Do Date Your Handsome Rival (Jewel Family Romance Book 3) Page 9

  Luke chuckled. “So is it me you trust to protect you, or the bear spray?”

  She winked, all sassy and cute. “I’m pleading the fifth on that one.”

  “I’ll pretend it’s me.”

  She laughed and jogged away from him toward the stairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get ready for our hike, and I need to pee.”

  Luke hurried after her, changing into running clothes in his suite, brushing his teeth, putting on deodorant, and splashing some water on his face. He ran a wet hand through his hair. It looked fine. He smiled, thinking of how he’d tried to explain to Mar that she was beautiful without being all fixed up. He hoped she felt the same.

  The doorbell rang, and he jerked in surprise. Walking out of his suite, he almost ran into Mar coming out of hers.

  Her eyebrows squiggled. “You expecting visitors?”

  “No. Probably neighbors or some of my parents’ friends who think they’re home.”

  “At seven a.m.?”

  He shrugged. Taking her hand, he led her along the balcony and down the stairs as the doorbell rang again. “Impatient neighbors,” he muttered.

  “Well, we are kind of slow,” Mar said.

  Luke didn’t think they were slow at all. Though he’d met her several months ago at Isaac’s wedding and she’d often been in his thoughts since then, they’d really only grown close over the past five days. Already, he wanted to declare his devotion and propose.

  He tugged the door open, hoping to dismiss the person quickly so he could focus back on Mar. “H-h—” He couldn’t even get his hello out. Standing on the door was none other than his past.

  “Hi, Luke, good to see you,” Tracey said, sweet and beautiful as ever. She stood a step below them on the front porch, but she was still taller than Mar. He’d forgotten how tall she was. Her hair was blonde with red highlights, and he supposed her face was model perfect with pale blue eyes and those straight lips he used to dream about.

  “Tracey,” he managed to say. “What are you doing here?” He glanced at Mar. Her dark eyes were wide, and she seemed to instantly understand who this was. She reached for Luke’s hand, and he gave it to her, drawing from her warm touch and her strength.

  Tracey’s eyes flitted to their hands and over Mar, and her blue eyes got a lot colder. “Holly Jenkins saw you last night,” she informed Luke.

  “Okay.” Luke had thought he’d seen one of Tracey’s friends at the restaurant, but he’d been far too focused on Mar to pay much attention to anyone else.

  “It’s your first time back in ten years,” she said, as if he’d hurt her by not coming back.

  “Yeah.” Luke wondered how she knew that for certain. Did she have spies watching his parents’ house? He clung to Mar’s hand and felt his anchor steady him. Whatever Tracey wanted couldn’t hurt him. He had Mar by his side. He wasn’t going to fall for Tracey again.

  “I had no reason to come back,” he said. Maybe it was a shot directed at her, but it was true. He’d avoided this place because of her and his broken heart. No more.

  She looked away and murmured, “You left me and ditched your responsibilities. Now that you’re here, I think you should see what you missed out on.”

  Luke’s stomach turned while his neck tightened. He hadn’t ditched his responsibilities. She’d lost the baby. Did she think he should’ve married her because they’d made a mistake one night? She’d chosen Mike Birmingham over him. He couldn’t puzzle out what she was intoning or what he may have missed out on.

  “Lacey!” Tracey called.

  A girl, maybe eight or nine, popped out of the back seat of the red Jeep Cherokee parked in the driveway. She bounced up the sidewalk and the stairs, stopped next to Tracey, and smiled curiously up at Luke and Mar. “Hi!” she said brightly.

  “Hi,” Luke and Mar murmured back at the same time.

  Luke’s palms were sweating, and he felt like he was losing his grip on Mar. He darted a glance at her, but she was staring at the little girl.

  Luke focused on the child. She was a beautiful girl with long, blonde hair, a heart-shaped face, and blue eyes. Luke’s own eyes narrowed. Those weren’t Tracy’s pale blue eyes; they were brighter, deeper. Could they possibly be … the Jewel eyes?

  “Tracey?” he asked, begging her to tell him the truth with that one request.

  “Lacey love, this is your daddy,” Tracey said, a genuine, loving smile curving her lips.

  Luke couldn’t swallow past the lump in his throat. He wanted to hurl all kinds of questions and accusations at Tracey. She’d told him the baby was gone. Had she lied to him? Could this little girl be his? It was unfathomable. Somebody would’ve said something to his parents or contacted him. Tracey should’ve contacted him. She had to know he was successful and could provide for her and their daughter. Their daughter? He released Mar’s hand and leaned heavily against the doorframe, feeling like his legs would collapse.

  The little girl blinked at her mom as if confused and looking for signals.

  “It’s okay, love.” Tracey’s voice became even gentler. “He’s a nice guy. He won’t hurt you.”

  Luke’s stomach hardened and he felt like he couldn’t catch a breath. “Has someone hurt her?” he demanded. This could easily be true. Tracey had lied to him, and he’d disappeared for ten years. This truly might be his daughter. If any person had dared lay a hand on her, he would kill them.

  Tracey seemed to realize her mistake. “Her daddy—I mean Mike, the man she thought was her daddy, my ex—he would never hurt her. I promise he never laid a hand on her or me, but sometimes he … yelled a lot. Especially the last few months we were together. It was rough.”

  Luke had so many questions, so much confusion rushing through him.

  “Run back to the car while I talk to your daddy,” Tracey instructed.

  “Okay.” The little girl gave them one more sweet smile and then pranced to the car.

  Luke couldn’t pull his gaze from her. When she shut the door, he couldn’t view her anymore through the darkened rear windows. Was that truly his daughter? Could he be a part of her life? All the hopes and dreams he’d felt as an eighteen-year-old rushed back, but now he was imagining him and Mar raising his child. “She’s beautiful,” Luke murmured.

  Tracey smiled confidently. “She’s the best part of me; that’s for sure.”

  Luke felt Mar retreat. He looked over at her. What would she think of this? They were just forming a relationship, and he feared this might rip them apart.

  “I’ll let you two talk alone,” Mar said.

  Luke didn’t want to be left alone with Tracey. He wanted Mar’s help, insight, and advice.

  “Thank you,” Tracey said quickly.

  Mar gave a forced smile and jogged across the foyer and up the stairs. Luke watched her go, feeling ripped apart. He wanted his daughter in his life, but he wanted Mar too. Could both be possible? Maybe. But not right now.

  When he focused back on Tracey, she tilted her head and asked, “Can we sit on the porch? I don’t like to have Lacey too far away.”

  “Sure.” He stepped out and stiffly sat in the wooden chairs on the porch. At least she seemed like a good mom. “Is she … really mine?”

  Tracey glanced sharply at him but then nodded.

  “Why did you tell me you lost her?” His stomach was churning. If this was true, he had a daughter. Yet if it was true, Tracey had stolen nine years of being with his daughter from him.

  Tracey shifted in her seat. “I thought I was in love with Mike.”

  Luke thought about what he knew about Mike. He was a couple years older than them, a big guy with an easy smile, everybody’s friend, but he’d had a short fuse. He’d been a great football player, with a lot of penalties accumulated. “And you married him?”

  She nodded shortly. “Look, I knew you weren’t long for this valley. I did you a favor.”

  “Excuse me?” Luke’s heart was hammering hard and fast. “Stealing
my daughter from me was a favor?”

  She stared at her clasped hands. “You went out and conquered the world. I’ve watched how successful you’ve become. You couldn’t have done that married and saddled with a baby at eighteen.”

  “That should’ve been my choice,” Luke said between clenched teeth.

  “I know. I was young and stupid. You broke up with me after … that night, so I assumed you didn’t want me, possibly hated me. Then, when I told you I was expecting, you got all pale and didn’t say one word. I assumed you didn’t want the baby.” She hugged herself and studied the vehicle that held their daughter. “Mike begged me to marry him, promised he would always adore me and my child, no matter if he wasn’t the father, and I agreed. I’m sorry.”

  Luke was so angry and confused that he really had no response for her. If she was telling the truth, she’d taken nine years of Lacey’s life from him. She’d let another man, a man with a possibly volatile temper—at least a yeller, if not worse—raise his daughter. He jumped to his feet and paced the porch. He could hardly stand not to yell his frustrations at her, but his dad had raised him with more self-control than that.

  Suddenly, he wondered if Lacey was watching him from inside that vehicle. Would she be scared that he looked angry? Stopping abruptly, he whirled to face Tracey and asked, “Where’s Mike now? You said he’s your ex?”

  She didn’t meet his gaze. “In prison.”

  Luke shook his head. This kept getting worse and worse. “For what?”

  “Assault.” She bowed her head and admitted, “He thought I cheated on him.” She tilted her chin up and met his gaze; he saw a glimpse of her old feistiness. “I didn’t. He wouldn’t believe me, and he tried to kill the guy.”

  Luke didn’t know how to respond. Did he say he was sorry her ex-husband was in prison, or sorry she’d married the guy in the first place? He wanted to grab Lacey and Mar and get them both far from here, far from Tracey and her messed-up life. “Is that why you’ve finally come to me?”

  “Sort of,” she admitted. “It isn’t easy to admit this to you.” She tilted her chin to the house. “And your beautiful girlfriend … wife?”

  “Girlfriend,” he said.

  “She looks like someone who’s successful and accomplished.”

  “She is,” he said proudly.

  “I’m not.” She bit at her lip and admitted, “Mike had a handyman business and did pretty well. He provided, and I was able to be at home with Lacey. I’d never trade that time with my girl but now I have no money, no husband, no education. I don’t have a job, and I don’t want to leave Lacey to find one, especially in the summer when she’s not in school. I was stewing about what to do, and then I got a phone call about Holly seeing you. I thought it was a sign from above.”

  Luke’s jaw clenched. So because he’d happened to be in that restaurant—or, more accurately, because of Mike’s mistake of being irrationally jealous and trying to kill some guy—Luke might get to know his daughter. There was no way to rectify the past, but he could see through the questions and anger that he could make a difference in Lacey’s life now. “So now you’ll let me spend time with my daughter because you need money?”

  She shrugged. “I know what an honorable and good person you are, and I thought you’d want to be part of her life. If you want to meet me at Jerkins Law Office at four this afternoon, we can work out child support and visitation.”

  Luke was reeling, but he was willing to do anything to be part of his daughter’s life, even forgive the woman who’d kept her from him. He’d forgive and forget if it would make Lacey’s life better. “Okay,” he finally said.

  Tracey gave him a radiant smile. “Thank you. I’ll see you then.” She stood and hurried to the vehicle, slamming her door quickly and spinning away.

  Luke lifted a hand as he watched them go, in case Lacey was watching him. He wished he could’ve at least talked to her longer, maybe hugged her and asked her what her favorite subject in school or hobbies were. He could just imagine her playing with Paisley, interacting with his parents, all of his siblings, Jade, Cosette, and … Mar.

  He wanted to go inside and get Mar’s take on all of this, but his strength had fled. Sagging against the porch railing, he stared at the thick forest of pine trees. A daughter? He had a daughter. He had no clue what this might mean for him and Mar, for his life and businesses, but there was no way he would turn his back on Lacey.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mar paced the suite she was staying in. She wanted to go push that Tracey lady away and hold on to Luke so tightly that no one would ever be able to pull him free. He wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, wouldn’t leave her. Yet she’d been where that little girl was; the people who should’ve loved her had gone away. If that little girl was really Luke’s daughter, she deserved a father like Luke to love, teach, and protect her. She deserved all the things that Mar’s childhood had lacked.

  Mar wished she could see what was happening on that front porch, and she wished her insecurities and fiery personality weren’t making her react so selfishly. She couldn’t imagine what that little girl’s life had been like without Luke, and she couldn’t imagine what Luke was going through right now. If only she could help him through this. She always reacted too intensely, and she’d ruined many a relationship because of it. Right now, she needed to calm down and give Luke space. She needed to take the higher ground. She needed to leave, to give him the time to figure this out without their developing relationship and Mar’s own issues of abandonment and lack of love influencing him.

  Her phone rang, and she snatched the opportunity to be distracted. Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was her assistant, Cara. “Everything okay?” Mar asked.

  “Um … Can you get back soon?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The Macy’s rep is in California this week, and she insists on a meeting with you in the morning to discuss going from the limited twelve-store distribution and partial products online to being in every one of their stores and every fragrance featured online.”

  “Yes!” Mar punched a fist in the air. “Of course I’ll be there. I’ll fly back tonight.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Mar?” Luke called through the closed door.

  “I’ve got to go.” Mar hung up, dropped her phone in her purse, and hurried to the door. Luke needed to focus on his daughter and have space to figure things out, and now her company needed her. This was probably divine intervention so she didn’t ruin their relationship by being too opinionated and demanding too much of him while he was in the midst of a trial.

  She flung the door wide, took one look at Luke’s distraught face, and crossed the distance. She wrapped her arms tightly around his back.

  Luke tucked her in to his chest and held her. After half a minute, he drew back. “Thank you. I needed that.”

  She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Neither of them said anything as they walked down the steps to the great room to the closest couch and settled down next to each other. Mar turned to him, tucking her legs underneath her. “Want to talk about it?”

  Luke’s blue eyes were cloudy. He shrugged. “I don’t even know what to say. If Lacey is mine, Tracey stole over nine years from me.”

  “If?” she asked. So he wasn’t certain. “Do you have doubts?”

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to think. I’m supposed to meet with her lawyer at four and figure out child support and visitation. The man who raised Lacey is in prison for trying to kill a guy and was a ‘yeller.’” He arched an eyebrow. “So I definitely want to keep her away from him. I want to protect her, be with her, raise her up right, but this is all so fast and nuts and I’m not really sure what to think.”

  “I bet.”

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “Me?” She leaned back. “I don’t know that my opinion should factor into this.”

  His brow wrinkled. “Of course it does.
I mean, if you want a relationship with me, it does.”

  Mar swallowed and looked out the windows at the beautiful greenery outside, praying for direction. “I’m interested in a relationship with you, Luke. Of course I am.” She swung back to face him.

  He reached out for her, his blue eyes soft. Mar leaned back and held up her hands. She hated that she’d caused the disappointment and frustration now on his face, but if he touched her, she’d beg him to never let her go, and right now she needed to be strong and let him go. If Lacey’s stepdad was violent, the little girl needed Luke even more than Mar had thought. She remembered how it felt to be terrified of the authority figure in her life.

  “You need to figure things out with your daughter first,” she said. “Then we can see what might be between us.”

  Luke didn’t seem to like her answer. His lips pursed and his eyes narrowed.

  “Look. You know my history. If I could’ve had a father like you, it would’ve changed everything. That beautiful little girl needs to come first right now, and I totally get that.”

  He studied her, then nodded. “Of course I want to put Lacey first. She deserves that after nine years.” He looked torn. “I’ll go to that meeting this afternoon and see what happens. But what about you? Will you wait here?”

  She bit at her lip. He looked so hopeful, and it about killed her to stay calm and detached. She wanted to fling herself against him and show him how fiery and passionate she could be, but that sweet child had to be his priority. Mar couldn’t interfere. “I think this came at a really good time. I actually have a huge meeting first thing tomorrow morning I need to get back for. Would you mind taking me to the airport, and I’ll catch a flight back?” She was amazed at how calm and unemotional her words were; inside, she wanted to cry at the thought of being apart from him, especially when he was going through something rough. Was she making the wrong decision? Was she going to ruin yet another relationship, the most important one she’d ever been in?

  He flinched back. “Oh … okay.”

  “Sorry.” She hated it, but rationally, she knew that this was the perfect opportunity to take a break. She’d be lonely without him, but who was she to come between him and his daughter? “I think it’s probably good, though. You can figure out things with Tracey and Lacey, and then later we can figure out things with us.”