way, it appeared Raina wasn’t content to hide behind Patrick for the entire meeting. Not about to let the two of them tag-team her, Daphne turned to him.
“Why are you here?”
Her aggressive tone made Raina sit back in obvious surprise, while Patrick gave a startled half smile that increased the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. She couldn’t help thinking that if he knew how much the expression softened him, he’d never use it. She liked how that simple curving of his lips hinted at warmth hidden beneath his cold exterior.
Without warning or any reason, he woke a new emotion in Daphne. A longing that baffled her. She hadn’t come here to get all fascinated by a man whose job it was to thwart her.
“Patrick’s with me in case I need him to explain the facts of my life to you,” Raina said. “I have nothing to share with you.”
“Nothing? No sister’s love? No interest in finding out if we could be a family?”
Daphne wished she hadn’t spoken. Raina’s silence was more than enough answer. Daphne looked out the rain-streaked windows at budding treetops and the bell tower of the courthouse that composed the town’s square. She’d never forget this moment. Her quest to build a future with her sister ended now.
Even in the face of her pain, she refused to let these two, with their suspicions and remote expressions, know she hurt. She faced them, trying to appear as if she didn’t care.
Raina couldn’t look at her. Her eyes flickered toward Patrick, no doubt seeking his support. Money, even tied up in a trust, mattered to Raina. Money. If she’d worried about anything else, Daphne would have been willing to fight. But she would never tolerate being accused of acting out of greed.
She banged her hands on the table and pushed back her chair. On her feet, she was aware of her faded jeans and knit shirt. By comparison, Raina’s white suit must have cost more than the rent Daphne had paid last year.
“I’m leaving, but I want you to remember I only asked for family. Goodbye, Raina.”
Patrick stood—to make sure she didn’t pick her sister’s pocket on the way out? “Wait,” he said. “Why don’t you—”
“No.” She wanted out of this room with its smells of polish and coffee and paper. She needed fresh air that wasn’t weighed down with judgment and skepticism.
Her sneakers made no sound on the plush mushroom-colored carpet. She opened the door and slipped through. The receptionist sprang from her chair, mistaking Daphne for someone who mattered.
She held her head high, startled that no one recognized her as a woman limping on the last of her courage. At the elevator, she punched the down button. Four times. Fast.
The conference-room door opened. No way would she check to see who’d exited the den of intimidation.
She made for the door marked Stairs. She pounded down, half sliding on the metal balustrade, praying she’d come out in an alley rather than the foyer.
The gods must have been playing with her. At the bottom she stumbled straight into the marble atrium of Blah-Blah-Blah-and-Gannon.
The latter burst out of the elevator so abruptly the doors rattled on their runners. Swearing beneath her breath, Daphne walked quickly. She wouldn’t run, but she wanted out of this building before Patrick caught her.
He beat her to the revolving door, stepping in front of her. He held out his hands. “I don’t think you understand.”
“I didn’t. I do now.”
“I’m all Raina has left, but that doesn’t mean I don’t give a damn about anyone else. And Raina doesn’t want to hurt you.”
Daphne stared at him. “You see a different Raina than I did.”
Patrick smiled. A hint of sensuality curved his lips, but she didn’t want to respond to it.
“Don’t leave like this,” he said.
“I don’t blame her. We don’t know each other, and I just blew up all her beliefs about her happy family.”
“She doesn’t want you to go.”
“Since when?”
“I guess since she realized you really were walking away.”
“So she changed her mind a split second ago.” Not good enough. Daphne deserved better than a halfhearted plea delivered by someone else. “You know, that sentiment might be more convincing if she’d had the guts to deliver it herself.”
Patrick took her arm. She pulled away with a youdie look that had always stood her in good stead.
“We were cold to you,” he said.
“You have a talent for cold.”
“Think of the coincidence. Raina’s mother died and the estate went to her. It’s been well publicized.”
“You’d be surprised how few Honesty newspapers sally beyond the town limits. That, combined with the fact I don’t read the financial pages, means I didn’t know Raina was rich.”
He glanced toward the passersby who eyed them curiously. “Out of nowhere—” he lowered his voice “—you arrive, claiming Raina’s family wasn’t really hers, but that you are.”
“It sounds improbable right now, but until I saw the two of you sitting behind that table as if you were under siege, I assumed she’d be as happy as I was to find a sister.”
For a moment, he said nothing. Upstairs, he’d been as impassive as Raina. But now he looked uncomfortable.
“Raina and I made assumptions, too,” he said. “Come back up, and we’ll all start over.”
“Forget it. I made a mistake.”
“I’m trying to explain what we thought. Raina’s mother asked me to protect her. I have to do that.”
“She’s a grown woman.”
“And totally untouched. Honesty is a safe place where few things have challeneged her. She’s used to her life being a certain way and you’ve changed that. But she is a good person. Get to know her, and see what I mean.” He touched her again, squeezing her wrist as if to emphasize his sincerity. She looked down, causing him to release her.
“You all but accused me of planning to rob Raina the second she turns her back on an open checkbook.” His intensity had the strange effect of a rope around her throat. She was strong enough to ignore a passing attraction to some guy. She wouldn’t let him distract her. “You think I’m after my sister’s money. I don’t need it. I can find a job. I’ve found a way to start over too many times to tell you.” Good God. It was like in the old days, when she’d drink too much and buttonhole strangers to confess her worst sins. “I never found family before.”
She didn’t realize her voice had broken until he lowered his head. Above him, the atrium soared to a glass dome. His dark lashes glinted in the diffused light. No doubt part of Mother Nature’s foul plan
