How To Seduce An Heiress: The Reluctant Heiress / Pride After Her Fall / Project: Runaway Heiress. Lucy Ellis
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I think you’ll find a family that you will grow to love.” He stepped closer and she turned away slightly.
“I sent you some brochures and annual reports. You’ll see all the good the Delaney Foundation is doing. That all started when Will stepped in. Argus built that fortune, but Will and his brothers are the ones who have put Delaney money to many good uses. If you cooperate, more wealth can be poured into charitable causes, good causes that Argus never gave a dime to. That is sweet revenge right there, Sophia.”
She looked up to meet his gaze.
“Spend Argus’s money in a manner he never did,” he urged.
Without commenting, she moved on to look at another grouping of pictures and was aware that Garrett followed, moving close beside her. She detected his aftershave, a scent that triggered unwanted, painful memories of being with him. Memories that tormented her.
“I’m glad you’ve thought about our conversation. If you change your mind, let me set up a meeting. I’ll fly you to Dallas and back whenever you want. Or if you prefer, any or all of them will come to Houston and meet whenever and wherever you want.”
“Garrett,” she said, her voice so low it was almost a whisper. “If I decide to see them, I will not go through you. As I already said, I don’t want to see you or talk to you again,” she said. Even as the words left her mouth, she remembered Edgar’s warning that she was letting go of a good man.
“Have you once thought about if our situations had been reversed? What would you have done?”
Startled again, she glanced up and looked away, clamping her jaw closed and refusing to answer.
“I didn’t think so,” he stated. “I didn’t have to tell you who I work for or anything else when I did. I voluntarily told you when you knew nothing about it.”
“That doesn’t win you any points. I still feel deceived. I trusted you in the ultimate way, which I wish I could undo or at least forget.”
A muscle worked in his jaw and his gray eyes seemed to consume her. Her pulse raced and even as she was lashing out at him because she hurt, she remembered his kisses too well.
“I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t. I can’t forget and I’d never want to undo the moments we spent together.”
She should stop him or walk away—anything to reject him—but she couldn’t move, trapped in his compelling gaze. His focus shifted to her mouth and she couldn’t get her breath. In spite of her anger with him, there was no way to forget his kisses. She grew hotter with fury because she could not stop reacting to him physically.
Taking a deep breath, she turned away, breaking the mesmerizing spell. She moved on, no longer seeing him in her peripheral vision. Finally, she couldn’t keep from looking. When she glanced around he was gone.
Her first reaction of disappointment stirred a surge of anger. She should be glad he had left. She tried to forget him, but it was impossible. Feeling unhappy and forlorn, she gathered her things and left without interrupting Edgar, who was talking to people.
At home, she sank in a chair. Her unhappiness grew, settling on her like a dense fog that shut out everything else. Garrett had looked so handsome tonight. She thought of being in his arms, the shared laughter and the passionate moments. She reminded herself that she was not in love with him, but she still felt betrayed. Impatiently, she changed clothes and went to her studio, pouring herself into her work, trying to shut out memories and longing. But once again, she had to stop because she was doing a poor job, ruining what had started as a satisfactory painting.
She spent the weekend in misery, with Garrett’s arguments constantly nagging her. Everything he had said, Edgar had echoed. She had always tied the Delaney sons to their father, but they’d simply ended up with him, too, through no fault of their own, just as Garrett had pointed out.
Monday morning the brochures and reports Garrett had sent arrived in the mail. Clipped to the annual report was an envelope. She opened it to shake out the contents.
Snapshots fell on the table. She couldn’t keep from looking at them as they tumbled out of the envelope and she saw the Delaney brothers. And there were pictures of the little girl, Caroline.
Sophia’s insides clutched and she drew a deep breath. She picked up each picture, starting with one of Caroline. In a pink sundress, she had a huge smile and held a furry white dog in her arms. Sophia set aside the picture and picked up one of four men smiling at the camera. She recognized Will from the picture Garrett had showed her.
She stared at all of them. She bore the most resemblance to the two older brothers, Will and his deceased brother, Adam. For a while she pored over them before setting them aside and pulling out an annual report to start reading. A lot of money was going to help Dallas schools and parks, autistic children, medical research, various university scholarships. There was a long list.
Next, Sophia pulled out the will and read, seeing what would occur if they did not claim their legacies. It was a clear paragraph in which Argus stated that each inheritance would go to the church Argus attended and to the city for art projects—both worthy charities, but that money could do so much more if she cooperated with the Delaneys.
Rubbing her forehead, Sophia continued to think. When she considered meeting with them, should it be one or all of them? Would she feel overwhelmed by them? She could request they meet in Houston where she was at home. When the possibility began to overwhelm her, she went to her studio to inventory her paints and repair a broken chair, trying to think about something else, but she kept seeing the picture of Will and Caroline—the two people who looked the most like her.
Would it hurt to fly to Dallas and meet them? In spite of her anger with Garrett and what she had said to him, she imagined telling Garrett she would go with him. Even though she didn’t want to go back to the relationship she’d had with Garrett, she knew she would feel better if he was with her.
She shook her head. She couldn’t do it and she wanted to spend more time thinking about it.
In the late afternoon Edgar called to ask her to dinner.
“Thank you,” she replied, smiling faintly. “But I don’t want another lecture on why I should see the Delaneys. I think I’ll pass, Edgar.”
“Sophia, you and I go way back. I feel like a father to you. Whatever you decide, I do not want it to come between us.”
“It won’t as far as I’m concerned. But you may be unhappy with my decision.”
“I’ll live with whatever you decide. I really have your best interests at heart, though.”
“I know you do,” she replied with a sigh. “I’ve been giving it consideration today.”
“Excellent news. Somehow I thought you would eventually let reason take charge. Usually you’re quite levelheaded and sensible, and I expected the moment to come when you could stand back and see what you’re doing here.”
“Edgar, I’m getting the lecture again.”
“All right, I apologize. If you don’t want dinner, I’ll try again another time. But don’t go flying off to Santa Fe. Running isn’t going to help on this one.”
“All right, I’ll bear your suggestion in mind.”
“‘Bye, Sophia.”
She put away her phone and gazed into space. She didn’t feel like eating. The sun slanted in the western sky and in another hour twilight fell. With it her spirits sank and nothing could get her mind off the Delaneys—and Garrett. She thought about the time she had spent with him, going back over their moments together, their lovemaking. Had he really cared about her? Or had it been a tactic he used while he tried to get close to her for his own purposes?
Even though his deception hurt badly, she missed him and his dynamic personality. Her life had been different with him, more exciting even through the most ordinary moments.
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