Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope (49 page)

“You like kids?”

“I love them.” She settled her eyes on him. “Do you?”

“Yeah. My sister has kids. She married young and started right away. She’s got two and one on the way.”

“Boys or girls?”

“One of each. She’s keeping the newest addition a surprise, which is killing my mother. She’d like to know what kind of quilt to make the baby. My sister says make it neutral, but my mom wants to personalize it. It’s how she is.”

“I think that’s lovely.”

“Well for now it’s just keeping my mother off of my back. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to repeatedly be asked when I’m going to give her some grandbabies.”

The air thickened in the car. Hope bit down on her lip as she tried to control an emotion that stirred through her when he said those words.

“So where is home?” Hope moved the conversation in the necessary personal direction so she could get to know her date better.

“Upstate New York. Born and raised there, but it’s really not my style.”

“Really? What’s your style?”

“I like city, not country. But I don’t like big city. Manhattan is not for me. However, I do a lot of business there, my office is there. But Kansas City is a nice pace. It’s big, but it’s not.” He shook his head. “Does that even make sense?”

“Perfect sense.”

Trevor pulled the car into the parking lot and hurried around the car to help Hope out.

“Thank you,” she said softly, reaching for his hand. When she touched it, she felt the energy surging again. Only this time it wasn’t shocking, it was warm and comfortable. The tightening in her stomach increased.

He took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers, and led them through the front door of the dimly lit restaurant.

She chose a lighter dish of pasta and a white wine sauce. Trevor tried his hand at Jo’s signature lasagna.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he said cheerfully as the dish was set down before him. The slice was the size of the plate.

“Quite the appetite?”

“The company of a beautiful woman does that to me.” His gaze had shifted from the plate of pasta and meat to her, and she felt a lump form in her throat. His dark eyes seemed to sparkle over the candlelight. She wondered if it was possible to lose one’s heart in less than one day.

“Thank you.”

Trevor lifted his glass of red wine. “A toast to new friendships.”

Hope tapped her glass to his. “To new friendships.”

She sipped her wine and picked up the conversation they’d had in the car. She wasn’t finished learning about Trevor Jacobs, the boy from upstate New York.

“So why are you in Kansas City?” she asked as she wrapped noodles around her fork. “Business.”

She nodded. Losing her heart to the stranger she’d seen in her dreams seemed like a lost cause. He’d be leaving. That’s what it meant when business brought you to Kansas City.

“I probably should have asked before, but what do you do? You certainly aren’t the art dealer I pray every morning will walk through my door and buy up all my art.” She lifted her glass in a toast again. “Though you did make my month by wanting to purchase my current work.”

Trevor lifted his glass too. “I look forward to acquiring my latest purchase.” His smile stopped her with her mouth open. Her heart did a little flip and she thought back to the moment when he said he was there on business.

“So, back to why you’re in Kansas City.”

“Ah.” He set his glass back down. “I’m an insurance investigator.” He wiped his lips with his napkin and laid it back in his lap.

Hope watched him carefully. He wasn’t completely comfortable with his answer. “You don’t like your job?”

“What? No, I love it. Insurance is the bread and butter. But for fun I dabble in the personal. Meaning I do some”—he lifted his brow—“PI work,” he whispered.

Hope smiled. “Oh.”

“The deadbeat dad that needs to be found. The cheating wife. The stealing employee.”

Hope looked down at her plate with a nod and then lifted her eyes back to him. “The missing parents?”

“It would fit into my menu of services.” Trevor sat back and continued his assault on his lasagna, but Hope suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. She chewed on her bottom lip.

Just the day before, while standing at Mandy’s grave, she’d wondered who she was and where she’d come from. Who were the people who created her life and gave her to the wonderful people she called her parents? What kind of blood ran through her? Was Mandy only some coke addict who’d had affairs and gotten knocked up? Was there anything sincere about the woman? Who was the man she’d had an affair with?

Trevor reached across the table and set his hand on hers. “Are you all right?”

Hope snapped back to the conversation. “Yes, sorry.”

“You’re not eating.”

“I’m not really hungry. If you don’t mind, I’ll save this for lunch tomorrow.”

He nodded, wiped his mouth, and then sipped his wine, all the while keeping his eyes focused on her. She caught his stare. She wanted to ask him to help her. She wanted to see if he would, but she needed to talk to Carissa. This would affect her too. After all, the only blood bond she had to the family that raised her was Carissa. They were sisters in blood.

“You don’t look so well. Would you like me to take you back to the store to get your car?”

“I’m sorry, Trevor.” She settled her eyes into his. Again, her stomach was flipping and her heart was racing. “Would you mind?”

His brows drew together as he studied her for a moment. He gave her a nod, set his napkin on the table, and gave her a noticeably forced smile. “Not at all.”

CHAPTER THREE

The waitress boxed up their dinners and the cream-filled cannolis that Trevor ordered. He took Hope’s hand and escorted her back to the car.

The ride back was quiet and he began to wonder what he’d said to upset her. Anxiety fluttered in his chest. He hadn’t revealed himself to her as someone sent to find her. He would usually have done that by now if he were being on the up-and-up. Instead, he was wining and dining her on her birth father’s money. But that was the assignment, he reminded himself with a trickle of guilt; because he really would rather get to know her on his own.

He’d never had an assignment that had gotten so personal. They weren’t supposed to. By not backing away he was jeopardizing everything Donald Buchanan wanted from him, only Buchanan was the very man asking him to stay and to be quiet.

He turned his head to catch the glimpse of the angel seated beside him. Maybe she suspected. Maybe she didn’t trust him. He hadn’t lied to her. He’d only not told her his reason for coming to Kansas City was to find her. He indeed was an insurance investigator. And finding dead mistresses and illegitimate daughters was much more intriguing that hunting down the truth behind a hit-and-run in a parking lot.

Trevor stopped the car in front of her darkened shop. Only one car remained on the street, and it was hers.

Hope turned her head toward him. Her eyes danced in the darkness under the illumination of the street lamp. “Thank you. I had a wonderful time.”

“I hope so.” He covered her hand with his. “I hope you’re feeling better.”

“I’m sure I will be.”

“I’d like to see you again. Would you mind if I came by tomorrow?” He lifted her fingers to his lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “To check the progress of my acquisition, that is.” He let a gentle smile settle on his lips, still lingering over the skin of her hand. He didn’t want to let go. The urge to lean forward, kiss her passionately on her rosebud lips, and say to hell with Donald Buchanan was too strong though. He slowly let go of her hand and she pulled it back to her lap.

“Of course.”

“And then if you’re not busy maybe we could get some coffee?”

“I can’t leave the store in the middle of the day,” she reminded him.

“Okay then, I’ll bring coffee.”

“I think that sounds lovely.” She reached for the handle of the door.

“Wait.” Trevor jumped from the car and ran to the other side. He opened the door, took her hand, and helped her out of the car. “My mother would never forgive me if I just dropped you and drove off. A gentleman makes sure to help a lady from the car, and he waits on the curb to make sure she’s gotten her keys in the door. In the case of her driving off, he must wait to see that the car starts and she has driven off.”

“I love your mother already.”

“She’d love you as well,” he said, without realizing how sentimental it would sound.

“Again, thank you. I’m sorry to call it such an early night.”

“No worries.” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiled at him and walked toward her car. Once she’d opened the door she shot him back another smile. The door shut. The car started and Hope Kendal drove away.

Trevor sprawled out across the bed and reached for his messenger bag. Pulling out the folder that housed the documents he’d collected for the Mandy Marlow case, he eased back and sat against the pillows.

Trevor needed to see Hope’s face again. He needed to imagine that it was him she was smiling at when he went to sleep.

He opened it up past the only picture he had of Mandy and Donald and flipped through until he found her.

“I miss you already,” he said with a shake of his head. “This is going too far, too fast.” He ran his fingers over the picture and remembered how deep the blue of her eyes was. Her smile, her laugh, her voice all haunted him, just as they had in his dreams.

He tossed laid the folder on the nightstand and rearranged the pillows. He prayed Hope Kendal would be in his dreams again tonight.

Hope knocked on Carissa’s front door at half past seven the next morning. It took all she had not to laugh at her sister’s harried appearance.

“Dear God, Hope! What are you doing here? What happened? Are you all right?” Carissa assaulted her with questions as she pulled her though the door.

“I need to talk to you.”

“If you’re not injured and no one is dead, can it wait till I get to work? I’m getting breakfast ready. I have three half-naked kids running around and one completely naked one. Thomas had a meeting at the high school, and I have to get them on the bus.”

“I’ll help you. Give me a task.”

An hour later, the house was quieter and everyone was wearing clothes. Carissa set the little ones in front of the television with a movie and sat down with Hope at the table. Hope poured them each a cup of coffee, aware that Carissa was watching her every move.

“Okay, let’s talk. Is this about your date with some guy you met at the cemetery, and he walked into your school?”

“Thomas squealed?”

“Like a pig. What did he do?”

Hope laughed. She knew Carissa would never stop being the worrywart big sister.

“He was a perfect gentleman. He’s commissioned a painting,” she said, leaving out the fact that she’d already started it after having his face etched in her mind.

“Nice, at least he’s good for some money.”

“Yeah.” She let out a little laugh and sipped her coffee. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I want to hire him.”

“Him? What does he do?”

“He’s an insurance investigator.”

“And someone hit your car?” Carissa’s forehead wrinkled up, causing Hope to smile.

“No. But he finds people.”

“And who did you lose?”

“Me.”

Carissa sat back and Hope chewed on her lip. Her sister was processing it. She just hoped that she’d see Hope’s side.

“You know who you are.”

“I’m a Kendal. Don’t think I don’t know that. My parents are your parents. Sophia is my mom. David my dad. You are my sister. I’m not confused.”

“But you’re not satisfied.”

She’d always thought she was, and it was that little part of doubt that twisted her insides in knots. “Don’t you ever want to know who she was?”

“I lived with her, remember? I was tossed around like an unwanted puppy. I had to find Dad myself and I was seven. Then she dumped me on him, thank goodness.”

Hope felt the bitterness in her sister’s words. They’d never talked about Mandy much, and when they did the conversation usually ended controversially like this one had begun. But Hope wanted more.

“Okay, but here’s what we don’t know, and what I want to know. Who was Mandy Marlow? Where did she grow up? Who are her parents? Do we have cousins? Do I have siblings? Other siblings,” she corrected.

“Don’t do this, Hope,” Carissa warned.

“Your biological father is David Kendal.”

“Hope…”

“I want to know where I came from, Carissa. I want to know who she was and I want to know who my father is.”

“How are you going to find that out? Dad doesn’t even know who he was. She just showed up here pregnant with you.”

“I know. But there has to be a trail.”

“A trail that is twenty-three years old.”

“Fine. I may not be able to find it on my own, but with Trevor’s help…”

“You just might find what you are looking for, and it just might hurt you.” Carissa stood and poured out her coffee into the sink. “Why can’t you just be happy with the way things are?”

“I am happy, and that’s why I know I can do this. I can take what is to be offered to me, process it, and still know I’m David and Sophia’s daughter. That will never change. But Carissa, I want to know.”

Carissa stared down at her, her arms crossed over her chest. The room was silent for a long moment, and then Hope stood.

“It affects you. That’s why I came to you.”

“You’re going to do it no matter what?”

“I am, but I want you on my side. I’m not sure I’ll tell Mom and Dad yet, but I want you to know because I think you can help us. You know so much more than I do.”

“So even if I say no?”

“I’m still going to ask, but I want you on my side.”

Carissa kept her eyes on her sister. As she considered it, Hope noticed the creases around them softened. “She’s no saint. I don’t want you to get your feelings hurt when you realize what she was.” Hope only nodded. Carissa dropped her shoulders and gave a thoughtful shake of her head. “But I once went searching for a parent too, and look what was at the other end.”