Undercover Christmas

“Believe me, I’d remember her,” Chase shot back. It sounded as if he’d started to leave, his crutches clopping across the floor.

“She doesn’t seem the type to lie about something like this.”

Chase’s hobbling stopped. “What type is that, Jabe? A woman like my mother?”

Marni shot a look at Vanessa. She’d paled visibly.

“I won’t have my first grandchild be a bastard,” Jabe boomed, his voice an iron glove of authority.

“It was good enough for your first son,” Chase retorted just before a door slammed and silence filled the dining room again.

Marni felt her head swim. Chase was Jabe’s firstborn son, wasn’t he?

“I’m sorry, dear,” Vanessa said to Dayton as he got to his feet again.

“Leave it to Chase to throw cold water on any family celebration, and Father to be…Father.” He gave Marni a mocking bow, and snagging a bottle of wine Lilly had missed, headed out through the kitchen with Felicia trailing along behind him.

Chase certainly knew how to empty a room, Marni thought, then noticed with regret that she’d been left alone with Vanessa. And Vanessa looked as if she might start a food fight if given any provocation. What kind of family had El gotten herself involved with? What had Marni gotten herself into?

Jabe returned to the room, looking tired. “I apologize for…” He couldn’t seem to find a word for what had happened. Neither could Marni. “But I assure you, I am a man of my word, Elise. You will have a chance to speak with my son before you leave. In the meantime—” He turned to Vanessa. “See that Elise gets a room and anything else she needs for the night.” With that he turned and left.

After a long sigh, Vanessa rang for the housekeeper and instructed her to prepare a room for their guest. The way she said “guest” made it sound like “ax murderer.

Marni noticed that the candle had burned down on the untouched cake. It flickered, barely alive, in a pool of wax. Vanessa snuffed it out with the serving knife in one swift swat and stabbed the knife into the heart of the cake with a good deal of what appeared to be pent-up aggression.

Her hostess sat for a moment surveying the empty room before she looked again at Marni. She opened her mouth seemingly to speak and closed it, as though she’d thought better of it. Instead, she cut herself a thick slice of roast beef, stuck it and a half inch of butter into one of the rolls and took a healthy bite. As she chewed, she scrutinized her houseguest as if deciding how best to dispose of her. It seemed Jabe dictated she be nice to Marni. But if looks could kill…

Marni stared down into her empty plate, considered having another slice of roast beef herself, vetoed the idea and sat thinking about the conversation she’d just overheard. She didn’t care about any of the particulars except one. Chase was sticking to his story that he didn’t know her. He didn’t even want to believe it was because of his temporary memory loss. The problem was: No man forgot Elise McCumber.

“You must be tired,” Vanessa said after she’d polished off the last bite. “I’ll show you to your room.” As they got up, she instructed Hilda to save her a piece of cake. A every large one. Marni got the impression Vanessa had just fallen off her diet

“I’ll leave it in your sitting room,” Hilda said conspir-atorially.

Vanessa shot Marni a look, daring her to say a word.

Not likely. As they entered the foyer, Vanessa glanced toward the library. “If you’ll excuse me for just a moment,” she said. Not waiting for a reply, she strode down the hall through the open doorway, closing the door firmly behind her.

Marni grimaced as she imagined the choice words Vanessa must be sharing with her beloved husband at his moment, then turned her thoughts to her own precarious situation.

Snowed in. Miles from everything. Seven months pregnant. Or so it seemed. Forced to spend the night in this huge, old—quite possibly haunted—house. With people who definitely hated her. Pretending to be her beguiling sister. All because of a man who swore he’d never seen her before—nor it seemed—her identical twin. How had she talked herself into this?

She hadn’t even had a chance to really speak to Chase. And she couldn’t for the life of her understand the strange reactions of these people. Why had Vanessa been so happy about Dayton’s child but so upset by Chase’s? Was it just because this baby was conceived out of wedlock? Or did it have something to do with the argument she’d heard outside the dining-room door about Jabe’s firstborn being a bastard?

And why hadn’t Elise told her any of this? Maybe Elise hadn’t known, Marni realized. She groaned. It seemed clearer and clearer that Elise didn’t know much about Chase Calloway. But how much could you learn in only four days?

Marni turned at the soft sound of footsteps directly behind her. Lilly stumbled around the corner, the wine in her glass sloshing onto the floor as she came to a lurching stop at the sight of Marni.

She smiled as she tried to rub the wine into the hardwood floor with her shoe, then staggered over to Marni, leaning toward her confidentially. “It isn’t going to work, you know.” Her words slurred. “You think I’m a fool? You think I don’t know what you’re really after? Pretending you’re carrying Chase’s baby. You don’t fool me.”

“Lilly, do you want to sit down?” Before you fall down? Marni looked around for a chair. There were none.

Lilly didn’t answer. She glanced down the hallway toward the library and dropped her voice. “You don’t really want him. It’s the money. You’re after the baby money.”

Baby money? “Lilly, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marni said softly, not sure why they were almost whispering, but feeling a little seasick just watching Lilly sway back and forth. She motioned toward the stairs. “Perhaps if we sit down—”

“The first grandchild,” Lilly said, following Marni to the stairs. She plopped down hard on the first step, spilling more of her wine onto her dress. It looked like blood against the pale pink of the fabric.

Marni sat down beside her. “What difference does it make if I’m having Jabe’s first grandchild or the fifth?” she asked.

“Like you don’t know,” Lilly said with a smirk. “He told you about the change in Jabe’s will. He probably told you everything.”

Right, like Chase had told Elise anything. “What does the change in Jabe’s will have to do with the first grandchild?” she asked again.

Lilly straightened. “Jabe wants someone he can leave his…empire to. Chase turned it down. So Jabe changed his will to leave a fortune to his first grandchild,” she said, bitterness buoying her in a way not even strong, black coffee could have. “The other two sons end up with almost nothing.”

“Why would he do that?” Marni exclaimed, realizing now exactly what she’d witnessed at dinner. Jabe Calloway had pitted his sons against one another, a baby race, and Elise had unwittingly become a part of it and was now it appeared, the leading contender. No wonder Dayton and Felicia had been so upset.

“It should be my money,” Lilly said. She drained her glass and set it on the step beside her. Her gaze bobbed up to sear Marni with a hateful look. “Not yours”

Marni heard the library door open and the sound of Vanessa’s voice drift toward them.

“I assure you I knew nothing about this will.” Marni said quietly, but she could tell Lilly wasn’t listening, her attention drawn to the library instead.

“I had the first grandchild,” Lilly whispered as she stumbled to her feet. “But Vanessa killed it.”

“What?” Marni cried, jumping to her feet Surely Lilly was too drunk to know what she was saying.

But Marni felt a chill as she witnessed the fear she saw in the woman’s eyes as Lilly lurched around the side of the staircase at the sound of Vanessa’s high heels thumping across the hardwood floor toward them. Marni started to follow Lilly, afraid the woman would hurt herself in the state she was in, but Lilly motioned for her not to. The pleading in her wide-eyed gaze stopped Marni. What was she so afraid of? Vanessa? Or Vanessa catching her this inebriated?

Marni watched in surprise as Lilly touched the wall behind her and a narrow door silently slid open. Lilly slipped into what appeared to be a passageway and disappeared, the door sliding shut behind her with only a whisper.

“Are you ready?” Vanessa demanded.

Marni jumped as she swung around to find Vanessa glaring at her. The conversation in the library must not have gone well.

“Is something wrong?” Vanessa asked, her gaze narrowing as it settled on the empty glass resting on the bottom stair where Lilly had left it.

“You just startled me,” Marni said quickly.

Vanessa nodded suspiciously. Then she picked up the empty wineglass with obvious annoyance, and placed it on the marble-topped table to the left of the stairs. “Hilda should have your room ready.” Without giving Marni a backward glance, Vanessa started up the stairs.

Marni followed her up the wide circular staircase, realizing that the longer she was in this house, the more questions she had about Chase and his family. She shook her head, confused but too smart to ask Vanessa anything.

As she climbed the stairs, Marni found herself looking over her shoulder. You’re getting a little paranoid. Yeah? Well, who wouldn’t be in this house? She tried to laugh off the feeling that she was being watched. Spied on. That someone definitely didn’t want her here. She almost laughed at the thought. No one wanted her here and it wasn’t as though they’d made a secret of it.

As Vanessa led her toward the third floor, Marni glanced back again, thinking about Chase Calloway. She had so many questions, but only one that really mattered. Could it be possible he was the man Elise thought he was and this was just a misunderstanding because of his memory loss? Then why, her skeptical side questioned, is he so adamant that El couldn’t be carrying his child?

Marni had almost reached the top of the stairs when suddenly her right foot slipped. She grasped for the railing but wasn’t close enough to reach it. She felt herself teeter and start to fall backward. Two strong hands grabbed her.