“How serious is this?” Luke asked quietly.
“Not as bad as it looks, although you wouldn’t know it from the way the mothers are reacting.” The officer spoke just as softly. “No guns or knives. Just a bunch of small-town kids looking for trouble. I’ve seen a lot worse. I used to work in Seattle. Came up here to get away from the hard-core stuff.”
“All right to take the Wade kid home?”
“Go ahead. We’ve already done our best to shake ‘em up a bit and throw a scare into ‘em. The Wade kid’s okay. He tried to play hero when one of the gate-crashers hassled a couple of the girls.”
Luke nodded. “I’ll take it from here.”
The officer smiled quizzically. “Your son?”
“No. His father’s dead. All he’s got left is a sister. I’m a friend of the family.”
The officer eyed him thoughtfully and then nodded. “He’s all yours.”
Matt stood up uncertainly as Luke crossed the room and came to a halt in front of him.
“Hi.” Matt’s eyes slid away. “Where’s Katy?”
“Going bonkers back at the cottage,” Luke answered easily. “I figured you didn’t need her coming down here and going bonkers in front of a crowd.”
Matt blinked and raised his eyes to meet Luke’s. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“No problem. What do you say we get out of here?” He examined the darkening bruise under Matt’s left eye. “You okay?”
Matt flushed. “Yeah, I’m okay. Let’s go.”
They walked out into the night together and got into the Jag. There was a long silence in the car as Luke drove through town and turned onto the road that led back toward the Gilchrist mansion.
“Is Katy real upset?” Matt asked finally.
“She’s a woman,” Luke said. “Of course she’s upset.”
Matt sank back into a state of deep gloom for another minute or two. “You going to yell at me?”
“No.”
“You going to get me fired from my job?”
“No. It doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong, Matt. You got into a situation, and you did the best you could. These things happen.”
“One of the assholes was hitting on a girl I know. She’s kind of shy. I could tell she was scared of him.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t exactly start it, you know. Things just sort of blew up out of nowhere. One minute I’m telling this turkey to leave Jenny alone, and the next the whole damn place was in an uproar.”
“That’s the thing about that kind of fighting. It has a way of exploding into a major scene before you know what’s happened.”
“I guess.”
“One of the things a man has to learn is how to pick and choose his battles.”
“I didn’t exactly choose this one,” Matt muttered.
“Another thing a man has to learn is how to avoid a fight that isn’t going to be worth the effort or serve a purpose.”
“I couldn’t avoid this one,” Matt said. The sullenness had crept back into his tone.
“And when he does get into a fight,” Luke continued calmly, “he has to know how to limit the damage as much as possible. He gets in and finishes the job quickly. Above all, he stays in control of the situation and of himself.”
“Yeah?” Matt scowled in the shadows, half intrigued and half defiant. “How’s he supposed to do that?”
“He trains for it, just like anything else.”
“How am I going to train myself to control situations like the one I was in tonight?”
“The same way I did,” Luke said. “The local gym probably has a martial arts instructor. Tomorrow morning we’ll go talk to him. If he looks like he knows what he’s doing, we’ll sign you up for classes. If he doesn’t look any good, I’ll give you some instruction myself.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Sound okay?”
“Holy shit,” Matt breathed. “Katy’s gonna blow her stack when she hears this.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t approve of violence.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle Katy.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luke stood at the kitchen window and watched Katy make her way down the cliff path to the beach. She was dressed for an early morning walk in a pair of faded jeans that fit her sweetly curved rear like a glove. She wore a bright yellow sweater to ward off the chill of the cloudy morning, and a slouchy white twill hat was pulled down low over her fiery hair.
Luke contemplated the pleasant view of Katy’s derriere until it disappeared from sight. Then he collected his black windbreaker from the hall closet and summoned Zeke.
“Come on, boy, we’re going for a walk.”
Zeke dutifully picked up his bowl and padded out of the cottage behind Luke.
The morning air held the promise of rain later in the day. The clouds were gathering out over the sea. Luke made his way down the cliff path, Zeke at his heels.
A few minutes later he and the dog were on the rocky, uneven beach. The retreat of the morning tide had left a number of interesting little pools in the gray sand. Zeke paused at the first one and dropped his dish to nose around the rocks.
Luke kept moving, his eyes on Katy’s vivid yellow sweater and tight jeans. He caught up with her halfway down the beach, aware that she had not yet realized he had joined her.
“You and I have some unfinished business,” Luke said as he fell into step beside her.
Startled, Katy came to a halt and whirled to face him. Her smile was tentative. “I didn’t see you.”
“I know.” He was hungry for the taste of her. He bent his head and took her mouth in a kiss that was far too brief. He deliberately broke it off before he lost control of it. He had other objectives this morning, he reminded himself.
Katy touched his arm. “I want to thank you for what you did last night. I probably would have handled Matt all wrong.”
“I doubt it.”
“No, I mean it.” Her brows drew together in a small, regretful frown. “It’s hard to know what to do in a situation like that. There have been so many times when I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Katy, you’ve done a fine job with Matt.”
She sighed. “Sometimes he seems like an alien creature to me.”
“He’s a male.” Luke smiled. “Men and women often feel like alien beings to each other.”
“I suppose so. Looking back, there have been so many times when I wish I had done things differently. There were times when he needed a man’s guidance, and I had to fumble through as best I could. Now he’s almost a man himself, and I can feel him getting ready to leave.”
“It’s time, Katy.”
“I know it’s time, but I’m scared for him. When something like last night happens I realize that there are so many things I haven’t been able to teach him. So many things I didn’t know myself.”
Luke cupped her face in his hands. “Honey, listen to me. You can’t possibly teach him everything. He wouldn’t listen if you tried. Some things he needs to learn on his own. That’s life.”
“I know, but—”
“He’s a good kid. You’ve done a fine job. Matt is going to be okay.”
“I hope so,” she whispered. She stepped closer and leaned her head against Luke’s shoulder. “I hope I haven’t messed up too much along the line.”
Luke wrapped his arms around her. “You haven’t messed up at all. Stop fretting, Katy. Guardian angels sometimes have to stand back and let their charges practice flying on their own. Matt took a short trial flight last night, and things got a little bumpy. But there was no harm done.”
“Thanks again for going down to the station to pick him up.” Katy lifted her head. “I did what you said. I didn’t fuss. I just let him go straight off to bed. He
said the two of you had already talked.”
“Right. We talked.”
“How did you know what to say?” Katy asked. “You don’t have kids.”
“I just said to Matt the things my dad said to me once when I got into a similar jam.” Luke kept his arm around her shoulders as he turned and started walking along the beach. “Now about our unfinished business.”
Katy slanted him a wary glance. “You weren’t the only one who had something to say last night, you know. I wanted to talk to you about a certain matter that came up yesterday.”
“All right,” Luke said. “You go first.”
“Promise you won’t lose your temper?”
“What makes you think there’s a risk I might lose it?” he countered.
“Well, it concerns the financial problems we’ve been having at two of the restaurants.”
“Hell.” Luke had an ominous feeling he knew what was coming. “That just happens to be the topic of conversation I wanted to cover.”
Katy looked up at him with an even more anxious expression. “I know who’s doing the skimming.”
“So do I. My dear cousin Eden.”
Katy’s eyes widened. “You know about poor Eden?”
“Poor Eden is not so poor these days. She’s managed to embezzle a hefty amount from the family coffers. I knew it was someone in the family. It felt like an insider. I was sure of it.”
“You were right,” Katy said. “But there were extenuating circumstances, and once you hear them I know you’ll understand. She’s going to need a little help, Luke.”
“Help?” The ominous sensation was a lot stronger. Luke narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Katy’s earnest face. He read his future there as clearly as if she were a book. “Oh, no, you don’t, angel.”
“Now Luke, I just want you to listen to the whole story.”
“No. Absolutely not. I am not listening to a damn thing. You’re not going to sucker me this time. That thieving little witch is guilty of stealing a large chunk of change, and I am not interested in hearing about mitigating circumstances.”
“This is a very serious situation.”
“Damn right it is. And I’m going to treat it that way. You brought me here to clean up the financial mess at Gilchrist, Inc. I told you I would do it, and I will. My way.”
“But Luke, this is a family matter,” Katy said.
“The hell it is. This is a matter of embezzlement.”
“Not exactly. You see—”
“Katy, I don’t want to listen to this.”
“Luke, she’s being blackmailed.”
“Shit.” Luke closed his eyes briefly in frustration. He knew he was going to lose this one. He could feel it coming.
Katy came to a halt again. Her expression was serious as she gazed up at him from beneath the brim of her white hat. Red hair curled softly against her cheek. “It’s a long story, Luke. I heard it all yesterday.”
“That’s where you were all day? Listening to Eden’s sob story?”
“Don’t sound so skeptical. You haven’t even heard it yet.”
“I don’t have to hear it to know that she’s deliberately dragged you into this mess.” Luke shoved his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker and scowled. “Okay. Give it to me in short, easy sentences.”
“Her ex-husband is blackmailing her with information he has about Maureen.”
Luke’s stomach clenched. “Atwood’s involved in this?”
Katy nodded quickly. “He’s found some old newspaper clippings that apparently state Maureen was convicted of selling forged art years ago in New York. He’s threatened to turn them over to Justine if Eden doesn’t continue to pay him off.”
“Jesus.”
“He thinks he got a bad deal at the time of the divorce. But I don’t think he’s just after the money. I think it’s revenge he wants.”
Luke studied her in silence for a minute while he absorbed that. “Eden told you this?”
“Yes.”
“She probably knows I’m closing in on her,” Luke said thoughtfully. “She’s come up with this story to get you on her side before the mountain comes crashing down on top of her.”
“It’s true, Luke. All of it.”
Luke’s mouth twisted. “Yeah? How do you know it’s true? What proof did she offer?”
“We went to see Nate. He admitted the whole thing.”
Luke was stunned. When he recovered from the shock, rage poured through him. He jerked his hands out of his pockets and clamped them around Katy’s shoulders. “You went to see him? By yourself?”
Katy bit her lip. “No. Eden was with me.”
Luke gripped her fiercely. “I don’t believe it. No, scratch that. I do believe it. Katy, are you out of your mind? What the hell got into you?” He gave her a small shake. “What did you think you were going to accomplish?”
“I wanted to try to scare him off.”
“Scare him off?” It was all Luke could do to keep himself under control. A terrible fear was gnawing at his guts. “How the hell did you think you were going to manage that?”
Katy drew a deep breath. “I told him I would go to you for help if he didn’t stop the blackmail and repay what he had taken.”
“Me?” Luke felt his jaw drop. He closed his mouth with a snap. “You threatened him with me?”
“Well, yes. I figured it was the strongest threat I had. The thing is, Luke, he didn’t believe me. He didn’t think I would tell you what was going on.”
“Yeah? What made him think that?” Luke demanded. For some reason he was annoyed all over again.
“He assumes he knows all about the Gilchrist family and how it works because he was married to Eden for a while. And he does know some stuff. He knows how hard Justine can be. He knows what she did to your parents, for example.”
“And he’s convinced Eden she’d banish Maureen and Hayden and their offspring if she found out about Maureen’s past?”
“Yes.” Katy smiled at him with relief in her eyes. “I’m so glad you understand, Luke. I knew you would. Now we’ve got to figure out how to handle this. I think the best policy would be to keep it quiet.”
“You think so, huh?” He wanted to turn Katy over his knee and paddle her for being so naive. She had gone to see Atwood. He still could not bring himself to accept that fact.
Katy frowned intently. “I’m not saying Justine would cut off that whole side of the family if she found out about Maureen’s past, but there is a risk she’d do something drastic. The news would certainly upset her. Maureen would be panic-stricken. I don’t know how Hayden would handle the situation. No, I think we had better keep a lid on this.”
“What’s this ‘we’ stuff?” Luke muttered. At least she had come to him about it, he consoled himself grimly. At least she trusted him enough to bring him into the situation. He supposed he ought to be grateful for small favors.
“I think we should try to contain it,” Katy said. “It may blow up. If it does, we’ll just have to deal with Justine. But it would be best if we took care of things before it got that far. You know your family, Luke. If the story of Eden being blackmailed gets out, we’ll have another Mount St. Helens explosion on our hands.”
“I’ve got a news flash for you, Katy,” Luke said. “You’re standing on the rim of a much bigger volcano.”
She gave him a curious glance. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the way I intend to explode after I decide what to do about Atwood.” He wrapped his palm around the nape of her neck and steered her back toward the cliff path.
“You’re going to handle this, aren’t you? I knew you would. I told Eden everything was going to be all right.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Thank you, Luke. You don’t know how much I appreciate this. I
was sure you would help, but frankly, I was expecting more of an argument.”
“I’m saving the good stuff for later,” he assured her. He whistled to Zeke, who bounded forward, dish in his jaws.
“What are you going to do first?” Katy asked.
“The first thing I’m going to do is take Matt down to the local gym and sign him up for a karate class.”
“Karate.” Katy dug her heels into the sand. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Matt’s going to get some training in the martial arts this summer. If he likes it, he’ll continue with it next fall when he goes off to college. I’m betting he’ll take to it like a duck to water.”
“Hold it right there, Luke. You can’t do something like this without my permission. And I’m not at all certain I want Matt exposed to that sort of influence. Teaching someone hand-to-hand combat techniques is bound to promote a negative, violent approach to problem solving.”
Luke looked at her. “Katy, you can’t take the warrior out of the man. All you can do is teach the man to control that side of himself.”
She flushed. “I don’t want to take away that side of his nature. I understand it’s important.”
He smiled. “You should understand. You’ve got a real streak of Amazon in you, honey. Don’t worry about the karate. It’ll teach him discipline and control.”
“I wish I could be sure of that.”
“Trust me on this one. Look what training in the martial arts has done for me.”
She nearly choked on a muttered exclamation. “All right—what exactly has it done for you?”
“Hell, at this very minute I’m exercising more self-discipline and self-control than you can possibly imagine.”
She blinked owlishly. “Oh.” She hesitated. “Are you really angry because I’ve asked you to help Eden?”
“There’s only one thing you could have done that would have made me angrier.”
“What’s that?”