Wife Wanted

“Why, thank you, Sterling.”

He glared at her. “Dark glasses and a big hat aren’t going to hide you from someone who knows you.”

Smiling a little, Kate glanced down at herself. She wore a teal-blue silk tunic and trousers to match, a wide straw hat tied with a scarf, and large dark glasses, which were intended to camouflage her face. “Don’t be testy, Sterling.”

He let out a low grunt of disgust. “I’m not testy. I’m realistic. You lived at the estate for years. Most of the people in Travistown knew you personally. Anyone floating by on another boat might recognize you.”

Kate gave him a small shrug of her shoulders and looked away, out toward the farmhouse where, years and years ago, she and Ben had been happy. Her sweet, bighearted Bernie was there, sitting so patiently on the end of the dock. The dog had been waiting in the same spot for nearly an hour now. Kate’s heart went out to him. He would have to wait a while longer before he would see his old mistress again.

Kate wondered how Natalie was doing. Since her “death,” more than one of Kate’s loved ones had stumbled upon love and fulfillment. The truth was, Kate had been taking a secret pleasure in a little matchmaking—from beyond the grave, as it were.

And in the past few weeks, she’d been thinking of Natalie. A lot. Sterling, who kept her informed about all her children and grandchildren, had told her that Natalie and Joel Baines had broken up. Kate thought that was great news. She’d met Joel more than once, and she hadn’t been impressed. Now maybe Natalie could begin looking for the real thing.

Sterling interrupted Kate’s thoughts. “I will remind you, Kate, that you’re the one who keeps insisting you can do more behind the scenes to discover who’s trying to destroy the Fortune name and all it stands for than you ever could working in the spotlight. If you’re recognized today—”

“I know, Sterling. I know. And you’re right. It would be…unfortunate if I were recognized. But I won’t be.”

Sterling’s response was a muttered expletive, and nothing more.

Kate softened her tone. “Sterling, please try to understand. I needed to come here today. So much of my life has been here….” She turned her head away from the farmhouse, toward the huge estate that she and Ben had built together in the first, heady years of their success. She couldn’t see it from here, of course, but she knew it was out there, that it stood as proud and indomitable as ever, a huge, columned edifice of echoing, high-ceilinged rooms. At one time, in spite of all its opulent grandeur, it had been home.

Of course, when Kate thought of the estate these days, she thought of Jacob, too. Jacob lived there now. Alone.

“Kate?” Now Sterling was sounding almost gentle.

Kate shook herself. “Sorry. Just thinking.”

Sterling’s thoughts paralleled her own. “Jake is a problem. If this stock situation isn’t handled, he could lose everything you and Ben worked your lives to build.”

Kate stopped him with a wave of her hand. “Not now. Please.” She turned her head once more, so that she could see the farmhouse again. Her beloved Bernie was still there, waiting for her….

“What’re you up to, boy? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

The dog turned and whined a little, then looked at the lake once again.

Natalie shaded her eyes and stared out at the faraway patio boat that floated on the wind-ruffled surface of the water. It was one of the rentals.

“Sorry, big fella.” She patted his flank. “It’s no one we know. Come on, let’s go inside. I want to change out of this dress and haul that trunk back up to the attic where it belongs.” Natalie turned for the bank. But she only got a few steps before she realized the dog hadn’t fallen in behind her. She slapped her thigh. “Come on.”

With one last, longing look at the water, the dog did as she commanded.

“Look, Sterling,” Kate said. “It’s Natalie.” Kate lifted the pair of binoculars she’d set on the seat. “Oh, my. She’s been up in the attic, I see.” Kate recognized the spangled dress and sparkly platform shoes. It had been long out-of-date when Kate herself wore it—for a Halloween costume at a party twenty years before.

The faraway figures of the woman and the dog turned and walked toward the farmhouse. “She needs love.” Kate lowered the binoculars. “Real love, a man who’ll give to her as she’s always given to everyone else. That’s why I left her the farmhouse. Ben and I found such joy there. Maybe she will, too. And Bernie will help. That dog has a nose for people. He never did care much for Joel Baines.” She laughed. “Remember the first time Natalie brought Joel to the estate? Bernie chased him into the butler’s pantry and kept him there for ten minutes, until the rest of us figured out what was going on and called Bernie off.”

Kate could see that Sterling was trying not to smile. “I don’t believe I remember that,” he said.

“Oh, yes, you do. You were there for dinner that night. You tried not to laugh then, too, as I recall. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is, Natalie is free of Joel now. Free to find a man who adores her and appreciates her and will spend his life showing her just how much.”

Sterling put on a disapproving frown. “Don’t you think maybe you’re carrying this matchmaking thing a little too far, Kate?”

“No, I don’t. Not at all. One can never take anything too far, if love is the prize.”

Sterling looked doubtful. “But what was the point of the stipulation that the house has to remain occupied at all times until Natalie marries?”

Kate smoothed a wrinkle from her silk trousers. “Oh, I wasn’t planning on dying for quite a while, and you know how I always fiddled with my bequests. At the time I thought it sounded right.”

Sterling grunted. “Well, what you’ve done is made it all more complicated. Every time the poor woman wants to go somewhere, she has to find someone to stay at the house.”

Kate chuckled. “She seems to be managing. And I want to know everything that’s happening with her. Keep in close touch with her, won’t you?”

“You know I always do.”

The next day, Natalie was cutting roses to put in the parlor when Sterling Foster arrived in his big maroon Lincoln Town Car. Natalie ran out to meet him. In many ways, over the years, the family’s longtime attorney had become like another member of the family. She greeted him with a hug and led him into the house.

“So, what are you up to lately?” he asked as she poured him a tall glass of lemonade.

She told him all about the details of the cruise. He already knew she was going, of course, since he was the one who managed her trust fund.

He listened to her plans and said he thought they sounded terrific. “But remember,” he cautioned, “by the terms of your grandmother’s will, this house must stay occupied and Bernie must be cared for here.”

She reassured him that she hadn’t forgotten, and explained all about the great tenants she’d found. “They’re moving in on the twelfth, a while before I’m slated to leave. But it’s all worked out perfectly, because Rick says it’s fine with him if I stay right here until I’m ready to go.”

“Rick?”

“Yes. Richard Dalton. His little boy is named Toby. Rick’s an architect. With Langley, Bates and Shears, in Minneapolis.”

“Did you have him fill out an application?”

“Of course.” She grinned. “And I even read it over. That’s how I found out he’s an architect.”

“Meaning you’re not planning to check him out.”

“I’m an intuitive kind of person, Sterling. You know that.”

He gazed at her patiently. “May I have a look?”

“Oh, Sterling….”

“Be intuitive, Natalie. But let me check him out.”

Natalie hesitated. She really did think Rick and Toby were just the tenants she’d been seeking. But then, she’d also thought that Joel Baines was the man she’d spend her life with.

“Oh, all right.” She went to the study and came back with the papers Rick had filled out. “If you find out something bad, you’d better tell me right away.”

“I will. I promise.”

Three