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“I was a pain in the neck.”
She let out a little laugh. “That, I believe.”
“Always getting into trouble with the law.”
“Oh.”
“Witt didn’t approve. He wanted all of us to graduate at the top of our class from an Ivy League school…or if we couldn’t get in, then Reed College would do since it’s kind of a family tradition…afterward we were to finish law school and join a prestigious firm.”
“You’re a lawyer?” She knew better, of course, but wanted to see his response.
“Not hardly,” he said with a distasteful snort.
“But you just said—”
“I didn’t really count, though, remember?” His face was set in a hard expression she was beginning to recognize, though he didn’t look contrite, nor did he seem to want to elicit her sympathy. His eyes were hard, his chin thrust forward as if he were about to prove his worth.
But to whom?
“Just what is it you do, when you’re not renovating hotels?”
“Come on, Adria, don’t play stupid. It doesn’t wash. You already know that I’m a builder. I spent a lot of years remodeling houses, then ended up fixing the ranch. I guess I just stayed on.”
“The family’s ranch?”
He shot her a look. “Yep.”
“You run it, now?”
“You already know this.”
“What about building?”
“Still have a construction company. In Bend.”
“A jack-of-all-trades?”
“I do what I have to.” They reached the park surrounding the library. Cocking his head toward the building, he asked, “So did you dig up all the dirt on the family?”
“Not yet, but I will.”
“And then you’ll know if you’re really London.”
“I hope so.”
His lips compressed. “I can save you a whole lot of time and money and effort—you’re not.”
A breeze feathered through her hair. “How can you be so sure?”
“Practice,” he said.
She lifted a finely arched brow in a gesture that mimicked his stepmother’s so perfectly that his stomach squeezed. “So are you going to follow me around for the rest of my life?”
“I’m just waiting for an answer.”
“An answer?” she asked, squinting a little as the sun was behind his shoulder.
“That’s right. What’s it going to be, Adria?” he asked, unable to camouflage the contempt in his voice. “Are you content to stay in that dump on Eighty-second or are you going to gamble and move into a higher-rent district and take the all-expenses-paid suite at the Hotel Danvers?”
