Ring Of Deception

Luke couldn’t blame her. This was hardly a good scene for a child to endure.

“Emily,” he said in the same tone he’d have used with an adult, “I’m not a bad man.”

“My mommy said you were.”

“Your mommy made a mistake. Think about what happened from start to finish. You and the others came out of the day care center. You went down the steps and—”

“And,” Emily said, her face puckered in thought, “I heard my mommy call me. An’ I looked up and saw her. An’ I ran to the gate, but you was there first an’ I ran into you, an’ you said ‘Whoa, kid,’ like I was a horse instead of a girl, an’ I bounced off your legs an’ I kinda started to fall, an’ you grabbed me to keep me from falling, an’ then my mommy started yelling.”

As the kid paused for breath, Luke rose to his feet. “I rest my case,” he said smugly, and folded his arms across his chest.

“But you didn’t say sorry to us this morning,” Emily added.

“This morning?” Katherine echoed, frowning.

“Yes,” said Abby. “We met this—this gentleman as we were coming into the center.”

Luke heard the twist Emily’s mother put on the word “gentleman,” but decided to let it pass and respond only to the child.

“You’re right,” he told her. “I guess I wasn’t very nice. I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you. I apologize.”

“Mommy said you got up on the wrong side of the bed, but I said it was ‘cause you got a bad cold.”

“You noticed that, huh?” Luke asked with a grin.

The child nodded. “You were sneezing. And your nose was all red, like it is now.”

“Well, that’s all true, Em. I have a cold and I was grumpy this morning.” He bent toward her and tapped his finger lightly against her nose. “And I said a bad word a couple of minutes ago, but that’s it. None of that makes me a bad guy.”

Emily rubbed the tip of one sneakered foot against the other and regarded him with sober interest.

“What’s a carpenter?”

The non sequitur almost threw him. Then he remembered that Katherine Kinard had just explained what he was. What he was pretending to be.

“A carpenter’s a person who makes things out of wood.”

“Like boats? I saw a man make a boat on TV. The Discovery channel.”

Luke smiled. “That must have been cool. Nope, I don’t make boats. I build houses.” It wasn’t a complete lie; he had done just that a long time ago, on the reservation. “And I build things that go inside houses, like shelves and cabinets.”

“Can you make toy chests?”

“Emily!”

The little girl looked at her mother. “I need a toy chest, Mommy. You said so. And you said you couldn’t find one to buy that didn’t look like it was made out of garbage.”

“Emily,” the brunette said again, and blushed.

She’d blushed this morning, too, Luke recalled. It was a nice thing to see in a woman. As far as he knew, women didn’t blush much anymore.

“I’d be happy to make you a toy chest someday, Emily.” Luke shot a quick look at the brunette. “Your mom and I can discuss it.”

“We cannot,” Abby said quickly. “I mean, thank you for the offer, Mr.—”

“Sloan. Luke Sloan.”

He held out his hand. She looked at it. For a couple of seconds, he thought she was just going to let it go at that, but then she held out her hand, too. His fingers closed around hers, swallowing them up.

“Abigail,” she said, with what he knew was reluctance. “Abigail Douglas.”

“Abigail. Nice to meet you.”

He smiled. She hesitated, then offered a smile in return. It wasn’t a real smile, but it pleased him. Not because she was a good-looking woman, but because he didn’t need the mother of one of the kids at Forrester Square watching his every move just to make sure he wasn’t some kind of pervert up to no good . . . . Although he supposed some might say the “no good” part could be construed as accurate, considering he was lying about who he was and why he was here.

“My mommy’s name is Abby,” the little girl said helpfully. “Nobody calls her Abigail.”

“Well,” Katherine said, clearing her throat, “why don’t we all go inside?”

Suddenly Abby thought of how she’d run out of the jewelry shop, dropping the pin on the counter, leaving the case unlocked, leaving Mrs. Halpern standing there in confusion . . . .

“I really can’t,” she said. “I mean, I don’t . . . ”

“Please, Mommy?”

She looked down at Emily. The child’s cheeks were flushed. Her daughter had spent a bad few minutes, and it was her fault. For the past two years, she’d lived in fear of Frank coming after them or sending someone else to do the job. Despite that, despite her lectures to Em about not talking to strangers, she’d never frightened the girl. Now she had, and for no reason. Luke Sloan was just a carpenter. He was harmless.

She looked around. Luke was making eye contact with the couple of people still standing outside the wrought iron fence, watching the scene and waiting for the action to start again.

“It’s all over, folks. Move it.”

He spoke softly, but it was enough. He was big. Leanly muscled. Powerful-looking.

People scurried away.

Harmless, Abby thought again. She’d thought Frank was harmless, too.

“Mommy?”

She looked down into Emily’s pleading face.

“Come inside, Mom, just for a minute.”

Abby nodded. “Just for a minute,” she said, taking her daughter’s hand.

They all went into the center and made small talk about nothing in particular for a few minutes. Then one of the teachers called out to Katherine, who made her apologies and went to talk with the woman. Emily gave Abby a big hug and a smacking kiss, and ran off to join her play group.

Abby watched her go.