Текст книги "Cold Hearted"

Автор книги: Beverly Barton

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“A report on what?” she asked, her expression one of total innocence.

“A report on you.”

Her expression didn’t alter except for a slight flickering of her eyelashes that hinted surprise. “You requested a report on me?”

“It’s standard procedure. I’ll get one on Ryan, too, probably later today.”

“Did you find anything of interest in the report, something that adds to your suspicions?”

“You’ve had several tragedies in your life.”

“I’d say that’s an understatement.”

He suspected that she was forcing herself not to break eye contact, to continue looking directly at him. “It’s no secret that Dan is the third man that I’ve loved and lost. My fiancé died in a one-car accident shortly before we were to be married. I was twenty-one. My first husband was killed in a hunting accident when we’d been married only two years. And now, Dan… Neither Robby Joe nor Boyd was murdered, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Murder can be made to look like an accident,” Rick said and when her face went chalk white and her eyes widened in shock, he wished he’d kept that assessment to himself.

Jordan slumped into the chair behind her desk, her movements indicating that she could barely manage to stand on her own two feet. Rick took several tentative steps toward her, concerned about her welfare.

She held up a restraining hand. “No, please. I’m all right. Just shocked that you would even consider such a thing was possible.”

“Look, I was hired for a specific reason and I have to consider every aspect of the situation, which means looking into the past. The senator’s past, your past, and the past of anyone who had an opportunity to kill Dan Price.”

“I know you’re just doing your job, but the very idea that Robby Joe’s death or Boyd’s was anything other than an accident is ludicrous.”

“Look, I’m sorry if I upset you, especially since you’re pregnant,” Rick said. “I think maybe we should discuss Powell’s sending in another agent to replace me, all things considered. I’m probably not the best man for this job.”

“No! I don’t want another agent,” Jordan said vehemently. “I – I don’t want to start all over again with someone else. You’re here. You’re qualified. If you weren’t, Nicole wouldn’t have sent you. Am I right?”

“Yes, ma’am, you’re right. But I thought that since—”

“I’m not offended that you think I might have killed Dan. In your place, I might question my innocence, too, especially after learning that Dan was not the first man in my life who died unexpectedly. But I didn’t kill Dan anymore than I killed Robby Joe or Boyd. I’m not afraid of the truth and the truth is that Robby Joe’s death and Boyd’s death were terrible accidents. And if Dan really was murdered, I’m not his killer.”

Damned if he didn’t believe her. At least for the moment. She looked so sincere, sounded so sincere, and sent out strong I’m-sweet-and-innocent vibes. Everything in him wanted to believe her without question. He wanted her to be just what she seemed, a grieving, pregnant widow who really had cared deeply for her husband and wouldn’t have harmed a hair on his head.

Maybe he should stick around, stay on the job and prove to himself that Jordan was innocent of any wrongdoing. Wasn’t that what he wanted?

“Will you please reconsider leaving, Mr. Carson? Please stay and continue to investigate Dan’s death.” She gave him a pleading look that had him all but dropping to his knees and begging her to forgive him for ever doubting her. Damn, she was good. Either that or he was far too susceptible to her charm.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll consider staying, if that’s what you really want.”

“It’s what I want, someone impartial who will find out the truth about Dan’s death.” She offered him a fragile, seductive smile.

Hell, he was reading far more into her delicate smile than she intended. He wanted it to mean something personal. It didn’t and he damn well knew it didn’t.

You can’t stay here. You’re too vulnerable to Jordan’s charm to remain impartial. You know she could be guilty of three murders, but you want her to be innocent because you want to screw her.

There, he’d said it. He had admitted that he was thinking with his dick and not his brain. And he suspected he wasn’t the first man who’d let his libido take over and his good judgment go out the window where Jordan Price was concerned.

Before he had the chance to refute his agreement to stay on as the Powell agent investigating her husband’s murder, they both heard a loud ruckus, the sounds of shouting, screaming and running feet coming from somewhere nearby.

What the hell?

Jordan shot up out of her chair and muttered under her breath, “Oh, Lord, what now?”

When they both headed toward the door, Rick falling into step behind Jordan, Tammy Harris came flying into the room, a wild-eyed expression on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she rushed to Jordan. She wrung her hands together, all the while gulping for air.

Jordan grabbed Tammy’s trembling hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Help, please help,” Tammy blurted out, her voice shaky.

Jordan squeezed Tammy’s hands. “Calm down. Everything will be all right. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

A loud thump followed by another and then another gained their attention. Tammy glared through the open doorway, sheer terror in her eyes.

“You have to stop them before they kill each other,” Tammy finally managed to say on one long, hurried breath.

“Who?” Jordan asked.

“J.C. and Wes,” Tammy told her. “They’re fighting.”

“What happened? Why are they fighting?”

“Stop them, please.” Tammy jerked her hands free of Jordan’s tenacious hold. “I can’t stand it. I can’t. You have to stop them before they kill each other.”

“Okay, okay. Just calm down.”

Kendra Brannon’s appearance halted Jordan outside her study.

“Jordan, you have to do something,” Kendra said. “Wes and J.C. are fighting and it’s all my fault. J.C. was sort of flirting with me and Wes went berserk. You know how protective he is. He thinks J.C. is too old to be flirting with me.”

“Damn!” Jordan huffed loudly. “J.C. is too old to be flirting with you. But Wes shouldn’t have started a fight over it. Come with me. Now.” Jordan glanced from Kendra to Tammy. “We’ll put a stop to things before someone gets hurt.”

Kendra eyed Rick, who stood inside the study. “Shouldn’t he come, too? He looks like he could handle J.C. and Wes.”

“Want me to take care of this for you, Mrs. Price?” Rick asked, dreading the thought of breaking up a fist-fight.

“Please, come with us,” Jordan told him. “But let me handle things. I’m used to playing referee and peacemaker in this family.”

By the time they made their way to the scene of the brawl, the fight that apparently had begun inside the house had moved out onto the veranda. Just as Jordan opened the front door, Wes knocked J.C. down the steps and onto the lawn.

“I want you two to stop this stupid fighting right this minute!” Jordan shouted in an I-mean-business, authoritarian voice.

J.C. came up from the ground swinging, his face bloody and sweat dampening his silk shirt. Taking a stand, Wes prepared to defend himself, a look of pure hatred on his face.

“Enough!” Jordan ran across the veranda and down the steps.

Shit! She was heading straight toward the two battered fighters and neither one seemed aware of her presence.

Don’t do it, honey. Don’t step between them.

But that’s exactly what Jordan did, walked right between J.C. and Wes, with both men ready to continue clobbering each other. Rick went after her, but didn’t reach her in time to prevent her from putting herself in harm’s way.

“Don’t interfere, Jordan,” Wes said. “I’m going to beat the crap out of him, so help me God. After I finish with him, he’ll think twice before he touches Kendra or any other girl young enough to be his daughter.”

“Oh, for goodness sake, Wes, all he did was kiss me,” Kendra shouted. “And I didn’t try to stop him!”

Jordan glowered at J.C. “Leave. Now. Go home and stay there. We’ll talk later.”

J.C. wiped the blood from his mouth. He smirked at Jordan. “Just keep the kid away from me.” He glanced at Kendra. “Hell, keep both of those brats away from me.”

When he started to walk off, Wes lurched for him, but Jordan grabbed Wes by the shoulders and shook him. J.C. meandered away, around the house, whistling to himself. Wes threw off Jordan’s hold, obviously intending to go after J.C.

In his peripheral vision, Rick noted that the entire house-hold had come out on the veranda – Roselynne, Darlene, Rene, Devon and both servants – just as Wes shoved Jordan’s hands off his shoulders. Rick realized that Wes had pushed Jordan harder than he’d intended and she was falling backward. Only when Rick dashed straight to her and caught her just before she hit the ground did Wes realize what he’d done. That realization stopped him cold.

“Oh, God, Jordan, I’m sorry,” Wes said.

Rick swooped a dazed Jordan up in his arms, something primeval inside him wanting to protect her, needing to keep her safe from this swarm of vultures hovering around her.

Chapter 7

Jordan grabbed hold of Rick by instinctively throwing her arm around his neck. Momentarily stunned by what had happened, she stared into his eyes. Their gazes connected and instantly locked. Knowing she had to remove herself from such intimate contact with this man, she inhaled and exhaled a deep, steadying breath before saying, “Please, put me down.”

Rick hesitated for a split second, then eased her onto her feet.

“Thank you,” she mouthed the words quietly.

He didn’t get a chance to say anything before the adoring Jordan Price tribe swarmed around her, each person professing their concern. But Devon Markham cut through the other groupies and all but pushed Rick aside.

“Are you okay?” Devon asked, genuine worry marring his handsome features.

“I’m fine.” She patted him on the arm and then turned to the others. “The show’s over. Everything is going to be fine. Please, all of you, go back inside.”

Tobias and Vadonna returned to the house immediately, while no one else hurried back inside; instead they began mumbling among themselves.

“Wait up, Wes,” Jordan called to her stepson. “We need to talk.” She looked from Wes to his sister. “You, too, Kendra. Both of you go sit down. I’ll be there in a minute.” She turned to Rick. “Please, go eat breakfast and get your day started. I have to do my job as their stepmother and sort things out with them before I send them both back to school.”

“I don’t mean to interfere, but shouldn’t you confront your stepbrother about making advances to a teenager first?”

Jordan grimaced. “No, the children first. I’ll deal with J.C. later.”

Rick nodded, then left her to handle the family situation on her own. She squared her shoulders and walked across the lawn, up the steps and onto the veranda. Wes sat in one of the big wicker chairs, his legs spread, his shoulders and head drooped, and his hands clutched together between his knees. Kendra paced back and forth. Pausing when Jordan approached, she looked at her in a wide-eyed, pleading manner.

“Wes overreacted to something that was none of his business in the first place,” Kendra said.

Pointing her index finger in Kendra’s face, Jordan gave her a stern, disapproving, maternal glare. “J.C. kissed you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Did anything else happen?”

“No.”

“Has he kissed you before?”

“Once.”

“Kendra Diane Brannon, you are eighteen years old. J.C. is thirty-six. Do the math. He’s twice your age and has had five times more experience. He is a sweet-talking womanizer who uses and discards women as if they were Kleenex.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Jordan said. “Whatever he’s said to you, whatever you think you feel for him, forget it.”

“You’re not being fair,” Kendra whined, reminding Jordan of just how immature her stepdaughter was.

Maybe it was her fault that Kendra still saw the world through rose-colored glasses, but she had so wanted to protect her from life’s harsh realities as long as possible. When Jordan had married Boyd, Kendra had been a shy, starved-for-motherly-affection little girl of ten, the same age Jordan had been when she’d lost her own mother. She had reached out to Kendra immediately, offering her the love and attention she had so desperately needed.

“I’m being sensible. I am protecting you because I love you. And in case you have any doubts, let me spell this out for you. This subject is closed. After breakfast, I want you to go upstairs and pack your bags. You’re going back to university today instead of this weekend.”

“Oh, Jordan, do I have to…” Kendra stopped mid-sentence, heaved a deep, overly dramatic sigh and said, “Okay, I’ll go.”

“You know I’m doing what I believe is best for you under the circumstances.”

“Yes, ma’am. I know.”

“Go on inside. I need to talk to Wes. Alone.”

As soon as Kendra left, Jordan turned to Wesley. He wouldn’t look at her. Instead, he stared at the floor. Even though he was now a young man of twenty, broad shouldered and six feet tall, she would always see him as he’d been when she first married Boyd, a hostile twelve-year-old who was determined to hate his new stepmother. It had taken her a year of hard work to win him over and make him realize that she didn’t expect to take his mother’s place, that she wanted her own place in his life and his heart.

“Look at me, Wes.”

He hazarded a quick glance up at her.

“You should have come to me when you saw J.C. kiss Kendra and let me handle the problem. All you achieved by physically attacking J.C. was to bruise and bloody both of you and create a hullabaloo within the family.”

“Yeah, well, it did more than that,” Wes told her. “It made me feel damn good to hit him.”

Barely managing not to smile, Jordan laid her hand on Wes’s shoulder. “I suppose it did. There have been a few times when I’ve wanted to knock some sense into J.C.”

“I don’t see how you can stand having that sleazeball around. He’s worthless and everybody knows it. Even Devon, who likes just about everybody, has no use for J.C.”

“J.C. is my stepbrother. He’s family.”

“Have you considered the possibility that he killed Dan?”

The question genuinely startled Jordan. “No, I haven’t because despite all of J.C.’s faults, he’s not capable of murder.”

“Yeah, he is,” Wes said. “Everyone is. He kept hitting up Dan for money and when Dan didn’t come through the last time, J.C. got really pissed. What if he thought by killing Dan, you’d inherit and—”

“J.C. did not kill Dan. We don’t even know for sure that Dan was murdered.”

Wes shrugged. “Just don’t trust him, okay? You’re too smart for that, but at the same time, you’ve got a really soft spot when it comes to taking care of friends and family.” Wes rose to his feet. “Please, be careful around him.”

“I appreciate your concern.”

“I’ll go pack, too.” Wes grinned. “I figure you’ll want me to leave when Kendra does.”

Jordan slipped her arm around her stepson’s waist. “It’s for your own good. You two have missed more than enough school this semester and I know y’all stayed on because you’re concerned about me. Don’t be. I’m going to be all right. Devon’s here, as is Roselynne and Darlene, not to mention Rene.”

“Gee, that makes me feel a lot better,” he said sarcastically. “Devon’s a basket case since Dan died, and Roselynne and Darlene both need keepers, so Rene’s the only person left you can actually count on. Her and that Carson guy. I know you don’t like him, but I have a feeling he’s okay.”

“Yes, I have the same feeling. If I can ever convince him that I’m not some black widow who’s killed two husbands and a fiancé—”

“You’re joking? He can’t possibly think you whacked Dan or that you killed Dad or—”

“It’s his job to find out the truth,” Jordan said. “And that’s what I want, what we all want.”

Wes hugged her and kissed her cheek. “If you need me, I’ll just be a phone call away. I wish…”

“What do you wish, honey?”

“I wish you had someone to take care of you the way you take care of all of us. More than anyone I know, you deserve to be happy.”

A knot of emotion tightened Jordan’s throat, making it impossible for her to respond. She and Wes exchanged a tender mother-son moment that needed no words.

Tammy yanked open the front door to the home she shared with their mother and marched into the living room. J.C. took a puff on his cigarette, then blew out a spiral of smoke. His little sister looked spitting mad.

“What’s up, buttercup?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“How could you? Are you out of your mind?”

“Me? Nope. You’re the sibling with a few loose screws, not me.” He twirled his index finger beside his temple to indicate she was crazy.

Tammy bristled at his attempt to be funny. “Kendra is Jordan’s stepdaughter so that makes her off limits to you.”

“No woman is off limits to me if I want her and believe me I want Kendra. I’d like to pop her cherry if one of those college boys hasn’t already done it. And if they have, then I could show her the difference between being diddled by a boy and fucked by a man.”

“You’re disgusting. You know that, don’t you? Mama should have put you in a sack and drowned you in the river when you were born.”

J.C. chuckled, then took another draw on his cigarette. “Sugar, you’re the one who should have been put down like a rabid dog. You’re nothing but a burden on Mama and on Jordan.” He placed his cigarette in the ashtray on the side table. “Poor, pitiful, little Tammy.”

She came at him with teeth bared and claws out, lunging on top of him like the wild creature she was. She managed to rake his cheek with her fingernails before he manacled both of her wrists and forced her to her knees.

“You’re hurting me,” Tammy cried.

He increased the pressure, making her scream for mercy.

“Johnny Cash Harris, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Roselynne yelled as she came through the door. “For pity’s sake, let her go.”

He loosened his tight hold, but didn’t release his sister. “She’s gone loco again. If I hadn’t grabbed her, she’d have done worse than scratch my face. She’s crazy and it’s time you put her away someplace where she can’t kill anybody else.”

Roselynne stomped toward them, hellfire and damnation in her eyes. J.C. jerked Tammy to her feet as he stood and then he shoved her toward their mother. Tammy went running into Roselynne’s open arms.

Soothing her child with comforting strokes, she murmured endearments. “Now, go to the bathroom and wash your face while I talk to J.C.”

“Yes, Mama,” Tammy said, meek as a lamb.

J.C. had never understood how their mother could so easily control Tammy with a few words and a tender touch. The only other person who came close to controlling his crazy little sister was Jordan. But Jordan had a way with people in general, not just Tammy.

As soon as Tammy disappeared into the bathroom, their mother turned on him. “Damn it, boy, what am I going to do with you? Manhandling your sister is not allowed. How many times do I have to tell you? And as for the other, about her killing somebody – I don’t want to hear you spouting off such nonsense ever again. You hear me?”

“It’s not nonsense and you know it. Don’t tell me that it hasn’t crossed your mind that Tammy might have killed Dan.”

“Shut your mouth! Nobody’s proved that Dan didn’t kill himself.”

“Ryan Price thinks Dan was murdered. And so does that Powell agent who’s snooping around.”

“Everybody’s got a right to their opinion. Just because Ryan can’t accept the fact that Dan committed suicide doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. And Rick Carson is being paid to be suspicious, to snoop around and find out what’s what.”

J.C. laughed. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he unearths the truth about Dan and Jordan’s marriage.”

“Whatever he finds out, he’ll keep to himself. It’s a rule of some kind that private eyes have.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about the baby?” J.C. asked. “It’s kind of difficult for a woman to get pregnant if her husband isn’t screwing her.”

“I don’t want to hear anymore talk like that either. The baby Jordan is carrying is Dan Price’s kid, Dan’s heir. You got that?”

J.C. winked at his mother. “Yeah, I got it. And if she gets more of Dan’s money for that kid, then it’ll mean more for all of us, right?”

“You’re a greedy, ungrateful—”

“I just tell it like I see it.” He narrowed his gaze and studied his mother for a couple of seconds. “You didn’t by any chance know, before Dan killed himself, that he had Alzheimer’s, did you, Ma?”

J.C. was creating problems they didn’t need. She’d probably have to deal with him sooner rather than later. The very thought of disposing of him was abhorrent to her since he was part of the family. She had put up with his bad behavior, excused his misdeeds, and refrained from killing him because he had not posed a real threat to them. Not until now. He had become a liability. Even before she’d killed Dan, she had known it was only a matter of time before J.C. would have to be eliminated. His actions were hurting them more and more all the time. She couldn’t allow him to continue upsetting them, not with a baby on the way. Nothing and no one was more important than their child.

She would simply have to wait for the right moment and then strike. And it had to look like an accident. If only she could have found a way to have made Dan’s death look accidental instead of like suicide, as she had some of the other deaths.

Killing J.C. immediately was out of the question. First of all, she never eliminated someone without reason and that required her to consider all sides of a situation. Once she had made her decision, as she had with J.C., she formulated a plan. That took time, days, even weeks. She couldn’t do anything to bring suspicion on herself, especially this soon after Dan’s death. And she certainly couldn’t take any undue chances with a private detective living here at Price Manor.

But when the time was right, she would remove J.C. from their lives, just as she had removed all the others who had betrayed them, either intentionally or simply by an act of fate.

Jordan waved goodbye to Kendra and Wes as they drove away. As much as she would have loved having them here until Sunday, sending them off today had been the right decision. She couldn’t risk what might happen if they stayed and Kendra disobeyed her and encouraged J.C.’s attention. Her stepbrother couldn’t be trusted around any woman who appealed to him, and young, inexperienced girls like Kendra appealed to him greatly. She remembered all too well how he’d come on to her more than once when she’d been in her teens. For years, she was able to fend him off without any real harm done, but eventually, she’d had to go to Roselynne. She never knew what her stepmother had said or done, but whatever it had been, Jordan had never had to fight off J.C. again.

“We’ll miss them, won’t we?” Darlene came up beside Jordan so quietly that Jordan jumped.

“Oh, dear, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m so sorry.”

She smiled at Darlene. “It’s okay. I guess I’m a little edgy this afternoon.” She draped her arm through Darlene’s and smiled. “Yes, we will miss them, but sending them back to school will save us from having any more problems for the time being.”

“You should send J.C. packing,” Darlene said. “That man…” She sighed. “I hate to speak ill of anyone, but J.C. is nothing but trouble.”

“I know, but we’ll give Roselynne a chance to deal with him first and if that doesn’t work, I’ll ask him to leave. He’s stayed longer than he usually does when he visits. I really didn’t expect him to stay this long.”

“He’s waiting for the will to be read, hoping when you come into your inheritance, you’ll be generous with him and Roselynne and Tammy.”

“I suppose you’re right about his reasons for staying. Maybe I should tell him that although I’ll take care of Roselynne and Tammy, I’ve washed my hands of him. He won’t have any more luck getting money from me than he did getting it from Dan.”

“I… uh… really shouldn’t say this, but… well, have you ever considered the possibility that J.C. killed Dan?”

“Let’s walk.” Jordan tugged gently on Darlene’s arm.

Darlene nodded agreement and the two women strolled down the long drive that led from the house to the county road half a mile away.

“Are you upset with me for—?” Darlene asked.

“No, of course not,” Jordan replied. “It had never entered my mind that J.C. might have killed Dan. But you’re the second person today who has suggested that J.C. could be a murderer.”

“Was Wesley the other person?”

“Yes.”

“Wesley is a very bright boy. I know that Roselynne and her children are family, but if it turns out that Dan was murdered, I think Mr. Carson and the sheriff should look to those three first. I’ve seen Tammy throw some hysterical hissy fits over the years. There’s no telling what she might do. And Roselynne… well, if there’s any money involved…”

“Mr. Carson suspects that I might have killed Dan,” Jordan said.

Darlene gasped. “That’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“No, it isn’t. Not really. When you look at the facts, that my fiancé, my first husband and now my second husband have all met untimely deaths—”

“Robby Joe’s death was an accident, a tragic accident that almost destroyed us. How could anyone think that you killed him when you loved him with all your heart?”

Jordan stopped, took both of Darlene’s hands into hers and smiled warmly at Robby Joe’s mother, a woman who was as dear to her as anyone on earth.

“Robby Joe was the love of my life.” Jordan kept her smile in place even though she wanted to cry. She had to stay strong, for Darlene’s sake as well as her own.

“If the baby is a boy, I wish you could name him Robby Joe, but I know that’s out of the question.” Darlene laid her open palm over Jordan’s flat belly.

“I haven’t thought about names. Besides, this may be a little girl.” She laid her hand over Darlene’s on her stomach.

“If it is, you should name her after your mother.”

“My mother and Dan’s mother – Elizabeth Helene.”

“And Daniel, Jr., if it’s a boy?”

A cold chill rippled through Jordan. No, she couldn’t name her son Daniel, Jr. “There’s plenty of time to decide on a name. I’m sure that in seven months, we’ll come up with something perfect for our baby.”

Darlene sighed as she removed her hand from Jordan’s stomach. “You are so generous to share your child with us, with me and Devon and the others. Your son or daughter will be the closest thing to a grandchild that I’ll ever have.”

“He will be a very lucky child to have so many people to love and care for him – or her. My family and friends and Dan’s family and friends.”

Jordan glanced toward the sky and noted the swirling dark clouds. “I believe it’s going to rain. Maybe we’d better head back to the house.”

Darlene gazed skyward. “You’re right. It looks like a springtime storm is brewing.”

They walked hurriedly up the drive, barely making it onto the veranda before the first raindrops hit the ground. By the time they were inside, the bottom fell out and distant flashes of lightning zigzagged through the sky.

“Excuse me, Miss Jordan, but there’s a phone call for you.” Tobias stood at the back of the wide foyer, the portable phone in his hand.

“Who is it?” Jordan asked.

“It’s Mrs. Price,” Tobias said. “Mrs. Jane Anne Price.”

Jordan exchanged a why-is-she-calling? look with Darlene, then held out her hand for the phone. She met Tobias in the middle of the foyer.

“Hello, Jane Anne,” Jordan said.

“Hello, Jordan.”

“Is there a specific reason why you’re calling?”

“I just heard the good news about your being pregnant. I wanted to congratulate you for achieving such a miraculous conception.”

Jordan’s heartbeat accelerated. “I’m very happy about the baby, as Dan would have been. He wanted a child as much as I did.”

“Yes, I know how much Dan wanted a child. I regretted that he and I were never able to have a baby of our own,” Jane Anne said. “And considering the fact that the doctors told us Dan was sterile, think how surprised I was to hear that you’re now carrying Dan’s baby.”

Jordan swallowed hard. “What do you want, Jane Anne?”

“I want a piece of the pie. I seriously doubt that Dan mentioned me in his will, but I’m sure you will inherit a sizeable fortune.”

“Dan was a generous and caring man. I’m sure he provided for me.”

“You and Devon and Ryan, no doubt.”

“How much?” Jordan asked.

“Keeping a secret as potentially damaging to Dan’s reputation and to yours should be worth at least a million, don’t you think?”

Damn, damn, damn! Dan had been wrong about Jane Anne no longer being vindictive. He had paid her off – or so he’d thought – with an astronomical divorce settlement years ago. Apparently, she felt she was entitled to a great deal more.

“I can’t get my hands on that much money,” Jordan said

“I’ll be happy to take it in payments. Say, a hundred thousand now and another hundred thousand once the will is probated.”

“And if I refuse to pay your blackmail money?”

“Then I’ll go to the press and tell them that the child you’re carrying can’t possibly be Dan’s baby because not only was he sterile, he was also—”

“I’ll have the money for you within forty-eight hours.”

Chapter 8

Wallace McGee IV had followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as the Price family lawyer. Since Wallace McGee, Jr. had married one of Dan and Ryan’s great-great aunts, both families considered themselves related. And in old southern families, blood was indeed thicker than water. Family came first.

She studied Wallace while he read Dan’s will with a theatrical flair worthy of an amateur thespian, pausing at certain intervals for dramatic effect. As broad as he was high, rosy cheeked, and bald, except for puffs of unruly white hair above his ears and around the back of his neck, Wallace resembled an aging Pillsbury Dough Boy. But his keen dark eyes hinted of the sharp wit and shrewd mind behind the fat, congenial, good old boy façade.

They liked Wallace well enough and trusted him as much as they trusted anyone. Dan had certainly thought the world of his old friend and Dan had been a fairly good judge of character.

As they had expected, there were no surprises in Daniel Price’s will. He hadn’t made any last-minute changes, hadn’t added a codicil to include or eliminate anyone or alter the way he wanted his fortune divided. Several million had been donated to various charities and generous pension funds had been set up for Tobias and Vadonna. The bulk of Dan’s fortune – $57 million – had been divided equally among his brother Ryan, his wife Jordan, and his assistant Devon Markham. Price Manor would belong to Jordan during her lifetime and upon her death would become the property of Ryan’s heirs.