“Mr. McConnel.” Maria clipped the words hard. “I have been ‘gone’ for twenty years. I completely missed my own daughter’s life! I agreed to infiltrate the Rhinehart family. I even agreed to find out information, but when things went bad your predecessor declared me to be expendable. My life meant nothing. I was cast adrift. And I had some very important people looking for me.”
She turned to Dani. “I am sorrier than I can say for missing your life, my daughter. I received news about you, pictures, I even got to see a copy on a video tape of your ballet recital. If I had tried to contact you, to hold you like a mother should, you would have been killed. Please understand that. I couldn’t be so selfish as to put you at risk. But I never stopped thinking about you. Not for a single day.”
“So, what did you do?” Elaina asked, having settled comfortably on the couch with Edwin’s arm around her shoulders, and looking like she needed a bowl of popcorn and a soda to make the experience complete.
Maria sat down on the chair and stared at William as she answered. “Since my own people had thrown me to the wolves I had no one to help me but Edwin, and he could do very little being under constant scrutiny. I found other resources to continue my fact-finding.”
“Wait,” Dani interrupted, and turned on Edwin, who at least had the grace to not look quite so smug as he practically spooned Luke’s mother on the couch, something Luke had been trying steadfastly to ignore for the last ten minutes.
Dani, on the other hand, wasn’t beyond interrupting someone else’s romantic moment. She launched herself at her father, grabbing his shirt and dragging him upright. Luke almost went to his rescue. Almost. He met his mother’s eyes, yet she didn’t seem perturbed in the least that her love interest had become part of the play.
“You told me that you thought she was dead. You said she showed up a few years ago.” Dani turned back to her mother, dropping Edwin, who suddenly seemed much older and smaller than he had a few days ago. Hell, he’d been shrinking steadily ever since William had shown up.
“How in the world did you get updates on me, if Daddy thought...”
Dani froze. The question she was asking caught in her throat. Every eye in the room slowly turned to Marcus for the second time since this whole strange conference had begun.
“Yes,” Marcus said, and his sigh could be heard clearly even from where Luke sat all the way across the room. “It was me.”
Chapter Eleven
“Again,” William said slowly, “a man with unexpected depth.” William looked at Marcus, as though truly seeing him for the first time.
Dani didn’t even want to ask, but needed to know the answer all the same. “How long?” she asked, closing her eyes for a moment, and bracing herself for the answer.
“How long have I known she was alive? Sixteen years and seven months. How long have I worked for your father? Sixteen years and six months. How long have I been passing your life and memories to her?” He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and thought a moment before answering. “I suppose, sixteen years and four months.”
“Quite odd for a hired man,” William murmured, a certain tone to his voice that put Dani’s hackles up, though she couldn’t quite say why.
“So I’m told,” Marcus answered, just as evenly, just as carefully.
“Enough.” It was Maria who interrupted the standoff, which was something of a good thing. Dani was already looking around the room for something she could use as a projectile. “If your agency had half a clue what the hell it was doing, I wouldn’t still be hiding twenty years later and ending up in a fight with my own daughter!”
“I was not aware your original assignment came from my office.” William shrugged, as though that absolved everything.
“Pontius Pilate washing his hands,” Elaina murmured.
“That is an inappropriate illustration, as it was not I who assigned her,” William muttered to Elaina, righting a chair and sitting down heavily.
“You were really good,” Dani said, maybe a little grudgingly, but having to admit that it had been a while since she’d had quite that good a workout.
Maybe not since Luke and I... Dani ducked her head, hoping no one in the room would notice she was blushing and ask why. This was something she really wasn’t about to share with anyone except maybe... She raised her head, and caught Luke’s eye. Oh yeah, he’d noticed all right, but his smile was reassuring.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Thank you! You bested me, though, I have to admit. Is your hand all right? Nothing broken or terribly bruised?” Maria reached for her daughter, clucking over the bandages. “That glass... I tried so hard to avoid that.”
“It’s okay. I’ve had worse.” Dani looked at it critically, flexing her fingers carefully. “Where did you get your training?”
“Well, I’ve been hiding out for twenty years under assumed names and trying to collect evidence. I didn’t really have much else to do.”
Dani shook her head. “I can’t believe you fought in high heels!” She studied her own footwear rather critically. She’d been attached to her boots for a long time but, in retrospect, being stylish had its finer points.
“You did what?” Luke’s mother interrupted, sitting up suddenly. “In those?”
Maria nodded, and looked at her feet, lifting one ankle to show off the strappy black shoe. “It’s a vanity, I know, but on the other hand, the heels can actually be a formidable weapon.”
“As I well know,” Dani said ruefully.
“So sorry, my angel.”
“My heels break off all the time...” Elaina murmured, staring sadly at her own brown flats.
“These are reinforced. There’s a bit of steel that runs through the shoe and into the heel; makes it difficult through airports, though,” Maria answered.
“Ladies, please.” William held up his hand, and waved it.
Dani ignored him, leaning in closer to look at the aforementioned heel. “It looks quite normal. I wouldn’t have guessed.”
“Later dear,” Elaina said and pushed William’s arm down, as it was blocking her view. “Really? Where did you get them? I doubt they would have a pair in my size, but they do look adorable.”
Dani was trying to keep from laughing as she looked between the men. They’d tuned out at the mention of shoes and were looking either bored, confused, or annoyed. She glanced around at the room, still festooned with rubble from her mother’s searching. There was a stack of mail on the dining room table that had survived an avalanche of cutlery. Mostly bills, the occasional two-for-one offer on inedible fast food, and catalog for Cat Lovers. No sign of a cat, though. And there was also a flyer for an event in town. World’s Largest Bridal Show. It promised to be a “Texas-Sized Exhibition” of dresses and cakes and rings.
Thinking of the travesty of her almost-wedding, the way “Uncle” Benny had arranged everything, Dani allowed herself a moment to be... a bride. She picked up the flyer and examined it with a slightly wistful expression. Something caught her eye. She stole a glance at the others. They didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her, other than her mother... that’s something not easy to say. She pulled out her cell phone and tapped in a few ideas.