His Deception

by Patricia Rosemoor

  “I would be happy to do that, but you don’t have a reservation, so I’m afraid it will be a half hour or so before I can seat you.”

  “You can’t make an exception for one of your best customers?”

  He was still speaking in a quiet, neutral tone. But his expression voiced his displeasure.

  Katelyn said, “I really can’t make exceptions—”

  “Not even for me?”

  Whoa. Apparently Gerard Eklund had a side that was even more demanding than she’d realized. She guessed that with her prior deference, he’d worked up to it. “If you like, I can have Tansy serve you at the bar.”

  “I don’t want Tansy, I want you. If you serve me yourself, I will agree to eat at the bar.”

  Not wanting to lose a good customer even if he could be a bit difficult, she agreed. “Fine. Follow me.” Ignoring the grumbling behind her, she grabbed a menu from the waitress stand and led the way to the bar, which was packed and had even more customers surrounding it. “Give me a minute.” She stepped up to the bar and, trying to ignore Thorne, whose attention was currently on a perky redhead, she raised her voice. “Chad, please bring one of the stools from behind the bar to this side.” Then she got the attention of the customers at the end of the bar. “Excuse me, but could you please see if you can move down just a bit? We need to fit one more stool at the end.”

  There were some complaints, but people did as she asked, and Chad set the extra stool down for Eklund. Wearing a smile she could only describe as triumphant, the man slid right onto it and took the menu she offered.

  Trying not to show her chagrin, she said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes to get your food order. In the meantime, Chad can get you whatever you like to drink.”

  “What happened to the regular bartender?” Eklund asked, flicking his gaze from Chad to Thorne. “I haven’t seen him since last Sunday.”

  “Sam doesn’t work here anymore.”

  With that, she slipped away before he could make further demands on her. Had she done the right thing in indulging Eklund, or would he become even more difficult for her having done so? The customers waiting at the head of the line clearly looked displeased, but thankfully their expressions brightened when she was able to seat them right away. A few more tables were being vacated. She made sure they were bussed before taking Eklund’s order.

  On her way back to the bar, she became aware of Thorne’s sharp gaze on her. Warmth enveloped her. She nodded toward Eklund and raised her eyebrows. Thorne’s answering expression told her he got it. Despite the fact that he’d seemed busy with the pretty customer before, he must have taken in the little drama. Thorne winked at her, and she couldn’t help but grin a little sheepishly.

  Undoubtedly gratified by the personal attention, Eklund was his normal gracious self when she took his order, and he promised to make a reservation next time.

  Even so, the extra stress had sapped some of her energy. She guessed she would have to get used to dealing with demanding customers. And considering the nonstop line of people that kept pouring in, it looked like she’d have to get used to it pretty quickly. Katelyn was busier than ever. She seated people, served Eklund his dinner at the bar, seated more people, consulted with one of the waiters, checked on the person who should be bussing tables and found him on his cellphone. Seeing her, he clicked it off and rushed back into the café.

  Eventually the pace slowed, and the herd of customers thinned to something more manageable. Katelyn kept pushing until there was no one left to seat and she was finally able to take a break. Her adrenaline crashing, she headed for the little office off the kitchen where coffee was available for the employees.

  There she found Sophie Miller, the new prep cook, a pretty young woman with round, china-blue eyes and short, spiked black hair. Sophie was just filling a mug with coffee.

  “Hey, Ms. Wade, I’ll bet you can use this.” Smiling, the dimple in her cheek popped as she handed Katelyn the mug.

  “Thanks, Sophie, don’t mind if I do. How’s it going in the kitchen?”

  “Smoother every day.” The prep cook filled a second mug. “I swear I can make the base for six kinds of soup in my sleep.”

  “And I’ve tasted every one. All delicious.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Wade.” Taking a sip of coffee, she headed for the door. “Gotta get back to work.”

  Katelyn raised her mug in salute just as Thorne walked in.

  “Looks like you and I had the same idea.” He paused, then said, “That guy at the bar earlier—is he always so pushy?”

  She shook her head. “But there’s a first time for everything.”

  “You handled him like a pro.”

  “Let’s just hope Mr. Eklund doesn’t pull something like that again. That no one does!” she amended, taking a big slug of caffeine.

  “If so, I’m sure you can do a good job handling just about anyone,” he said with an air of flirtation. He poured himself a mug of coffee. “You’re really good at what you do, Katelyn.”

  “I’ve been told I’m obsessive at what I do.”

  “I was talking about with people. You have a positive personality. You make people happy. I admire that about you. It’s just too bad that someone like Eklund takes advantage of your good nature. I’m sure it saps your energy—the reason you need that coffee. Think you’ll make it to the end of the dinner shift? I’m guessing you didn’t have any quality downtime this afternoon.”

  She shrugged. “It all goes with the job.” Though truly, she wondered if she would get enough sleep that night to make it through brunch the next day. She raised her mug, saying, “Here’s to staying awake,” and then quickly downed the coffee.

  Thorne was staring at her. His expression was neutral, but she couldn’t say the same about his eyes. The look in them made her edgy, but in a good way. The feeling was becoming oh too familiar. Swallowing hard, she latched onto his gaze and didn’t let go. She swore she recognized a want of some kind in them. For her?

  She was the first to break the connection. “I’d better get back out there. A few more tables should be cleared, and when customers have to wait…”

  Thorne raised his mug to her. “Go get ’em.”

  Katelyn grinned as she left the office. Thorne was himself again. Maybe he’d seemed distant because he’d been overtired, too.

  A guess that made her mind wander back to what-ifs…

  Distracted by thoughts about Thorne as she made her way through the crowd, she almost ran into a twenty-something guy who stepped directly in front of her. She stopped just in time to avoid a crash. Or having his drink splash over her instead of on the floor. He was tall and broad, probably had fifty pounds on her. Looked like an athlete.

  “Keep on coming, hot stuff,” he said with a cockeyed grin that undoubtedly got him a lot of attention from women. He swayed, then caught himself. “You up against me? I wouldn’t complain.”

  Realizing he’d probably had too much to drink, she pasted on a smile and politely murmured, “Excuse me,” as she tried to circle around him.

  He stepped directly in front of her, making her stop again. “Don’t walk away from me, honey, not when I’m talking to you!”

  More like the drink in his hand was doing the talking.

  “C’mon, Steve, don’t start nothin’,” one of his friends warned him.

  But Steve didn’t budge from her path.

  Katelyn drew herself up to her full height. “Excuse me, but I have work to do. If you’re not happy here, leave, or I’ll find someone to show you out. I have customers waiting to be seated.” She tried to get around him again, but once more, he got in her face.

  “You’re the hostess? With your looks, you could get a better-paying job than that. I know a titty bar where—”

  Her good nature immediately evaporating, she interrupted. “I own this place!”

  “Even better. Then you owe me a good time.”

  He thrust his pelvis toward her, as if he expected her to service him right
there.

  Then, before she could shove him away and call for someone to throw him out, he grabbed her.

  Unprepared for such a bold move, Katelyn froze for a moment until she felt his erection pressed against her thigh. With a strangled cry, she tried to free herself, but his arms were like ropes around her.

  “Let go of me! And get out, right now!”

  “Make me,” Steve said, grinding into her.

  As suddenly as he’d put his hands on her, he was jerked back and upward. When he flew out to the side, Thorne appeared where he’d stood. Katelyn went wide-eyed as he released the back of the drunk’s shirt. Steve landed in a heap, but he scrambled to his feet and lunged toward Thorne, who put out a hand and caught him by the throat and shoved him back against the bar. Steve’s arms thrashed ineffectively. Thorne shook him once as if he were a rabid dog, then pinned him against a support post.

  Steve’s friend, the one who’d warned him, followed Katelyn toward the two.

  “Hey, that’s enough!” the friend said.

  Thorne ignored him and kept pressure on the drunk’s throat. Steve’s arms were still windmilling, but slower now. Realizing his air was getting cut off, Katelyn thought maybe she should do something to put an end to this. But for some reason, the sight of Thorne choking the life out of her assailant stirred some perverse arousal in her, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop him.

  Thorne stuck his face directly in Steve’s and said, “You get one warning. You agree to leave and never come back, or I tie you up and let the cops haul you out of here. Then you can get a lawyer and hope he gets you off without too much jail time. Got it?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he let go. Steve slid halfway down the support. His buddy lunged forward and stopped him from landing on his ass.

  “C’mon, Steve, let’s get out of this place,” the drunk’s friend muttered, looking around wildly, his gaze sliding off Katelyn and avoiding Thorne, who stood there unmoving, arms across his chest, his expression fierce.

  “What is Steve’s last name?” Thorne asked. When the friend grew tight-lipped, Thorne said, “I’ll find out for myself if I have to.”

  “Nyland. Why?”

  “If anything unusual happens around here, I want a name to give to my buddy, the police chief.”

  With that, the two men stumbled out of the café.

  Thorne turned to give Katelyn a once-over. “Did he hurt you?”

  She shook her head. “I’m still in one piece.”

  “Good.” With that, he headed back behind the bar.

  Leaving her wondering yet again about Thorne’s past.

  —

  “So, it was rad working with you, Thorne,” Chad said as he rounded the bar to leave.

  Working being subjective, Thorne thought as the part-time bartender checked himself out in the mirror and smoothed back a thatch of light-brown hair from his forehead. Barely of legal age himself, Chad had spent as much time schmoozing with the young, good-looking female customers as he had pouring drinks. But at least he seemed to be a decent sort.

  “We’ll be working together all weekend,” Thorne said.

  “Cool. Later.”

  The café had closed a half hour ago, and the waitstaff and kitchen crew had left a few at a time. Thorne stood his ground and did some busywork behind the bar, waiting for Katelyn to call it a night. He wanted to make sure she got back to her room safely. He couldn’t see idiot Steve coming back for a second round, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

  Chair legs screeched across the floor, getting Thorne’s attention. Radtke tossed the chair upside down onto a table and finished mopping. The maintenance man kept looking out at the patio, where Katelyn sat alone in the dark. Was he looking for her approval for a job well done? Thorne wondered, even as Radtke turned toward him. The maintenance man gave him a quick dark look, as if he had some kind of problem with him, before lumbering off toward the exit.

  Katelyn seemed to be in no hurry to leave. Which meant Thorne wasn’t going to, either. She was leaning against the railing at the edge of the patio and gazing out at the lake. Sensing she was still troubled over what had happened earlier, he poured a small glass of Shiraz and grabbed a beer before leaving the bar to join her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She didn’t look his way. “Just trying to come to terms with the best and worst day of my new business.”

  He knew best referred to its having been the busiest day, and worst to that rowdy drunk who’d grabbed her. From the second the guy had left, Thorne had watched her like a hawk. When he’d seen the drunk make his move on her, his gut had twisted into a knot. His stepping in to rescue her had felt as much personal as it had professional. And now, the twist in his gut was all personal.

  Stopping next to her, he held out the stemmed glass. “I figured you could use this.”

  “Thanks.” He noticed her hand shook slightly as she grasped the wineglass and took a small sip.

  He said, “I spoke to Chad about cutting off anyone who has too much to drink in the future.”

  “Good.”

  But when she turned to study him in the dark, he didn’t feel her good. Though she had closed the café for the night like a champ, she’d been hiding her true feelings, which washed over him now. He wished like hell that he could take away the memory that had pulled her down.

  “What?” He took a slug of beer, then set the bottle on the railing. “Talk it out. I’m here for you. I’m listening, remember.”

  “I’m trying to figure you out.”

  Thorne started. She was thinking about him and not the drunk? “How so?” he asked.

  “The way you handled that guy—I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “You shouldn’t have had to.”

  She stared down at the wineglass, swirling the contents. Then she sought his gaze. “Are you a cop or something?”

  Or something. He shook his head. “Not a cop.”

  “A fed?”

  “Nope.”

  “So do I assume correctly that you don’t know the police chief, either?”

  He grinned. “Just being creative to throw some fear into small minds.”

  “So if you’re not a cop and not a fed…then where did you learn to do what you did earlier?”

  “Fight?” He needed to give her something believable without telling her the whole truth. “When I was a kid, fighting was how I survived. I wasn’t an easy kid and I lashed out a lot, so I was handed off from foster family to group home to another foster family and back to the group home. And so on. I was too much for anyone to handle for any length of time.”

  Especially when he’d had to defend himself against someone who was supposed to be taking care of him.

  “So you were never adopted?”

  He snorted at the very idea that anyone would have wanted him around full-time. After his mother had given him up, he’d never belonged to anyone, and no one had ever belonged to him. “When I was fifteen, I took off, left the state, and moved around, taking crappy jobs all over the country.” He’d had to either get out or land in jail for a situation that couldn’t be prevented. If that bastard had laid a hand on him one more time….“And then I joined the Army and was shipped overseas.”

  Which was more than he’d meant to tell her.

  He did his best not to think about it. Not to let what he couldn’t have rule him. He’d done a good job of being content as a loner. A great job. Sometimes he even fooled himself. Other times, he simply wished he belonged somewhere. With someone who gave a crap about him.

  “Overseas,” she repeated. “To where?”

  “To a place where I was forced to hone my fighting skills to stay alive,” he said, which was all he was going to admit.

  He wouldn’t tell her the details that would shock her into silence. Didn’t want to think about them. Bad enough they sometimes intruded into his dreams…

  She murmured, “I see.”

  Now she was frowning.
Not his intention. “But this was supposed to be about you, Katelyn.” He’d meant to make her feel better, not worse.

  “I’m fine.” As if to prove it, she set down her wineglass next to his beer bottle.

  “So why don’t I believe that?”

  “Because you’re overprotective.”

  If she only knew how overprotective. And why.

  “I don’t think so.” He reached out and cupped her cheek gently, turned her face up to catch the moonlight before letting go. “Nope. No smile.” But beautiful, even so. “Your smile defines you.”

  “My smile does?”

  “It’s the first thing that caught my attention.” And from photos her father had provided. He’d been drawn by that smile before he’d ever met her. Somehow, it had wrapped around his insides, making him feel welcome. “And it’s missing right now.”

  Her brow furrowed again. “I don’t smile all the time.”

  “Yeah, you pretty much do. One of the things I like about you,” he admitted.

  “Only one of the things?” Her expression shifted, and her mouth turned up just slightly at the corners. “There are things I like about you, too.”

  “Such as that I agreed to tend bar for you?”

  “Well, that…and because you saved me from that drunken idiot tonight. Impressively, I might add. I didn’t get a chance to thank you before. So—thank you.”

  With that, Katelyn moved in on him and, standing on tiptoe, brushed her lips over the corner of his mouth.

  Heat from the spot where she’d touched him zapped through his body like an electrical shock wave, searing him from the inside out. He tried to get hold of himself, but she hadn’t moved away from him. She was standing too close. Making her too irresistible.

  Groaning, he slid an arm around her back and pulled her even closer. Hesitated a moment, enough time for her to pull away if she wanted to. When she didn’t, he dipped his head, rubbed his mouth over hers. Her lips parted. Tempting. Too tempting to resist. He nipped her lower lip, then moved in to taste her more thoroughly. Nudging her lips more fully open, he possessed her mouth. He started slowly, sinuously, seductively. Felt her hands on his chest. Was she going to push him away now? He held on tighter, kissed her more deeply. Her hands slid upward and twined around the back of his neck, anchoring her to him.