Claudia listened, nodding, her face tightening. “Dylan has had a hard time of it in recent years. I hope you can find him, and straighten out all this, Jace. He needs a mentor like you.”
A mentor in a criminal biker gang? Kara shook her head and went into the kitchen to greet Lucy, who was cooking at the stove.
Lucy turned down the heat from the cast-iron skillet and beamed at Kara in greeting.
But with Jace, Lucy ran over to him, exclaiming in Spanish as she hugged him. Their cook stood nearly half a foot shorter than Jace, who laughed and hugged her back.
Claudia poured coffee into a large mug.
Jace nodded. “Thank you.”
He eyed the lanai and the boat docked out back. Whistled. “You still have it. Sweet.”
Kara followed his gaze. Claudia’s Dreamboat. Sleek and polished, the yacht was her father’s pride and joy. The boat was a constant reminder of her little brother, and how much Conner had enjoyed being on the water with them.
How Conner adored sailing! His little fingers learning to work the lines with her father. That time he’d never listened and leaned over too far and fell overboard.
Kara had fished him out as her mother fussed and scolded. They had shared a shaky laugh.
A few years later, he was gone.
“We sailed to Bimini last year, but Chuck is too busy this year with a large deal he’s been working on for months. Perhaps some time you’d like to take her out yourself.”
Kara felt as if she’d stepped into an odd time warp. Was her mother trying to set her up with Jace?
“Mom, remember? Jace and I are no longer together.”
Claudia smiled. “I know, honey. I was inviting Jason, not you.”
Ow. That stung.
“Thank you. Maybe sometime.” With a nod, he opened the sliding glass doors and stepped out into the lanai, shutting the door behind him.
Kara turned to her mother. “What the hell, Mom. I mean, Mom! What are you doing? Can’t you see? Even if we didn’t break up, Jace is... He’s in a criminal motorcycle club.”
“I doubt it.”
Couldn’t her mother see reason? It was as if Claudia still glimpsed Jace as the same clean-cut and stoic man he’d been while they dated.
Claudia went to the sliding glass windows and studied Jace as he walked out to the dock. “Honey, did I ever tell you your father did a background check on Jason Beckett right after you announced your engagement?”
“No. Why would you do something like that?”
Claudia turned around. “You know your father, how protective he was.”
Curiosity got the best of her. “What did you find out?”
“Perhaps I’ll share that information with you some day.” Claudia smiled gently. “There’s nothing to fear with that young man.”
Something bizarre was going on. “How would you know?”
Her mother sighed. “About a year after you and Jason broke it off, we received a phone call asking about Jason. He’d put our names down for a reference.”
“Job reference? What kind of job? Stockbroker?”
Jace’s firm had been a money-management company and many of the younger employees like him fast-tracked to becoming investment advisors.
“Did he tell you what he’s done since you broke up with him?”
“Obviously, he’s turned into a full-fledged biker.” Confusion filled her. “Isn’t he?”
“If he hasn’t told you, he has good reason to right now. I’ll leave it up to him to share such information. But know you can trust him. We do. Jason was good for you, Kara. I always thought that you two belonged together. We were so disappointed when you broke off your engagement and stopped seeing him.”
It stung to think her mother still adored Jason and knew more about his present life than she did. Once more, she felt like a little girl whose parents lectured her about bad choices and wanted to control her life.
“Stop idolizing him. He’s in my past and we’re no longer together, and except for finding Dylan, I have no intention of ever seeing him again. For anything.”
“I think that will be the biggest mistake you will ever make, Kara.”
Staring, she felt her emotions boil over into a lather. “I broke up with him. I’m not going back to the past.”
“You’re right. You cannot. But I always felt Jason and you shared a bond, Kara. I never saw you glow around other men as much as you did with Jason. He makes you happy. He wanted to make you happy.” Claudia sniffed. “Jason was always much more mature, even at twenty-five, than those college boys you dated who thought the world revolved around their favorite sports team.”
Keeping her voice level presented a struggle, when all she wanted to do was shout at her calm, refined mother, who rarely showed any negative emotions. “He made me happy. But there’s too much baggage between us. Why are you trying to set us up again? You see what he’s turned into!”
“Kara, Jason Beckett is no ordinary man. We’ve always trusted and liked him, and he has a high sense of morality and ethics.” Claudia’s smile was gentle as she tucked back Kara’s hair. “Whatever Jason is involved with, it’s for a good reason.”
“Maybe you should have married him,” she muttered.
