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“I wasn't trying to pump her for information. If you'll remember, my only objective was to invi
te you to a party. She said you were in St. Louis. I tracked down the zip code, showed your picture at every hotel in that area and I had just about given up when someone mentioned having seen you with Drake. One tip led to another and now here we are.”
“Here we are,” Daniel repeated in a mutter. “It's a miracle you didn't set off all kinds of alarms within Drake's circles. Apparently you never wandered onto his radar screen during your search.”
“You were lucky, I guess. And lucky that Bernard immediately assumed I was your wife and didn't ask a lot of questions.”
“And lucky that you kept your head and didn't blow everything by blurting out that I wasn't your husband.”
“You didn't give me much chance to do so. I don't think I've ever seen anyone move as quickly as you did when you recognized me.”
Daniel smiled wryly. “When your life is at stake, you don't waste a lot of time considering options.”
B.J. selected a cherry tart from the assortment of pastries. “Your aunt is very fond of you. And proud of you. She told me you're a very successful businessman. She didn't know what type of business you're in, but she thinks it has something to do with computers.”
Looking out toward the water, Daniel continued to scowl.
B.J. swallowed the last bite of the tart and reached for her wineglass. “It really bothers you that I went to see her, doesn't it?”
“It bothers me that you tracked her down so easily—and me,” he admitted. “Perhaps I was being arrogant in thinking she would be safe even if Drake figured out that the background I gave him was phony.”
“There was no reason for you to worry about her. Her last name is different from yours—either of yours. There's nothing at all to connect her with you.”
“And yet you did.”
“I had the old records from the ranch,” she reminded him. “Molly got hold of them and found your aunt's name and number as your next of kin.”
“An invitation to a party hardly seems justification for a wholesale invasion of my privacy.”
“You're absolutely right.”
He seemed surprised that she had conceded so quickly, and without any effort to defend her actions.
“I'm sorry,” she added. “I didn't consider the possibility that you would have good reasons for not wanting to be found. I was focusing on proving myself to my uncles, and Molly is sort of obsessed with her plans for her parents' surprise party. Neither of us gave enough thought to your right to be left alone. We thought you'd want to be included in the party. It certainly never occurred to me—to either of us—that finding you could actually put your life in danger.”
“You had no way of knowing that, of course,” he acknowledged.
“That's no excuse. We should have realized that if you wanted to maintain a connection with our family, you'd have at least called once during the past dozen years.”
He looked at her then. “Did you think about me after I left?”
This time she was the one who glanced away. “Of course I did. I considered you a friend.”
More than a friend, of course. She'd had a desperate crush on him—but there was no need to mention that just now.
“I thought of you sometimes, as well,” he murmured. “I remembered the way you always told me I didn't have to be trapped in my past. That I could do anything I wanted with my future.”
“I'm sure several people told you that. I know Uncle Jared and Aunt Cassie must have.”
“They did,” he admitted. “But when you said it, for some reason, I believed it.”
B.J. toyed with the napkin in her lap, pleating the fabric tightly. “I was just a kid. I'm surprised you took anything I said seriously.”
“I took everything you said seriously.”
“So what happened after you left? How did you get from there to…here?”
For just a few moments, he had been open to her. Now suddenly he was closed off again. “I told you I was going to make something of myself.”
