Lost and Found (8 page)

Ed nodded. “You’re very wise when it
comes to people.”

“
I think I get that from my
father. Doctors observe. He liked to watch people. He sees good in
everyone, even those who aren’t. But he’d like you. You’re a
hardworking man who takes care of what’s his—like your family.” And
as soon as she’d said it, she realized she’d been included in that
bundle.

Ed wiped his hands on a napkin, which
had been included in the bag of food. “My Uncle Curtis is a doctor.
He’s a lot like Christian—carefree. He sees things in people
though, just like you said your dad does. I suppose that’s how he
ended up with Aunt Simone. He saw past the oil heiress, even when
she didn’t.”

“
So this fundraiser. What
kind of organization does your aunt run?”

Ed smiled wide. “It’s
called the
Diamond Gift.”
He pulled from his beer and continued. “When she
first came to live in America full time, she had been cut off from
her father. My uncle’s friend got her a job at a clinic.” He
laughed. “Now, when I say she was an oil heiress…I mean lot, stock,
and barrel. Diamonds, clothes, cars…you name it. She was a
princess. So, when her dad kicked her to the curb, she had to find
a job and learn to work.”

“
Why would her father do
something like that?”

The grin was back, and she noticed he
had a little dimple in his cheek when the grin kept a secret behind
it. “She was pregnant.”

“
Oh. And that was
unacceptable.”

He shrugged. “I guess when you’ve
gotten in trouble with some common person.”

“
Your family is anything
but common, by the way.”

There was a gleam in his eyes. “I
know.”

“
Anyway…the
organization.”

He took a bite of his rib and washed
it down with his beer. “One day there was this woman who was in the
clinic. Her roommate was filling up the woman’s bag with diapers
and formula for her kid. She’d been abused by her husband numerous
times, and the people at the clinic would keep her there until they
had to release her. But they took care of her. Anyway, Simone had a
moment of clarity, I guess, and she took off her enormous diamond
earrings and gave them to the woman to pawn. It would give her
enough money to get away from her husband for at least a few days
and maybe get some help.”

“
And the woman…”

“
Kissed her and thanked her
and is now the Vice President of the organization.”

“
You’re kidding
me?”

“
Nope. She pawned the
earrings and found a shelter. With that one gift of good fortune,
given to her by Simone, who until that day was all about herself,
she was able to help herself. So that’s what the organization is
about. Helping women get on their feet and away from those holding
them back.”

“
That’s
wonderful.”

“
They’ve had some amazing
successes. But with every success, there are a few
failures.”

“
Someone who takes their
generosity and takes advantage of it.”

He shrugged again. “Or who goes back
to an abusive relationship and ends up dead.”

The blood drained from her head, and
she searched for a napkin before he could see the tears form in her
eyes. “That’s horrible.”

“
It’s reality.” He pushed
his plate away. “I don’t understand why women get into those kinds
of relationships, but even my Aunt Regan was in one before she
married Uncle Zach. The man tried to kill her.”

Darcy shook her head. “I don’t
understand either.”

Ed blew out a long breath. “I suppose
I should head out.” He stood from the table, and Darcy
followed.

“
Thank you for
dinner—again.”

“
Maybe someday we can do
better than ribs.”

“
Maybe in a few weeks I can
take you out to dinner.” The moment the words were out of her
mouth, she regretted them. This was her boss. She couldn’t be
asking him out to dinner.

He only nodded, which made her feel
incredibly small.

Ed walked to the door and pulled it
open. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Yes, you will.”

There was an odd silence that fell
between them. That kind of silence that was usually filled with a
hug—or a kiss.

Darcy gripped the door handle as Ed
stood in the dark stairwell.

“
Well, goodnight,” his
voice was soft.

“
Goodnight.” Hers was on
the edge of breathless.

Ed lingered his stare a moment longer
and finally turned and hurried up the stairs.

Darcy shut the door and locked it
before leaning her back up against it. She seriously needed to reel
in her feelings for this man. In that moment between them, she
could have made a complete fool of herself and wrapped him up in
her arms and smothered him with kisses.

Just the thought of it had her sliding
down the door and sitting on the floor.

She looked around at the fully
furnished apartment.

What had she fallen into?

What kind of family gives so
freely?

She tucked her lips in between her
teeth and bit down to keep them from trembling. It was very
possible this family would lead her to the information she’d come
to Tennessee for. She was now deeply embedded in the Benson,
Benson, and Hart organization—but it was going to come at a
cost.

One wrong move and she’d not only lose
her job, but Ed was becoming very important to her.

She’d met a handful of his
family already, and she was embraced by them. What if the rest of
the family didn’t like her? What if they
did
like her, but found out she was
going to use Ed to find her birth parents? What if her birth
parents were horrible people, and the reason she was led to Benson,
Benson, and Hart was because of something bad they did and not
because they just worked there?

It wasn’t supposed to matter. She was
just looking for information. But now…now it was
personal.

A bead of sweat rolled down the back
of Darcy’s neck. Perhaps she’d better quickly decide which was more
important—finding her birth parents or the feelings she was
fighting over Ed Keller.

Ed sank down onto his couch and sat in
the dark. There was no reason, not a one, for him to have gone over
to Darcy’s tonight. But he’d shown up anyhow. Brought food. And
then he’d accused her of doing things with his own
brother.

He scrubbed his hands over his
face.

It really didn’t matter. Christian
could ask her to marry her, and they could run off tomorrow—that
should be fine. But it wasn’t.

There was something about Darcy McCary
that had Ed out of sorts, and nothing did that to
him—nothing.

It was just circumstantial. It had
been a strange week. There had been delays. And no matter how
useful and good she was, Darcy was still a new employee and had
needed to be trained. He’d needed someone steady to run his office
for a long time, and there she was.

He’d admit, though only to himself,
even though her resume was impressive, he’d given her the job
because he’d felt sorry for her. His whole life he’d had family to
pull him out of any situation he’d ever been in. It was obvious
Darcy didn’t have that. It was a benefit that she was an amazing
assistant. He’d been more productive in the few days that she’d run
his office than he had been in a very long time.

It could be her organization, but he
knew there was more.

She took care of him, and he’d been
looking for someone to do that for a very long time.

The lights from a passing car
illuminated the living room, but then it was dark again. Ed looked
at his watch. It was getting late and he’d wanted to be in the
office early tomorrow, but he couldn’t shut down his
mind.

He stood and walked up the stairs to
his bedroom.

The bed was still unmade, and there
was a pile of clothes on the floor in front of the hamper. With a
huff, he picked up the clothes and threw them in the empty
basket.

This wasn’t the kind of keeping he’d
needed. He knew that, so why was it so important to make sure Darcy
was taken care of so she could take care of him?

Ed kicked off his shoes and pulled off
his pants. His office keys fell from the pocket and clanked on the
floor. That had been one reason he’d gone to her house, he thought
as he bent to pick up the keys. He’d made her a set.

He looked at his watch again. It was
much too late to go back over there. This was just something that
was going to have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, Ed needed to
get some rest. Preparation would start tomorrow on a proposal that
could be big for BBH. It would be good to have Darcy by his side on
this.

Ed shook his head. No, it would be
good to get a decent night sleep and stop obsessing over his new
assistant.

Ed looked up from his desk as his
uncle walked through the door.

“
Your assistant’s desk is
very tidy,” he said on a laugh as he crossed the room and sat in a
chair in front of Ed’s desk.

“
She’s very efficient.
Thank goodness.”

“
Heard you ran her over in
a Starbucks.”

Ed shook his head. “She ran into me.
My luck.”

“
I suppose so.” Zach looked
down at his phone and grinned. “Had a woman fall into my lap on a
bus once. Just my luck.”

Ed leaned back in his chair and
crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that why you’re in here?
You’ve come to tease me over the similarities?”

Zach chuckled. “It’s just funny how
things happen.”

“
I suppose.”

It was then he could hear the familiar
noise of the desk drawer opening just beyond his office door. A
moment later, he could smell her perfume.

“
Darcy?” he called out.
“Come on in here when you get a moment.”

Zach leaned in toward the desk and
whispered, “You sound bossy.”

Ed let out a groan when his uncle
laughed under his breath and sat back in his chair.

A moment later, Darcy walked through
the door, a legal notepad already in her hand—just in
case.

“
Darcy, I wanted you to
meet my Uncle Zach.”

Darcy walked fully into the office as
Zach stood up and turned to meet her.

She held out her hand. “It’s a
pleasure to meet you, sir.”

But Zach’s reaction wasn’t what Ed had
expected. He’d expected professional. He’d expected an easy smile,
a joke, a comforting word to her at Ed’s expense.

Zach’s mouth had actually fallen open
as he shook the woman’s hand. “Darcy, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve
heard a lot about you.”

“
Likewise. I’ve met a great
deal of your family already, and I just want to thank you all for
your generosity.”

Zach nodded, still keeping Darcy’s
hand in his.

She glanced at Ed and then back to
Zach. “Is everything okay? I didn’t interrupt, did I?”

Zach shook his head. “No. Not at all.”
His voice had lightened. “It’s just that you look so familiar to
me. Where are you from?”

“
Kentucky. I just came to
Nashville a few weeks ago to try out the big city.”

“
Well, I’m glad you’re here
to take care of this slob.” Now that was more like it, Ed
thought.

“
He doesn’t give me too
much trouble.”

Zach leaned in closer to her. “Yet.
But my money is on you.”

Ed stood from his seat. “Okay, I’m
sure you have a meeting to get ready for, and I have to prep Darcy
for it.”

Zach laughed and finally let go of
Darcy’s hand. “I’ll see you in the conference room in an
hour.”

Zach walked out of the office,
whistling a tune.

Ed wrinkled up his nose. “Sorry. I
don’t know what came over him.”

“
No worries. So tell me
about this meeting.”

Darcy listened as Ed went over what
would happen in the meeting they were headed to, but her mind kept
wandering to Zach’s reaction when he’d seen her. It might have been
a genuine reaction of mistaken identity, but then again, maybe it
wasn’t.

Zach was an original fixture at BBH.
He’d have known everyone that came through the door. Even if it had
been before he’d taken over, he was still ingrained in the makings
of the company.

Uncle Zach was about to become Darcy’s
best friend.

Darcy had been briefed on the meeting
they were about to attend. It was the first time she’d seen Charlie
since she started, and it gave her some satisfaction to see the
busty blonde take the cold shoulder from Ed. With the exception of
Zach Benson, the other men were having a hard time
focusing.

The meeting had already started when
another woman walked through the door, quietly as if not to
disrupt. She carried a notebook and tucked herself into a chair at
the right of Zach.