The Reluctant Heir

“Here.” Without another word, Carter went over the counter and grabbed the mop. “I can take care of the spill.”

She would have been less surprised if he’d made a cup of coffee magically appear in his hand. “You’re going to clean something? You...?”

“I have skills.”

She could feel her mouth drop open and her eyes bulge. “With a mop?”

“I’m not my father, Hanna.”

The words shook her out of her stupor because she was starting to believe him. “That’s the only reason you’re still standing here.”

That and his eyes. And those impressive shoulders. That cool voice. Okay, she might have let him inside the shop to look at him for a while. She hadn’t expected him to offer a way for her to settle the past.

No, Carter Jameson was not what she expected at all. Problem was she didn’t have a defense against this Carter and that made him potentially more dangerous to her than Eldrick.

Three (#uddde015e-4550-51b0-9538-263ed8b1b05e)

Carter walked into Jackson’s Jameson Industries office two days later without knocking. Since he carried sandwiches and everything else they needed for lunch, Carter doubted Jackson would mind the unscheduled intrusion.

He’d volunteered to pick up the food because he needed a distraction from his phone and its lack of messages.

There was exactly one reason for his frustration: Hanna. She still hadn’t gotten in touch with him. No call. No message. No text. He’d made a point of giving her his contact information after making his big come-to-Virginia offer, convinced she wouldn’t refuse...and yet, nothing.

The hours ticked by and he tried to forget her and their odd meeting, write off her apparent mix of disdain and disinterest. Not dwell on the secrets she hid and her relationship, whatever it was, to his father. Not think about how she’d grown up, about her legs or the gentle sway of her hips as she’d tried to rush him out her door. That face. Those curves.

Yeah, he definitely needed to find something else to think about.

Carter glanced up as he shut the office door behind him. Jackson sat at his desk, studying the contents of the file with such extreme concentration that it looked as if he expected to be tested on the details. Carter got three steps across the room before Jackson started talking. He didn’t lift his head but his voice rang out loud and clear.

“Are you ever going to tell me why you needed the information?” Jackson asked while flipping pages.

Carter froze in midstep. “Did we start a conversation before I entered the room? Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

With a long, exaggerated sigh, Jackson finally lifted his head. After a quick look up and down, he frowned. It was the kind of once-over Jackson did before he launched into a Jamesons-are-impossible speech. The same kind of look that made Carter self-conscious, and he was rarely that.

After the prolonged visual inspection, Jackson rested his elbows on the desk in front of him. “The Wilde sisters.”

“Oh, right.” Knowing this topic could lead to trouble, Carter tried to deflect. A shrug usually worked, so he went with that. “That was nothing.”

“Uh-huh.” Jackson closed the file almost in slow-motion before lounging back in his big leather seat. “I’ve worked for this family for years. I’ve investigated many people and businesses. It’s never nothing and it usually causes trouble that rolls downhill to my desk to fix.”

Carter started to shrug a second time, then stopped because Jackson would notice multiple shrugs and take it as a sign of...something. “I just wondered what happened to them.”

“Right. So, your dad sends you on this errand. You go and while you’re there you just happen to need emergency intel on the daughters of the man who used to be the caretaker of your family’s Virginia property. A man who died on the job, though you know that part.”

Carter dropped the bag filled with food on the edge of the desk and sat down across from Jackson. “See? Perfectly reasonable.”

“That’s not a word I would ever use to describe your family.”

The bag rustled, making a crinkling sound, as Carter unloaded the sandwiches and what looked to him like two child-sized bags of chips. “Do people really only eat seven chips at a meal?”

He threw one of the bags in Jackson’s general direction. Instead of catching it, Jackson stayed still. The chips crunched as they landed on his keyboard. The only reaction he gave was the slight lift of an eyebrow. Carter took that to mean Jackson was not ready for a new topic.

“So, when you asked me about Hanna and Gena—and yes, I remember their names because I remember everything—that was just a coincidence?” Jackson asked.

“I sense you’re not going to let this go.”

“Want me to give you a list of all of the other people who worked at the Virginia property?” Jackson ripped open the bag of chips and shoved two in his mouth.

The room filled with the sounds of munching, shuffling and sandwich unwrapping. But Carter knew it was only a brief reprieve. Jackson had an annoying habit of holding on to a question and unloading it later, just when Carter relaxed his guard. “It’s kind of freaky how much you know about our family.”

“I like to be ready.”

“For?”

Jackson handed over one of the two water bottles sitting by his phone. “Anything. It’s a good trait in an employee, so feel free to give me a raise.”

“If I had that power, I would.” Hell, he’d sign over part of his interest in the company and bolt. The day-to-day monotony of desk work didn’t appeal to him. And being here reminded him that his father thought he wasn’t worthy to even have an office.

If Derrick didn’t need him and if his sister-in-law-to-be Ellie’s pregnancy eased into a safer rhythm, he might. Of course, then he’d miss seeing what would happen as his other brother, Spence, tried to negotiate a new stage of his relationship with his fiancée, Abby. And that was just too funny to miss.

Poor Spence had it bad and Abby was not the type to make it easy for him. Carter loved her for that. Loved both of the women his brothers managed to convince to date them. They were smart, beautiful and strong. Very different from each other, but perfect for Derrick and Spence.

Which for some reason got Carter thinking about Hanna. She had the smart, beautiful and strong combination down. She also looked at him like she wanted to backhand him with a mop handle, so it was good he wasn’t interested. Not in anything permanent anyway. There was no way to have a few private, discreet hookups just for fun with his family nearby. Someone always seemed to be watching. And sometimes it was the guy sitting right in front of him.

Jackson. Friend, invaluable asset to Jameson Industries and all-around smart-ass.

“Stop acting like you’re not management.” Jackson finished unwrapping the sandwich and crumpled the paper underneath it. “You could write me a check tomorrow. In fact, you should. You know, just because.”

Carter knew Jackson was kidding but he’d hit on a sore spot. One Carter couldn’t exactly laugh off since it guided everything he’d done for the last year. “My father ran me out of the family and the business a year ago, remember? No power to do anything here.”

Jackson swallowed the bite he’d been chewing. “When did you get so dramatic?”

“You weren’t here, but he did.” Carter grabbed for his food. He fiddled with the paper, trying to untuck the edge, but finally gave in and ripped it open. The smell of tuna fish salad hit him a second later.

“I missed the actual office fight between you two, but I do remember the fallout. You refused to talk. Derrick was pissed because your dad refused to listen to your ideas about what to do with the Virginia property.” Jackson shook his head as he whistled. “It was a hell of a welcome back from my vacation.”

“I believe the exact phrase Dad used was that my ideas were beneath the Jameson name.” The dismissive tone echoed in Carter’s brain. No matter how he tried to write off his father and erase the memory, it kicked up every now and then. “He pointed out that I was an embarrassment and should go out and prove myself or not bother to step in his office again.”

“That is some interesting Jameson tough love.” Jackson took another bite, almost devouring half the sandwich in only a few minutes.

Carter glanced at the tuna fish, then to his unopened bag of chips. The idea of food suddenly didn’t appeal to him. He blamed the office and the city. Being this close to what his father viewed as the center of his power made Carter want to be anywhere else. To not be a Jameson or have to deal with the steady stream of disappointing everyone. It was easier to be away and just be Carter, not the rich kid who didn’t live up to the family standard.

He dropped the sandwich and then pushed the paper away from him. “He deactivated my key card to the building and told security to kick me out that afternoon. Derrick undid the orders, or so he said when he called and asked me to come back, but I was done by then.”

“Eldrick couldn’t make a phone call without having three people help him.” Jackson swore under his breath. Not that he was quiet about it or tried to hide his anger at Eldrick. “But yeah, that will teach me to take three days of vacation. By the time I got back you were driving across the country and the office had descended into chaos.”

Jackson’s controlled outburst eased some of the frustration coursing through Carter. There was something comforting about having Jackson on his side that made talking about his father tolerable. “Your timing was terrible. You take three days off a year and you picked those days.”