My One And Only by MacKenzie Taylor Read Free Book Online

so I could dry off in the lobby. I just sat down and started crying."
    "Uncle Harrison found her like that," Rachel supplied.
    Ethan waited. Abby continued. "He probably stopped to talk to me to make sure I wasn't plan ning to sleep in the building that night."
    Rachel pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Whatever. That's when he gave you a job."
    "In the mail room," Abby said.
    "And Abby went to work for him, and thanks to Uncle Harrison, I didn't get put in foster care."
    Ethan's temples had begun to throb. "How generous of him."
    Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "So now Abby runs his foundation, and he kind of, you know, looks out for us. It's like having a father, only not."
    Ethan knew that feeling well. Abby laid her hand on Rachel's arm. "Rachel, I think that's enough."
    "I just wanted to know what the big deal is between you," Rachel told Ethan again. She shrugged. "I mean, after what Carlton told me, I was expecting you to be a real jerk."
    "Rachel!"
    "Well, I was," she told her sister. She looked at Ethan again. "But you seem nice enough, and he's not like an ogre or something. It just seems weird, is all."
    Ethan had to agree with her there. The benefactor of the Lee family bore little or no resemblance to the hard, distant man he remembered. He thought the matter over, then made a characteristically quick decision. "I'll make a deal with you," he told Rachel. Abby gave him a shrewd look.
    Rachel's eyes brightened. "Okay."
    "If I can have dinner here again, say next Tuesday night, we'll talk about Harrison." He let his gaze rest on Abby. "I'll tell you the whole story."
    "Cool."
    Abby frowned. "I don't think—"
    Ethan cut in smoothly. "I'll need at least a week to go over the figures. I'm assuming you have them for me?"
    She nodded.
    "It's settled, then." He glanced at Rachel. "Dinner next Tuesday , and we'll see how many of Har rison's problems we can solve."
    Abby's jaw clenched so tight he thought he might hear her teeth crack. "Rachel, do you have homework?" she asked.
    Her sister gave her a cross look. "Is that your way of telling me to go to my room?"
    "I just want to know if you have homework."
    "Yes."
    "Then you should go do it. It's getting late."
    "What if I want to listen to you and Ethan?"
    Abby said nothing. She merely stared at her sister for long seconds until Rachel made a frustrated sound and rose to her feet. "Fine." She scooped up a couple of plates. "But next week I'm staying until the end." She slid the dishes into the sink. "Next week we're having trout almondine. Is that okay with you?" she asked Ethan.
    "Yes."
    "Great. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have talked Monsieur Billaud out of it anyway. He's on this seafood kick." She turned to go. "Nice meeting you," she told Ethan.
    "Nice meeting you, Rachel."
    "See ya." She pushed through the swinging door. It glided shut with a swoosh in her wake.
    Abby rose from the table and finished gathering the last few dishes. "I'm sorry she put you on the spot like that."
    A smile played at the co rn ers of his mouth. "If she decides to give up cooking, she can always consider journalism."
    "Or espionage. She interrogates better than anyone I've ever known."
    "I wasn't uncomfortable."
    Abby shrugged but didn't respond. "You asked about the numbers. There's a file on the coffee table in the living room." She indicated the door with a tilt of her head. "What you need is in there."
    He studied her for a minute as she tidied up the kitchen. She seemed tense, and unless he missed his guess, also anxious. This wasn't the confident woman who'd come to see him in San Francisco. She was scared.
    Abby continued to busy herself at the counter. "I'll be there in a minute," she told him without meeting his gaze.
    He hesitated, then stood. He'd lived with Harrison long enough to recognize a dismissal when he heard one.
     
     
    A n hour later, Ethan glanced at Abby over the top of the page he'd been trying to read for the past five minutes.