Chapter 12 #2
She was a damn hypocrite, being angry with him for keeping secrets when she had yet to share her own, but he’d— “You scared me,” she admitted aloud even as the thought occurred to her. “When I realized you were out without anyone protecting you.”
The last trace of remoteness left his expression and when he drew her into his arms, she went. “And for that, I’m sorry,” he whispered it against her lips and then kissed her.
Yeah, she was gone, because she let him lead her back inside. They didn’t discuss where he went, and upstairs she found that he’d transferred her clothes into his closet.
She was so screwed.
A part of her knew she had to tell the security force about the back exit, but the rest of her wanted to protect his secret—his freedom. But she wouldn’t let him go alone next time. And there would be a next time, of that she had no doubt. She wanted—no she needed to know where he was going.
The next week passed with an almost uneasy truce, she found herself second guessing everything he told her and more than once, she caught him studying her with the same look of consternation.
They rode together to the office, more often than not in her car because he had calls.
If he needed her on the call, he let security drive them.
The grand duke’s security force took up a greater presence in their lives.
Not only did they man the gate at Richard’s house, but she encouraged the assignment of a man to their floor at the office, and to reception.
A visible deterrent to future attempts. It also discouraged Richard from leaving the office undetected, though she’d discovered his private elevator and access on the other side of his bathroom.
It was an express elevator that went to the garage.
How he’d managed that, she had no idea—but she knew damn good and well they weren’t on the plans his personal security force had.
Working with Richard continued to entertain her, even though their relationship seemed punctuated with strain and tension.
It had been a long seven days since the night she caught him coming back—and to her knowledge, he hadn’t slipped away again—when he stopped at her desk, his expression sober and intense.
“Kate, cancel all our plans for tonight.”
“All right—what’s up?”
“Just be ready to go at seven. I’m going to show you where I go.” After that announcement, he’d shut himself up for the rest of the day on writing a brief.
By evening she was wired. He drove, and she was aware of the security follow cars—more surprised that Richard didn’t even try to evade.
Guilt stabbed at her. “Are you sure you want me here?”
“Yes.” No hesitation marked his response.
He parked in the driveway of a North Hollywood home on a cracked street called Bonner Avenue.
It looked like any of the other houses on the block, a little larger, a little less kempt with a yard full of toys, but it was clean and in good repair.
Twisting in his seat, he gave her a long look.
“Do you remember what I told you about the Christine Center?”
The place his mother had taken him and his sister after his father’s arrests. Oh shit. He said one of the center’s benefactors thought enough of his mother to send her back to school to get a degree and hired her… “Yes.”
“This is one of their outreaches. Currently it’s home to about a dozen displaced mothers and their children as well as four staff members and three part time counselors.
” He turned off the car. “Behind the main house, they have some acreage and a smaller house that doubles as an office and counseling center. On those nights that I ‘disappear’—I come here.”
“Oh, hell.” No wonder he didn’t say anything about where he went.
The clothes. Richard had benefitted from Christine’s Center and, in return, he’d grown up to be one of its benefactors.
Five bedrooms in the house and he lived alone, but that guest bedroom had a number of clothes in the closet and they were all brand new, tags still on them.
“You rescue them. You bring them back to your place.” The secret exits from his office and his house.
Richard gave her a faint smile. “Sometimes they need a fast exit, a safe one.”
Her heart squeezed and it took her a minute to get her emotions back under control. Once out of the car, Richard led her down the driveway. Behind them, the security car pulled out and headed down the road. Kate stopped and stared after it. “Richard?”
“I told them they couldn’t stay here.” He paused, cupping her elbow.
“This is a quiet place for these women to get their lives back under their control. They accept me here because I am one of them and I’m also an attorney and I help them get their lives back.
Those guys are big, hulking brutes with guns and they don’t need the intimidation. ”
“And you were going to mention the lack of security when?” Worry tipped through her. She let him walk her up the driveway, better to be far away from the street. The quiet residential area didn’t hold any elements of menace, but that sure as hell didn’t mean they weren’t there.
How many cars had been on the street? She hadn’t been paying attention, not when Richard had been driving and she’d been trying to reconcile her own guilt and anger.
“It’s fine.” He nudged open the gate. “They’ve been everywhere the last month or so and it’s been quiet. I think we really were caught in a random crapstorm that day. Don’t worry.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “I’ll text them when we’re ready to go.”
Trusting that they wouldn’t go far was about the best she could do. Peterson’s guys knew Richard’s habits.
They also knew the threat against the Andraste family better than anyone.
No one could get close to the family—Richard made an easier and far more attractive target considering his close personal ties to the prince. A man they’d dined with three times in as many weeks.
And there was nothing uncomfortable about that…
Blowing out a breath, she calmed her erratic heart.
Fortunately, her research into his cases at the firm hadn’t flagged any threats—but then she hadn’t had access to his cases for the Center.
Kate grimaced, glad for the darkness that hid her expression.
Richard wasn’t alone, not when she had his back.
Inside, she identified three benefits to the building.
First, the location behind the main house meant no direct line of sight existed to the street.
Second, the room Richard took his meetings in was located in the back of the building with a single window that faced a brick wall.
Third, and best of all, the four women sitting in a group waiting for him weren’t armed and cheered up immensely at his arrival.
They were wary of her, but Kate didn’t mind. She tried to relax her shoulders and appear as nonthreatening as possible, but they didn’t know her and they weren’t prepared to trust her. She accepted that judgment without comment.
Richard introduced her to the first client, Valerie Manning—she and her four sons were all residents at Christine’s Center.
She’d lost her job as a high school teacher after filing for an injunction against her abusive ex-husband.
Richard handled a pair of cases for her—the first against the district for wrongful termination and the second against her ex-husband to terminate his parental rights.
By the time that meeting ended, Valerie was in tears and gave him a hug. Kate stared at the closed door, then at him. He’d never raised his voice or been anything more than solicitous, yet she could feel the quiet rage behind his professional veneer.
“What’s going to happen to the douche ex-husband?” She had the unreasonable urge to deliver a cease-and-desist order with a baseball bat and she didn’t know Valerie.
“He’s cooling his heels in jail right now.
He violated the restraining order last month and trespassed.
” Despite his matter-of-fact tone, he smiled tightly.
“He might have had an open container in his vehicle and taken a swing at the officer who came to arrest him too. We have another thirty days and I’ll have Mrs. Manning relocated by then.
” Richard filled out the last of the paperwork and handed it over to her.
“We’ll need to file those first thing in the morning.
Exigent orders for emergency temporary custody so she can move across a state line.
Did she sign the power of attorney so I can handle the rest of it? ”
She nodded. Valerie hadn’t hesitated when Richard told her about the job waiting for her in Arizona and the rental house that had been “donated” for her use for a few months.
If Kate hadn’t already been falling in love with him, his care and dedication to these women would have sealed the deal.
Clearing her throat, she paused next to him and brushed the hair away from his forehead. “Ready for the next one?”
“Yes.” He shot her a quick smile and tucked the first file away into his bag and pulled out the next. “Kathy Sanderson.”
Each case seemed to be bad on its own merits.
One woman had lost everything to a house fire and the insurance company refused to pay.
They had to go over her deposition preparation for the following week.
Another had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance—she’d had a bottle of oxy in her purse that she’d taken from a coworker to help them stay clean—and now her three-year-old daughter was in CPS custody.
Richard held her when she cried because he’d gotten the mother a visitation order and a judge would hear her case within the month about restoring her custodianship if she promised to complete drug rehabilitation offered by the center.
The last case got to Kate.
Really got her.