“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
