Page 21 of Let It Burn (The Barrington Billionaires 4)
Helene looked up at him then across to her parents. “Separate rooms are fine.”
There was a brief, awkward pause then her father said, “How about I help you bring the luggage in, Andrew? Then I’ll give you a tour if you’re interested.”
“I’d like that.” Andrew gave Helene a quick squeeze then left her to open the trunk of the car. After handing the smaller bag to her father, he turned in time to see Helene talking to her mother. He couldn’t hear them but read her lips easily.
Her mother said, “Of course we’re okay with him being here. You have a good head on your shoulders. If you like him, that’s a good enough endorsement for us.”
“Twelve years. That’s a long time,” her father said, drawing Andrew’s attention back to the task at hand.
Andrew turned to follow her father to the house. “Yes, sir.”
“Call me Art. Everyone does. It’s short for Arthur, but anyone who calls me that doesn’t know me well enough to know I hate it.”
“I’ll remember that, Art.”
Art led the way into the house and to the downstairs bedroom. “The sheets are clean and there are more pillows in the chest in the corner if you want them.”
“Thank you,” Andrew said, placing his bag down next to the bed.
“I’ll run Helene’s bag upstairs then meet you in the kitchen.”
“Sounds good.”
“One more thing,” her father said.
Andrew turned to fully face him. “Yes?”
“That’s my baby girl out there. If you hurt her, all your military training won’t save your ass when I come for it. I’m happy to have you here, but I’m not afraid of prison if you give me a reason to kill you. We clear?”
“Yes, sir—Art. We’re clear.” There were men who would make a threat they had no intention or ability to follow through on. Art was not one of those men. His gaze was steady and there was no question he meant every word. Only a fool would dismiss him as an unworthy adversary. Art didn’t rely on money or status to protect his family. He had strength of character and that realization completely won Andrew over.
“Good.” With that, her father walked out of the room.
While waiting for him to return, Andrew checked out the rooms he came across while looking for the kitchen. It wasn’t a fancy home, but it was of decent size, furnished in a comfortable, practical style. The walls were covered with photos of Helene from all stages of her life. He smiled at some he was certain she wished weren’t on display, but he loved what they said about what her family valued. His family displayed professional photos that were staged and flawless. These photos were snapshots taken under very different circumstances. They were real.
In all the photos she was either in jeans or shorts and a dirty T-shirt. Her hair was wild in some, in others pulled back in a ponytail that looked about to come undone. She always had an animal with her. Large, small, hurt, healthy—she stood proudly with them. He stopped when he came across a photo of her in front of the elephant she’d described. She was placing hay for him and seeming to encourage him to take it. It had Andrew scanning the wall for a photo of her with the monkey. When he found it, he was deeply moved by the love evident in her face while interacting with the animal.
Art spoke from behind him. “That photo makes Lenny a little sad. We keep it to remind her that although things don’t always turn out the way we want, it doesn’t make what we do less important. We partnered up with a hospital in Willomore, South Africa to return him to the wild. Not every animal can transition back. The ones who clearly can’t stay here get placed in other sanctuaries that try to keep them safe and comfortable for the rest of their lives. Ideally, though, wild animals deserve the chance to return to their natural habitat. We work to give them that opportunity. Sometimes we fail, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“Helene shared his story with me.” He looked briefly at the other wall. “The one about the elephant, too.”
Art came to stand beside him. “That one really hurt her. She wanted so badly to be part of the transition over, but we couldn’t afford to send her. I keep that photo up to remind myself that sometimes things are important enough to find the money. I should have sent her. She needed to be there, regardless of the outcome.”
Andrew pocketed his hands in his jeans. It was one thing to believe Helene and her family were good people, but quite another to witness it up close. He’d already contacted two of his old Marine buddies who were in the area and hired them to unobtrusively watch over the Franklins. In a similar fashion to how he’d felt when he’d first met Helene, he wanted to protect her parents.
Art gave Andrew a pat on the shoulder. “Ready to go see what we do here?”
Andrew nodded and followed him back out of the house.
Chapter Twelve
Scrubbing out water buckets was second nature to Helene. She found comfort in the familiar chore. Nothing in her life here had prepared her for the depth of disappointment she felt each time she thought about her uncle.
Each time she circled back to what her uncle might have done, she wondered how Andrew could look at her and not hate her. If he had informed his family about what he’d learned in Aruba, he hadn’t said anything to her. Like her, was he taking after an ostrich and hiding his head in the sand for as long as he could? Eventually they’d have to face the ugly reality of what had brought them together, but Helene was okay with delaying that day if he was.
She turned to reach for another bucket and saw Andrew leaning against a tree, watching her. She sprayed an arc of water over his head. “That’s what you get for sneaking up on me.”
He wiped his face, straightened, and started toward her. “Not sneaking, just appreciating the view. You sure you want to start a water fight with me?”
Playfully, she sprayed the grass a foot or so in front of his feet. “Since I’m the one with the water hose, yeah, maybe I do.”
He was beside her with a speed that would have scared her if she’d seen it from any other creature on the rescue. One of his hands closed over hers on the nozzle of the hose. His other hand swept behind her and pulled her forward and flush against him. “What do you say now?”
Heat seared through her, and she dropped the hose to the ground. “I surrender?” she joked.
He kissed her as if every moment they’d been apart had been as hard on him as it had been on her. She threw her arms around his neck and gave herself o
ver to the way he made her feel. The kiss went on and on but stayed controlled. Not even the wild hunger he lit in her was enough to rip off her clothing or his if there was a chance they were on camera.
He eventually raised his head and tucked her beneath his chin. “I needed that.”
“Me, too,” she confessed against his chest. They stood there, simply breathing each other in for a few minutes. Eventually Helene cringed and said, “About my parents earlier . . .”
He looked down at her. “Don’t apologize for them. They’re wonderful. Your father gave me a tour of the property. It’s quite impressive. I was expecting to see small enclosures, but the southern area is more like an African savanna.”
“That’s how the rescue got its name. My parents believe that every wild animal craves to be free again, so they give each of them as much as it can handle.”
“Your father showed me the welcome center they’re building. He said his dream is to run educational programs and open the entire rescue to the public.”
“That’s been his dream for a long time, but all of that takes money. He’s been dabbling in social media to bring awareness to the rescue, though, and it has been working. My mother said they’ve even brought in some interns from the University of South Florida who believe in the rescue’s mission. They’ve implemented some of their ideas and are making money from videos they’ve put on the Internet. Not sure how it all works, but they say they’re gaining a huge following.” She sighed. “You were right about voids filling in. They’re happy I’m back, but they don’t need me.” He stepped back and pocketed his hands. Clearly he was thinking something and keeping it to himself. She met his eyes. “Say it.”
He looked back at her wordlessly.
She threw a hand up in the air. “You probably agree with my mother. I shouldn’t see this as a bad thing. It’s an opportunity. I don’t have to stay here. I can go anywhere. Do anything. I’m free.”
He held his silence.
Helene began to pace in front of him. “It should be exciting, shouldn’t it? Well, it’s not. It’s terrifying. I tried leaving, and look how that turned out. Life makes sense to me here. What we do makes sense. I’m trying, but I can’t begin to understand what we learned in Aruba. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about any of it. Angry? Guilty? Sad for everyone involved?” She swallowed hard, stopped, and met his eyes again. “I keep flipping back and forth between being grateful to have this time with you and guilty that my family had anything to do with hurting yours.”
