To Catch a Thief (11 page)

“So what you’re telling me is that I am about to help you steal some chef’s recipes,” Rafe said.

“I’m not going to steal them,” she protested even though he looked more amused than appalled by the notion. “I’ll enhance them.”

“An interesting distinction.” He glanced up at the waitress, then gestured toward Gina. “Talk to her. She knows what we’re both having.”

After she’d placed their order, Gina regarded him with a grin. “I like a man who’s not afraid to let a woman take charge.”

“And I like a woman with confidence,” he said. “It’s nice to see yours coming back. It’s also good to see you thinking about the future. I’m glad we came here.”

“So am I,” Gina said, her gaze locked with his.

“Are we having our first official date, Gina Petrillo?” he asked solemnly.

Her pulse fluttered at the suggestion. “I don’t know, are we?”

“It certainly seems that way to me.”

“Dating could be complicated,” she said with real regret. “Maybe we shouldn’t even think about it until…well, until everything is settled.”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed. “But that’s not what I want.”

“Neither do I,” she admitted in a whisper.

In fact, right this second with her heartbeat skittering crazily, she wanted very much to be on a first date with this man. She wanted to get to know what made him tick, wanted to feel his lips on hers again, wanted to feel his skin heat beneath her touch. It had been a very long time since she had wanted any of that, even longer since she had needed it the way she did right this minute. In fact, the way she was feeling was more appropriate to a fifth date, maybe even a tenth.

As if he sensed her turmoil, perhaps even shared it, he reached across the table and clasped her hand in his. There was strength and warmth in his touch. As the pad of his thumb grazed her palm, there was even more—a teasing hint of smoldering sensuality. Gina swallowed hard. Her gaze lifted, met his.

“Suddenly I’m not very hungry,” she said, watching closely for his reaction to the unspoken implications of that.

“Neither am I,” he said without hesitation, his gaze unwavering. “Do you want me to cancel the order?”

She shook her head, then chuckled at his obvious disappointment. It gave her courage. “Get it to go.”

Ten minutes later they had three carry-out orders of salad and a warm loaf of sourdough bread. Even though she felt almost giddy, Gina managed to get to the car without bursting into laughter at the waitress’s knowing expression.

“She knew,” she said, collapsing in the front seat with the stack of take-out boxes. “She knew exactly what had happened, that we wanted each other more than food.”

“She did not,” Rafe insisted.

“Oh, yes, she did,” Gina argued. “She actually gave me a thumbs-up signal as we left.”

Rafe seemed vaguely startled. “Oh, really? Now what do you suppose she meant by that?”

“I hope you’re teasing,” Gina said.

He reached over and skimmed a finger along her cheek. “Why is that?”

“Because otherwise I am about to make a huge fool of myself,” she said.

“Oh?”

“I am about to suggest that we take all this food to a hotel room,” she said. When Rafe remained silent, she swallowed hard. “Well, have I made a fool of myself?”

“No,” he said, his voice suddenly husky. Though he’d been about to start the car, he dropped his hand away from the key and faced her. “But I want you to think about this. Is it really what you want? You don’t strike me as the kind of woman to engage in casual flings.”

She laughed at that. “If only you knew.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that I have never engaged in flings of any kind, casual or otherwise.”

His eyes widened. “You’re not…?”

“You can say the word,” she teased. “And, no, I’m not a virgin, though my experience is almost as limited. It’s just that it’s been years since I’ve had the time or the inclination to get involved with anyone. I try my best to forget about the last time I did.”

“Why now?” he asked. “Why me? As you pointed out earlier, this isn’t exactly an uncomplicated situation.”

“No,” she agreed.

“Is that part of the attraction? Because it’s a little dangerous?”

She considered the question, then shook her head. “No. If anything, that would make me run the other way.”

He regarded her ruefully. “I notice you’re not exactly gushing with a hundred reasons why you’ve chosen me to break your self-imposed celibacy.”

“Is that what you want? Do you want me to stroke your ego?”

“No, if there’s any stroking to be done, I can think of other parts I’d prefer to have you touching.”

Heat gathered low in her belly as his words sank in. “Then what is this hesitation about?” she asked.

He took her hand in his, turned it over and kissed her palm. “As much as I would like to take you to a hotel room and spend the rest of the afternoon letting you seduce me, I’m not going to do it,” he said with obvious regret.

Embarrassment flooded through her. When she would have jerked her hand away, he held it more tightly.

“One of these days you and I are going to end up in bed together,” he assured her emphatically. “Make no mistake about that. But when we do, it will be for the right reasons. It won’t be because you’re looking for a temporary escape from your problems.”

“That’s a lousy thing to say,” she told him heatedly, but then the truth hit her. That was exactly what she’d been looking for. She’d wanted a distraction, something to make her feel alive, and a quick romp with an extraordinarily virile man would have accomplished that.

She forced herself to meet his gaze. There was nothing condemning in his expression. If anything, he looked as if he completely understood her actions.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Don’t be. Having a beautiful woman find me desir
able, whatever the reason, is never a bad thing. I’m just holding out until it’s perfect.”

“That day might never come,” she said.

“It will,” he replied with total confidence. “Sooner than you think.” He gestured toward the boxes she was clutching with a white-knuckled grip. “Let’s go find some idyllic spot and have a picnic.”

“You’re not afraid to be alone with me?” she teased.

“No way,” he assured her.

“I could get carried away.”

He laughed at the suggestion. “Now,
that
is something to look forward to.”

G
ina could have suffered from terminal embarrassment for throwing herself at Rafe, but he refused to allow it. By the time they’d shared their picnic, he had her laughing unselfconsciously again. Because of that, her feelings—and her respect—for him deepened a little more. So did the attraction, even though she couldn’t seem to shut out the fact that their relationship had begun with his insulting belief that she could be a thief.

But as the days wore on with no more calls from Bobby and little for her to do in Winding River, Gina began to feel more restless than ever. She couldn’t go on this way, not with Rafe looking over her shoulder—albeit with less suspicion. Cooking dinner for her parents and baking for her friends wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her urge to be back in the kitchen cooking for a whole restaurant filled with satisfied customers.

After her outburst in his kitchen, accusing both Tony
and Rafe of conspiring, Tony forgave her and let her fill in from time to time, but it wasn’t nearly enough. She was drifting and she didn’t like it. She had to do something to shake things up, something to get her life back on track.

Maybe it was time to get some sound legal advice. No, she corrected, the truth was, it was way past time. She’d been putting it off, pretending to herself that Bobby would show up and prove that it was all some terrible misunderstanding, a mistake that could be easily rectified. She had been deluding herself that he would straighten everything out so that she wouldn’t have to make any of the tough choices. Despite everything, despite all the evidence to the contrary, she hadn’t wanted to believe that a man she’d considered a friend, as well as a business partner, had betrayed her.

Clearly, she admitted with a sigh, she had been wrong. Bobby’s intentions weren’t honorable. And Deidre’s juggling act with the creditors couldn’t go on indefinitely. Gina couldn’t ask her to stand in the line of fire forever. This wasn’t Deidre’s problem to solve. It was hers.

She needed to make a decision, then get back to New York to handle the fallout herself, whether she chose to stay open and fight, as Tony and Rafe expected her to do, or to disappoint them both, sell or close the restaurant and pay off everyone she could.

Even though she hated involving her friends in what was happening, she knew that there wasn’t a better lawyer—a better advocate—around than Emma. Fortunately, Emma was scheduled to drive up from Denver on Friday morning. Gina resolved to be waiting for her.

She knocked on the front door at the ranch at ten, knowing that Emma would have gotten an early start. Mrs. Clayton greeted her with a smile and a glass of lemonade, just as she had countless times when she and
Emma had been teenagers. There was something comforting about it. In many ways so little had changed in the past ten years. The bonds she had formed back then were still strong.

“Emma should be here soon. Are you sure you don’t want to wait inside?” she asked when Gina moved to sit in one of the rockers. “It’s a scorcher out there today.”

“Thanks. I’ll be fine on the porch, if you don’t mind. I need to have a few words in private with Emma.”

“Then I’ll get Caitlyn out of your hair as soon as they get here,” Mrs. Clayton promised, wiping her hands on her apron and taking a seat beside Gina. “Caitlyn’s going to want to get out to the barn to see her pony, anyway.”

Gina grinned. “I don’t suppose that pony is a bribe from her grandfather to keep her coming up here.”

“Of course it is,” Mrs. Clayton said unrepentantly. “Now that Emma’s divorced, her father and I would give anything to have the two of them here all the time. I know Emma is very successful in Denver, but she hasn’t been truly happy there for a long time. She just refuses to admit it. And Caitlyn loves it here.”

“No doubt about that,” Gina agreed. “And I think a certain newspaper editor might be pleased to have them nearby, too.”

The suggestion brought a wistful expression to Mrs. Clayton’s face. “Ford seems to be a fine young man. Emma could do worse. Of course, every time they’re together for five minutes, they seem to end up in an argument.”

“I’ve noticed,” Gina said with amusement. “Don’t you think all of that explosive chemistry is a good thing?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Clayton said skeptically. “I haven’t seen any evidence that they have a meeting of the minds about anything at all. If Ford said the grass was
green, I think Emma would contradict him and point out every single brown patch in the lawn. I listen to the two of them and shake my head. Whatever happened to that agreeable girl we raised?”

“She grew up and became an outstanding lawyer with a passion for defending the little guy. Arguing is second nature to her. If she’d been on the debate team in high school, they would have been national champions, but back then she hated confrontation.”

“Well, that’s certainly changed, hasn’t it?” Mrs. Clayton said. “And I’m proud of all she’s accomplished, I really am. I just wish she’d give poor Ford a break every once in a while.”

Gina patted Mrs. Clayton’s hand. “She will. I predict that watching them will give Winding River more entertainment than any other courtship to come along in years.”

“I don’t know about that,” Emma’s mother said, grinning at her. “They’ll have to work for that honor. I’ve heard some absolutely fascinating things about you and that young man who followed you here from back East.”

Gina blushed, even as she insisted that she and Rafe were just friends.

“Maybe so, but if Emma and Ford were half as friendly, I’d be a happy woman,” Mrs. Clayton said, then glanced at the driveway. “There’s my wayward daughter now.”

Practically before Emma pulled to a stop in front of the house, Caitlyn tumbled out of the car. “Grandma, Grandma, how’s my pony? I gotta see him right now. I missed him soooo much. Do you think he missed me?”

Mrs. Clayton winked at Gina, then reached for Caitlyn’s hand. “Of course I do. Let’s go to the barn. I think
your grandpa’s down there with him right now. He probably already has the saddle on, so you can go for a ride.”

Caitlyn’s smile spread. “Really? Hurry, Grandma.”

Emma emerged from the car, shaking her head as the two of them went off toward the barn. “I swear that pony is all Caitlyn talked about all week. Now she’s begging me to let her stay here when I go back to Denver.”

“Why don’t you?” Gina asked. “In fact, why don’t you just pack up and move here?”

Emma’s gaze narrowed. “Okay, what has Mom been telling you? Did she put you up to this?”

“No. This is my own idea, I swear it,” Gina insisted.

“Yeah, right.” Emma sat in the rocker next to Gina’s and sighed. “That breeze feels good.” She gazed enviously at the glass of lemonade Gina was holding. “And that looks wonderful.”

Gina grinned. “If I hand it over, will you give me some free legal advice?”

“Absolutely,” Emma said, reaching eagerly for the glass. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

“This is confidential, right?”

“You’re asking as a client, then, not as a friend?”

Gina nodded.

“I don’t think a glass of lemonade would qualify as a retainer. Give me a buck. That’ll make it nice and legal.”

Gina pulled the dollar out of her pocket and gave it to her friend. Emma tucked it in her purse and grabbed a legal pad from her briefcase. “Tell me,” she said when she was ready.

“I’m in trouble,” Gina told Emma then. “I just don’t know for sure how much.”

“Start at the beginning and let’s see if we can’t get you out of trouble, then,” Emma said briskly.

As Emma took copious notes, Gina outlined the mess
Bobby had created, the financial disaster he’d left behind. “Right now my manager is juggling creditors, but some of them are bound to start getting impatient. Should I sell out and pay them what I can? Declare bankruptcy?” She regarded Emma despondently. “I hate this. I just hate it. If it were my mess, I’d take responsibility for it, but it’s not. I’m so furious with Bobby, I’d like to see him strung up by his toenails and left to die.”

“An interesting form of justice,” Emma said, clearly amused. “I don’t think the legal system has a provision for it, though.”

“Too bad.”

“Okay, here are the options I do see,” Emma said. “Depending on your partnership arrangement with Bobby, you might be able to distance yourself from the problem, but that could take some very tricky and time-consuming legal maneuvering.”

Gina shook her head. “As much as I would like to and even if it were perfectly legal, I can’t duck out on my responsibility to make things right if I can. A lot of our vendors are small businesses. I can’t just abandon them. And our investors gave us their money in good faith. I thought Bobby was paying them back with interest, but apparently they haven’t seen a dime.”

“It’s probably not as simple as filing for bankruptcy. Not with Bobby missing, but you could start the proceedings. It would buy some time to reorganize the business. Your investors and creditors would get their money on a timetable established by the court. It’s complicated, but I think at the same time you could sue Bobby for restitution of everything he stole.” Emma regarded her intently. “What are the odds he still has the money?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know if he stole it so he could go off to live on some Caribbean island or if he took it
to pay gambling debts or if he ran off with it just for kicks.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. We’ll sue just in case there’s anything left to get back. I have a friend, a classmate from law school, who’s practicing in New York. Since I haven’t passed the New York bar to be licensed there, he can handle things on that end. He’ll file the papers when we’re ready.”

Emma’s professional, no-nonsense approach gave Gina the first spark of hope she’d felt in days. “You really think we can straighten this out and save Café Tuscany?”

“Absolutely, if that’s what you really want.” She studied Gina with a penetrating look. “Is it?”

“Of course,” Gina said without hesitation. “Why would you even ask something like that?”

“Because you’re still here. Even with all this needing your immediate attention, you didn’t run straight back to New York after the reunion.”

“Because of Cassie’s mom and then Caleb,” Gina said, feeling oddly defensive.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“The funeral was weeks ago,” Emma pointed out. “Karen’s getting back on her feet. Are you ready to go back to New York?”

When Gina started to respond, Emma held up her hand. “You don’t have to answer me now. Think about it. Something is keeping you here. Could be it’s nothing more than a delaying tactic, because you haven’t wanted to face what’s going on in New York. But that’s not like you. It could be that you’re feeling the same pull that Cassie felt, the same pull that Lauren mentions from time to time.”

“And you?” Gina asked. “Are you feeling it, too, Emma?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. “Just a little. Being here is good for Caitlyn. I can’t deny that. And Denver is a rat race for me, no question about it.”

“Then you have been thinking about staying,” Gina concluded.

“Not thinking about it, not consciously, anyway. But the possibility is just there. I can’t ignore it forever,” she said with a sigh, then shook her head. “But we’re talking about you now. I just want you to be sure you understand why you’ve stayed here, rather than go back to New York to kick butt and settle all of this weeks ago.
That’s
what I would have expected you to do.”

“Are you saying I’ve been acting like a coward?”

“I’m not making any judgments. You have to figure out what you really want before you make a final decision about how you want me to handle this.”

Gina nodded. “You’re right. I’ll think about it and I’ll call you before you head back to Denver.”

“Take your time. I’m actually thinking about sticking around all week.”

“Oh, really? Does Ford Hamilton have anything to do with that?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Emma snapped impatiently. “It’s for Caitlyn. And because this case of Sue Ellen’s I’m working on is getting closer to trial. I have witnesses to depose and a ton of last-minute details to handle right here.”

Gina grinned. “Whatever you say.”

“That’s the truth.”

“Maybe you should do some thinking over the weekend, too,” Gina teased. “Maybe I’m not the only one whose feelings are ambivalent these days.”

Emma scowled at her. “Keep it up and I’ll charge you my regular fee.”

Gina shuddered. “Then I really would go bankrupt.” She bent down and kissed Emma’s cheek. “Thanks, sweetie. I’ll call you.”

Emma waved, then called out just as Gina was about to get in her car. “By the way, one piece of advice for right now—steer clear of Rafe. No matter what he says about being after Bobby, not you, you can’t trust him. From now on he needs to go through me.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Gina told her, thinking of the way her relationship with Rafe was progressing and just how badly she wanted it to wind up in bed.

“Why not?”

“Because we’re just a little bit beyond needing an intermediary.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you’re not sleeping with him.”

“I’m not sleeping with him,” Gina told her solemnly. “More’s the pity. But I’m definitely hoping that will change.”

“Are you nuts?” Emma demanded.

“Nope. For the first time in a long time, I’m finally going after something I want. I’m paying some attention to my personal life.”

“Do you want Rafe more than you want Café Tuscany? Because that’s what this could come down to,” Emma warned.

Her vehemence took Gina by surprise, but it didn’t scare her the way Emma had obviously intended it to. That was just one more thing she was going to have to think about over the weekend.

Rafe was hunkered down in his room going through a pile of papers that Lydia had faxed to him just that morning. It seemed he was destined to run his law practice from a Winding River hotel for the foreseeable future. He was so caught up in his work that the pounding on his door startled him. Finding Emma Rogers on his doorstep startled him even more.

“This is a surprise,” he said.