To Catch a Thief - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,45

was exactly what she’d been looking for. She’d wanted a distraction, something to make her feel alive, and a quick romp with an extraordinarily virile man would have accomplished that.

She forced herself to meet his gaze. There was nothing condemning in his expression. If anything, he looked as if he completely understood her actions.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Don’t be. Having a beautiful woman find me desirable, whatever the reason, is never a bad thing. I’m just holding out until it’s perfect.”

“That day might never come,” she said.

“It will,” he replied with total confidence. “Sooner than you think.” He gestured toward the boxes she was clutching with a white-knuckled grip. “Let’s go find some idyllic spot and have a picnic.”

“You’re not afraid to be alone with me?” she teased.

“No way,” he assured her.

“I could get carried away.”

He laughed at the suggestion. “Now, that is something to look forward to.”

Chapter Ten

Gina could have suffered from terminal embarrassment for throwing herself at Rafe, but he refused to allow it. By the time they’d shared their picnic, he had her laughing unselfconsciously again. Because of that, her feelings—and her respect—for him deepened a little more. So did the attraction, even though she couldn’t seem to shut out the fact that their relationship had begun with his insulting belief that she could be a thief.

But as the days wore on with no more calls from Bobby and little for her to do in Winding River, Gina began to feel more restless than ever. She couldn’t go on this way, not with Rafe looking over her shoulder—albeit with less suspicion. Cooking dinner for her parents and baking for her friends wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her urge to be back in the kitchen cooking for a whole restaurant filled with satisfied customers.

After her outburst in his kitchen, accusing both Tony and Rafe of conspiring, Tony forgave her and let her fill in from time to time, but it wasn’t nearly enough. She was drifting and she didn’t like it. She had to do something to shake things up, something to get her life back on track.

Maybe it was time to get some sound legal advice. No, she corrected, the truth was, it was way past time. She’d been putting it off, pretending to herself that Bobby would show up and prove that it was all some terrible misunderstanding, a mistake that could be easily rectified. She had been deluding herself that he would straighten everything out so that she wouldn’t have to make any of the tough choices. Despite everything, despite all the evidence to the contrary, she hadn’t wanted to believe that a man she’d considered a friend, as well as a business partner, had betrayed her.

Clearly, she admitted with a sigh, she had been wrong. Bobby’s intentions weren’t honorable. And Deidre’s juggling act with the creditors couldn’t go on indefinitely. Gina couldn’t ask her to stand in the line of fire forever. This wasn’t Deidre’s problem to solve. It was hers.

She needed to make a decision, then get back to New York to handle the fallout herself, whether she chose to stay open and fight, as Tony and Rafe expected her to do, or to disappoint them both, sell or close the restaurant and pay off everyone she could.

Even though she hated involving her friends in what was happening, she knew that there wasn’t a better lawyer—a better advocate—around than Emma. Fortunately, Emma was scheduled to drive up from Denver on Friday morning. Gina resolved to be waiting for her.

She knocked on the front door at the ranch at ten, knowing that Emma would have gotten an early start. Mrs. Clayton greeted her with a smile and a glass of lemonade, just as she had countless times when she and Emma had been teenagers. There was something comforting about it. In many ways so little had changed in the past ten years. The bonds she had formed back then were still strong.

“Emma should be here soon. Are you sure you don’t want to wait inside?” she asked when Gina moved to sit in one of the rockers. “It’s a scorcher out there today.”

“Thanks. I’ll be fine on the porch, if you don’t mind. I need to have a few words in private with Emma.”

“Then I’ll get Caitlyn out of your hair as soon as they get here,” Mrs. Clayton promised, wiping her hands on her apron and taking a seat beside Gina. “Caitlyn’s going to want to get