Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

L uanna wondered if she was being a coward by allowing Logan to deal with Danny, then reminded herself Logan wanted the role of father to her son. Certainly, her husband had done more for Danny than his birth father, James Fulford III, had ever done. And perhaps these things were better handled man-to-man. She couldn’t deny how good it felt to have Logan’s support in such things. Danny was a good kid. The best. He always had been. But since James had inserted himself back into their lives eighteen months ago, when Danny had just turned sixteen, Luanna had noticed a growing attitude from her son.

One that seemed to be directly linked to his birth father’s family.

At first, she thought she was doing the right thing by allowing contact between them. James appeared to have lost his initial negativity and seemed genuinely pleased to simply have a relationship with his son. She’d let Danny decide. He’d been old enough to make that choice.

But of course, that had all been before Fulford Senior’s involvement. Now, it felt like her son was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and there was nothing Luanna could do about it. She tried to tell herself Danny was seventeen now, almost an adult. One who was able to make his own decisions… but it didn’t stop the guilt she continually felt. It would be so easy to just allow Logan to deal with it and make the problems go away for good. But it would be the workers who paid, with their livelihoods, and often their homes. Luanna wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she allowed that to happen. It hit too close to home with her own family history and what they’d been forced to endure.

There was other stuff, as well. Incidents that muddied the water of her good intentions. Things Danny didn’t know about, things she didn’t want him to know about his father… especially since it was her word against James’. She’d found that out the hard way.

It had been shortly after Danny met with his father that first time. He and Luanna had played the responsible parental role and liaised to arrange visitation. But as old as he was, Luanna didn’t want her son travelling alone. Not that first time. Not when she felt like she was throwing him into the lion’s den.

So, she’d gone with him, and the two of them had stayed in her childhood home, which was still owned by her parents and was currently between tenants.

Everything seemed to be going pretty well. Danny was excited to meet the sisters he never knew he had, despite them being significantly younger than he was. And Luanna realised he adored his role as big brother. Kimberly, the society wife Fulford Senior had deemed a ‘suitable’ match for his son, in a way that Luanna had never been, also appeared to accept Danny with open arms.

It had eased a lot of Luanna’s concerns.

And then it happened.

James pulled up outside the small, conservative house in his flashy BMW. Watching from the lounge window, Luanna expected Danny to climb out of the car with him, but unexpectedly, James was alone.

Luanna rushed to open the door, concerned something had happened to their son.

“Where’s Danny? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” James replied, inviting himself in before Luanna had a chance to think, idly prowling around the cosy home he’d been welcomed into when the two of them had dated as teens.

Luanna frowned. “Where is he then? Why are you here without him?”

James gave a one shouldered shrug, like her concerns weren’t valid. To him, they probably weren’t. “Danny’s with my father.”

Luanna did her best not to cringe at the news. Her son had been excited to meet his sisters, but James Fulford Senior had never been part of the deal. Perhaps that was short sighted on her part, since it was the old man who had encouraged James to seek out the son their family had turned their back on.

Despite her unease, Luanna forced herself to think things through reasonably. Was it fair of her to think that, when in fact it had been her own parents who had left the area?

Not that the Fulfords had ever made any attempt to find them… not until it became clear James and Kimberly were never going to produce another male heir.

Then, suddenly, Danny had become valuable to them.

Luanna felt sick to her stomach. She’d thought she was doing the right thing, allowing this relationship, but now they were here, she had all kinds of misgivings.

That was natural, she told herself. It was just nerves.

“So, um… why are you here without him, James?” she asked carefully. “I’m pretty sure we’ve covered anything pertinent.”

Luanna had never expected what happened next. It was still a shock to this day.