Hope's Discovery (THE MATCHMAKER TRILOGY) Read online

  Things always got personal, to some extent. As an investigator you usually worked for the person getting screwed over. It was hard, if you had a heart, not to feel a little something for your client. But in Hope’s case it was different. He’d never before wanted to stop the pursuit for his own selfish reasons. If he didn’t have an outside client wanting him to find Hope and he hadn’t agreed to let Hope hire him, he’d have a clear conscious about the relationship they were forming. The money and the pursuit didn’t matter anymore. Hope was the only thing that mattered.

  This time he took her out for Chinese food. She ate. He considered it a successful date. They’d kissed good night on the front step of her apartment. It was a long good-night kiss too. He’d been a gentleman and declined the invitation into the house when she’d offered. Instead, he opted for the cold shower before bed and an hour of going over his documents pertaining to Mandy Marrow.

  He’d decided to give her his information in tiny bits. Still, he needed to keep Hope’s discovery of her mother low key until Donald Buchanan wanted to meet her. He’d pulled out a few more copies of photos he’d obtained and a few of the cold leads. He’d give them to Hope on Monday, after he met her parents.

  Sunday afternoon he arrived at five o’clock to the house on Cherry Street. According to the directions that Hope had written out for him, the modest home with the large front porch and pots of geraniums was the right place.

  From the backyard, he could hear the faint laughter of children playing. Such innocent joy brought a smile to his face as he neared the steps of the house. In his hand he carried daisies and a bottle of Italian wine. All complements of a phone call to Thomas, before he’d left the school on Saturday. Surely he’d have a half a chance with winning over her mother.

  Trevor hadn’t even made it to the top step when the door flew open. Sophia stood before him, an enormous smile on her face. He’d studied her face from photographs he’d had in his file, and he’d have recognized her anywhere. She pushed open the screen door. “You must be the man we’ve heard so much about.”

  “I’m Trevor, Mrs. Kendal. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for having me.” He held out the flowers and the wine. “These are for you and this is for dinner. I was told it was your favorite.”

  Sophia nodded, accepting the gifts. “It’s Sophia. I see you have been talking to an informant.”

  “Guilty.”

  “I’m impressed. Come in and meet the family,” she said as stepped aside to let him through. “Hope will be along in a few moments. She had something come up.” She shut the door behind them.

  Panic flooded his body. Hope had invited him to dinner and he’d never thought to look for her car out front. He was alone in the house of the very people he’d studied, investigated, and consequently ended up admiring. However, he was facing them alone.

  The moment Sophia showed Trevor into the living room, he recognized Hope’s father. David Kendal stood and crossed the room. He extended his hand, and Trevor reminded himself to extend his.

  “Trevor, it’s nice to meet you. I’m David, Hope’s father.”

  He couldn’t remember a time when his knees felt weak and his palms got sweaty in a room full of strangers. There had been cases when people had come after him with baseball bats and even one crazy wife with a gun, but meeting Hope’s parents seemed to be testing him as a man.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “She talked you into dinner at the folks’?” Thomas walked up behind David and held out his hand.

  “She did.”

  “She must like you a lot.” He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t even recall her inviting anyone before.”

  “I think you’re right. Wait.” David turned to his son-in-law. “Oliver. Was that his name? Oliver?”

  Trevor felt the pang of jealousy pierce his chest. He rubbed against it with his hand. There was no reason for him to be jealous over Hope brining another man home to meet her parents. Hadn’t he brought other women home to meet his mother?

  He turned his attention to Thomas, who had begun to laugh.

  “Oliver? Did you think they were dating?”

  “Weren’t they?”

  “Oliver is gay. He’s an artist who wanted her to help him paint.”

  Trevor let out a quiet breath and the tension in his chest eased.

  David shrugged. “Really? I guess I didn’t pay too much attention.”

  “I sure did,” Thomas added. “He asked me for my phone number and then wondered if maybe my wife knew I was gay.” He shook his head, and David stifled a laugh. “Just because I’m a pianist doesn’t mean I’m gay.”

  “He did that? Was I here for all of this?” Sophia asked.

  “I think I discreetly took care of the situation.” Carissa walked up behind them and smiled. “I’m Carissa. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She extended her hand and he shook it. “Why don’t you come on back? I’ll get you a glass of wine.”

  She took Trevor by the hand and escorted him to the kitchen.

  He leaned against the counter as Carissa reached for a glass in the cupboard. “So you’re Hope’s sister?”

  “That’s me.”

  “She’s very fond of you.”

  “I hope so. I’m very fond of her too.” Carissa smiled as she handed him a glass of wine. “Dinner is almost done. Why don’t we sit out on the porch until she gets here.”

  Trevor waited for her to take a seat and then sat in the chair next to hers overlooking the manicured yard. There were three children running in the grass, chasing a small dog. Another sat on a tree swing, earphones in his ears, trying his best to ignore his siblings.

  “This is a wonderful house.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” Carissa looked around. “My parents bought this house over thirty years ago. They fixed it up and then when mom moved to Europe, Dad sold it and he and I moved. Then when Mom moved back to Kansas City ten years later, my great-grandmother and great-aunt bought it for them as a wedding present. We brought Hope home here after she was born. This is where she grew up.”

  “You didn’t grow up in this house?”

  “I was here for a bit. I lived here from the time I was seven until the time I was about nine. Then during my senior year in high school and the first summer I was home from college. But that was about it. I lived with my great-grandmother and aunt as they got on in years. Now I live in that house with my family.”

  The story seemed nicely tucked into a tidy package, but he knew there was so much more to Carissa’s life. Mandy Marlow had all but screwed up all of that, he knew. She’d had Carissa in miscellaneous homes for the first seven years of her life before dumping her on David. Knowing the man now, he was sure it wasn’t dumping her on him. But he knew that was why Carissa’s mother had moved to Europe for ten years. And to think they’d brought Hope to that very house to grow up. He sipped his drink. Hope, who had been born to a dying woman and taken in by the man she claimed as her father. They could make a movie about how Mandy Marlow’s children turned out normal. Thank God for people like David Kendal and his wife, Sophia. Carissa and Hope had normal and loving lives.

  Carissa set her glass on the small table between the chairs.

  “So, Trevor, where are you from?”

  “Oh, I was raised in upstate New York.” He sipped his wine again. What was he doing? He was now answering personal questions about himself. Did he need a reminder that no matter what was happening to his heart, Hope Kendal was still an assignment and now a client?

  “And you moved out to Kansas City for work?”

  “Well, I actually am here on work. I don’t live here.”

  “Oh.” Carissa picked up her wine and he could feel the air thicken.

  “Are you quizzing my date? Did he pass?” He’d never been more grateful to hear a voice in his life. He turned to see Hope standing a mere three feet away looking as angelic as he’d remembered her on her birthday.

  “Yeah, you can keep him,” Carissa said
coolly as Trevor stood to greet Hope.

  “I’m sorry I was late.”

  “Everything okay?” He kissed her cheek.

  “Yeah, remind me to tell you later.” She smiled and there was a sparkle in her eye. He wondered what she was up to.

  Thomas poked his head out of the back door and motioned for them to come back into the house. “Now that everyone is here, let’s eat.”

  “Thomas is our timekeeper.” Hope hugged to Trevor’s arm. “Sunday night is his special time with his kids. He gets them their baths and reads them a special story. Most of the time Carissa will stay here for a bit just so she doesn’t get in their way. There’s a weekly chess game to be had between Dad and me, and then I take her home when she’s sure they’re ready to be tucked in.”

  “You all work together to make everything meld, don’t you?”

  “That’s what family is about.”

  He was glad to hear her say that. He’d seen too many people chase down parents they’d never known only to give up the security of what they’d had—a loving home.

  Seated around the table, Trevor realized it had been too long since he’d been home. The last time he’d sat at a table with someone under the age of twenty had been Thanksgiving, and that was coming up on a year. Hope had at least one meal a week with her family. Trevor began missing his.

  His family had always been tight-knit. Or so he’d thought. His parents were in love, and still married to each other. His sister and her husband had a happy family. He’d always assumed the day would come and he’d find the right woman and they’d fit their tidy little family in with the others. Now he was thirty and he’d yet to find that one woman who understood that.

  He glanced at Hope.

  Perhaps he had found her.

  She’d haunted his dreams. She’d been handed to him as an assignment. She’d worked her way into his heart in a matter of a week. Now he sat at the dining room table of her parents, and he felt at home.

  Right then and there, he knew he had to come clean. He had to tell Donald Buchanan that he had to come forward or he’d let Hope know all about him. He had to tell her the truth about everything so that she wouldn’t think he was deceiving her. If she really wanted to learn about Mandy Marlow, he could tell her. He could take her to meet the people she wanted to meet, but he didn’t think she should. He thought she should leave it all alone.

  Then again, he knew that was selfish.

  The reason he got into investigation was that he couldn’t leave well enough alone. If there was a question of doubt, he was the one to find the answer. What bigger doubt could you have than not to know who’d given you life?

  “So, Trevor, how long have you been in insurance investigation?” Sophia asked as she began helping Carissa fill the children’s plates.

  “For about eight years. My mother is in insurance. She’s had her own company for most of my life. So I guess you could say I’ve always been in it.”

  “And what does your father do?”

  “He’s a corporate lawyer.”

  Sophia nodded as she took her seat. “And siblings?”

  “I have one sister. She’s married with two kids and one on the way.”

  “Oh, how wonderful.” Sophia sighed. “Being a grandmother is so wonderful.” She gave her grandson’s head a gentle rub. “You think you love all you can when you become a parent, but when they hand you a grandchild to love…” She dabbed at her eye as a tear formed. “Well, it only gets better.”

  Trevor took a moment to watch David as his wife spoke. He’d smiled though his eyes, that kind of smile that told the world your heart belonged to that special person.

  Sophia had done an amazing thing by taking on the role of Carissa’s mother and raising Hope. He genuinely wondered if there were times when it slipped her mind that she hadn’t actually given birth to them.

  “Trevor, how long will you be in Kansas City?” Carissa asked.

  Trevor caught the tone. Carissa Kendal didn’t trust him. Why should she? “Until my work here is done.”

  He saw Hope’s head dip down, diverting her eyes from the conversation. His stomach was twisting into knots. “But I really like it here. New York is too big. I’m going to give some thought to making a move this way.”

  Her head came up and he was glad. It was something he’d have to give some serious thought to. He’d been very careful not to lie to Hope or her family. Leaving out details was not lying, he told himself yet again.

  “I thought your sister lived here? Or was moving here,” Thomas innocently added.

  Trevor swallowed hard and smiled. “I would love them to, but she wouldn’t think of it until the baby is born.”

  Thomas nodded and Trevor willed his heart rate to lower. If he survived the evening without hanging by the tree in the yard, he’d call it a success.

  Sophia finally sat down and began to eat her meal. “I heard you commissioned a painting from Hope for your mother.”

  “Yes. I’ve never seen such talent. She’s amazing.” He smiled as her eyes settled on his. There was hope that he hadn’t completely made a complete jerk of himself.

  “I have her first portrait in my office at the house.” Thomas’s smile showed the pride he had in Hope.

  “Yeah, you were a glutton for punishment. First I nearly killed him with my lack of talent for the piano, and then I made him sit for hours and hours so I could attempt to paint him.”

  “I’d do it all over again,” he said with love in his eyes, and Trevor knew that he meant it. He knew Thomas would do anything for Hope, her whole family would. And he’d have to assume that also meant they’d protect her from harm—or anyone who put her in its path.

  Trevor stood on the porch looking out over the quiet street. Streetlights illuminated the lawn and he could still hear the sound of children playing in dark yards. Hope walked out of the house and directly behind him. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek on his back.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For what?” He laid his hands over her hands, which were pressed to his chest.

  “For coming.” She let her arms slide around him as he turned around to face her. Her eyes lowered from his, and after a moment she looked back up at him. “I’m sorry about Carissa’s inquisition.”

  “She’s looking out for you. Your entire family is.”

  “But I didn’t like the way she said things to you.”

  He brushed the wisps of hair from her forehead. “I’m not worried about it. I’m not sure I passed with flying colors tonight, but as long as you still like me.”

  “I’m finding I like you an awful lot.”

  “I really like the sound of that.”

  “Why don’t I go inside and tell Carissa to take my car home. I want you to come home with me.” Her eyes were dark, and passion and need stirred in them.

  His heart and his body were in a battle. The heart told him to kiss her good night. His body urged him to accept the offer. How could he refuse? He’d been infatuated with her from his dreams. Then the picture of her had haunted him. Now, standing with her in his arms, he was feeling a powerful emotion he’d never felt before.

  He held her tight, then made himself step back from her. “No.”

  “No?” Her brows knit and it was adorable.

  “No.” He kissed her again, this time on the top of the head. “I won’t let you choose me over your father. Not tonight. You owe him a chess game and you owe your sister some idle gossip when I’m out of sight.”

  Hope blew out a breath and pouted.

  He brushed her lips with his thumb. “Promise me I can have a rain check?”

  “I promise.”

  “Good night, Hope.” He lowered his lips to hers and softly kissed her. He’d love to take more, but knowing he’d not won any prizes with her family, he didn’t want to have any eyes watching from inside decide he was after Hope for the wrong reasons.

  She stood in the glow of the house, her ar
ms folded over her chest. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful.

  “Hey,” he called from the car as he opened his door. “You forgot to tell me where you were when I got here,”

  “I finished your painting.”

  “Already?”

  “Inspiration strikes when it feels like it.”

  “I can’t wait to see it. Can I come by in the morning?”

  “I kinda hoped you would,” she said, placing a kiss on the tips of her fingers and blowing it toward him.

  He had completely lost his heart. He needed to call Donald Buchanan and end the wait tonight. He couldn’t hide things from her anymore.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Hope walked through the door to the kitchen and watched as her parents passed admiring looks at one another over sudsy water.

  David gave her a glance. “Game’s all set up. Are you ready?”

  “Yep.”

  “Let’s get it started. I don’t think Carissa’s going to let me keep you too long.” He winked and then kissed his wife.

  Wrapping his arm around Hope, he walked her toward the chessboard that sat in the corner of the living room. He’d pulled up the two wingback chairs, as usual. Hope sat down across from her father and moved her pawn.

  David answered with his pawn and waited for Hope’s next move. “Trevor seems like a nice man.”

  “He is, Dad.”

  “Looks like you’d like to get to know him better.”

  “Uh-huh.” She moved her knight only to see it whisked away. “Darn!”

  “We should play when your head is full of other things more often.”

  “Bite your tongue.” She moved her rook into place and laughed as she took his knight. “Watch your back, old man.”

  “And I thought you were playing nice since your head was in the clouds.” David smiled as he moved another pawn.