The Best Man (18 page)

Kate’s breath shuddered. Were her feelings for Luke so apparent this stranger could see? Was she ignoring her goals in the midst of her newfound feelings for Luke? Kate angled her chin high.

She would not allow emotions that made her weak. She had done that once…nom make that, twice. Longing for her father’s respect made her curb her instincts and bend to his will. And the results? Joel was made partner, not her.

And that happened after Joel charmed her into thinking he loved her. He loved power. And out-witting opponents. But he’d never loved her.

Two rejections that still stung
.

But even then, had she learned her lesson? Hadn’t she nearly died because Joel listed her as dead instead of missing? Yet, here she was, courting more rejections, because she couldn’t forget the night spent in Luke’s arms.

Truth was, she didn’t want to forget. Luke’s touch had been magic. Her response had been amazing. Luke touched a part of her that no man had ever reached. He had the power to break her heart if she wasn’t careful. But she had a plan. She would achieve her goal, prove to herself and Luke that she was his equal. And then…she would tell him she loved him.

She sent the woman a stern look. “Forget him.” Even this woman who had been abused by a man, could appreciate Luke. What chance did Kate have of protecting her own heart? “Let’s get back to your case.”

Five minutes later, the director ushered another resident of the Center into the room. Kate tried not to stare as Luke stood and shook hands with a frail woman. Their exchange was a repeat of her first contact with the woman sitting across from her now.

The director left. Luke sat with the woman across the table from him. Their actions gave every indication of client and attorney. Kate shook her head to clear away confusion, and forced her attention to her client. But questions raced around her head. Was Luke volunteering at the Crisis Center, now?

Why?

Did he agree with her suggestion that the firm should offer to help those less fortunate? Did he think he could keep an eye on her if he volunteered here? Was she losing her mind, even considering that he cared enough to give up his Monday night to offer legal services to battered women?

An hour and a half later, Kate said good night to her client. As she sorted through the piles of forms on the table, she caught sight of Luke’s client leaving the room as well. He was efficient. She would hand that to him. She had been here thirty minutes before he arrived, and they had finished at the same time. Interesting.

But not amazing. If she deducted the minutes she spent speculating about Luke and staring at his back, she could have finished earlier. Considering the distraction, it was amazing that she finished at all. And her client hadn’t made any more comments about Luke.

It was all her, Kate sighed.

“Tired?” Luke had crossed the room while she stacked papers.

Kate looked up. Luke was over six feet four. That’s one of the first things she had noticed about him. With his height and the width of his shoulders, Luke made clothes look good.

Now, a half grin played across his amazing lips as his intense gaze fastened on her face. She had to answer him, but all she wanted to do was jump into his arms. “Yes, aren’t you?”

“Feel like going for a cup of coffee?” Luke held up a hand when her mouth opened.

Kate shook her head in amazement, wondering how he always knew when she was going to disagree with him. The need to spend time with him, and prove he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did, changed her answer. “Sure, sounds good.”

“The way you were shaking your head, I though you were going to say no.”

Kate made a face. “I’m amazed that you think you can read my mind.”

“I can,” Luke’s soft words accompanied his half grin. “I’m sure you intended to say no.”

Kate picked up her briefcase and grinned. “Then maybe you can’t read my mind as well as you thought.”

Thank goodness.

Luke mumbled as he followed her to the door.

Kate turned, pushing the door handle with her backside. “Did you say something?”

Luke lifted a questioning brow. “You choose the place.”

Kate stepped out into the black night. Only the dim light over the door kept the darkness at bay. One of her first questions, after meeting the director, had been why they didn’t have more safety lighting.

The director pointed out the need to keep a low profile in the community. Her answer hadn’t convinced Kate that it was the safest choice, but she understood the words.

Looking at Luke in the dark shadows, she felt a moment of relief, realizing he couldn’t see her face, either. “Um...I thought you said, “I wish”. Feeling brave in the poor lighting, she sent him a teasing glance. “Do you want to read my mind, Luke?”

Luke chuckled. “Would I understand you any better, if I could?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Kate laughed. “I think women like to feel mysterious. Don’t you?” This was a side of Luke she wanted to know better, the Luke that relaxed enough to show his real feelings. The side of him she missed since she moved out of his apartment.

“Trust me, Kate, you have perfected mysterious.”

***

“Luke’s volunteering at the Crisis Center, too?”

Joel’s bellow sounded through Kate’s office door the next morning as she sat at her desk. Laurel’s must be passing on the news, after typing up notes on Luke’s client from the previous night. From the sound of it, Joel was ready to split a gasket.

Two seconds later, her door banged against the wall as Joel bolted through. “Am I the only one in this firm concerned with making a profit?”

“Money isn’t everything, Joel.” Kate propped her chin on her palm as she studied him. His suit had cost more than some used cars. It wasn’t a guess. While they were married, she had seen the credit card bills. Funny, on Joel the suit held no distinction. Now, on Luke’s tall frame that suit would look like a million…

“That’s been your attitude ever since you came back from vacation.”

“Vacation?” Kate slammed her hand on the desk with a resounding slap against the solid wood. “Is that what you call what I went through? A VACATION?”

Color raced to his cheeks. “We called it a vacation at the time.” Joel’s face settled in the stubborn look of a spoiled child that she had come to know well during their marriage.

“Being washed away by a gigantic wave, with no food, no clothing and,” Kate stalled to take a deep breath. If she used her head she wouldn’t let him needle her. But this time, he had gone too far. “And left stranded by the husband I thought I could trust with my life…does not sound like a vacation to me.”

“Awe, Kate, we need to put that behind us.” Joel’s tone wheedled. His face turned deeper red.

Kate crossed her hands on the desk to control their trembling. She knew better than to fall into Joel’s traps, but he had hit a tender nerve. Still, she was determined to let go the past and start over. Her goal rested in her hands, she saw that now. Funny, the years she wasted on Joel, and she had never learned that lesson.

It had taken a major disaster and his desertion, to show her that she was in charge of her own destiny. Not Joel, not her mother, or even the father she tried hard to impress, just Kate.

It was a scary proposition. Look at all the mistakes she’d made.

She’d clung to the need to put on the perfect face since childhood. Her father was dead. It was too late to connect with him. But she wondered if things might have been different if she had been brave enough to tell him how she felt.

She certainly couldn’t judge her life by her involvement with Joel. He had usurped every opportunity to insert himself between her and her father, while declaring his undying love and promising children he never intended to have.

Kate took a shuddering breath. But Joel had a good point. If she wanted to change things in the future, she needed to take a stand, now. She inhaled a deep breath.

“You’re right, Joel.” If she hadn’t been so intent on her goal, Kate would have laughed at the surprised look on his face. “It’s time I apologized to you…and to Laurel.” Kate looked past Joel at the woman hovering in the doorway. “I never intended to mess up your lives.” She cleared emotion from her voice and stared her former husband in the eye. “I didn’t know it was your wedding day when I arrived back in the states. Then I arrived home and couldn’t find anyone, the neighbor told me you were getting married. I felt I had to act. I just wanted you to know I was alive…to save legal complications. I never meant you any harm.”

“Oh, Kate!” Laurel pushed past Joel to lean on the desk. “We knew that. It’s just…it was such a shock, you know?” Blinking, she turned a swift glance on Joel. “We were thrilled to see that you were alive…the timing was off…that’s all.”

“I hope you’ll forgive my interruption, Laurel.”

“Yes, of course we will. As a matter of fact—”

“What she trying to say,” Joel interrupted as he stepped to Laurel’s side and put his arm around her shoulders. “Is the divorce papers arrived last week. We went back to the church and had the minister marry us.”

Kate’s mouth dropped open. “You’re married?”

Laurel nodded. A big smile covered her face. “Yes, it was so romantic. The church was quiet. The sun sparkled through the stained glass windows. The flowers from the Sunday service were so beautiful. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ceremony. It was just us…the two people that mattered most.” Laurel leaned against Joel’s side. “And our witnesses, of course.”

Luke? He had known this all the time?

Kate fought the urge to laugh and cry at the same time. And fought the cloud of betrayal fogging her brain. Even if Luke had known, his usual courtesy wouldn’t allow him to blurt the new bride’s news.

“Well, good for you. I felt guilty about barging in on the other ceremony the way I did. But when the neighbor said Joel was getting married, I couldn’t let him committed to another bride when I was alive.” Kate swallowed. “I didn’t know he had already applied for a divorce.”

“We kept the marriage quiet to avoid the media, Kate. But...about the other issue...I did register you as dead.”

“You what?” Kate stared at Joel, the man she had once thought she loved. But it hadn’t lasted. She’d admitted the truth to herself while she was still stranded on that island, so feeling betrayed by this latest news made no sense.

“I didn’t have to wait the usual seven years because authorities agreed on the extent of the disaster.”

Kate stared at him. She’d married Joel for all the wrong reasons, to make her father happy, to fulfill her need to belong, to feel loved. But  looking at the obvious love between the couple standing on the other side of her desk, she realized she and Joel had both made bad decisions. They’d married for the wrong reasons. It was time to make things right.

“Congratulations! I hope you’ll both be very happy.”

“You sound as if you really mean that.”

Laurel jabbed Joel with her elbow. “Of course she means it, honey. You know Kate doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. I keep telling you that.”

“I do mean it, Joel. You and Laurel deserve happiness.” Kate swallowed back the emotions threatening to clog her throat. “After that tsunami, we’re both lucky to be alive. We need to make the most of our second chance at life. And those records registering me as dead can be changed.”

“Enough of this emotional jargon,” Joel’s voice cracked. Kate heard the emotion in his voice and liked him more than she had in a long time, and definitely more than when they had been married. “We need to get this firm back on track.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Luke said from the door.

Kate gave a start, not realizing Luke was standing in her doorway. “We were just—”

“Making up,” Luke’s eyes were cool as he looked from one to the other. “I heard.”

Kate smothered a gasp. Why was Luke reacting this way? Surely, he didn’t think… “Did you know Laurel and Joel are legally married?”

Expressions chased across Luke’s face. He glanced at the couple, and then studied Kate. His brow smoothed out as he noted her calm expression. “I didn’t know.” His surprise registered in his voice. He turned back to the couple, and offered his hand. “Congratulations!”

After bringing Luke up to date on the details of their wedding, Joel returned to his earlier topic. “I was just telling Kate I think we need a new business plan.”

Luke lifted a dark brow, but said nothing.

Laurel gave a nervous giggle and ducked out of the room. Kate studied the two men standing on the opposite side of her desk. One with blond hair, the other, taller and dark, they couldn’t be more different.

How had she thought she was in love with one, when she hadn’t managed to get the other out of her head since they made love? Actually, Luke had been on her mind longer than that. From her first days of working at the firm, she had been attracted to Luke. What had happened? How had she lost focus of her response to him?

“I’m listening,” Luke settled in the usual chair, “I hope you have some good ideas.”

Kate caught his fleeting glance and wondered what he was up to now. He didn’t usually encourage Joel. What was she missing?