To Catch a Thief (17 page)

“Whatever you say.”

Flynn led the way across the deck, which was crowded with vacationers escaping the oncoming winter in the States. Soothed by bright sun and fancy rum drinks, many of them were half-asleep and oblivious to the sudden tension at the bar when Flynn made the introductions.

Once again surprising Rafe, Bobby looked more disappointed than fearful upon hearing his name. His expression lent credence to Rafe’s theory that he was down here hoping that Gina would be the one to follow him.

“Expecting someone else?” Rafe inquired lightly. “Gina, perhaps?”

Bobby sighed heavily. “What did you do? Forbid her to come, so that you could be her knight in shining armor?”

“She doesn’t know I’m here,” Rafe said.

“Why not?”

“I wanted to clarify a few things before I filled her in.” He gave Bobby a pointed look. “Or before you did that yourself.”

“I’m not going back,” Bobby said.

“There’s a return ticket in your room that suggests otherwise,” Flynn said.

Bobby frowned at him. “You searched my room?”

“Of course,” Flynn said. “I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I hadn’t.”

“You lousy, no-good creep,” Bobby muttered, but without much venom. He seemed to have lost his enthusiasm for the game.

“Let’s stay focused,” Rafe suggested. “First question, why did you take that money?”

“Because I wanted it,” Bobby said at once. “Why does anyone steal? Because they want something or they need it or just for the thrill of it.”

“Really? You didn’t do a very good job of covering your tracks. The payments to you were right on the books, but you counted on Gina not seeing them, at least not until after you’d taken off, right? So, I have a theory.”

“Do share it,” Bobby said sarcastically.

“You’re in love with Gina,” Rafe speculated, keeping his gaze fixed on Rinaldi’s face. Sure enough there was a flicker of surprise in his eyes. He went on. “She wasn’t interested in you. Now that the restaurant is doing so well, she doesn’t even need you the way she once did. This was a way to get her to pay attention.”

“If that was my plan, it certainly was a bust, wasn’t it?” Bobby said, not quite admitting to it.

“Because she doesn’t love you, except as a friend.” Rafe regarded him with a surprising burst of compassion. “She does care about you, though. She was devastated by your betrayal. For weeks she tried to convince herself that you hadn’t meant to ruin the business, to ruin her. She wouldn’t lift a finger to help me nail you.”

Bobby seemed surprised by that. “She wouldn’t?”

“Not at first. One of the most amazing things about
Gina is her sense of loyalty. As time has passed, she has transferred that loyalty to the people you bilked out of money. Every single one of them will be paid back, no matter what it takes. She’s committed to that, but she won’t run to you to get the money. Her days of trusting you are over, Rinaldi. If your plan was to get her to need you, it backfired. She’s found other people to count on.”

“Like you,” Bobby said with a sneer.

“I’m one of them, but there are lots more. It seems to me if you really care about her, though, you’ll go back, return the money and keep her from having to struggle for months or even years to make it all right.”

Bobby stared at him, first with defiance, then eventually in defeat. “What the hell?” he said at last. “I was getting sick of all this sunshine, anyway.”

Rafe nodded. “Think of it this way. You’ll be giving Gina the best Christmas present you could possibly give her, one she’s not likely to forget.”

G
ina could no longer avoid her parents. They had been in the restaurant several times, asking questions, regarding her with undisguised worry. Each and every time, she had been busy enough to avoid responding to the interrogation. But on Thanksgiving Day, she knew that her time had run out.

“For once, you just sit there and let me cook,” her mother commanded the minute Gina entered the kitchen. “I can certainly fix a turkey and stuffing. I’ve been doing it for years.”

“I don’t mind helping,” Gina protested.

“I know that, but you need a break. You’re working too hard trying to avoid making some tough decisions. At least that’s the way it seems to your father and me. Are we right? Is this about Rafe or New York? Not that we aren’t delighted that you’re still here, but it’s not like you
to stay away from your business for so long, not when you spent so much time making it successful.”

“A lot’s been happening,” Gina said defensively. “First with Karen, then with Tony and Francesca. I couldn’t abandon them.”

“That’s very noble, I’m sure, but I know you, my darling girl. Tony came back on Monday. Yet you’re still here, still in that little apartment behind Nancy Garwood’s house. That tells me that you’re hiding from something.”

Gina sighed. She had never been able to keep things from her mother, which was one reason she’d been steering clear of the house so much lately.

Gina toyed with a napkin. She folded it into an elaborate swan, then unfolded it and made a simple triangle more in keeping with her mother’s table setting. The silence in the room deepened as her mother stirred the pots on the stove and waited for a reply to her question. Gina recognized that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid giving an answer.

“You know about the problem with the business,” she said. “That’s how Rafe and I met. He thought I had something to do with Bobby stealing that money. He distrusted me.”

“But you fell for him, anyway,” her mother said. “And he for you. So you got past the initial distrust and resentment.”

Gina nodded and reached for a carrot stick just to have something to hold.

“Then you’re not hiding from Rafe?”

“Actually I am, in a way.” She sighed heavily. “It’s complicated.”

“Because you’ve fallen in love with him,” her mother concluded. “And that scares you.”

The carrot stick snapped in half. Gina stared at it in
surprise, then looked at her mother with even greater shock. “You can see that?”

Her mother grinned. “Darling, you never were any good at hiding your emotions. Even your father figured this part out. What we didn’t understand was why you didn’t just admit it. It’s obvious he cares about you, too. Whatever complications there were at the beginning will resolve themselves in time.”

“I thought so, too, for a while, but he hasn’t been in touch lately. And now there’s another wrinkle. It just came up this week when Tony got back.”

“What’s that?”

“Tony asked me to go into partnership with him.” She took a deep breath, knowing that her parents were going to be delighted by the news, though they would never try to influence her decision. “He and Francesca want to spend more time in Italy. He says eventually the business would be mine, if I want to stay here.”

Just as she’d expected, her mother was wise enough not to reveal her reaction. Instead, she asked, “How do you feel about that?”

Gina permitted herself a slight grin. “I really, really want to do it. Despite all of the chaos the past few months, I’ve loved being here. Until I came back I hadn’t realized how much I missed you guys and my friends and even Winding River. I really don’t want to live in New York anymore.”

“Which brings us back to Rafe,” her mother guessed.

“Exactly.”

“There’s only one way to figure out what to do,” she told Gina. “You have to go to New York, settle things with Rafe and with Café Tuscany, then make a final decision. You can’t make such an important decision in a
vacuum, certainly not from here, when everything involved is across the country.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Gina said, reaching the same conclusion. “That is exactly what I have to do. If I can get a flight, I’ll go in the morning.”

Unfortunately, because of the holiday, she couldn’t get a flight until the middle of the following week. When she called Rafe’s office from the airport, they told her he was out of town on business and not expected back for a day or two.

“Is this Lydia?” Gina asked.

“Yes.”

“This is Gina Petrillo. When he gets back, will you tell him I’m in New York and that I’d like to see him?”

“You’re back? That’s fantastic. I know you’ll be the first person he wants to see when he gets back. I’ll tell him,” she said. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Gina wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. Since the next stop on her agenda was Café Tuscany, she put off considering Lydia’s words until later and took a cab straight from the airport to the restaurant.

When she walked through the front door, waves of pride and nostalgia washed over her. The restaurant was every bit as elegant and tasteful as she’d remembered. She had accomplished that, she and Bobby.

As she stood there basking in the good memories, Deidre stepped out of the kitchen and caught sight of her. Her eyes lit with delight. “You’re back,” she said, striding across the room to hug Gina. “I am so glad to see you. We have really missed you around here.”

“It doesn’t look like it. The place looks terrific.”

Deidre waved off the compliment. “The cleaning crew keeps it spotless. Are you here to stay?”

“We need to talk about that,” Gina said. “Can you come into the office? Is Ronnie here?”

“He’s in the kitchen. Shall I get him?”

“Do that and bring some cappuccino with you,” Gina suggested. “I need a jolt of caffeine.”

When the two of them were settled into the chairs opposite her desk in the cramped office, she announced, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while I’ve been away.”

Deidre’s face fell. “You’re going to close it down, aren’t you? You’re going to stay in Wyoming and close this place down. I knew it when you didn’t come back right away. That Tony guy you were always talking about made you an offer too good to refuse.”

“Whoa!” Gina said, chuckling at the rush of words. “You’re only half-right. I am considering the possibility of staying in Wyoming.”

Ronnie Carson, a quiet young man with a good head on his shoulders, as well as tremendous potential as a chef, studied her intently before he spoke. “But you have a plan for this place, don’t you? You’re not just going to shut the door and walk away.”

“No, but whether or not it is feasible depends on the two of you and what you want.”

As Deidre and Ronnie exchanged a look, Gina thought she caught a glimpse of something more than colleagues awaiting word on their fate. She had a feeling they had discovered each other while she was away. There was a distinct stirring of romance in the air. Maybe they’d wind up like Tony and Francesca, bound not only by love, but by working together at something they loved.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” she said. “Since you have managed to not only keep this place afloat under extremely daunting conditions, but to make it thrive, it oc
curred to me that you might be interested in taking over for me permanently.”

“You mean we’d go on running it?” Deidre asked cautiously, her expression brightening ever so slightly.

“And eventually buy it from me,” Gina said. “I’m in no rush about this. I don’t need the money for what I want to do in Wyoming, at least not right away. We could work out a price and an arrangement that would give you time to get your feet on the ground financially. That could take a while because the first thing we’d need to do is get all of the old investors paid off. But I’d say in four or five years this would be yours, if you want it. Are you interested?”

“Ohmigosh,” Deidre whispered, her gaze on Ronnie. “What do you think? Can we do it?”

He met her gaze, eyes shining, his expression serious. “Of course we can. If it’s what you want. Is it?”

She reached for his hand. “Yes. Absolutely. And you?”

A half smile tugged at his lips. “It’s the answer to a prayer.”

Gina suddenly felt completely serene. She was making the right decision. She didn’t have a single doubt about it. Not only was she making Ronnie and Deidre deliriously happy, but she was getting what she wanted, as well. Everybody would win.

The only potential blot on her happiness was Rafe’s reaction. Maybe she should have consulted him first, but this was her business, her decision. Her relief at finally having made it was astonishing. She felt as if a two-ton weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Now all she had to do was wrap up her personal affairs and wait for Rafe. It sounded so simple, but in her heart she knew there was going to be nothing simple about
telling him that she intended to move a couple of thousand miles away for good.

Over the next twenty-four hours, Gina put all of her business affairs in order. She contacted each and every vendor to explain about the forthcoming changes and to assure them that their accounts would be settled and that she hoped they would continue to do business with Deidre and Ronnie. Most of them had such high praise for the two that she was certain they were going to succeed.

She also called all of the investors with a similar message, reassuring them that despite recent difficulties their investment was not only safe but would soon be extremely profitable. Satisfied that she was leaving town with her good name intact—at least as solid as it could be under the circumstances—she left her office for what she anticipated to be the last time and went back to her apartment to finish packing.

When the doorbell rang, to her total astonishment she found not just Rafe on her doorstep, but Bobby, as well.

“I tracked down a friend of yours,” Rafe said unnecessarily. “He has something he wants to say to you before we go off to talk to the D.A. about the charges he’s facing.”

Bobby didn’t look as if he were in a particularly talkative mood, but Rafe towered over him, and his grim expression never wavered.

“I’m sorry,” Bobby said finally. “This was all a huge mistake.”

“A mistake!”

He nodded. “I got some crazy idea in my head that you would turn to me if the business were in trouble.”

Gina stared at him incredulously. “Why would you do something like that?”

Bobby remained mute, until Rafe scowled at him. “Tell her, Rinaldi. All of it. She deserves to know why you turned her life upside down.”

“Because I’m in love with you,” Bobby said in a voice that was little more than a whisper. “I have been since we met. But the only time you even looked at me was when we were pulling the business together. I wanted that back again.”

She tried to make sense of it, but she couldn’t. “You had to know I would blame you, not turn to you.”

“Like I said, I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I was sitting down in the Caymans waiting for you to come down and give me hell. It would have been better than the indifference I usually felt from you. I dated all those women, paraded them under your nose, and nothing. You didn’t care.”

“Oh, Bobby,” she whispered. She couldn’t make herself regret how this was turning out for her, but she was brokenhearted over the damage he had done not only to the business, but to the rest of his life. She looked at Rafe. “What happens now?”

“We have an appointment at the D.A.’s office. A lot depends on how much of the money he still has and pays back.”

“It’s all there,” Bobby assured her. “Every penny.”

“Then they should go easy on him,” Rafe promised. He glanced at the packing boxes and her luggage. “Running again, Gina?”

“No,” she said with certainty. “Not running away. Going home. When you get back I’ll explain.”

He nodded. “I’ll be counting on it.”

As he and Bobby went out the door, Bobby turned back. “I really am sorry. I never meant for you to be left holding the bag. I really didn’t.”

“I know,” she said quietly, and to her surprise, she really did believe that.

Rafe had had a nasty moment when he’d seen the state of Gina’s apartment. Even before she’d explained, he had known that she intended to go straight back to Wyoming. What he didn’t know was what that meant for the two of them. He had some ideas of his own, decisions he’d made over the past few weeks, but he wasn’t so sure they meshed with her plans.

When he returned to her apartment, he found her dressed in some sort of velvety robe that covered her from her shoulders to her feet. Oddly enough, it was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen her wear.

Despite the chaos in the apartment, she had a fire blazing on the gas logs. The lights were turned down low, and she’d opened a bottle of extremely expensive wine.

“Interesting,” he said as he looked around. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were out to seduce me.” A smile came and went. “Again.”

“What if I am?”

“I’d have to ask why.”

“Because I want you to know exactly what I’m feeling, exactly what I want,” she said at once.

“Sex?”

She grinned. “That, too.”

“What else?”

“You,” she said evenly. “I want you to come back to Wyoming with me. I know it’s a lot to ask, that your law practice is here, but you were happy there, once you got used to it, anyway, and I think you love me and—”

“Yes,” he said, interrupting her.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

He grinned. “If that was a proposal, the answer is yes.”

“That easy?”

“You wanted me to be difficult?”

“Well, I did have all these very persuasive arguments I was hoping to use,” she said, moving into his arms.

He lowered his head to capture her mouth. Only after she had been thoroughly kissed, did he take a step back. “By all means,” he teased, “persuade me, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m an easy mark where you’re concerned. I have been since the beginning.”

“Not since the beginning,” she argued.

“Definitely the beginning,” he insisted. “In fact, I’ve been considering a partnership of sorts with you for some time now.”