Bed of Roses Page 0,58

on her face, the breezy manner intact even when she saw Del coming up the walk.

He projected successful lawyer, she thought, in his perfectly cut suit, his perfect briefcase, his handsome shoes.

"Parker's in her office," she told him. "I think she's clear."

"Okay." He came in, shut the door. "Hey," he said when she started up the stairs. "Are you not speaking to me?"

She flicked a glance back at him. "I just did."

"Barely. I'm the one who should be pissed off here. You don't have anything to be snotty about."

"I'm being snotty?" She paused, waited for him to join her on the stairs.

"I don't expect my friends and family to lie to me, or lie by omission. And when they do - "

She poked a finger, hard, into his shoulder, then held it up. "Number one, I didn't know you didn't know. Neither did Parker or Mac or Carter. Or Emma, for that matter. So that's between you and Jack. Second," she continued, poking him again when he started to speak. "I agree with you."

"If you'd take a minute to . . . You agree with me?"

"Yes, I do. And in your place I'd have been hurt and pissed off. Jack should have told you he and Emma were involved."

"Well, okay. Thanks - or sorry. Whichever you prefer."

"However."

"Shit."

"However," she repeated. "You might want to ask yourself why your best friend didn't tell you. And you might want to look back at the way you handled the other night, how you came across as a tight-ass having a sulk."

"Wait a damn minute."

"That's the way I see it, just as I see - even if I don't agree - why Jack didn't tell you. You'd have gone all Delaney Brown on him."

"Just what does that mean?"

"If you don't know, telling you won't make any difference."

He grabbed her hand to stop her as she moved on. "That's such a cop-out."

"Fine. Delaney Brown disapproves. Delaney Brown knows best. Delaney Brown will manipulate and maneuver until he positions you where he wants - for your own good."

"That's cold, Laurel."

She sighed, softened. "No, it's not. Not really. Because you really do have the best interest of your friends and family at heart. You're just always so damn sure, Del, that you know what that is."

"Are you going to stand there and tell me you think what's going on with Emma and Jack is the best thing, for either of them?"

"I don't know." She lifted her hands, palms up. "I don't pretend to know. All I know is that, for the moment, they're enjoying each other."

"It doesn't even weird you out? It doesn't make you feel as if you've stepped into an alternate reality?"

She had to laugh. "Not exactly. It's a little - "

"It's like - what if I suddenly put moves on you? I just decide, hey, I'd like to have sex with Laurel."

The soft hardened; the laughter died. "You're such an idiot."

"What? What? " he demanded as she stormed away up the stairs. "It is an alternate reality," he muttered, and climbed the rest of the way to his sister's office.

She sat at her desk, where he'd expected to find her, talking on her headset as she worked at the computer. "That's just exactly right. I knew I could count on you. They'll need two hundred and fifty. You can deliver them to me, here, and I'll take it from there. Thank you, so much. You, too. Bye."

She pulled off the headset. "I just ordered two hundred and fifty rubber duckies."

"Because?"

"The client wants them swimming in the pool on her wedding day." She sat back, sipped from her bottle of water, and gave him a long, sympathetic look. "How are you doing?"

"I've been better, I've been worse. Laurel just agreed Jack was an asshole for not telling me, but apparently that's my fault because I'm Delaney Brown. Do I manipulate people?"

She studied him carefully. "Is that a trick question?"

"Damn it." He dumped his briefcase on the desk then walked to her coffee setup.

"Okay, serious question. Yes, of course you do. So do I. We're problem solvers, and good at finding solutions and answers. When we do, we do what we can to move people toward those solutions and answers."

He turned back to her, scanning her face. "Do I manipulate you, Parks?"

"Del, if you hadn't manipulated me, to some extent, regarding the estate, how you intended to set it up after Mom and Dad died, I wouldn't have just ordered two hundred and fifty rubber duckies. I