To Catch a Thief - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,75
the right decision. She didn’t have a single doubt about it. Not only was she making Ronnie and Deidre deliriously happy, but she was getting what she wanted, as well. Everybody would win.
The only potential blot on her happiness was Rafe’s reaction. Maybe she should have consulted him first, but this was her business, her decision. Her relief at finally having made it was astonishing. She felt as if a two-ton weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
Now all she had to do was wrap up her personal affairs and wait for Rafe. It sounded so simple, but in her heart she knew there was going to be nothing simple about telling him that she intended to move a couple of thousand miles away for good.
Over the next twenty-four hours, Gina put all of her business affairs in order. She contacted each and every vendor to explain about the forthcoming changes and to assure them that their accounts would be settled and that she hoped they would continue to do business with Deidre and Ronnie. Most of them had such high praise for the two that she was certain they were going to succeed.
She also called all of the investors with a similar message, reassuring them that despite recent difficulties their investment was not only safe but would soon be extremely profitable. Satisfied that she was leaving town with her good name intact—at least as solid as it could be under the circumstances—she left her office for what she anticipated to be the last time and went back to her apartment to finish packing.
When the doorbell rang, to her total astonishment she found not just Rafe on her doorstep, but Bobby, as well.
“I tracked down a friend of yours,” Rafe said unnecessarily. “He has something he wants to say to you before we go off to talk to the D.A. about the charges he’s facing.”
Bobby didn’t look as if he were in a particularly talkative mood, but Rafe towered over him, and his grim expression never wavered.
“I’m sorry,” Bobby said finally. “This was all a huge mistake.”
“A mistake!”
He nodded. “I got some crazy idea in my head that you would turn to me if the business were in trouble.”
Gina stared at him incredulously. “Why would you do something like that?”
Bobby remained mute, until Rafe scowled at him. “Tell her, Rinaldi. All of it. She deserves to know why you turned her life upside down.”
“Because I’m in love with you,” Bobby said in a voice that was little more than a whisper. “I have been since we met. But the only time you even looked at me was when we were pulling the business together. I wanted that back again.”
She tried to make sense of it, but she couldn’t. “You had to know I would blame you, not turn to you.”
“Like I said, I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I was sitting down in the Caymans waiting for you to come down and give me hell. It would have been better than the indifference I usually felt from you. I dated all those women, paraded them under your nose, and nothing. You didn’t care.”
“Oh, Bobby,” she whispered. She couldn’t make herself regret how this was turning out for her, but she was brokenhearted over the damage he had done not only to the business, but to the rest of his life. She looked at Rafe. “What happens now?”
“We have an appointment at the D.A.’s office. A lot depends on how much of the money he still has and pays back.”
“It’s all there,” Bobby assured her. “Every penny.”
“Then they should go easy on him,” Rafe promised. He glanced at the packing boxes and her luggage. “Running again, Gina?”
“No,” she said with certainty. “Not running away. Going home. When you get back I’ll explain.”
He nodded. “I’ll be counting on it.”
As he and Bobby went out the door, Bobby turned back. “I really am sorry. I never meant for you to be left holding the bag. I really didn’t.”
“I know,” she said quietly, and to her surprise, she really did believe that.
Rafe had had a nasty moment when he’d seen the state of Gina’s apartment. Even before she’d explained, he had known that she intended to go straight back to Wyoming. What he didn’t know was what that meant for the two of them. He had some ideas of his own, decisions he’d made over the past few weeks, but he wasn’t so sure they meshed with her plans.
When he returned to her apartment, he