Lost and Found (3 page)

He’d been working hard since he was
fifteen, so his executive status was deserved.

He’d mentioned uncles and aunts and a
brother, so he came from a larger family, she assumed.

The truck still said Tennessee, even
if it said classy, too. Her father had an old, green Ford from the
early eighties which was his pride and joy, but dang, it was old.
She rather enjoyed a man who had a classy, yet manly
side.

Darcy turned her head and looked out
the window. There was no need to enjoy anything about this man. It
was just coincidence that the very man that ruined her suit
happened to work at the company she needed to get into.

A pang of guilt pierced her chest, and
she moved her shoulders to try and ease it. She was going to have
to use this man to help her, but he really couldn’t know. Somewhere
within the organization, someone knew something about her birth
mother. If she played her cards right, Eduardo could lead her right
to that person.

Darcy wasn’t a game player, but she
could be if there was a chance she’d win the game. And this game
was solving a mystery.

She turned to look at him. “It’s very
pretty out here.”

“
I know. I’ve traveled all
over the world, but Tennessee has its own beauty and I don’t think
I could live anywhere else.”

“
So you’ve lived here your
whole life.”

“
Yep. What about
you?”

“
I’ve lived in Kentucky my
whole life. I was born in Nashville though.”

“
Really? So your folks
lived here for a little bit?” He turned the truck down a
residential street.

“
No.” There was no need to
go into intimate details.

Eduardo pulled up in front of a small,
well-kept house. Out front, an American flag blew in the slight
breeze. She liked that—a house with a flag said home to
her.

Eduardo climbed out of the truck and
hurried to her side. He opened the door before she even realized
he’d gone around the truck.

“
Thank you.”

He held his hand up to her to help her
out. “My pleasure.”

The front door of the house opened,
and a man resembling Eduardo stepped out onto the porch. He had a
lighter complexion and a goatee, but this was obviously his
brother.

“
What, are you slacking?”
the man said as he walked down the stairs.

“
I’m working. Possible
tenant.”

Darcy climbed out of the truck as the
man walked toward them.

“
Darcy, this is my brother,
Christian,” Eduardo introduced them.

“
Nice to meet you,”
Christian said as he shook her hand.

“
Likewise.”

He watched her carefully as if he knew
her secret already, but she knew that was impossible.

“
Do I know you?” he finally
asked.

“
I’m certain you don’t. I’m
from Kentucky.”

Christian nodded. “You just look very
familiar.” He studied her for a moment longer and then turned back
to his brother. “I was just headed out. Clara needs something
lifted into place at the theater, and Tyler and I have been
volunteered.”

Eduardo laughed. “Clara is our sister,
and Tyler is our cousin.”

She nodded, taking it all in. “You
have an enormous family, don’t you?”

“
Enormous and eclectic.” He
laughed, and Christian followed suit.

“
I’ll leave you two to the
house,” Christian said as he headed to the driveway. “Nice to meet
you, Darcy.”

“
Likewise.”

Eduardo led her to the side of the
house where there was a paved path that led to an outside
stairwell.

“
My aunt owned the house
before she moved to New York and worked on Broadway. My uncle ended
up renting the basement, and he fixed it up beautifully. That was
twenty years ago, but since Benson, Benson, and Hart maintain the
property, it has stayed nice. Besides, it’s usually been family
that lived here over the years.”

They walked down the stairs, and
Eduardo unlocked the door.

“
Your aunt was on
Broadway?”

He pushed the door open. “She sure
was. Now she has a theater downtown. My sister works hand-in-hand
with her on the productions. Clara is one amazingly talented woman.
I think she should become a recording artist, but she’s happy where
she is.”

It was a lot to take in for Darcy.
After all, she was an only child to older parents. It wasn’t until
two years before her mother died that she’d even found out that she
was adopted. She felt as though she’d missed out on so much. There
was a pang of jealousy that twitched in her belly. Did Eduardo
Keller know how lucky he was?

He turned on the lights to the small
basement apartment, and she knew that moment that this was her new
home.

“
Wow, this is not what I
expected when you said basement apartment.”

He chuckled. “What did you have in
mind?”

“
Oh, you know, the basement
of some freaky old guy’s house like in college. But the rent was
usually right.”

“
The price is right here,
too.”

“
Can I afford it on my new
paycheck?”

“
I can even have it drafted
out for you weekly.”

That was a bonus, she thought. “Here’s
the problem. I can’t do a first and last month rent. Can you work
with me?”

Eduardo crossed his arms over his
chest. “How about this? In lieu of the first month rent, you give
me some forgiveness for ruining your blouse.”

“
Really?”

“
I could change my mind,”
he said as he walked toward the kitchen.

“
I forgive you.”

“
Good. Now let me show you
the rest of the place.”

Darcy folded her clothes, which she
had just pulled from the dryer at the motel, and laid them neatly
into her suitcase. She reached for the remote to the TV, turned
down the volume, and then picked up her cell phone and called her
father.

“
Daddy, I got a job and
found a cute place to live.”

He let out a low growl. “A cute place
to live?”

Darcy chuckled. “The company I went to
work for is a commercial builder, and they have this house they
manage. I’m renting the basement.”

“
Darcy, I don’t
like…”

“
I know.” She cut him off
and sat down on the bed. “I’m fine, Daddy. I want to make this
work.”

She heard his disapproving growl
again.

“
Why did you have to leave
Kentucky? There are lots of jobs here, too.”

She wondered if he was really on to
her. He was quick like that, but he hadn’t said a
word—yet.

“
I just feel like this is
where I need to be. Listen, I’ll call you tomorrow with the
address.”

“
Do you need some
money?”

She smiled. He was always practical,
that was for sure.

“
Well…since you
asked.”

Eduardo had given her the key to the
apartment and told her that anytime she wanted to bring her stuff
over she could. He’d have his uncle do a run through on everything
and make sure the apartment was in perfect working order. He
assured her they’d sign the lease in the morning.

She had to admit, the moment she laid
eyes on Eduardo Keller, despite his very sexy charm, his dark eyes,
and that low mesmerizing voice, she’d hated him.

He’d nearly ruined everything she was
trying to do.

But as she looked around the basement
apartment, she realized fate had a funny way of presenting itself.
If only finding her birth mother would be as easy.

She was on her own there. She couldn’t
afford anymore investigators. She’d have to use what information
she had, and at least she knew she’d landed in the right spot. If
she got in good enough with Eduardo Keller, she’d soon enough meet
whomever she was supposed to meet who would lead her to her
mother.

Then it occurred to her that maybe the
path didn’t lead to her mother, but maybe to her father.

She felt her shoulders tense. That
hadn’t crossed her mind, and she wondered why it hadn’t. It had all
been about a birth mother. She hadn’t really given too much thought
on her birth father—but there had to be one.

Darcy turned as she heard steps on the
stairs, and she realized she’d left the door open so she could
bring in her few bags.

An older gentleman stood at the door
looking in.

“
You Darcy?”

“
I am.”

“
John Forrester, Ed’s
uncle.”

She had to process for a moment and
then realized that Eduardo would be called Ed by his
family.

“
Nice to meet you. Come
in.”

“
Place still looks the
same,” he said as he untied his boots and slipped them off by the
door, then laid his jacket atop them. “Ed wants me to just check
and make sure it’s all in order for you.”

“
Thank you.”

John started with the windows and
making sure the seals were good. He double checked the door in the
kitchen that would go up to the house, she figured. He ran water in
the kitchen and bathroom. Everything that he could possibly look
at, he’d done.

“
I think you’re set,” he
said.

“
So you’re the uncle who
lived here and fixed up the apartment?”

“
I am.”

“
Eduardo has mentioned his
family a lot already. It seems you are all very important to
him.”

John slipped his feet into his boots
and then knelt down to tie them.

“
The Keller family is a
very tight-knit family. We fill two rooms with tables come
Thanksgiving.” He chuckled and stood back up. “My wife and I are
the only two without children, but her sister and brothers made up
for that.” He slipped on his jacket.

“
Do you all live in
Tennessee?”

“
For now. I’m sure
Christian,” he pointed up, “will have to leave to play major league
someday. Clara, she’s almost too talented to stay here, but then
again,” he shrugged, “she’s a singer and this is Nashville. Avery
has citizenship in France, too. You never know where she’ll land.
And someday, I assume Tyler and Spencer will take over the
empire.”

“
What empire?”

“
Benson, Benson, and
Hart.”

“
Oh!” Things were quickly
falling into place. She hadn’t realized that Eduardo was
family—nepotism was an interesting thing. When he’d said his uncle
had started him working on the sites, she didn’t think that uncle
had anything to do with Benson, Benson, and Hart.

A ruined blouse and a spilled coffee
might have landed her in just the right spot. The nephew to the
owner was her boss. Surely he could help her find out anything and
everything about the people who worked for the company.

John looked around. “Can I help you
move anything in?”

Darcy wrinkled up her nose. “I don’t
have anything.”

“
I beg your pardon? What
are you going to sleep on?”

She shrugged. “The floor, I guess.
Things moved a bit faster than I thought.” She wrung her hands
together. “My father is sending some money to help me get settled.
So for a few days I’ll be fine.”

John grumbled. “Are you sticking
around for a few hours?”

She smiled. “I’ll be home all
night.”

“
I’ll be back,” he said as
he turned and walked away.

Darcy shut the door behind her. What
did that mean?

Two hours later, Darcy found out what
John Forrester had meant when she opened the door and found him and
Ed standing just beyond it with a mattress.

“
What’s this?” she asked as
she stepped back.

John shook his head. “You can’t sleep
on the floor. That has never flown with me.”

He moved past her carrying one end of
the mattress and Eduardo had the other. They walked through the
living room and straight to the bedroom.

“
Hi,” another voice said
from the door as the men passed through. “I’m Arianna, John’s wife
and Ed’s aunt.”

“
Darcy.”

“
Nice to meet you.” Arianna
looked at her with that same familiar glint in her eye as Christian
had, but then continued, “I hope you don’t mind us barging in. John
is a bit of a caretaker. He said you didn’t have anything, so he
rounded up some items to get you settled. These are for you.” She
handed her a bag of groceries and a set of sheets.

“
I can’t believe you’d all
do this for me.”

“
The Keller family stands
by each other. Ed hired you and must think enough to do so. So
consider yourself one of us.”

That stuck in her chest. Someone
considered her part of their family after only a few
hours?