Once again, he reached for her arm, but this time he didn’t retreat.
Her pulse pounded in her throat. Before he could touch her, Lacey immediately stepped out of his reach.
His gaze dulled at her rejection.
She wondered whether he really cared or if he was still an excellent actor. She’d bet on the acting.
“I didn’t come here to talk about the money,” he said.
“Then why did you come?” Ty stepped up behind her uncle, surprising them both.
Lacey had never felt more relieved in her entire life. She’d handled her uncle but Ty’s presence was more than welcome.
TY STEPPED PAST Dumont and came up beside Lilly. He couldn’t believe Dumont had had the balls to show up at his apartment to confront Lilly and Ty was glad he’d come home early and surprised the man.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
She gave him a curt nod.
Relieved, he turned back toward Marc Dumont and wrapped an arm around Lilly’s waist. From behind, he felt Digger push her nose between them until her head poked out through their legs.
Some protector the mutt turned out to be, he thought wryly. Though Ty wanted to believe Digger wouldn’t have let anything happen to Lilly, he knew the dog was a lover not a fighter. As for Ty, he wanted nothing more than to protect Lilly, but once again she’d held her own. He had to admit, though, she’d looked awfully relieved to see him.
Now she leaned into him, her flesh soft and pliant, her fragrance sweet and tempting. He was proud of her for not showing any weakness in front of Dumont , he thought.
The older man cleared his throat. “I came to see for myself that Lilly—I mean Lacey—is really okay,” Dumont said.
“You’ve done that and now you can leave.” Ty stepped back, intending to shut the door, even if it was in Dumont ’s face.
“Wait. There’s one more thing.” Dumont reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a rectangular envelope. “It’s an invitation. Two, really. One to my engagement party this Friday night and the other to my wedding next month.”
Lacey accepted the invitation with trembling hands. She was obviously shocked, gripping the invitation so hard her fingertips turned white.
“I don’t expect an answer now. Just know I’m glad you’re alive. I’m sorry about the past and I hope you’ll accept my invitation to start over.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, surprising Ty.
From Dumont ’s wide-eyed expression, Ty would guess she’d taken him off guard, as well.
“Thinking about it is all I can ask. I don’t even deserve that much. But I’m going to have a new family and a fresh start. I’m hoping we can have that, too.” Dumont shifted his gaze to Ty. “The apology and invitation includes you, as well,” he said a bit more stiffly.
Ty merely nodded. He had no intention of acknowledging anything the man said. He figured that made Lilly a better human being than him. He didn’t care.
In the wake of the silence that followed, Dumont turned and walked away.
“He’s full of crap,” Ty muttered, shutting the door behind them.
Lilly nodded. “How could he expect me to forget he had me placed in foster care at seventeen?”
she asked, her voice shaking.
And Ty knew that foster care was one of the nicer things Dumont had done to her. None of them would ever get past the shift all their lives had taken as a result. “At least one good thing came out of it. You met me,” he said trying to lighten the mood.
“And my life was never the same.” Lilly turned toward him, a smile on her lips. “It seems that once again, your timing was perfect.” She stared at him with wide eyes that were less vulnerable than when she was younger but no less compelling.
“I’d been running DMV searches all afternoon.” The department of motor vehicles was computerized but no less bureaucratic.
He’d been searching for a missing husband and running checks on an alias his wife thought he’d use in various states. If Ty wasn’t already jaded by life, his missing persons and cheating spouses cases would leave him sour on romance. Instead he was just ambivalent in general and wary of the damage Lilly could do to his heart—again.
Ty was a textbook case—fear of abandonment and rejection, caused by an unreliable father who’d taken off and a gut feeling that Lilly would do the same.
“Good thing it was damn boring work. I thought I’d surprise you and come home early to keep you company.”
In truth, work that should have taken him no time had extended itself for hours because he’d been preoccupied wondering what Lilly was doing back at his place, knowing she couldn’t possibly find much more to make sparkle and shine.
“Well you definitely surprised Uncle Marc. You should have seen his expression when he heard your voice behind him. His whole face turned pale.”
Ty had wanted to take her mind off waiting for her uncle’s reaction. He’d wanted to get her out of the stuffy apartment and make her smile. He still did. But first he had to take care of her uncle.
So to speak.
“Give me one second.” Ty pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Derek’s phone number. “It’s Ty,” he said when the other man answered. “I need you to do me a favor. Call our friend Frank in Glen’s Falls. Ask him to cover our active cases. I have something pressing I need you to handle.” Frank Mosca owned a P.I. agency in the next town over. His business was larger than Ty’s and he’d have the extra manpower.
“Name it, boss.”
“I want you to tail Marc Dumont. Morning, noon and night. Get one of Frank’s men to help if you have to, but I want to know what the guy’s up to.”
“Surveillance. I’ll get right on it. I’d rather be out in the field than doing paperwork and traces anyway.”
“It’s all part of the game. You need to get comfortable with both.” Although Ty agreed with Derek. He secretly preferred being out and about to sitting behind a desk. But until they found someone to hire who enjoyed the more routine aspects of their business, Derek was it.
“Maybe I can snag one of Frank’s guys to come work with us.” Derek laughed.
“No poaching. Call me at the slightest sign of anything out of the ordinary.” Ty flipped his cell phone closed and turned his gaze toward Lilly.
“You’re doing it again. You’re protecting me.”
He felt the heat rise to his face. “I’m doing what comes naturally. It’s my job to be suspicious.