by Gina Wilkins
A week later, Wade had moved out, determined to make a place for himself in the racing world. He’d rarely gone back, even though his parents still lived in that same empty-feeling house. If they would have liked to see him more than they did, they’d never told him.
As for him and his brother, well, it was kind of nice that they had finally established a relationship, of sorts, but they would never be truly close. After only four years of working together, he and Jake were tighter now than he and Harlan would ever be. And as for a father-figure…he looked toward the end of the table where Woody sat beaming as Lisa described the thrilling end to the race.
Wade had once thought he could become a part of this family. A son to Woody and Ellen, husband to their daughter, father of their grandchildren. It hadn’t been the primary reason he had wanted to marry Lisa, but there had been a definite appeal to the side benefits. He should have realized that his past had left him totally unprepared to join a family, much less to start one of his own.
“You’re being awful quiet tonight, Wade,” Woody announced with his typical lack of tact. “Something on your mind?”
“Woody,” Ellen murmured.
Wade forced a smile. “Just enjoying this delicious meal,” he said. “Virginia, you’ve outdone yourself tonight.”
Having just entered the room with a tray full of desserts, the housekeeper beamed. “Thank you, Mr. Wade. I’m glad you liked it.”
He happened to glance across the table then to find Lisa watching him a bit too closely. She must have sensed that there was more to his distraction than culinary appreciation. He gave her a quick, bland smile and turned his attention to the generous slice of pie à la mode Virginia had just set in front of him. Maybe he was only a visitor at this table for an evening, but he could certainly enjoy every moment while he was here.
THEY HARDLY HAD TIME TO MOVE into the den after dinner when Woody announced that he and Ellen were going to retire to the master suite to watch a television program they both enjoyed before turning in early. “You kids can visit down here for as long as you like,” he added as he all but hustled his wife out of the room. “We won’t be back down tonight.”
Rather stunned, Lisa gazed toward the doorway through which her parents had just disappeared. She hadn’t even had the chance to say good-night.
She turned slowly toward Wade, who was standing close behind her, staring in the same direction. He looked at her—and he grinned. And then they were both laughing. It felt so good to hear his rare, full-throated laughter.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Dad’s not exactly the most subtle guy around.”
“Your father makes a steamroller look subtle. But he’s a great guy. He means well.”
“I know.” She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “He’s decided what’s best for me again. And now he’s trying to make sure it happens.”
“Us, you mean.”
She nodded. “He’s been dropping hints ever since I got home.”
“He sees it as a way to bring you back for good.”
A little embarrassed, she nodded. “I guess. I haven’t told my parents I’m looking into positions closer to home. I wouldn’t want them to be disappointed if it doesn’t work out.”
“And you haven’t told them yet about the threats to you in Chicago?”
“No. I’m still not ready to tell them yet. Not until I’m confident there’s nothing for them to worry about.”
“So as far as your dad knows, you’ll be going back to Chicago in a couple of weeks, rested and ready to stay there for a while. No wonder he’s looking for any excuse to keep you here.”
Was that how Wade saw himself? As a tool to be used by Woody—for managing his racing team, for racking up wins, for keeping his daughter in line?
She shrugged, keeping her tone light. “Dad’s very fond of you, you know. He would probably adopt you if he thought it would keep you in his organization. He’s not so much using you to keep me here as he is using me to make you a part of the family.”
What might have been just a touch of pink appeared for a moment on Wade’s cheeks, and Lisa found that fascinating. She had seen him uncomfortable before, but she’d never seen him blush. What had embarrassed him? Her saying that her father was fond of him or her allusion to her dad’s renewed goal of a marriage between them?
He pushed his hands into his pockets. “So, what are you going to do this coming weekend? Are you staying here or going with me to Indianapolis? Or have you decided yet?”
She kept her hands clasped in front of her to prevent herself from wringing them. “It fits our cover story better if I go with you, of course.”
He nodded. If he had a preference either way, he kept it carefully hidden.
“I’d probably be perfectly safe here.”
“Probably,” he agreed with a shrug. “And it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to keep the whole truth from your parents.”
Which, of course, made her worry that her parents would extract the whole story from her, especially her mother, who’d always been the hardest one to fool. “I’ve never been to the Indianapolis track,” she said.
“So come with me. I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s a completely different atmosphere from Pennsylvania.”
“I’d like to come, but only if I can stay in a hotel. I won’t take your motor home again. It isn’t fair to you or to Jake. Maybe Dad hasn’t given up his reservation in Indiana yet. I can stay in the room he always books.”
Wade frowned. “You’d be safer in the motor home. If you stay in a hotel, you’ll have to travel back and forth from the track, outside the security gates. Your dad spends most of his time in the garages and the hauler office, just going to the hotel to sleep. You’re going to want a place to crash during the days I’m busy.”
“I won’t take your bed again.”
“We’ll work something out, okay? Assuming you decide to go, that is.”
She nodded. “Then I’d like to go—if it isn’t too much trouble for you.”
“We’ll make it work,” he said again.
She searched his face for doubts about the wisdom of her spending another weekend with him, but his thoughts were closed to her. “So, it’s decided.”
He nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements. You can be the one to try to keep your dad from booking a church for the wedding once he finds out you’re traveling with me again.”
Though her cheeks warmed a little, she kept her tone light when she replied, “I think I can handle that part.”
“SO YOU’LL BE AT THE Indianapolis race? Girl, I am so jealous.”
Holding her phone loosely to her ear on Wednesday afternoon, Lisa smiled faintly. “When this is all over and my life gets back to normal, I promise I’ll get you tickets for the Chicago race next year. VIP tickets,” she added, making a mental note to hit up her father for that favor.
Davida had been such a lifeline to her, letting her know everything that was going on back in Chicago while keeping Lisa’s confidence about her location and her family connections. This was the least she could do to repay her.
“You don’t have to do that,” Davida said, but the excitement in her voice at the very possibility made Lisa even more determined to follow through. “That package you sent me yesterday was generous enough. I’m so thrilled with the T-shirts and caps and mugs and autographed hero cards you sent me.”
Lisa had put together a package of Woodrow Racing memorabilia along with the autographs she’d collected in Pennsylvania and had sent the gifts by overnight courier to Davida on Monday. She knew her friend would be delighted with the delivery and would be discreet about where the items had come from.
“I’m glad you liked the stuff,” she said lightly.
“Are you kidding? I’m using my Jake Hinson coffee mug as we speak.”
“Good.” She changed the subject. “I’m glad to know that Joe’s out of the hospital and doing well. I was really concerned about him.”
“He’s going to be fine. Especially now that he’s finally agreed to accept protection until Norris is recaptured.”
“And there haven’t been any other incidences since Joe was shot?”
“No, nothing. Not even another threatening letter or phone call. Norris is either laying low or maybe he’s given up and left the area.”
Lisa wasn’t enthusiastic about either of those possibilities. She wouldn’t feel entirely safe until she knew Norris was securely behind bars again. She certainly didn’t want him to hurt anyone else, but he needed to come out into the open again for the authorities to find him.
“You’ll let me know if there are any other developments?”
“Of course. Didn’t I promise I would?”
“Yes. Sorry, I just get so impatient at times for this to be over.”
“Even though you’re on your first long vacation…well, ever…and you’re getting to hang out in the racing world? That’s got to be more fun than working.”
“It would be even more fun if it were my idea.”
“Well, yeah, I can see that,” Davida admitted, growing somber now. “But seriously, Lisa, try to have a good time, okay? And maybe Norris will be brought in pretty soon and you’ll be able to come back home.”
Home. The word made Lisa frown. She didn’t really think of Chicago as home. Rather as the place where she lived and worked between visits home. “I just hope they find the S.O.B.”
Davida chuckled. “That’s the spirit. So I’ll talk to you soon, okay? And I hope your dad’s drivers do well again this weekend.”
Promising to pass along the sentiment, Lisa disconnected the call.
WADE COULDN’T STOP pacing. He had almost worn a path into the wood floors of his house by midnight Wednesday.
He should be sleeping. He’d be leaving early the next day for Indianapolis. He and Lisa. Which probably explained his pacing.
Ever since he’d talked her into accompanying him to Indianapolis, he had been asking himself why he’d been so determined to convince her. For her safety? Kind of hard to convince even himself of that since she was probably safer in her father’s well-secured mansion, much farther away from Chicago than Indianapolis.
To protect her parents from the truth? Somewhat more believable, since she had expressed concerns about how they would take the knowledge that their daughter had been targeted by a dangerous criminal. He worried about that, himself. So he was helping her keep it quiet, right?
Nice try. But he suspected the real truth was that he simply wanted her with him again. As inconvenient as it had been at Pocono, in some ways, he had enjoyed having her there. Knowing she was around to talk to him, to dine with him, to support him in his work.
It had been exactly what he’d envisioned when he’d asked her to marry him all those years ago—though he wouldn’t have pictured them staying in separate places at night. He thought of those shirts entangled in his closet, the two pillows side-by-side on the big bed in his motor home, and he was forced to clear his throat. Hard.
He definitely hadn’t hoped for separate sleeping quarters.
He spun on one heel, pacing again in the opposite direction through the downstairs of his rather ordinary three-bedroom house in Mooresville. His steps weren’t impeded by much furniture. His home was decorated in a minimalist style, little more than the necessities filling the good-sized rooms.
With stock car racing having become such a popular and successful sport, most of the drivers and an increasing number of the well-compensated crew chiefs lived in palatial estates, often on the shores of nearby Lake Norman. Without a family to draw him home, Wade tended to spend almost all his time at the shop and in the garages, so that it had seemed unnecessary to pour too much energy into decorating the house where he spent so little time. That line of reasoning had made it much easier for him to justify the expense of his motor home and the driver he employed for it.
As he prowled through his house now, he found himself looking at it through a different perspective. How would Lisa react to it? Accustomed to her father’s wealth and a lifetime of the luxuries he had provided for her, would she see his home as stark and unappealing? She had talked about living modestly in Chicago on a prosecutor’s salary, but she’d always known she could go back to luxury if she’d wanted.
He made a lot more money now than he had when they’d been engaged. Woody compensated him very well for the hours, the sacrifices, the successes they had achieved together. He supposed he could provide a McMansion for a wife if he had one. If she wanted that sort of thing. He could support a family in decent style, though the time he would have to offer them would certainly be at a premium.
Which brought him back to the reason he and Lisa had split up in the first place. As much as he enjoyed having her as his moral-supporter during the past weekend, it wasn’t at all the life she wanted. She didn’t need to be pampered or provided for. Not by her father and not by him. She had a satisfying career of her own, and it wasn’t one that would allow her to spend most of her time on the road with him, even if she wanted to.
He thought of his own parents, living their separate lives, practically strangers to each other on the rare occasions when their paths crossed. That wasn’t what he wanted from a marriage, and he doubted that Lisa would be satisfied with such an empty union.
The attraction was still there. On both their parts, judging by the way she had kissed him on her parents’ doorstep. But it took more than attraction to hold a long-term relationship together, especially in his world. The fact that he loved her—always had, always would—didn’t mean they could hold a marriage together.
Maybe he’d deliberately resisted seeing that obvious truth six years ago. He knew better now.
He would have to be very careful in Indianapolis. More guarded than usual around her.
He was grimly aware of the fear that motivated that line of thinking. He even acknowledged the irony. While he might be willing to take risks at the track without blinking, he was darned near terrified of letting himself get too close to Lisa again.
There were those who said his nickname suited him very well. That his heart really was made of ice. But Wade was all too keenly aware that even solid ice could be shattered by a hard enough blow.
FOLDING CLOTHING into a suitcase early Thursday morning, Lisa tried not to look too uncomfortable beneath her mother’s thoughtful gaze. Her mom sat on the edge of the bed, ostensibly to keep her company as she packed, but not doing a very good job of hiding the concern she felt.
“Lisa, are you absolutely sure there’s nothing you want to talk about?”
Lisa pushed her makeup case into one corner of the suitcase. “Like what, Mom?” she asked too casually.
Her mother frowned at her, reminding Lisa all too vividly of the rare times in her childhood when she’d tried to hide anything from her too-perceptive mother. She had almost never succeeded. She wasn’t sure she’d gotten any better at it with age.
“Something’s been bothering you ever since you got home from Chicago,” Ellen said bluntly. “I don’t know if it’s Wade, or if it’s something to do with your job, but I just feel like you’re worried about something. I wish you would confide in me. Maybe there’s nothing I can do to help, but it might help to talk about it.”
Guilt stabbing through her, Lisa cleared her throat. She didn’t want to lie to her mother, but she wasn’t ready to tell her everything yet, either. She focused on the least dangerous of her troubles—physically, at least. “I suppose I do have some concerns about whether I should be accompanying Wade this weekend.”
“Why is that?”
Adding her curling iron to the suitcase, Lisa answered slowly and completely candidly, “I’m a little afraid of falling for him again.”
“I thought that was the whole point of you traveling with him. To see if there’s still a spark?”
Which edged toward dangerous territory again. And, again, she was able to be honest in her answer wi
thout mentioning the problems in Chicago.
“I wanted to get a closer look at the sport that totally consumed the two most important men in my life,” she said quietly, sitting on the bed beside her mother. “My father—and my fiancé. I never felt as important to either of them as racing was. Is.”
“Oh, honey.”
Lisa held up a hand and shook her head. “I never watched a race while I was in law school, never told anyone about my connection to the sport. Even when I moved to Chicago, I kept Dad’s identity quiet. Only one of my friends there is aware of it. But then I started watching again, trying to understand. And I have to admit, I was drawn in. I became a closet fan, watching all the time, keeping up with Dad’s team, especially Wade and Jake.”
“Your father would be pleased to know that.”
“He’s already been surprised, I think, that I’ve known so much about how the season’s been going so far.”
“Pleasantly surprised. He thought you hated racing.”
“I did, for a while. I guess I thought of racing as a rival, taking the two men I loved away from me. But then I grew up and I saw it for what it is. A sport. A pleasant diversion for many people, an obsession for others. I can enjoy it without completely understanding the obsession.”
“I hope you realize now that your father has always loved you.”
“Yes, I know. He just has his own way of showing that love—by pampering and protecting and sheltering. It works for him. And for you, obviously,” she added gently.
Her mom smiled wistfully. “But not for you. Because you’re exactly like him.”
Lisa chuckled wryly. “Maybe I am. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t hate racing forever, no matter how much it has cost me over the years.”
“That’s a good thing, you know. Someday the team will be yours and you’ll have to make the decision whether to sell it or run it yourself.”
Lisa felt her smile turn shaky. “I don’t want that to happen any time soon. I expect Dad to be around micromanaging Woodrow Racing for a very long time.”