No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,60
his hands, tightly clasped on the table.
Perhaps it was her own perceptions, as well. Graham had always been such a larger-than-life character to her—her stepfather since she was twelve, the owner of a national news network, a man confident of his place in the world. Now incarcerated while he awaited his court date to enter his guilty plea and receive his sentence, he was wearing an orange jumpsuit, stripped of all the trappings of his position and wealth. He hadn’t even been granted the option of posting bail—with the seriousness of the charges against him, his private wealth and no real family to hold him, he’d been assessed a flight risk.
As she slid into the brown plastic chair, Graham looked up for the first time and the uncertainty there, the fear of rejection, made her heart weep. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d doubt her love and steadfastness.
“You’re a sweet girl for coming,” he said in a thick voice.
“Sweetness has nothing to do with it. You’re my stepfather and I love you.”
His jaw worked hard before he spoke. “Even after everything?”
“No matter what,” she said quietly. “You’ve always been there for me and now I’m here for you.”
He covered his face for long moments and when he dropped his hands, his eyes were misty. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”
Seemed today was her day to receive apologies from the men in her life. “I can’t say that I’m okay with what you’ve done at ANS,” she said, “but that’s only one part of who you are. You’re also the man who took me into your heart when you married my mother, and kept me there even after she was gone. You’re the man who wanted the best for me, gave me a job and kept me out of the dirty goings-on at ANS.”
“That was always my stipulation—nothing was to touch you,” he said fiercely. “Those involved were never to draw you into it.”
That was Graham all over—he had honor, he just drew different lines about where it began and ended the than rest of the world. But she never doubted he’d prioritize her and protect her. Which would have gone down well with Angelica, she thought with a wry smile. It would have fed her hatred—not only was Graham like a father to Lucy, but he’d protected her while allowing Angelica to dive into illegal work.
“How’s Rosebud?” he asked.
Rosie had whined overnight when she’d realized she wasn’t going home to Graham, so Lucy had let her get under the covers with her. “Missing you, but I’ve been keeping her busy, so I think she’s fairly happy.”
“Thank you for taking her in.”
“Having her has been good for me, too.” A warm body to cuddle on the sofa this morning when the world looked dark had been priceless. She’d lost Hayden, the man she loved; Josh, the little boy she yearned for; and her stepfather, all in one fell swoop. Rosie had lost her human—her only family—so they’d been consoling each other.
“Lucy,” Graham said carefully. “There’s something between you and Black, isn’t there?”
A denial was on the tip of her tongue, but why hide now? Hayden was gone, someone else from his company would be here soon to take over the rest of the investigation and the worst had already happened for Graham. There was no reason left to keep the secret.
She swallowed to get her voice to work. “There was for me, yes.”
“Do you love him?” he asked sharply.
Suddenly there wasn’t enough air in the little room. “It’s not that simple. There are—”
“It is that simple,” he said, cutting her off. “Do you love him?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Let me tell you something. When I look back over my life, there are things I wish I had done differently. But my chief regret is about your mother.”
She blinked. “I thought you loved her?”
“I did. A great deal. More than she knew. I should have told her more. Cherished her more. She was the love of my life, but I spent my time building empires. I thought we had forever, but we only had seven years together. Too short. Much too short. She’s gone, and ANS is gone now, too, so all that time I sacrificed from my marriage for ANS was for nothing.”
“She knew you loved her,” Lucy said truthfully. “She knew.”
“Thanks.” A small, nostalgic smile brushed over his mouth before he pinned her with his gaze. “Now it’s your turn.”
There seemed to be advice in his words, but it didn’t make sense. “Don’t you