Pillow Chase

“All set?” Troy asked when they arrived at the room.

“Showtime.”

He knocked. Taking a deep breath, Miranda steeled herself as the door opened, but to her surprise, Tyler wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Only Victoria.

“Thanks for coming.” Her sister resembled their mother in appearance with her bright red hair and fair skin, but the similarities ended there. Victoria’s enthusiasm was all her own.

“Not a problem that I came, too, is it?” Troy asked.

Wrapping her arms around Troy’s neck, Victoria gave him a hug. “Of course not. You’re my favorite bro-in-law.”

He was Victoria’s only brother-in-law, as they all well knew, but Troy clearly appreciated the welcome. So did Miranda. She forced a smile.

Laura Granger waited inside, and she didn’t look nearly as enthusiastic to see them. They’d grown up disliking each other. Laura was everything Miranda wasn’t—tall and slim with white-blond hair, pale blue eyes and luminous skin. Given the way their families led separate lives, comparisons were inevitable. Given their differences, disliking those comparisons was also inevitable.

And people in their town were fascinated by a prominent family that had split down the middle. While Miranda had the benefit of hailing from the still respectable and affluent side of the family, Laura had suffered her family’s fall from grace with not much to define her but her stunning looks and ambitious academic marks. She’d been out of her league with the other students at prestigious Westfalls Academy.

Add Victoria to the mix now, with her glorious hair and come-hither smiles, and it might explain why Miranda suddenly felt like the runt of the litter.

“Nice to see you both.” With her smile firmly in place, Laura was in full hospitality management mode. “Thanks for meeting with us on your day off.”

“So what’s up?” Miranda directed her question to her sister, eager to get this ball rolling. The sooner they got to the point, the sooner she could deal with the fallout and get on with her day. And there would be fallout. After a lifetime of dealing with Victoria, she knew there was always fallout.

“I’m here to sell you on an idea, big sis.” She gestured them to the sofa while heading toward the desk and Laura. “Sit. Would you like anything to drink?”

Shaking her head, Miranda sat beside Troy, who nudged his knee against hers as if to say, “This should be interesting.”

No doubt. “Might I ask why you invited me to Tyler’s room when he doesn’t seem to be around? Is this about Hottest Honeymoons?”

“Not exactly,” Victoria said. “We wanted neutral turf. When you came to the Wedding Knight Suite, I thought you were going to have a heart attack.” She glanced back at Laura. “The rack. She thinks I’m a closet dominatrix.”

Laura only inclined her head, but her amused expression irked Miranda. Yes, the pornographic sex device that comprised a whole wall in Victoria’s suite had surprised her, but when had these two become such good friends that they discussed her?

Miranda refused to ask. What they did on their own time wasn’t her concern—unless their actions started the town talking again. Her mother didn’t need the stress right now. Not while dealing with Victoria’s unexpected engagement.

“We could have used Laura’s office,” Victoria explained. “But I wasn’t sure I could get you there. So we begged a favor from Tyler—” she swept an arm around to encompass the tastefully decorated guestroom “—and here we are.”

“There’s a method to our madness, too,” Laura added. “What we want to show you is on Tyler’s computer.”

“Really? Now I’m curious.”

“Me, too,” Troy said. “Why don’t you start the show?”

Laura sat down behind the desk and slanted the monitor toward them. She clicked the mouse to bring up an image of formally dressed guests in what could have been one of many grand opening functions that had taken place over the past two weeks.

“All right,” Victoria said. “But give me a chance to explain everything before you blast our idea out of the water, would you, big sis?”

Our idea?

The thought of Victoria and Laura Granger colluding over anything was enough to send a cold chill up Miranda’s spine. But she nodded, willing to agree to just about anything if her sister—who was dragging out the suspense as usual—would get a move on. “Why are you even making the effort if you’re so sure I’m going to disapprove?”

“You know me. Hope springs eternal.” Her sister gave a laugh, which transformed Laura’s hospitality-perfect veneer into a worried frown.

Curiouser and curiouser. There was a lot going on between these two if she read the signals right.

Cocking a hip against the desk, Victoria folded her arms. “When I was first assigned to cover the Naughty Nuptials, I put all the family history on the table to get any questions of bias out of the way. This got me and Laura talking about what really happened to cause the trouble between her mother and Grandfather all those years ago.”

That trouble, as Victoria called it, had caused their grandfather to disown his oldest daughter and had instigated a family rift that had lasted decades.

Leaning back against Troy, Miranda settled in for the long haul. Judging by her sister’s excitement, she intended to play this for all it was worth.

“Got it,” Miranda prompted. “So you two rehashed past history. I won’t ask why.”

“It’s irrelevant, anyway. What is relevant is that we decided we needed to find out what really happened. So we’ve been talking to Aunt Suzanne and Mother.”

Aunt Suzanne? When had Laura Granger’s mother become Aunt Suzanne?

“I’ll have you know that Mother was very forthcoming with me,” Victoria continued. “Aunt Suzanne, too. And in getting both sides of the story, Laura and I learned that there are some really big questions about our family history.”

“What sort of questions?” she asked.

“Like how come we were told our grandmother was English.”

From the corner of her eye, Miranda caught sight of Troy’s frown and supplied the reason. “Because she was English. Mother said she came to America from England after they married.”

“She told me the same thing.”

“So did my mom,” Laura added.

“And you’re saying she didn’t?” These two had to be off their rockers. She couldn’t vouch for Aunt Suzanne, but Miranda knew her mother would never mislead them about the parent she’d lost in a car accident while still a very young child.

“As far as they’re concerned, our grandmother did come from England,” Laura explained. “Tori and I haven’t told them what we’ve found out yet.”

“What’s that?” Troy threaded his fingers through Miranda’s, a silent show of support.

“Grandfather said he’d met our grandmother during the war and married her before they came back to the United States. Well, I’ve been doing some investigating and couldn’t find a thing about his marriage to Laura Russell. I got curious, so I looked into her immigration records. If she was a British citizen, she had to have papers to get into this country.”

Victoria met her gaze with an expression positively alive with excitement. “Laura Russell doesn’t seem to have existed until she appeared in the good old U.S. of A, fully grown and married to our grandfather.”

“I should add that Tori had to dig for this information.” Laura gave a tight laugh. “I’m still waiting for Interpol to show up in the lobby.”

“Pshaw.” Her sister waved a dismissive hand. “Have a little faith, please. We’re talking immigration here. I didn’t have to dig that deep. Besides, I happen to be good at what I do. No problems, trust me.”

Trusting Victoria was enough to strike terror in the bravest of souls, and Miranda was surprised Laura recognized it. “Exactly what did you learn? Our grandmother must have existed or the three of us wouldn’t be here right now. Will you please tell us before you wind up in prison?”

“Oh, our grandmother existed, all right,” Victoria said. “Only she wasn’t English. She was a French citizen. Her name was Laure Roussell not Laura Russell.”

Miranda wasn’t at all sure what to make of this revelation, except that she could tell by her sister’s expression that she was serious. “Victoria, that’s crazy.”