Straight from the Heart

Voices followed her. “Jeez, what’s got her so riled up?” Tiffany said.

“I told you, Sam. I told you,” her mother declared.

Blake caught her in the kitchen. “Sis, don’t leave, please.”

“Why is my kitchen all of a sudden Grand Central Station?” Greta asked, putting the finishing touches on spinach salads.

“We’ll be out of your way in a sec,” Blake told her.

“Elsa and I will be in the dining room,” Greta said as she and the maid loaded salads onto a tray. “So talk all you want.”

When they left, Blake pleaded, “Try to understand.”

“All I understand is that you let me walk in there without any warning,” she said angrily. “In the old days you’d never have done that to me.”

“Blair, it was a business meeting—an important business meeting. And frankly, we didn’t know how to tell you. You have such a short fuse these days.”

“Now it’s my fault,” she choked out, taking a long breath. “I hadn’t even realized it, but I came here tonight hoping Dad was going to say, ‘Great job, Blair. I’m proud of you.’ Instead, he invites Lucas to dinner. That’s like a slap in my face.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t intended that way,” Lucas said from the doorway. He knew he was taking his life in his hands, but somehow he had to make this right.

Blair quickly turned around, unable to look at Lucas. She didn’t want to talk to him—not now, not ever.

“Mr. Culver, I don’t think this—”

Lucas stopped him. “It’s all right, Blake. I just want to explain.” Lucas motioned for Blake to leave the room.

Blake hesitated.

Blair couldn’t see him, but she knew from Blake’s silence that he was deciding whether or not to leave. Don’t you dare, she was thinking, but the sound of his receding footsteps told her that hope was in vain.

“I’m sorry if my presence upsets you,” Lucas started, wishing he could ease her hurt, which surprised him since this was business and he shouldn’t care about her feelings. But he did.

Blair counted to ten and turned around again, staring down at her hands instead of at Lucas. “I find that hard to believe,” she said sarcastically.

Lucas noticed she wasn’t looking at him and realized he had some apologizing to do. He’d embarrassed her in her office today, and it was clearly still on her mind.

“Well, I am,” he told her. “And I’m also sorry for not knocking on your door today. As you said, common courtesy dictates that I should have.”

Common courtesy and Lucas Culver. The thought made her want to laugh. Courtesy had nothing to do with Lucas. He’d been through so many women he should be in The Guinness Book of Records. She frowned; why was she thinking that? This wasn’t about Lucas and his women; it had to do with respect and dignity, and everyone in her family was conspiring to deprive her of those—even Lucas, with whom she had no personal relationship. But his voice sounded sincere and she was so tired after this horrendous day and she just wanted to go home.

Slowly she raised her eyes. Lucas could see that the storm in their blue depths had calmed.

“What are you doing here?” she asked point-blank.

“Your father invited me.”

“Why?”

“He’s offered me a position in his firm and he wanted me to meet his associates.”

“What?” She blinked in confusion. “Let me get this straight. I beat you in court so my father offers you a job.”

“The offer didn’t have anything to do with the trial.”

“Really?” She raised a dark eyebrow. “I have a habit of forgetting that my life is very unimportant to my father. If you mentioned the trial to him, I know exactly what he said. Any A.D.A. could have won that case. Raye was guilty. Enough said.”

Lucas suspected that Blair had probably been striving all her life for Sam Logan’s approval, and today she thought she’d finally achieved it. Now he’d turned it upside down for her. God, he shouldn’t have come. He should be in Jennifer’s apartment, enjoying something a whole lot better than this hollow feeling.

He told Jennifer he had an unexpected business meeting. She’d been annoyed at first, but he’d promised to make it up to her. If he was completely honest with himself, though, he’d have to admit that Blair was the main reason he was here tonight. He was curious about Sam’s offer, but seeing Blair somewhere other than the courtroom was the big selling point. Now he’d hurt her, and that was the last thing he’d wanted to do. He had to resolve this.

“It doesn’t matter what your father said or didn’t say,” he told her. “You don’t need his approval.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Blair muttered, and bit down on her lip to keep more words from tumbling out.

“I know what it’s like to seek approval from someone you love. I used to do everything I could to gain my brother’s approval. Then I grew up and realized it was always there. I just chose not to see that.”

“You don’t know anything about my relationship with my father,” she said tersely. “Any more than you know about me.”

“No, I don’t,” Lucas conceded. “And I regret my decision to come here tonight.”

“Then why did you?”

“Curiosity got the best of me.”

She frowned. “Curiosity?”

Curiosity about you, Blair.

“Yeah.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I wanted to find out why Sam was offering me a job. It’s not like I campaigned for it.”

“Did you find out?” she asked quietly.

“No, I’m still in the dark.”

Besides his desire to see Blair in a different context, he had decided to accept Sam’s invitation because he couldn’t stand not knowing. He had to find out the truth, but he wasn’t any closer to that than before he got here. Derek, Frank and Theo were all enthusiastically backing Sam in saying that they needed new blood. Even Calvin, the accountant, had shown him some impressive figures and encouraged him to join the Logan team. They were feeding him a line of crap, and Lucas knew crap when he heard it. But why were they pursuing him? He still hadn’t figured that out, and now he didn’t really care.

Blair took a step toward him. “I’ll tell you why, Lucas,” she said cryptically. “It’s because you’re a cutthroat attorney like he is. You don’t care about the law or about human consequences—just the big bucks. That’s what my father admires. So congratulations, you’re in the big leagues.”

He was trying to be conciliatory, to apologize for a bad error in judgment, but her words angered him, and suddenly he’d had enough. As she started to walk past him, he grabbed her arm. “Someday, Blair, someday I’m—”

He stopped as he saw fear flash into her eyes. Was she afraid of him? That possibility took him aback. They stared at each other for a long, silent moment, and then Lucas saw the pulse in her neck beating erratically. Other feelings started to surface and all he could think about was touching it with his lips and…

Blair tried to say something, but for once, words stuck in her throat. His hand was still closed around her arm, his fingers warm and firm. She felt the heat as it rushed up her arm to various parts of her body, and she was experiencing all sorts of emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. Emotions she’d only read about—and all because of a touch. How many other women had felt this way about Lucas? she wondered. She was well aware that it should be irrelevant to her, and yet the thought infuriated her.

She looked at his hand. “Let go of my arm,” she said coolly.

He saw the desperation in her eyes but didn’t relent. “I don’t think so,” he said just as coolly. “I’m not through. I’m tired of justifying my career to you—a career that I’m good at—and I’m also tired of having my apologies thrown back in my face.”