Embracing Danger (6 page)

He emptied the bag while she pulled plates and silverware from cabinets and drawers. “I doubt you’ll get fat from one hearty breakfast.”

“I don’t burn calories like I used to.”

Stealing glances at him, Arden poured two glasses of water before settling in at the table. He was dressed casually today in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt that showed off why women in six counties couldn’t keep their panties on when he turned on the charm.

She’d been one of them once.

“No one does, princess. It’s all part of the aging process.”

Shane sat across from her and dug into his food, paying little attention to her, which was fine. He’d filled her plate and she found herself eating most of it, her appetite sharp despite all the turmoil she’d been through in the last twenty-four hours. She’d thought the silence would be filled with tension but it was surprisingly comfortable. This wasn’t the first meal they’d shared and Shane had never been much of a talker when he was filling his belly.

When she couldn’t eat another bite, she set her fork down on the plate. “What do you want to talk about? Have you learned anything about where Dad went?”

“No, but I’ve got Jason and his men doing some digging into your father’s business dealings.” Shane pushed his plate away and wrapped his hands around his glass. “If we have any hope at all of making this partnership of sorts work then we need to set down some ground rules. Otherwise one or both of us are going to end up saying something we regret. I don’t want to argue with you about the past.”

“What kind of ground rules did you have in mind?”

“We leave the past where it is and start fresh. Try to be friends or at least two people who don’t hate each other.”

It sounded tempting and too good to be true. She didn’t want them to have that kind of animosity between them.

“You won’t bring up that summer?”

His eyebrows lifted and the corner of his lips turned up in a smile. “What summer?”

Smirking asshole.

“And this is a peace treaty?” she pressed. “No throwing the past in my face?”

“Not now.” He leaned forward in his chair and she caught a whiff of his body wash mixed with his own masculine scent. Her bare toes curled against the cold tile as a shiver ran down her spine. “But after we find your father it will be a different story. We’ll have it out then and I’ll want the truth, Arden. You owe me an explanation as to why you left without a word and I think it’s time you gave it to me. Until then though we’re the best of friends. Deal?”

She did owe him. Dammit.

“Deal. When does this friendship start?”

“Why, it already has, princess. I brought you breakfast, didn’t I?”

“I suppose I’m doing the dishes?”

She was pleased and surprised that she managed to keep her tone light-hearted.

“I think it’s only fair.” He stood and refilled his glass, leaning a hip against the counter. “Now let’s get down to business, shall we? I need to know everything you know about your dad’s life. No detail is too small or too off the wall. Anything might tell us where he might have gone.”

She opened her mouth to answer but then closed it, realizing she didn’t know all that much about her own father. He’d made a point not to expose her to his business dealings and only superficially to his personal relationships.

“I don’t know much.”

“You know more than you think you do. Let’s start with recent events. Tell me anyone you know he’s talked to since you’ve been home, whether on the phone or in person.” Shane dug his cell out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons before laying it on the table. “If you don’t mind I’ll record this.”

Arden had been home less than a month so this first exercise wasn’t too bad. “On my first day home, he was in the office with Sheldon Court. I think he’s in construction or something but I don’t know what they were talking about. He stayed for about an hour and then left.”

“Good girl. This is exactly what I need. Keep going.”

She shouldn’t have this warm feeling inside from simply being praised but then it had always been like that. She’d glowed under his approval, blossoming under his tender loving care and attention.

She couldn’t help the small pinch of longing to feel that way again.

‡

B
y Thursday night,
Arden was exhausted and more worried than ever. She hadn’t heard a word from her father and according to the police he hadn’t used any of his credit cards or his cell phone. Every passing day with the same deafening silence only made things worse.

So she’d been thrilled when Shane told her he had the background check from Jason’s firm. It felt like they were spinning their wheels with no new information and her nerves were stretched thin. She wanted something – anything – to happen.

Which was why she was knocking on his front door after school was done for the day. She’d been waiting since lunch time when she’d seen his text and patience had never been her strong suit.

The door swung open and Shane stood on the other side looking too handsome for words. They’d spent every single evening together this week going over the smallest of details she could remember about her father, so she ought to be used to how sexy and masculine he looked. He’d matured into a gorgeous man.

A nice one too.

Once they’d put aside the past and decided to be friends their time together had been rather easy and jovial. His sense of humor was still as wicked, and coupled with his keen intelligence he could make her laugh at will.

“Come on in. You look cold.”

“That’s because I am cold. It’s freezing out there today. I’d forgotten how early it gets cold here at home.”

Toeing off her boots, she hung her coat on the peg next to the door before joining him in front of the fireplace.

“Are you hungry?”

Shaking her head, she held her frozen hands closer to the flames, sighing as the heat penetrated her cold bones. “Not right now. Honestly I want to hear what they dug up.”

Shane’s expression had been bland so far, giving away nothing, but then he would have been an excellent poker player.

The asshole.

“Can I get you a drink?”

He’d tipped his hand just a little.

“You said we needed to meet but you don’t seem to want to talk. Shane, that worries me.”

He picked up a folder from the coffee table and sat down on the couch. “I know that you and I have been talking about your father all week, and I know that you are aware that your father’s business dealings are at best unethical and at worst possibly illegal. I assume you’ve made your peace with that.”

If he thought he was going to shock her with a story about bribes or under the table deals he was sadly mistaken. “I have, and for all he’s done he is still my father. I can love him for how he took care of me after my mother died but not condone the way he has lived his life otherwise. You’re not going to send me into a fainting spell. I know what my father is, Shane.”

He opened the file and laid it flat on the table, his fingertips making circles on the pages, and his gaze deliberately averted. Finally, he looked her in the eye and picked up a photo, handing it to her.

“Do you know who this is? Does he look familiar?”

It was a picture of her father but…not her father. This man was a few pounds heavier with more gray hair.

“I don’t understand. Who is this?”

She studied the picture, trying to see all the differences between this man and Ben Cavendish and ended up seeing all the similarities.

“It’s your father’s brother, David Hollis. Are you sure you’ve never seen him before?”

Frowning, she shook her head in confusion. “My father doesn’t have a brother. He was an orphan. His parents were killed by a drunk driver and he lived in and out of foster homes until he was eighteen.”

The man did
look
like Ben Cavendish, but they say that everyone has a twin somewhere.

Shane snorted but didn’t laugh. Clearly, what he had to say he didn’t think was funny. “Of course he’d tell you some heroic tale of pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Your father does have a brother though. He came from a rather wealthy family actually and went to the best schools. His parents did pass away but from cancer and heart disease, and only after he was an adult.”

Arden’s hand shook as she looked at the photo again. “I really have an uncle? Relatives?”

Her entire life she’d been brought up to believe she and her father and grandmother were alone in the world. Raising her gaze back to Shane, she could see the battle he was fighting within himself. There was more and she wasn’t going to like it. Setting the photo back down, she took a deep breath to slow her racing heart.

“I have a feeling that old saying about the truth hurting is going to apply, isn’t it? The best way to remove a bandage is to rip it off, so you might as well just spill it. I can take it. I promise.”

His brows were pulled down with concern and she almost reached up to smooth away the lines in his forehead. “You need to sit down. It’s a long story, honey.”

Arden sank into the cushions on the couch next to Shane, needing his strength at this moment and suddenly exceedingly glad that he’d promised to be her friend. She had a feeling she was going to need one before this day was over.

*     *     *

If Shane had
had any idea what Jason’s team was going to dig up he never would have agreed to help Arden. After reading the information, Shane had wanted to punch Ben Cavendish right in the mouth. He’d lied to his daughter for so long and about so many things, Shane doubted the man knew what the truth was anymore, if he ever had. Honesty had never been a hallmark of Cavendish’s business ventures.

“Let’s start with your name.” Shane cleared his throat, unsure as to how he should proceed. He wished he didn’t care quite so much right about now. “Ben was born Benjamin Hollis in Hemingdale, Indiana. He legally changed it later when he moved to Tremont. I think you would have been about eighteen months old.”

He watched as she took in the tidbit of information, obviously curious as to what it meant. He’d started here because where the story truly began was going to cause tears and heartache.

“Hollis.” She seemed to be trying the name out for size. “Okay, he changed his name and didn’t tell me about his family. Is he an outcast? Did they disown him?”

His sweet Arden. She was desperately trying to make her father some kind of hero in this scenario and in a way he probably was. Although he’d lied to his only daughter, he’d never shirked from his duties as a parent.

“They didn’t disown him. He left after your mother died.”

Another frown. “Mother died here in Tremont. Her grave is in the church cemetery.”

Shit, Shane hated what he had to do.

“Your mother’s grave is in Hemingdale, a little town just outside of Indianapolis.” He pulled the death certificate from the file and held it out to her. “From what they could find out, your father paid for an empty grave in the local cemetery for the woman that you would know as Susannah Cavendish, but she died with the name Susannah Hollis.”

Her shaking fingers pushed back her curls from her face and he couldn’t stop himself from capturing that hand and holding it in his. The least he could do was be there for her because she sure as hell was going to need someone by the time he was done.

She squeezed his hand as if in thanks. “Holy hell, he went to all that trouble? He created a fake grave? What the hell is wrong with him? Why didn’t he tell me the truth?”

“Probably because the truth was ugly.” The discarded death certificate sat on her thigh and he reached for it, bracing himself for her reaction. “You told me your mother died of leukemia but that’s not what the investigation showed. According to the newspaper reports and the death certificate, your mother was shot in her own home.”

‡