchecked down those angular planes could douse the fire in his eyes.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see how this project is coming along.”
Rick blocked her path like a giant Beware sign in his yellow rain slicker, arms akimbo. “It’s too dangerous for you to wander around out here.”
Ginny pushed past him, but at the sight of the sheared floor joists spearing into the basement her retort lodged in her throat. “What happened?”
“Someone cut through the timbers.”
“I can see that. But why?”
“I don’t know. And until I do, I don’t want you around here or getting your name and picture in the papers. You could get hurt.”
“Are you nuts? We need to call the police.”
“You don’t want to do that.”
“Why?” She tore her gaze from the splintered floor and glared at him. “Are you afraid the police will pin this on you?”
“Will you forget about our past for one minute and listen? If you bring the police out here, sirens blaring, the press will be on this faster than vultures on roadkill. Is that the kind of publicity you want?”
Her chest deflated. No, definitely not. “Who would do this?”
“It could be anyone. Emile thinks it’s the protesters, but a businessman like your uncle has undoubtedly amassed a number of enemies.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“We have to consider all the possibilities.”
“We?” Ginny planted her hands on her hips. “You’re quitting, remember? I will look into this myself.”
Rick reached out, but then let his hand drop just shy of grazing her cheek and took a step back. “I hurt you, and for that I am sorrier than you could possibly know. But falling through those boards this morning could have killed me. These people don’t care who they hurt.”
She gasped, noticing for the first time the crack in his helmet, the mud smeared on his jacket.
“I couldn’t bear it if
