Guarding the Heiress Read online

  “My God,” Thurston murmured.

  “Let’s go,” Doug insisted, giving Thurston another nudge toward the entry hall. The resemblance between Edwinna and her grandmother D’Martine was uncanny to say the least. But now was not the time to hang around and gawk.

  Eddi watched the two strangers exit through the front door with a mixture of anxiety and fear tangling in her belly. Part of it, she confessed, was from the up-close encounter with the gorgeous guy Irene and her pals had gone on so about. The other part, however, was something she couldn’t quite label. What were these men talking to her mother about? Her gaze moved back to where her mom still sat in her favorite rocker-recliner, and the knot of anxiety tightened. Milly looked more frightened than Eddi had ever seen her in her entire life.

  “What’s wrong? What did those men want?” She hurried to her mother’s side before she put herself through the physical rigor of getting up. If those guys were bill collectors she was going to teach them a thing or two about manners. The Harpers might be a little late on payments now and then, but they never failed to pay.

  Crouching near Milly’s chair, she searched those usually smiling brown eyes and found only pain. “Please, Momma, tell me what’s happened.”

  Milly nodded. “I want you to sit down over there.” She gestured to the couch. “I have some things to explain to you.”

  Feeling her own tension heighten, but needing desperately to hear what her mother had to say, Eddi obediently settled on the couch. She wondered briefly how long those men had been here pestering Milly. Then she chastised herself for not coming sooner. If she hadn’t piddled so at Ms. Ella’s house to listen to the matchmaking plot, she could have been here already.

  Milly Harper moistened her lips and blinked away the tears in her eyes. The strength Eddi knew her mother to possess visibly surged and the uncertainty she’d seen moments ago all but vanished.

  “There are things I should have told you long ago.” She cleared her throat and propped both hands on her cane. “But, selfishly, I chose not to. Now it will be all the more difficult.”

  Eddi’s confusion mounted with each passing second. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  Milly took a big breath and began, “Twenty-six years ago I graduated high school and thought I had the world by the tail.” She shrugged one shoulder. “My family didn’t have any money to speak of, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I’d won a scholarship, enough to pay my tuition and such. So, off I went to Boston, to a school I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to attend. I picked up a waitressing job to keep a little money in my pocket.” Her gaze took on a distant look. “I was on my way.”

  For a long while Milly said nothing else. Eddi knew that she was remembering. She couldn’t imagine why she’d never heard this story before. She hadn’t even known her mother had attended college, much less some fancy Boston institution.

  “I met someone.” She fidgeted a bit, the uncertainty creeping back. “He was a little older than me and in his final year of law school.” She smiled through the layer of emotion that now shimmered in her eyes. “We fell in love immediately.” She shook her head. “It was just like a fairy tale. He was this handsome prince and I was the lowly peasant who’d captured his fancy and his heart.”

  Eddi was suddenly enthralled by the story, having forgotten all about the strangers she’d found in her own living room. “Mother, you never told me you’d been in love with someone else before Dad.”

  Milly’s eyes met Eddi’s briefly. “Well, we all have our secrets.”

  Another moment of taut silence lapsed between them.

  “We had it all planned out. As soon as he graduated we planned to marry.” Her gaze flicked to Eddi’s. “His parents would never have approved of him marrying a small-town girl like me. But he didn’t care. We were in love and that’s all that mattered.”

  The fervor in her mother’s voice emphasized the truth in her words. She had been in love with the young man of which she spoke. Deeply in love. Eddi’s heart rate picked up its pace in anticipation of more of the story.

  “He was about to go home for spring break, his graduation was only weeks away.” She smiled sadly. “And we were so happy. I told him then…he was going home to break the news to his parents and then he was coming back for me. He wasn’t even going to wait for his graduation….” Her voice trembled then trailed off for a time. When she spoke again, her words were strained. “But he never made it home. Someone, we don’t know who since the crime was never solved, kidnapped him…held him for ransom.”

  “Oh my God.” Eddi rushed to her mother’s side, crouching next to her and taking her hand in hers in a show of comfort. “That’s horrible.”

  “The ransom was never picked up and no one could understand why, until the…body was found.” Her lips trembled and she had to take a second to compose herself. “Whatever went wrong, he wound up dead.”

  “I’m so sorry, Momma,” Eddi soothed. Something niggled at her and she asked, “What did you mean when you said you told him then? Told him what? What made him decide he wasn’t going to wait for graduation to speak to his parents?”

  Milly’s gaze connected with hers and Eddi knew the truth even before she spoke. “That I was pregnant with his child…with you. That’s why we were so happy.”

  Eddi went ice cold then fiery hot. Her head shook of its own volition. She thought of the man she knew as her father…of all that he’d done for her…all that he’d been to her. “That can’t be true. Daddy—”

  “Knows the truth,” Milly put in. “He knew right up front. But he’d loved me since the third grade. He knew I was in love with Edouard, but he was gone. Your father was willing to play second fiddle if it meant spending the rest of his life with me. He loved me that much. I thank God for him every day. He’s all that kept me from losing my mind.”

  Eddi managed to make her way to the couch. She wasn’t sure she could have stayed upright just then, her legs felt too unsteady. She had to sit down. This was crazy. She was Eddi Harper, daughter of Milly and Harvey Harper. The story she’d just heard simply couldn’t be.

  Then all the signs hit her at once. The fact that everyone always tried to come up with the name of some Harper ancestor who looked like Eddi. The shock of white hair that started at the center of her forehead and cut a path through her strawberry-blond hair. The fact that her mother had light brown hair and her father had black, well, they were both pretty gray now, but that was beside the point. The brown eyes of her parents when she had blue. Oh, the traits had been blamed on some Harper far in the past, or maybe a Talkington on her mother’s side. There was always an excuse.

  Now, all that coalesced into an epiphany that pulled the rug a little farther out from under Eddi’s feet.

  “So, you’re saying that this Edouard was really my father and that Dad just kind of stepped in to play the part.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m almost twenty-five years old. Did you think I couldn’t handle the truth? Did Daddy worry that I wouldn’t love him as much? My God, he’s my father. This isn’t going to change how I feel about him.” She looked straight at her mother then. “Or you.”

  Tears rolled down Milly’s cheeks and Eddi felt immediately contrite for her cross tone. She would have moved back to her mother’s side except she still didn’t trust her legs to hold her steady.

  “I’m sorry, Momma. Please, tell me the rest.”

  Milly nodded and swiped at her tears. “The reason I didn’t tell you or anyone else was because I was afraid.”

  Eddi frowned. “Afraid of what? That Edouard’s parents might give you trouble about custody or something?” That was Eddi’s first thought.

  Her mother shook her head. “I didn’t have time to even think of that.” She exhaled a heavy breath. “When Edouard was murdered, I feared for your life as well. You see, Edouard was the one and only heir to huge wealth. With him dead, that left only you. I couldn’t risk the same sort of thing happening to y
ou that happened to him.”

  That reality slammed into Eddi like an unexpected fist to the gut.

  “The rich are often targets,” her mother went on. “I didn’t want to thrust you in the middle of that kind of danger. I couldn’t bear the thought of someone coming after you.”

  “I have to go.” Eddi lunged to her feet with surprising agility. A second ago she wasn’t sure she could stand, but now…now the fire of fury burned inside her. This…all of this was uncalled for. She had to stop this runaway train before it became a full-fledged wreck. “I’ll be back.”

  She hurried from the room without looking back. She couldn’t bear to see the pain on her mother’s face. Milly had been plagued with enough pain in the past. Eddi would allow no one to add to her suffering. She would stop this now.

  Three minutes later she parked her truck in front of Ada’s Boardinghouse. An old Victorian home that had been in the Garrett family for several generations was well restored and the only thing remotely resembling a bed-and-breakfast in town. Meadowbrook had no hotels. The closest one would be over in Aberdeen. The boardinghouse was really more of a bed-and-breakfast save for two exceptions—Jesse Partin and Mavis Reynolds. The two were permanent residents of the boardinghouse. Had been for nearly half a century. According to Ada, taking in permanent boarders was something the Garretts had done for generations to support the community. Most folks around town were pretty sure Ada just liked the extra cash.

  Eddi suddenly stalled halfway to the big old front porch. What if the story about her biological father had already spread around town? If either of the men had told Ada…well, they didn’t call her “The Radio” for nothing.

  Taking a deep breath for courage, Eddi marched up the steps and across the porch. She didn’t hesitate as she entered the front door and smiled as Ada herself looked up from the antique desk stationed in the entry hall that served as the reception area.

  “Why, good afternoon, Eddi,” Ada crooned. “What brings you here?” Her pleasant smile instantly reversed into a scowl. “Did that confounded Jesse Partin call you about his toilet again? I swear I’m going to boot that man out yet. There’s not a blasted thing wrong with that toilet except he doesn’t flush it right. Gotta give this old plumbing a little TLC. You said so yourself the last time you were here.”

  Eddi worked up a smile. “That’s right, Ms. Ada. But don’t worry, Mr. Partin didn’t call. I’m here to see your two out-of-town guests.”

  One fine white eyebrow winged up her forehead. “You don’t say.” She studied Eddi with a critical eye for one long moment. “Which one you want to see? The young fella or the one in the fancy suit? I gave them the two best rooms we have. Surely neither of them has a complaint.”

  Ignoring the ploy for information, Eddi said, “The young one.” She had noted a look of sympathy in the younger man’s eyes. She couldn’t say the same for the older guy. In fact, he gave her the willies.

  Ada smiled conspiratorially. “First door on the right.”

  Eddi nodded her thanks and quickly rounded the newel post to head up the staircase.

  “Where’s your toolbox?” Ms. Ada asked abruptly.

  Eddi stalled, considered her options and told the truth. “I won’t need my toolbox for this.”

  “You tell that big-city fella he’s supposed to let me know when something’s not working,” Ada called after her.

  “I sure will,” Eddi called back. She planned to tell him a great deal more than that, but Ada didn’t need to know.

  She wanted him and his hotshot friend out of this town now.

  Eddi knocked firmly on the door. She considered how strange fate could be. Only an hour or so ago she was in Ms. Ella’s kitchen listening to the matchmakers go on about her nonexistent social life and the handsome stranger in town. Little did she know that this stranger had come here to ruin her entire life.

  Speak of the devil, he opened the door precisely then. Eddi held her ground, didn’t step back as her mind ordered when her gaze settled on the shoulder holster and mean-looking gun he wore. She would tell this guy the way it was and demand that he take his friend and go. Maybe confronting him wasn’t smart, especially considering the gun, but she had to do something.

  “Miss Harper,” he said as if he hadn’t expected to see her. He glanced past her, then right and left. “You came alone?”

  What’d he expect? A posse? Maybe she should have brought the police chief. Maybe someone official would carry more weight with a guy like this, but she was here now, might as well see her plan through.

  “I’d like to talk to you.” She waited for him to step aside, but he didn’t. He just stared at her, which irritated Eddi all the more. “Privately.”

  He looked surprised, but quickly recovered. “Of course.” He stepped back. “Come in.”

  Eddi glanced around the room as the door closed behind her. A seating area with a small television was arranged at one end of the room and backlit by two double windows. On the opposite side of the room a queen-size bed flanked by tables and a lovely bureau filled the space. Between a homemade quilt on the bed and lacy curtains on the windows, the place looked downright comfortable with lots of homey touches. The perfect foil for a man who looked every bit the international spy the ladies in the Club had deemed him to be.

  “Please have a seat,” the man suggested with a wave of his hand toward the overstuffed chairs arranged neatly around a small table.

  The bottom abruptly dropped out of Eddi’s stomach. Her knees went weak once more. The fire that had sent her barging over here died like the hot coals of a family barbecue beneath an unexpected summer rain.

  She sat down with as much decorum as a rock thrown from a mountaintop.

  “Would you like me to order something to drink,” he offered. “I believe iced tea, lemonade and coffee are on the room-service menu.”

  She shook her head. Told herself that her sudden loss of fortitude was the unexpected news her mother had broken, but some part of her knew that it was more than that. Yes, she was startled by what her mother had told her and infuriated that this man had come here to upset her life, but there was more. It was him. Something about him put her off balance.

  Okay, enough madness, she railed silently. The thought of how much this story getting out would hurt both her father and her mother rekindled the fire that had so suddenly extinguished when she came face-to-face with this enigmatic stranger.

  “Who are you?” she demanded. The first sensible thing she’d said since he opened the door.

  He sat down adjacent to her, only with a great deal more grace than she had shown. His khaki slacks and blue shirt, even at this hour of the afternoon, looked as fresh and wrinkle free as if they’d just been professionally laundered. Just a hint of shadow darkened his chiseled jaw. And, of course, every perfect hair was in place. All in stark contrast to her plain, slightly disheveled appearance.

  “My name is Doug Cooper,” he said quietly. His voice was rich and smooth, but laced with sincerity and even what sounded like kindness. “I’m with the Colby Agency, a private investigation agency based in Chicago.”

  Another jolt of confusion shattered the last of her rational thought. What in the world would a private investigation agency want with her? The answer struck as quickly as the question had. The D’Martines were wealthy. They had obviously hired someone to find her and her mother. At least that explained the gun.

  “What do you want?”

  The words came out just as emotionlessly as she had intended them. Her whole mind and body felt oddly numb. She wanted to rant and rave…and cry…but the energy to do so was curiously absent.

  “Your mother told you about your biological father,” he suggested.

  She was glad he used the term “biological father” since Harvey Harper was her father, and nothing, certainly not genetics, was going to change that. “Yes.”

  Mr. Cooper nodded once and actually looked relieved. Eddi didn’t even try to figure that one out.
r />   “Then you know that he was the heir to a vast fortune and that his murder remains unsolved.”

  She had to confess to some regret…sympathy, even, for that tragedy. No one deserved to be murdered. But, other than being the sperm donor and her mother’s first love, she still didn’t understand what this had to do with her.

  “What does this have to do with me, other than the obvious?” she demanded, voicing her thoughts.

  Doug studied the woman seated next to him for a time before he answered her question. She had a right to know the whole truth and on her own terms, whether Thurston agreed or not. She was strong, he could see that. She wasn’t going to back down until she had the whole story. He respected that.

  But, he had a job to do. His first loyalty was to his client. “Solange D’Martine, your paternal grandmother, wants to be a part of your life. You’re all that’s left of her son.”

  Fury whipped across that pretty face. “It’s a fine time for her to show an interest now,” Edwinna snapped. “Where was she when my appendix had to be removed and my father missed three days’ work and the medical costs piled up? Or when my mother almost died in an automobile accident?”

  Doug understood her anger. She was confused and hurt, at a number of people. She was doing the only thing she could, lashing out. “Your grandmother just recently learned of your existence.”

  She made a disgusted sound. “And that’s my mother’s fault, right? I hope she also knows that my mom was only trying to protect me.”

  “Mrs. D’Martine, above all others, will understand that,” Doug hastened to assure her. “That’s why I’m here.”

  Edwinna narrowed the gaze that looked so damned much like her grandmother D’Martine’s. The young woman was in for a hell of a shock. The streak of white hair that highlighted her strawberry blond mane. That penetrating blue gaze. The nose…the chin. Everything. Edwinna Harper was the spitting image of her grandmother and she didn’t even know it.