The Parks Empire: Secrets, Lies and Loves: Romancing the Enemy

“Is this a meeting or a party?” he asked with a certain rueful edginess to the tone.

“Tyler is always hungry,” she explained.

She glanced at him, then checked the trays, her manner so serious, he felt a quixotic urge to take on her burdens and ease the load she carried. He silently laughed at the ridiculous notion. He wouldn’t be a fool for a woman again.

“Looks good, young Sara,” he said, forcing a smile.

Pausing, she studied him as if puzzled. “Why do you call me that?”

He shrugged. “I think the young girl I once knew is still there, hidden behind the turmoil and grief and injustice of a grown-up world.”

She shook her head. “She’s gone, Cade. She disappeared a long time ago.”

“Perhaps.” He knew he should leave well enough alone, but something prodded him to add, “She lives in my heart if nowhere else.”

The golden flecks in her green eyes flashed in the lamplight. She blinked tears back with visible effort.

“She lives in a boy’s dreams,” she corrected, giving him a defiant glance. “Not in the real world.”

“Last weekend seemed pretty real to me.”

A blush crept up her neck. “That was wrong—”

He wasn’t going to let her brush the weekend aside that easily. “No, it was the one thing that was right. Everything else may be wrong, but that wasn’t.”

“If only life were that simple.”

“Yeah. If only,” he agreed, forcing himself to ignore the forlorn sadness in her eyes. He shrugged. “Maybe it can be, once we resolve the past and its problems.”

“If we can,” she said.

The three simple words expressed all the doubts she didn’t voice. He wanted to argue with her, but what was the point? She was right.

The ring of the doorbell stopped the conversation. Sara rushed from the room to answer it. Cade heard more than one male voice. Her brother and his friends had arrived.

He moved so that he could see down the hallway. Sara turned from hugging her brother and hugged the other two. He felt a strong stab of jealousy at her ease with the Banning brothers and reprimanded himself for it.

Perhaps in another life in another time, he and Sara would have met and loved in the natural order of things, but not in this lifetime. Too much stood between them.

The gods must be laughing.

“Cade,” Sara said, leading the way to the den, “you’ve met Tyler and Nick. This is Mark Banning. You said you’d spoken to him earlier. Have you two met?”

“Only by phone,” Cade said, stepping forward to shake hands with each of the men. The older Banning had a pretty serious scar under his right eye. Cade wondered if that was why he’d left police work and opened his own agency.

“Please make yourselves comfortable,” Sara invited. “Tyler, there’s an assortment of drinks on the island. Do you mind playing host?”

“Not at all, sis.” The brother followed her to the island and called out choices to the men, then prepared wine, beer, iced tea or coffee, as they preferred.

Watching brother and sister work together, Cade was reminded of his idealistic version of marriage before his eye-opening experience with wedded bliss and the reality he’d discovered after the ceremony.

His wife had expected maids and caterers to do all the work. She’d been furious that he’d expected them to live on what he made. A law student’s earnings, then a newly fledged attorney’s salary didn’t match her aspirations at all. Neither did his idea of living in an apartment while they saved to buy their own place.

Interestingly, she and his dad had gotten along quite well. She’d wanted to live in the ornate mansion in Pacific Heights. Cade had refused.

Being around Sara brought back old dreams of having a warm, loving family. At four, that’s what he’d thought his own family had been. It was only after his mother was gone that he’d realized it had been Anna who’d made the children feel loved and wanted, not his father.

Glancing at the four pairs of eyes on him, he realized Sara and the men expected him to start this meeting, or whatever one called it.

“I suppose we should begin with what we know,” he said. “Sara and Tyler are trying to solve a twenty-five-year-old mystery regarding their father’s death.” He paused as Sara and Tyler glanced at each other. Neither spoke, so he continued, “Since the event, whether an accident or something more sinister took place on my father’s boat, that quest involves my family. I, too, want to know the truth about the drowning.”

“Why?” Tyler challenged.

Cade met the brother’s hard gaze, then glanced at Sara. “Because it hangs over our heads like a cloud that never goes away. I think the questions from the past must be cleared up so we can all go forward with our lives.”

Tyler looked skeptical. “Even if we prove your father was the perp?”

Cade nodded. He’d read the newspaper reports and had reconciled himself to the worst possible scenario. “I assume you have some kind of evidence, or else you wouldn’t have uprooted and moved here.”

“We’re working on it,” Tyler affirmed.

“With the help of your friends.” Cade gestured to the Banning brothers.

“Maybe,” Tyler said.

“I can help.”

The brother looked skeptical. “How?”

“I probably know more about my father’s business than anyone else.”

“You know about Parks Fine Jewelry. Your father has another attorney for his personal business.”

Cade returned Tyler’s challenging stare. “As he should, since I am an heir to his fortune.”

“His ill-gotten fortune,” Sara said, anger darting through her expressive eyes.

“So that’s what it comes down to,” Cade murmured. “Money, always money.”

“That’s usually the problem,” Mark Banning agreed. “But in this case, a man lost his life. We want to understand how and why.”

“So do I,” Cade said coolly. “It looks as if we’re all on the same wavelength here.”

“Yeah? We don’t intend to deal you in just yet,” Tyler told him.

Cade wasn’t surprised at the younger man’s suspicions. His being involved was rather like inviting the fox to guard the chicken house. “It would speed things along if I knew what we were looking for.”

“When we find some solid evidence, we’ll let you know,” Tyler said.