Lucas leaned against the door frame, blocking Rosalyn’s exit, and studied her in a way that had her nerves firing in reaction.  He’d grown so intimidating over the years, exuding a toughness that made his nickname fact as much as legend.  “Maybe this would be a good time for the two of us to have a private conversation.”

Oh, dear.  Fighting nervousness, she offered her calmest, most professional smile.  “About what?”

“The present.  The future.”  His focus tightened laser-sharp.  “Or maybe we should start with the past.”

Kellie snatched a deep breath and fought to return his look with as much composure as she could scrape together.  But he’d shaken her, and chances were excellent he knew it.  “Fine.  Let’s talk about the past.  As far as I’m concerned, it can stay where it belongs.  Behind us.  I have no interest in resurrecting a dead issue.”  And she hoped to heavens that Lucas shared that disinterest.

He continued to hold her with a sharp, penetrating stare, which pretty much put paid to those hopes.  It would seem that their one night together was still a subject of concern.  At least, for him.  “I’ve always wondered something about that night,” he told her.  “Did it matter which driver you tempted into your bed?”

She could feel herself pale.  “I was no ‘pit lizard,’” she snapped, employing the term the crew used for women who cruised the garages in the hopes of snapping up a “name” for a bit of action.  “I was a foolish child, suffering from an even more foolish crush.  Now, if you wouldn’t mind I’d—”

He shook his head.  “It was more than that and you know it.  And I’m well aware that you wanted more than to rack up your first notch on your bedpost.  You wanted the whole package, didn’t you?  Marriage, the reflected glory.”  His eyes hardened.  “A baby to ensure a healthy divorce settlement.”

She laughed.  She had no idea where it came from.  But it saved her from disaster, bursting from her in glorious, genuine amusement.  “Get over yourself, Bad.  You were my first mistake, if not my last.  If I was the sort of person you claim, I’d have divorced Jinx long ago and taken him for every penny I could.  Instead we were happily married for eighteen years.  Are you sure you’re not coloring me with Bridgette’s brush?” she asked, referring to his ex-wife.

 He conceded her point with a shrug.  “Then how did you end up with Jinx so soon after our night together?”

She’d anticipated this question.  Planned for it.  “I realized I’d made a terrible mistake sleeping with you.”  That much was true enough.  She’d imbued Lucas with qualities she’d wanted in the man she’d love and marry, rather than with those he actually possessed.  She’d created a fairy tale out of reality and tried to cast him in the role of Prince Charming.  It not only hadn’t worked, it had been an unmitigated disaster.  But along with that single truthful statement came the lie she desperately hoped to sell as truth.  “I also realized that I was using you as a stand-in for the man I really wanted.  Jinx.”

Lucas took a moment to consider her words before pushing a bit harder.  “Your father must have had a thing or two to say about your relationship with Hammond, especially when you were all of seventeen and he was a solid fifteen years older.  Not to mention being a paraplegic.”  Lucas’s eyes narrowed in thought.  “He was hit by that drunk driver just a few weeks after we were together, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.”  She managed to shove out that single word, but adding to it proved beyond her.

“You must have conceived Jamie during those two weeks, since you were clearly pregnant by the time Jinx left rehab.  I mean, you were adamant that the baby wasn’t mine when I asked.”

“Jinx and I married the day he was released,” she confirmed his one assumption, without bothering to address the others.

Lucas continued to block the office door or she’d have shoved past him and put an end to the discussion.  But that might give too much away.  If she had a hope of dealing with him on any sort of an equal footing, she needed to stand up to him, no matter how difficult. 

She allowed a hint of impatience to bleed into her voice.  “What’s the point of all this, Lucas?  Why dredge up ancient history?  I think we can both concede that I was an idiotic seventeen year-old.  But that was ages ago.”

“I’m well aware of how long ago it was.”  Something in his comment snagged her attention, but before she could analyze it, he continued.  “I’m wondering why you slept with me.  You were a virgin, and yet there’s no question in my mind that you came after me that night at the party.  Granted, I was more than happy to accommodate you.”

“Until the next morning.”

Wry acknowledgement swept across his expression.  “And woke up to discover that the sophisticated twenty year-old I’d taken to bed had transformed into a girl with ‘jail bait’ written all over her.”

The years had turned that soul-deep pain into a gentle ache, enabling her to handle the memory without the anguish that had threatened to tear her apart back then.  “Not to mention being Darrell Reynolds’ daughter.”

He winced.  “That alone guaranteed the end of my career if anyone had found out.  I kept expecting Darrell, Jinx, and the entire shop and crew to come after me when they found out what I’d done to you and dole out a serious hurting.”

“And they would have been all too happy to do some doling…if I’d ever told them we’d had a one-night stand.”

“Which brings me back to my original question.”  She thought she’d managed to ease him away from that, but she should have known better.  Lucas had always possessed infinite focus, something that had contributed to his success on the track.  “I keep wondering why, Kellie.  Why me?  And why didn’t you ever tell anyone what we’d done?”

She looked him straight in the eye and lied for all she was worth.  “Because Jinx was the man I loved, but my father would have cut him to pieces if he’d tried anything with me.  So, I turned to you because I thought you were the next best thing.  But you weren’t.”  She couldn’t help the taunt.  “You aren’t anything like Jinx, are you?”

Lucas shook his head, his expression settling into grim lines.  “No, I’m a very different man.”

“So I found out.”  She folded her arms across her chest.  “Are we done with all this now?  Can we finally leave the past where it belongs…in the past?”

“Sure.”  He waited a beat before adding, “That just leaves the present and the future.”

She fought to keep from reacting, to keep a pleasant expression on her face and any hint of despair from reflecting in her eyes.  “That’s easy enough.  You’re my partner, as well as one of my drivers.  Since you were so quick to list your expectations the last time we spoke, I’ll return the favor.”  She ticked off on her fingers.  “I expect you to fulfill your contractual commitments and attend all the pre- and post-race meetings.  I expect you to keep all internal disagreements out of the media and work on getting maximum exposure for your sponsors and HRI.  I expect you to give your usual one hundred percent to winning races.  And most of all, I expect you to play nicely with the other drivers.”

He appeared intrigued by one of the items on her list.  “You sure you want me to give a hundred percent to winning?”

It only took an instant to understand what he meant.  “Do I want you to win another championship?  Actually, I would.”  She gave him a brilliant smile.  “Next year.”

His grin cut deep grooves on either side of his mouth.  “In that case, I only have one last question.”

Relief made her cocky.  “Hit me.”

“How do you plan on dealing with what’s going on between us?”