Dallas, Texas

Closing the door behind him, JR broke the silence between them to ask, "drink?"

Shaking her head, she took a seat in front of his desk, "no thank you."

Sitting down himself, he studied her face. He saw very little resemblance between Rebecca, Pamela and Katherine, but nonetheless, they were related, Rebecca's presence in his office and icy demeanour confirmed that.

"So, may I ask why you're here?"

"I think you know."

Choosing the path he was going to take, he didn't immediately confess. "We've never met, so I'm not sure I do."

Glaring at him, the resemblance between the three women suddenly became obvious, he'd received the exact look from both Pamela and Katherine in the past and now Rebecca was directing it at him too.

"Whether we've met or not is irrelevant. I have it on very good authority that you've been snooping around in my private business and I want to know why?"

Nodding, he noted to himself that he'd need to choose someone more discreet next time he wanted an investigation done.

"May I ask who your authority is?"

Obviously huffy, she answered, "no, you may not."

Finding it decidedly less interesting to argue with someone who refused to play the game he'd started, he shrugged and stood, ready to show her out. "In that case, I suggest you go back to your source and ask them what their motive is for feeding you incomplete information."

Not moving from her seat, she looked up at him and asked, "what does that mean?"

Taking a moment to think about how to proceed, he decided to give her another chance to engage with him. "It means, if I were looking into your history, it's not because I have any great interest in you".

"That was an admission. You have been having me followed."

Surprised by her accusation as he certainly hadn't had a tail on her and was completely uninterested in what she did day-to-day, he clarified his position. "No. I've simply used my resources to help someone who asked me to."

"Who?"

Chuckling, he found it interesting that she didn't know and had to wonder what went on in Houston. Katherine hadn't come to him without having suspicions but Rebecca seemed to know nothing of her daughter's thoughts.

Grinning, he sat down again, deciding to be nice by giving her an obvious hint. "You know her, about 5′4″, blue eyes, dark hair, temper of an only child."

Wide-eyed, she asked, "Katherine?"

"I didn't name names, but I'd suggest if you want to know what's going on you look inside your own home first."

"No", whispering to herself, she looked devastated.

Meeting his eye, she asked, "are you going to tell my husband?"

Shrugging, he knew the answer to her question was no, but he enjoyed making people work for what they wanted, so instead responded, "I don't know."

"Please don't, it's bad enough Katherine knows."

Feeling a little bad for her, despite knowing the story she was trying to hide, he offered a correction to her comment. "Katherine suspects, she doesn't know anything yet."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Considering it, he knew someone had to. For all of the things Katherine had told him that had turned out to be a little bit off the actual truth, one thing she'd told him had been correct, she wasn't stupid and they shouldn't treat her like she was.

"I don't think she'd accept it if I didn't."

Scoffing, Rebecca clearly didn't share the same opinion. "She's seventeen, what can she do to a man like you?"

"I'm not scared of her, but I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you. She's persistent and I don't imagine her accepting a convenient lie over the complicated truth."

Looking away, Rebecca was silent for a long time before finally finding her voice again. "So, what now?"

"I think you need to speak to your daughter about that."

"And my husband, what there?"

Unsure about her husband, knowing only what had just been reported back to him and not a thing more, he didn't want to make an enemy when there was an alternative right in front of his nose.

"It doesn't benefit me to tell him, your life is your life, I'm only involved because I was asked to be, it doesn't matter to me whether Herbert Wentworth knows about his wife's previous life or not."

Initially appearing relieved, she seemed to stop herself from relaxing too much, cautiously asking, "you must want something in return."

"I do."

"What?"

Assuming she had about as much influence on her husband's business as Sue Ellen did his, he set out his request. "All I want is your agreement that should Ewing Oil someday wish to do business with any company bearing the Wentworth name, you gently encourage your husband to move forward with the proposition."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Taking little time to consider what he was asking, she nodded and reached out to shake his hand, "deal."

"Good. Now, would you like that drink?"

"Yes."

Satisfied that he'd agreed to something but not complete silence, he stood and walked across the office to the bar.

Preparing a couple of drinks, he casually asked about her plans moving forward, knowing that his silence or not, everyone would find out what was going on eventually. "So, are you going to contact Bobby?"

"No."

Sure Katherine would pursue Bobby if her mother didn't, he assumed Rebecca would want to be the one to break the news to him, however her answer didn't exactly support that assumption.

"No?"

"No, and I won't have you judge me."

Smirking, he found it amusing that she assumed he hadn't already made his mind up about her. "I don't think you have much choice."

"Think what you want, you'll never understand."

Shaking his head, he responded, "I understand more than you'd expect."

He had Katherine's version of events and a timeline detailing what had happened when, he might not understand exactly what had been going on in Rebecca's head at the time she'd left Digger, Pam and Cliff but he wasn't completely in the dark.

"I won't discuss this with you any further."

Well aware of her discomfort with the subject, he handed her the drink he'd prepared and laid out the fact of the matter. "You might not want to discuss it but it's not just going to go away."

"Sure it is."

Pitying her, he had to question why she was so sure. "Because Katherine will keep quiet?"

Glaring at him, she seemed to forget that she'd just refused to continue talking about the subject, answering his question anyway. "Katherine knows what's good for our family."

"The Wentworth family."

"Yes."

Hearing her snippy tone, he knew exactly where her priorities lay and he couldn't say he didn't mean for her to feel a little bad when he reminded her that her family wasn't just Katherine and Herbert. "I'm sure Cliff would love to hear that."

Clearly intrigued by his comment, she asked, "you know Cliff?"

Laughing aloud, he answered her curiosity, "know is a bit strong."

He and Cliff had an unfortunate familial connection, they weren't friends, nor even really acquaintances, but they knew each other. For a period, he'd personally despised Cliff for showing any sympathy at all for Digger following his arrival at Southfork, however, his grief had settled a bit now and things weren't quite so black-and-white.

"Cliff is…" speaking, she trailed off before explaining anything.

He didn't need an explanation for what she was thinking, he knew the situation. She'd abandoned Cliff and Pamela and until he'd started looking into her history for Katherine she'd been quite content with her behaviour. She was Rebecca Wentworth now, she had far more than what she'd had when she'd left Corpus Christi 21 or 22 years ago, and that meant she had more to lose too.

"I understand, if you acknowledge Cliff then you acknowledge all your lies, and what would your husband think then?"

"You don't understand."

Trying to convince him that he was wrong, her words had the opposite effect on him.

"I do. You ran away and you're still running."

Taking a drink, she muttered more to herself than him, "and you're going to make my life difficult."

"No, we have an agreement, remember?"

Sceptical, she questioned his commitment, "you're going to honour that?"

"Of course, we shook on it."

Grinning, he expected he wouldn't need to tell anybody anything, Katherine was inquisitive enough to keep looking all on her own and Rebecca didn't have it in her to lie when faced with direct questions. Omitting pieces of her past from history was one thing but denying that she'd given birth to four children before she had Katherine was quite another. Whatever way the information came out, because it would, his hands would be clean, and Rebecca would still be bound to keep her side of the bargain should he ever decide Wentworth Industries was of use to Ewing Oil.

"I don't like you and I don't trust you."

Amused, he didn't take offence to her comment. "Must be a family thing, I've heard the same from both of your daughters."

"Pamela said that?"

Having previously led both Katherine and Rebecca to believe he and Pam were a little closer than they had actually been, he didn't stop now. "Pam said a lot of things."

Thoughtful, she didn't speak for a moment, then asked him, "what was she like?"

Shaking his head, he reiterated his earlier point. "I'm not the person to answer that, but I can name a couple of people who'd love to discuss her."

Making an "mm" sound, Rebecca set her glass down on the table and stood. "I'd best be going."

Seeing her out, he didn't feel particularly differently about her than when they'd first met. She didn't think he was in a position to judge, but that wouldn't stop him. He'd keep his word, but he still didn't think much of her or her behaviour.

To be continued…