conversation stand.
“I need aspirin and food.”
“Patrick-”
“And another thing: don’t ask Lucy to help on this case.”
“She’s the one who found the
“How do you think she feels watching shit like that sex tape? Going to sites like
“Hold it, I didn’t know she’d done it until afterward, but it makes sense, and it’s nothing she hasn’t done before for WCF.”
“Yeah, and look where that’s got her,”
“What’s the problem here, Patrick?”
“Just keep Lucy out of this. I mean it.”
Sean was stunned by Patrick’s anger. He’d been on edge since returning from California, leaving his typical calm, reasoned personality on the West Coast. But this venom was so uncharacteristic that Sean didn’t know how to respond.
He said, “Lucy knows what she’s doing. I wouldn’t ask her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with.”
“Yes, just like she knew what she was doing when she was setting up those parolees for WCF and the vigilantes?”
“Wait just a minute-”
“Like she knew what she was doing when she got herself kidnapped in front of the church? Or when she nearly died on that island?”
Sean slowly rose from the table, his hands splayed firmly on the oak top to keep them from fisting up.
“Those are different situations,” he said through clenched teeth. “And Lucy is not to blame for either of them.”
Patrick blinked, as if he hadn’t known what he’d said. “I meant the fire.”
“You said the island.”
“You know what I meant!”
Unfortunately, Sean knew exactly what Patrick was thinking, and it took all his willpower to control his temper. It was bad enough that Patrick’s tone suggested that what had happened five weeks ago when Lucy’s stalker pounced was somehow her fault. But the reference to the island where Adam Scott had held her captive nearly seven years ago was unforgivable.
“Let it out, Patrick. Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“Don’t go all Dillon on me,” Patrick said, referring to his brother the shrink. “I’m just saying that Lucy gets too involved. She gets in way over her head, and she’s not ready for this kind of pressure. Can’t you just give her some time to heal? Or is this a way to make her dependent on you?”
“You are way off.”
“Just-why her?”
Sean realized Patrick was now talking about his relationship with Lucy, and that the conversation was taking another direction, diverting Sean’s attention from Lucy’s past. Patrick had clearly been harboring these hostile feelings a long time.
“I care about Lucy,” Sean said.
“Like you cared about Ashley? Jessica? Rachel? Emily-both of them? And then there was Shelley-”
Sean listened to Patrick list his ex-girlfriends before cutting him off. “It’s not the same thing, and you damn well know it.”
Patrick shook his head. “In the three years I’ve known you, you’ve had more than two dozen girlfriends, the longest lasting a record-breaking ten weeks.”
“You’ve been keeping track of my relationships?”
“Not until you started sleeping with my sister!”
“You’re crazy.”
“You’re a playboy.”
“I may have been, but-”
“So you and Lucy have been together for five weeks? You’re halfway to breaking her heart.”
“I’m not going to break her heart-”
“Like hell you aren’t.”
Sean wrestled with his temper, and Patrick pushed.
“Do you think it’s healthy for Lucy to help in a case like this? Do you ever think about anyone but yourself?”
Sean came extremely close to decking him. Patrick knew it and stepped forward, almost daring him.
Sean had a sudden thought. He wondered if Lucy’s distance from him since Patrick had been back in D.C. was Patrick’s doing. “What have you been saying to Lucy?” he asked.
“Nothing yet. But I’m watching you, Rogan.”
“Don’t.”
Had they ever been friends? How could he think he’d gotten to know Patrick so well only to realize that he didn’t know him at all? If Lucy heard his diatribe about Sean’s ex-girlfriends, she might be upset. Patrick’s approval meant more to her than that of any other member of her family. But if Lucy heard Patrick’s comment about the island, she’d be completely devastated.
“I’m going to talk to Kirsten’s other friends,” Patrick said, signaling that this conversation about Lucy was over. “You finish with her computer. We’ll leave at four.”
“Agreed.” Sean wanted to settle it, but they were at an impasse. If Patrick forced Lucy to choose between her family and Sean, Sean feared that Lucy would pick her family. And even if she did choose Sean, she would be miserable. He couldn’t do that to her.
He had to convince Patrick that Lucy was truly the only woman for him. Otherwise … no, he had to convince him. There was no alternative.
FIVE
While Sean drove in silence back to D.C., in the passenger seat Patrick received a call on his cell from Kate that Lucy wasn’t feeling well. Her birthday dinner was postponed until the weekend.
Sean dropped Patrick off at the town house that housed both the RCK East offices and their separate residences, then drove to the Kincaids. Kate answered the door. “I told Patrick that Lucy isn’t feeling well.”
“I know. I just wanted to see her.”
Kate let him in. “Make it quick. Lucy doesn’t get sick often, but when she does she usually overdoes it and makes it worse.”
Sean crossed his heart and held up his hand. “Promise.”
That elicited a smile from Lucy’s sister-in-law. Sean went upstairs and down the long hall to Lucy’s room, set back from the rest of the house. He knocked on the door. “It’s Sean. Can I come in?”
There was no answer. Sean wondered if she was sleeping. He didn’t want to disturb her, but he needed to see her. Partly because he missed her, and partly because he wanted to make sure she was okay with what had happened today with Kirsten Benton and the sex tape. If he had known she’d uncover something like that, he would never have let her help-or would he? Patrick’s gut reaction was to shelter Lucy, but Sean knew she’d faced far worse not only with what had happened nearly seven years ago, but during her tenure at WCF.
Still, the
He knocked again. “Luce?”
“I’m not feeling well,” came her muffled reply.
