To Catch a Thief

by Sherryl Woods

  Rafe chuckled. “No. I haven’t even been to a movie in the last two years, and I am definitely not buying any property.”

  “Then what do you do?” her father asked, just as Gina’s mother stepped in.

  “George, you’re pestering the man. Let him drink his coffee in peace.”

  “I’m just trying to get acquainted with a man who’s got half the town talking about the way he kissed my daughter,” George grumbled.

  So they had heard, Rafe thought. That explained the interrogation. “I apologize for that,” he said with absolute sincerity. It had been one of the biggest mistakes of his life, though he could hardly deny enjoying it.

  “There’s no need to apologize to us,” Jane assured him, shooting a warning look at her husband. “Is there, George?”

  “Not unless Gina objected,” he said, scowling at Rafe. “Did she?”

  Just then the back door opened and Gina stepped inside. “You!” she said when she saw him. “I thought that was your rental car out front. What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you, of course.”

  “And grilling my parents while you’re at it? What a lowdown, sneaky trick,” she accused. “Did you wait until you saw me leave before knocking on the door?”

  “No, I did not. And actually, I’ve barely gotten a word in,” he said, regarding her with amusement.

  “That’s true, dear,” her mother verified. “Your father has been doing most of the talking. I’m surprised your friend hasn’t told him to mind his own business.”

  Gina directed a frown at Rafe, then her father, then Rafe again. “I’d like to see you outside, please.”

  He grinned. “Sure thing. Mr. and Mrs. Petrillo, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for the coffee.”

  “I do hope you’ll come back and visit with us,” Jane said. “Perhaps you could come for dinner before you go back to New York.”

  “Sorry, Mom, he won’t be around that long,” Gina said. “Will you, Rafe?”

  He gave her a penetrating look. “My schedule is actually pretty flexible. Last I heard I’ll be in town for at least two weeks.”

  Her mother beamed. “Then I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. You must be staying at the hotel. I’ll be in touch.”

  “I’ll look forward to it,” he said, then followed Gina outside. Since she couldn’t seem to stop pacing up and down, he leaned against the porch railing and waited to see what she had to say.

  Finally she stopped in front of him. “I do not want you here.”

  “So I gathered.”

  “My parents don’t know anything about my business. They don’t know anything about Bobby. Leave them alone.”

  “I was not pumping them for information. In fact, I thought I was doing a darned fine job of evading all of your father’s questions about how we knew each other and what I do for a living.”

  “You didn’t tell them you were a lawyer?”

  “No.”

  “You didn’t tell them you’d followed me out here?”

  “No.”

  “You never mentioned Bobby?”

  “Nope.”

  That seemed to silence her. Rafe couldn’t help himself. He reached out and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I’m just after the truth, Gina. Nothing else. If you have nothing to hide, talk to me, tell me the truth.”

  “You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the butt.”

  “You have a very low opinion of my ability to judge character, don’t you?”

  “Can you blame me? You’ve come after me as if I’m some hardened criminal, when I’m as much of a victim as any of the people you say that Bobby swindled. The man has all but destroyed my business. He has turned my life upside down. And because of him, an annoyingly persistent attorney won’t leave me alone.”

  Rafe grimaced at the characterization. He’d always considered persistence to be a virtue, but he could see her point. Moreover, he was forced to admit that he was beginning to believe in at least the possibility of her innocence, but he was a long way from having any evidence for or against her. She might not see that as much of a shift in his opinion, but in truth it was a major concession. He usually trusted his initial gut reaction in any given situation, and he rarely let go of preconceived notions this easily.

  “You could go a long way toward making your case, if you would just sit down and get this deposition over with,” he pointed out.

  “Not without my attorney present.”

  “Of course not, but isn’t your friend Emma an attorney?”

  “Yes, but her practice is not in Wyoming, and besides, she’s here this weekend because she’s overworked and badly needs a break. I’m not going to get her involved in this,” she said flatly. “Hell, I’m here because I need a break, but I haven’t had five seconds to think with you trailing around after me. I started to take a drive, but I stopped for coffee instead. I glanced outside and spotted you heading in this direction. I had this horrible feeling this was exactly where you were going. Lo and behold, here you are, sneaking around behind my back to cross-examine my parents.”

  “I was not cross-examining your parents,” he repeated patiently. “I stopped by looking for you. Your mother invited me in. Your father did most of the talking. That’s it.”

  She gave him a plaintive look. “Couldn’t you go away?” she asked in what had become a familiar, wistful refrain. “Go home? I’ll be there in a couple of weeks and answer every single question you have.”

  “Much as I would like to get out of the wilds of Wyoming and back to civilization, I can’t take a chance that you’ll disappear. You’re my best link to Rinaldi.”

  “I haven’t heard from him. In fact, if he’s smart, I will never hear from him, because if I ever get five minutes alone with him, I will wring his scrawny neck.”

  She said it with such heartfelt conviction that Rafe’s faith in her shot up another notch. That still didn’t mean he could go running back to New York the way she wanted. Unfortunately, he was here for the duration.

  And gazing into her sad, vulnerable eyes was making that more and more difficult with every passing day.

  “I’ll tell you what,” he said finally. “I’ll make you a deal.”

  She regarded him with suspicion. “What sort of a deal?”

  “What’s on the reunion agenda for the day?”

  “A picnic in the park.”

  “Is that the last event?”

  “No, most of us will be here for the Fourth of July fireworks later in the week.”

  He regarded her solemnly. “Do you swear that you will not skip town on me?”

  She sighed. “I’m not going anywhere. How many times do I have to tell you that? You can turn your back on me. In fact, it might be nice if you just forgot all about me.”

  Rafe grinned at her wistful tone. “I can’t do that, but I will back off. I have some paperwork to do.”

  “Hallelujah!” she said, though her tone was less than enthusiastic.

  “I’m not saying I won’t cruise by the park—”

  “I should have known it was too good to be true,” she murmured.

  “That could be just because I’m longing for a glimpse of you,” Rafe suggested.

  “Oh, of course,” she said sarcastically. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  He was surprised by her skepticism. “You don’t think that could be true?”

  “You are not hanging around here because you’re attracted to me. You’re here because you want to nail me with a crime.”

  “Maybe that’s how it started,” Rafe said quietly, regretting the admission almost before the words were out of his mouth.

  She gave him a startled look. “What are you saying?”

  “I’ve already said it. Never mind. The point is I will try to give you a little space. Just don’t make me regret it. I have a lot of resources and I will use them to find you, so save yourself the trouble.”

  He’d taken half a dozen ste
ps, almost made it to safety, when she called out to him. He turned back.

  “What?” he asked, noting the confusion in her eyes.

  “Are you saying that kiss yesterday…” Her gaze locked on his. “Did it mean something?”

  Rafe couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips. Her words were too close to an invitation, way too close to a dare, or maybe he’d just been searching a little too desperately for any excuse at all to do it again.

  “I don’t know,” he said nonchalantly. He walked slowly back to her. “Only one way to find out.”

  Alarm flared in her eyes just as he bent down and lightly touched his mouth to hers. He could have stopped with that. He should have. But her soft little moan, the way she swayed toward him, they were too much. The next thing he knew she was in his arms and he was devouring her mouth.

  The morning had been unseasonably cool up until then, but now the temperature shot up until it felt hotter than it had under the blazing sun on his walk back into town the day before. His heart pounded and his body turned hard, even as hers went pliant, molding to his in a way that left him shaken and her trembling.

  His breathing was ragged when he finally pulled away. “I guess we have our answer,” he murmured, his voice husky.

  She stared back at him with dazed eyes. “Answer?”

  “That kiss definitely meant something.”

  “What did it mean?”

  He took a step back before he replied. “Trouble,” he said quietly. “It was definitely trouble.”

  Trouble? Gina echoed to herself after Rafe had wisely walked away. It wasn’t just trouble. It was a disaster. If he’d asked, she would have followed him straight to the nearest bed without giving it a second thought. She would have slept with a man who wanted to put her in jail.

  Okay, maybe he was beginning to cut her a little slack, but he definitely didn’t trust her, not the way a man ought to trust a woman he was making love to. Of course, that kiss had been all about lust, not love. Gina supposed a man—or a woman—could have spectacular sex with somebody without worrying too much about such niceties as trust. Personally, she’d never tried it. She’d had one serious relationship in Italy, but since coming back to the United States, she’d barely had time to date, much less get involved with a man deeply enough to think about letting him into her bed. And her relationship with Carlo had taught her all about the dangers of dating a suspicious man. His lack of trust, his constant accusations that she was deceiving him had destroyed them.

  Now, in just a few short days, Rafe had stirred her hormones to such a fever pitch that she was willing to toss aside everything she valued for a quick romp with yet another man who didn’t believe in her.

  “I saw what Rose Ellen meant,” Gina’s mother said quietly, slipping up beside Gina and putting an arm around her waist.

  “You saw?”

  “Oh, yes. So did your father.”

  “I’m surprised he didn’t go for his shotgun.”

  “I think he might have, if you’d shown even the tiniest hint of displeasure.”

  Gina regarded her mother with a wry look. “Well, that certainly didn’t happen, did it?”

  Her mother chuckled. “No, which begs the question, what is your relationship with Rafe O’Donnell?”

  “I wish I knew,” Gina said plaintively. “It’s…it’s confusing.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet, Mom, but I’ll tell you everything when I get it sorted out. I promise.”

  “If you want your father to run him off, he will, you know.”

  Gina grinned. “I know, and believe me, the thought holds a certain appeal.” She uttered a sigh of resignation. “But Rafe would just come back again.”

  “Your father was a persistent man, too,” Jane said, looking nostalgic.

  “Did you ever try to shake him?”

  “For a while,” she said, then grinned. “But my heart was never in it. Is your heart really in getting rid of Rafe once and for all?”

  “Apparently not,” Gina said. In fact, she was beginning to look forward to having him pop up when she least expected it. As for those devastating kisses, she was pretty sure she was becoming addicted.

  Chapter Five

  Rafe had expected to be back in New York by Monday. Unfortunately, Gina showed every sign of sticking to her guns and staying in Winding River for a full two weeks. He’d hoped that his pestering would eventually wear her down, but she was clearly stubborn. Maybe that trait was also the reason she hadn’t given in to the inevitable and shuttered Café Tuscany already.

  He had been true to his word on Sunday. He’d steered clear of her, though he hadn’t been able to resist taking a stroll through the park where the reunion attendees were gathered for their picnic. Gina had been playing baseball at the time, looking more carefree than she had since arriving in Wyoming. He regretted being the one responsible for putting a perpetual frown on her face, the worry lines between her eyes, but he had a job to do, whether he liked it or not.

  Since it looked like he was stuck here, he had no choice but to call his office and have his appointments shifted to other partners or postponed until his return.

  Even as he dialed, he was dreading the third degree he was likely to get from his meddlesome secretary.

  “Have you made contact yet?” Lydia asked in an undertone, as if he were on some sort of secret mission.

  “Yes, I have ‘made contact,”’ Rafe said impatiently. “How are things on that end? Any word from the investigator on Rinaldi’s whereabouts?”

  “Nothing. Charlie Flynn says the man has vanished. He’s probably basking in the sun on a beach in the Cayman Islands by now.”

  “Entirely possible,” Rafe agreed. “What’s the deal on the restaurant? Have you been by there?”

  “It was operating at full capacity last night. I checked it myself. Gina’s assistant has everything running smoothly. The veal piccata was as superb as ever.”

  “Did I pay for your dinner?”

  “No, but now that you mention it, that’s a very good idea. After all, it seems I was spying for you.”

  “If that’s what you were doing, you must not be very good at it. You’re not giving me anything I can use, Lydia.”

  “Because there’s nothing to pass along. All I can say is that it’s a shame that jerk’s actions might bankrupt the place.”

  “Is the word out about Bobby skipping town?”

  “It wasn’t in any of the society columns, and Deidre, that’s Gina’s assistant, acted as if everything were perfectly normal. If there was any buzz about their problems, I certainly didn’t hear it.” She hesitated, then said, “You know, if you just stopped bugging her, I think Gina could keep the place open and pay back all the money Bobby stole. Not that she should have to, if you ask me, but I suppose somebody is obligated to make good on the investors’ losses. Why not at least give her a chance?”

  “If she’s guilty of conspiring with her partner—”

  “She’s not,” Lydia retorted, cutting him off. “I wish you’d just use that supposedly stellar gut instinct of yours where she’s concerned. Have you spent a single minute with her? If you had, you’d know she’s no thief.”

  Maybe not, Rafe thought, but he refused to give his know-it-all secretary the satisfaction of admitting that just yet. Then there was the very intriguing question of how Gina was keeping the place afloat on her own. Assuming she wasn’t involved in the scam—which he still considered to be a sizable leap—she had to be hurting financially.

  Then again, Lauren Winters probably had very deep pockets. Even though Gina had insisted she wasn’t going to burden her friends with her problems, maybe she had lied. Maybe Lauren was quietly bailing her friend out of her financial difficulties. Rafe wondered if he owed the actress a warning about what a risky venture she’d be getting into. Unfortunately, based on past experience, he had a hunch she wouldn’t take the news well and that she’d manage to
turn him into the bad guy.

  “Lydia, cancel my appointments for the next two weeks. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”

  “You’re staying?” she asked, sounding more pleased than shocked. “Why?”

  “Because Gina is staying.”

  “How are you and Gina getting along?”

  “Let’s just say nobody’s likely to nominate us for couple of the year.” He tried to keep the regret out of his voice when he said it.

  Apparently he’d succeeded, because Lydia sighed heavily. “Then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought you were,” she said. “Romantically speaking, of course.”

  “Of course,” he said wryly. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  “You’ve been doing it for seven years. I should be used to it,” she said with weary resignation. “But I keep holding out hope that one of these days you’ll come to your senses, find a woman who can put up with you and settle down.”

  She paused, then added, “Now would be a good time, Rafe. You’re not getting any younger, and you could do a whole lot worse than Gina Petrillo.”

  “So you’ve mentioned—more than once, as a matter of fact.”

  “It bears repeating,” she said. “Bye, boss.”

  “Goodbye, Lydia. Hopefully they’ll appreciate your humor in the unemployment line.”

  “Your threats don’t bother me.”

  “I know. I know. All those bodies,” he said and hung up. If only he could find a few of the skeletons in her closet. A woman as cheeky as Lydia was bound to have dozens of them.

  If he was going to stay in Winding River, Rafe couldn’t keep wearing the same clothes, especially since the only dry cleaner in town seemed to have a quirky disregard for customer service. Whoever owned the business apparently opened when he felt like it. If he had regular hours, they weren’t posted, and Rafe had yet to see the lights on in the business.

  The only clothing store in town offered Western wear. Rafe resigned himself to a new wardrobe of jeans he’d rarely have the opportunity to wear once he got back to New York. His closet was filled with practical suits and three tuxedos for all of the charity events he was duty-bound to attend because his partners’ wives served on the boards and the fund-raising committees.