in for coffee,” he suggested.
“Just coffee,” she said firmly as she unlocked her door.
He set the briefcase he’d taken with him when he’d left the car by the door and then followed her into the kitchen.
“Do you really want coffee?” she asked as she reached toward the machine.
“No.”
She turned around and studied him for a moment. “We could watch some television,” she suggested, her heart racing as she thought about some of the other things they could do.
“We could,” he agreed. “We were going to talk about my mother,” he added as they walked back into the living room.
“Right, tell me about your mother,” she said as she settled onto the couch.
“I may have mentioned that we’ve always had a difficult relationship. She never wanted children, even though she knew that my father expected her to produce an heir. She was devoted to him and not the least bit interested in me,” he said as he sat down next to her.
“I’m sorry,” Terri said, putting a hand on his arm.
He slid the arm around her and sat back with a sigh. “I was always closer to my father, but only just. He didn’t have much use for me when I was a child, but once I was old enough, he began to teach me what I was going to need to know to take over the family business one day.”
“You’re an only child?”
“Yes. I’m not sure why my parents never had any more children. It wasn’t something that they discussed with me.”
“But I interrupted. Your father used to teach you about the business.”
Lucas nodded. “I went to work for him after I’d earned my degree. It was pretty awful and after a year, I quit and started my own business. I struggled for a while, but then I inherited some money when my mother’s father died and that was enough to allow me to seriously invest in my company. Within ten years, my company was larger and more successful than my father’s. His health was failing, so I bought his company and absorbed it into mine. He used to come to board meetings every month, just to argue with me, but we understood each other and I was surprisingly upset when he passed away.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. Mother was devastated, of course. She blamed me to some extent, insisting that I’d made my father keep working after I’d bought the company. Much of it was nonsense, but I never argued. Whatever my father had told her about our arrangements was between them and I wasn’t going to contradict him.” He stopped and rubbed a hand over his face. “To cut a long story short, Mother and I didn’t speak to one another for several years. She was the one who finally broke the silence, only because she’s not got much time left. I’m doing everything I can to put the past behind me and simply enjoy being with her, but we still have a complicated relationship and she’s a very difficult person, as well.”
“And I get to meet her tomorrow,” Terri said. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.”
He chuckled. “I’m sorry. It will probably be an ordeal. Once it’s over, you’ll understand why I’m paying you so much.”
Terri had questions, but she could tell that Lucas didn’t like talking about his mother or his childhood. The questions could wait until after brunch tomorrow, she decided as she rested her head on the back of the couch.
“You’re tired,” he whispered in her ear.
“I am.”
“You should go to bed.”
“That sounds like too much effort.”
He chuckled. “I don’t think I can carry you, but I’m willing to try.”
Her eyes flew open and she sat up. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“I do think it would be better for our story if I stayed here tonight. The couch is reasonably comfortable.”
“I have a spare bedroom you can use,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“No, but if you hurry, you can get into bed before my overtired brain has had time to think it through.”
He laughed and then stood up and stretched. “Where am I going?” he asked as he grabbed his briefcase.
She led him down the short corridor to the bedrooms. The floor in Thomas’s room was covered in clothes, papers, and books. She pulled the door shut as quickly as she could and then opened the next door along the hall.
Terri switched on the light and frowned at the flowered wallpaper and the