“In a sec.” Sean leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “So tell me.”
“Tell you what?” He dropped the papers on his desk and sighed as he figured the fastest way to get rid of his brother was to answer his questions. “You already know I hired her.”
Sean laughed. “For cooking lessons.”
“Why is that so hard to understand?”
“Seriously?” Sean shook his head and stood up. “You, cooking? I should have been more impressed with her. Blonde, beautiful and a miracle worker. Teaching you to cook? Does she get hazard pay?”
Frowning, Lucas thought of the triple-her-usual-salary offer he’d made and realized that she was getting hazard pay. His scowl deepened as he snapped, “I’ve cooked for you before and you’re still breathing.”
“Only because of my excellent digestive system. It can withstand all sorts of toxins.”
“Get out, Sean.”
“Going, Lucas,” he said amiably.
“Oh—” Lucas stopped him with a single word. “There’s trouble at the Johnson site.”
“Warren again?” Sean frowned.
“Yeah, they dug without the okay and hit a water pipe. Apparently the home owner can now dock a boat off the patio.”
Shaking his head, Sean said, “I know the crews are your department, but if you want my opinion, we ought to get rid of Warren. We spend more time cleaning up after him than anything else. He’s more trouble than he’s worth.”
“Agreed.” Lucas nodded. “We’ll talk about it at the weekly meeting.”
“Right.” Sean headed for the door, but before he left, he asked, “On the Rose front, I hope cooking lessons are all you’re really up to.”
“What?”
“I hope you’re not still planning on using her for payback on Dave. Because, my man, that way lies misery.”
Lucas didn’t say anything, just stared at his younger brother until Sean shrugged and walked out. But long after he was gone, the man’s words were still ringing in the air.
Was he right? Was Lucas just asking for trouble by using Rose to get back at Dave?
Standing up, he turned his back on the work waiting for him and stared out the window at the world beyond the glass. Long Beach was shivering under gray skies and a cold rain driven by an icy ocean wind. Oak trees rattled bare limbs, and the tall pines swayed with each gust.
Truth be told, Lucas didn’t much like the idea of using Rose, either, though damned if he’d admit that to Sean. But the bottom line was, she was the sister of a man who had cheated him. Lied to him. And Lucas couldn’t let that slide.
Liars deserved what they got, he told himself as his hands fisted at his sides. Hadn’t he grown up watching his mother’s heart broken again and again by the very men she had trusted to keep her safe? First, it was his father, Ben King—though to give Ben his due, he hadn’t promised Lucas’s mother any more than he had the mothers of any of his sons.
But Lucas’s mother had pinned her hopes on love. Time and again, she’d gone searching for it, only to have whatever man she was pining over use her up and let her go. Her trust shaken, her heart shattered more times than he could even count, she’d finally given up. Destroyed by the very emotion she’d so longed to feel.
No, betrayal couldn’t be forgiven. Or forgotten. And he’d do whatever he had to do to make sure that Dave Clancy finally understood that.
Three
“How’s Rafe doing?”
“What?”
As Rose followed him down the wide aisle in the grocery store, Lucas heard her sigh heavily. “Your brother? Rafe? Didn’t he get married a few months ago?”
“Oh. Yeah. He did.” Lucas frowned at the seemingly endless selection of products. He’d spent most of his life avoiding grocery stores. When he needed food in a hurry, he stopped in at a deli or something. He hadn’t been raised around a kitchen and, as a King, if he wanted someone cooking in his house, he could hire a damn chef. So why learn?
Now, he felt like a stranger in a strange land. The brilliant fluorescent lighting gave him a headache. There was a screaming child a few aisles over and an old woman had just crashed her cart into his and then had the guts to blame him. Seriously, men just didn’t belong in grocery stores.
He was actually starting to rethink his whole plan. He hadn’t really considered at the beginning just what all this would entail. And his interest in cooking was about as low as it could get. Then he reminded himself sternly that getting back at Dave would be worth all the hassles he was going through at the moment. Nobody betrayed a King and walked away.
Nobody.
“And?” Rose prompted. “How’s he doing?”
“Rafe?” He dragged his mind back to the conversation. “He’s good. Seems happy enough.”
“What a touching testimony for marriage,” she mused and reached over to pick up a box of bread crumbs.
“Bread crumbs aren’t on the list,” Lucas said, checking just to make sure.
“I know, but it’s good to have them in the house. They come in handy in all kinds of ways. These are the best,” she said, handing him the blue box. “Low in sodium and carbs, plus they’re crispier than ordinary bread crumbs.”
“Crispier is better. Right.” If he did inadvertently learn how to cook during this process, he promised himself, he’d hire somebody to shop for him.
“So, you don’t like Rafe’s wife?”
He blinked at her. “Where did that come from? Of course I like her.”
“Well, you don’t seem thrilled that he got married,” she said with a shrug. “So I assumed you didn’t like his wife.”
“So if I didn’t like Christmas that would mean I hated somebody else’s present?” What was it with women? A man makes a simple statement and they take it and run in the exact opposite direction.
“You don’t like Christmas?” she countered.
“I didn’t say that.” Shaking his head, he continued down the baking aisle. “Have you ever heard the word logic?”
“I don’t know,” she said on a laugh. “I may have heard a vague reference at some point. Sounds like Latin.”
“Naturally,” he muttered, ignoring her smile, because frankly he didn’t like the buzz of interest he felt lighting up his insides. He had a plan here, and he wasn’t about to be distracted from it. Yes, he was going to seduce her. But that didn’t mean he was going to do something stupid like come to care for her.