Her brain was working furiously as she led the way across the yard to the room they used for breaks. She switched on the coffee machine and took a bottle of water from the fridge. Ignoring Luc, she went to the small bathroom and splashed her face with water, then rinsed her mouth out over and over again until the sour taste was gone. In the mirror, she appeared pale, her eyes huge and shadowed. What she needed was a plan, but her mind refused to cooperate.
Luc rapped on the wood. “Lia, come out of there.”
Finally, she opened the door.
“Are you all right?” he asked
“Like you care.” She wanted to rant and rage, but it wasn’t going to help—she had gotten into this herself—so it was up to her to get out of it.
“Do you want a coffee?” she asked and was pleased at the surprised glance he threw her way. It was good to get him off-balance.
He nodded. “Black, no sugar.”
As she went to walk past, he touched her arm and she flinched. “What now?”
He nodded to the strapping on her right wrist. “Your arm—you’ve hurt it?”
“I fell off. It’s nothing.”
“Fell off? Fell off what?”
“A horse.” What the hell else would I fall off?
Lia made the coffee, adding milk and sugar to her own. She handed him his mug, took hers over to her favorite seat, and sank down. He remained standing, but Lia refused to be intimidated further.
“Is that why you slept with me?” she asked. “Did you have this planned?”
“No, cara.” he drawled. “But I could hardly resist such a willing offer.”
She stared at him, making no attempt to hide the hatred in her eyes. “Would you really publish those pictures?”
He didn’t answer, just took a sip of his coffee, and stared at her.
“Stupid question,” she muttered more to herself than Luc.
“Tell me what you were looking for, Lia.”
“I was looking for my father. I thought you might have some information about him. You said you knew him.”
Luc studied her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “So you really don’t know where he is?”
“Why the hell would I be looking for him,” she said slowly, enunciating each word, “if I knew where he was? Are you being purposefully obtuse or just stupid? I do not know where my father is.” She sighed. “Look, Mr. Severino…”
“Don’t you think we’ve gone a little past such formalities?”
Lia gritted her teeth at the reminder. “Luc,” she said, “I haven’t seen my father in over ten years.”
“Letters? Telephone calls?”
“I haven’t seen him, heard from him. Nothing. I went to see Harley Watson because I remembered him from when we lived in London. I thought he might know where my father had been for the last ten years.”
“Why didn’t you just ask? Why the charade about the job?”
She glared at him incredulously. “I didn’t know my father well, and I hardly knew Mr. Watson at all. But I do know something of what he was, what they both were, and I couldn’t just walk in there and ask.”
“Why did you leave with me?”
Lia looked away and shoved her hands in her pockets. “For the same reason. You said you knew my father and…” She cast him a bitter glance, “at the time I believed you were the safer bet. Anyway, I thought you might have some information. You said you were an acquaintance. I don’t know anything about you apart from that. Then we…” she paused at a loss for words.
“Had wild, mind-blowing sex,” Luc said, and she glared at him again.
“Anyway, I felt uncomfortable, so I ran, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I told you the job was separate, nothing to do with sleeping with me.”
“And I told you I don’t want your stupid job, I only wanted to find my father.” She looked at him and suddenly realized that it had all been for nothing anyway. “You don’t know where he is either, do you?”
Luc sipped his coffee. “No, but I want to find him.”
“Why?”
“Unfinished business.”
“What sort of unfinished business?” she asked.
“That’s unimportant. So, why do you want to find him now after all this time?”
Lia thought for a moment. She didn’t want him to know her financial situation; it was none of his business.
“I promised my mother,” she said at last.
“Why?”
“My mother loved my father. She was very upset when he left. And my father hasn’t even met Mike, my brother, he’s only ten—he was born after my father disappeared. My mother wanted him to see Mike, and I promised I would try to find him.