Stroke of Luck

“And tell him I happen to know that Ms. Smith had this necklace long before she ever met him, so if he harasses Ms. Smith about this or the clothes, he’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

“Of course, sir.”

The two women turned and pushed the cart to the entrance, then disappeared out the door as quickly as they could.

Quinn slid his arm around April and drew her close to him. He guided her to the other couch and sat down beside her. Austin poured a drink and brought it to her.

She sipped it. He noticed she still clung to the necklace.

It was simple and understated, and on her gracefully curved neck it looked classy. But it wasn’t an expensive piece of jewelry. Why would her ex-fiancé want to take it?

Clearly, he just wanted to hurt her.

“That necklace is obvisously important to you,” Austin said as he sat on her other side. “He had no right to try to take it. I’m sorry this man is putting you through such a terrible ordeal.”

She nodded, tears now swelling from her eyes. “It’s all I have of my mother.” Her voice shook.

“Did she … pass away?” Austin asked.

She raised her gaze to Austin. “I don’t know.”

The words hung in the air between them. How could she not know?

She lowered her gaze. When she lifted it again, she seemed surprised he was still looking at her expectantly. He got the impression she wasn’t used to people taking an interest in what she had to say.

“I hope you’re not going to leave it there,” he said, hoping to encourage her to open up.

She sucked in a breath. “I was abandoned at the hospital right after I was born. My mother left me there. It turns out she used false insurance papers, so they had no way to track her down. She’d been wearing this necklace when she arrived at the hospital, and she’d left it on her bedside table. The hospital staff made sure it was passed on to the orphanage with me.”

“I didn’t know that you were abandoned,” Quinn said. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

“Yet you just told Austin.”

She glanced to Quinn. “He asked,” she said simply.

Quinn frowned, and Austin knew he needed to have a discussion with Quinn about this later.

“Why do you want to keep a necklace from a woman who abandoned you?” Austin asked.

She held the pearl between her fingertips.

“Because it’s all I have in the world that

’s truly mine.”

Her words tore at Austin’s heart.

3

Quinn had hated watching that whole thing. The pain in April’s sapphire eyes tugged at his heartstrings and made him want to pull her into his arms and promise to take care of her forever.

But he couldn’t let himself feel that way. If he went down that path, he might start caring for her again … wanting her to be a part of his life. And that would be foolhardy.

She would probably be all too happy to start dating him again. Marry him. Because he had a big enough bank account now.

He watched her walk to the small pile of clothing that was left, along with her bag of toiletries, and gather them up.