Acceptable Risks Read Free Page A

moment to register the shock and horror on Matt’s face before tipping backward over the railing.

Chapter Two
     
Lark stood next to her father at Jason’s graveside, while the reverend said a few final words and the casket was lowered into the ground. All around them people wept, but aside from a moment in the church, while he gave the eulogy, her father hadn’t broken. Yet to anyone who knew him well, which included Lark and probably half the agents here, he looked ravaged. It didn’t help that her mother was buried here, a few feet away. He hadn’t so much as glanced at Kelly Madrassa’s grave. Simply because the memory compounded his pain? Or was it more complicated than that?
Her mother’s death hadn’t had the suddenness of Jason’s. They’d seen it coming, the awareness that she’d be gone from their lives pressing down until the grief crushed them. But this loss had shredded her father, ripped something out of him. She’d never doubted his strength ten years ago. Now…now, she was less sure.
She accepted condolences as the service ended and everyone moved off toward the cars lining the cemetery road. Minutes ticked past and her father didn’t move. Finally, chilled by the early-December air, she stepped closer and slid her hand into his.
“Daddy.”
The quiet word seemed to snap Matthew back into himself. “I’m sorry, Lark. We can go.” He folded his other hand over hers, but didn’t tear his eyes away from the grave.
“Take as long as you need.”
But he shook his head slightly and finally started walking.
“I don’t think I can face the crowd at the house,” he admitted, scanning the sea of dark clothing ahead of them. “Would it be too much to ask you to step in?”
“Not at all.” She hesitated. “I didn’t see Jason’s parents.”
“No. They didn’t come.”
Lark recognized by his tone that it would do no good to ask why. “All right. Anything I need to know? If people ask about his…fall?”
He flinched, but shook his head.
He was silent as the limo glided through the streets of suburban Virginia back to his house. The heavy car seemed to cocoon them from the world, but it offered no comfort. Instead, it held in the broody darkness. Lark held her father’s hand, her gaze at the window, but not really seeing the world outside it.
She hadn’t known Jason that well. Once she left for college, their paths didn’t cross much. But she understood how important he was to her father. As important, in a different way, as her mother had been. Lark didn’t have anyone who meant that much to her, except her father.
When the car pulled into the circular drive, the house was already full. Her father’s assistant, Caitlyn, had arranged for the caterer and arrived early to let everyone in.
“Please pull around to the back of the house,” Matthew instructed the driver, who followed the narrow drive to the space in front of the garage. The driver got out and opened the door for them, accepting Matthew’s tip with a somber nod. Lark followed her father through the kitchen door into the tiny mudroom at the base of the back stairs.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” He kissed Lark’s cheek.
“Can I bring you anything?” she asked. “A plate of food, or a drink?”
“No, I’m fine. Just dealing with this—” he indicated the clusters of people in the kitchen and dining room, “—is more than enough.” He disappeared up the stairs.
He wasn’t even close to fine. Lark blew out a breath and braced herself to circulate.
Over the next two hours, she accepted so many hugs her back ached, and no drink alleviated her dry mouth. Finally, everyone had left except the clean-up staff and Caitlyn. The assistant took a stack of plates out of Lark’s hands and set them back on the oak coffee table in the large living room. “Leave this stuff. That’s why we hired people. You should go rest.”
Lark rubbed her hand across her forehead, trying to ease the tightness that forecasted a headache. “ You