Bride By Blackmail

At sixty years of age, George might have been thought to be well past the age of wanting to be bothered by such a responsibility, and might quite easily have paid for a full-time nanny for the little girl, followed by boarding-school when she was old enough. But George had done neither of those things. He had taken Georgie into his home, becoming father as well as mother to her, and taking her with him on his business travels whenever she didn’t have to be at school.

As a young child Georgie had absolutely adored him, knowing that behind the forbidding façade he presented to the world in general there was a softer, more caring man. Whatever love he’d had, he’d generously given to her.

She could have had no idea then that she was just part of a grand plan…!

She scowled. ‘Then what makes you think you could possibly succeed where my grandfather wouldn’t even try?’ she challenged Jed.

‘Because, no matter what your differences were with your grandfather, I know you have always loved my grandmother,’ he answered.

Georgie frowned. ‘Grandie? What does she have to do with this?’ Whatever ‘this’ was!

‘Everything,’ Jed answered flatly, his expression grim. ‘She had a heart attack three weeks ago—’

‘Grandie did?’ Georgie echoed sharply, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with her loss of appetite earlier. ‘Why didn’t anyone let me know? What—?’

‘You’ve refused to see any of us except in the presence of a lawyer, remember?’ Jed replied bitterly.

Her cheeks coloured at the rebuke. ‘Yes, but—’

‘No buts, Georgie,’ Jed rasped harshly. ‘You can’t have it all your own way, you know. You’ve made it more than obvious that you want nothing more to do with the family. More to the point that you want them to have nothing more to do with you.’

Georgie couldn’t quite meet that icily accusing grey gaze, knowing that what he said was true. But she had her own reasons for making that decision. Reasons that hadn’t allowed for the illness of the one person in the family that she still adored…

‘How is Grandie now? Is she all right?’ Georgie asked agitatedly.

‘Do you care?’ Jed scoffed.

Her eyes flashed deeply green. ‘Of course I care!’ she responded angrily.

Jed gave a brief nod of his head. ‘That’s something, I suppose,’ he allowed. ‘Grandie is— She’s—changed,’ he finally said reluctantly. ‘She wants to see you.’

Again this was typical Jed. No ‘will you?’, no ‘could you?’, no ‘would you?’. Just that single bald statement.

Georgie moistened dry lips. ‘When?’

‘Well, not tonight, obviously,’ he drawled with a sweepingly appraising glance over her night attire.

‘Obviously,’ she echoed, hoping that none of her inner panic at the mere thought of what was being asked of her was apparent on her face.

Her break with the family two years ago had been irrevocable, final; the thought of walking back—voluntarily!—into that lions’ den made her feel weak inside!

Jed nodded abruptly. ‘Tomorrow will do.’

‘Tomorrow…?’ Her eyes widened. ‘But—is Grandie that ill?’

‘Your concern is a little late in coming, but no doubt Grandie will be too pleased to see you to care too much about that!’ It was obvious from his own tone that he didn’t share the sentiment!

Georgie’s hands clenched so tightly into fists that she could feel her fingernails biting into her palms. ‘Is she?’ she persisted tautly.

Jed shrugged. ‘I think I’ll leave you to be the judge of that for yourself.’ He straightened. ‘I’ve said all I wanted to say—’

‘And that’s it, is it?’ Georgie attacked incredulously. ‘You come here completely unexpectedly, take advantage of your host’s hospitality by invading the bedroom of one of his guests. Then you tell me that Grandie is ill and wants to see me, and refuse to say anything else?’ She was breathing hard by the end of her outburst, her eyes blazing, her cheeks fiery in her outrage.

‘That’s it exactly,’ Jed answered with complete calm.

Yes, that was it, wasn’t it? Jed had always said exactly what he wanted to say, and no more. And, as she knew from the past, no amount of questioning, wheedling, asking, would make him say any more if he chose not to do so.

As he chose not to now…

‘Tomorrow could be a little—difficult,’ she said slowly.

‘What’s difficult about it?’ Jed replied. ‘I’m sure that if you explained to the Lawsons that you have to leave in order to deal with a family problem they would understand. Or is it Andrew Lawson you’re worried about?’ he added shrewdly. ‘Tell me, Georgie, how can you be engaged to marry a man, and yet that same man knows absolutely nothing about you that matters?’ he demanded.

‘All Andrew needs to know about me is that I love him!’ she returned, her cheeks flushed red with anger.

‘I thought I knew that you loved me once, too,’ Jed shot back harshly. ‘For all the good it did me!’

Georgie drew in a deeply controlling breath, knowing that to allow this conversation to—once again!—deteriorate into a slanging match would achieve nothing.

‘I’ll see what I can do about going to see Grandie tomorrow,’ she told him evenly.

Jed’s mouth thinned. ‘I should try to do more than see what you can do, if I were you,’ he advised.

Georgie stiffened at his tone of voice. ‘Or what…?’ she prompted warily.

‘I wasn’t aware that I had said there was an “or what”,’ he denied, moving towards the bedroom door.

Her chin rose defensively. ‘I know from experience that there usually is where you’re concerned!’

Jed turned before opening the door. ‘Isn’t it time you got over this childish belief that I’m some sort of monster?’

She had thought she had! Until faced with Jed once again…

She sighed, giving a self-disgusted shake of her head. ‘What time is best for visiting Grandie?’ That’s it, Georgie, stick to the point. That way there was less chance for this verbal fencing she and Jed seemed to fall into whenever they did happen to meet—by chance or design!

‘What you really mean is what time would be best not to find your grandfather at home?’ Jed derided knowingly. ‘Tomorrow is Saturday, Georgie; even your grandfather doesn’t work at the weekend!’

‘There was a time when he did,’ she defended.

‘He’s seventy-eight years old, for goodness’ sake,’ Jed responded. ‘Even he recognises that it’s time he slowed down. Besides,’ he added heavily, ‘Grandie’s heart attack has been a shock to him.’

Georgie could understand that. Estelle Lord, Jed’s grandmother, and George Jones, Georgie’s grandfather, had met and fallen in love fifteen years ago, marrying only months later. Both of them were aware that they had found this second-time-around love rather late in their lives and had been determined to enjoy together the years they had left.

Georgie knew that her grandfather would be devastated now by his wife’s sudden illness.

‘So, to answer your question, Georgie,’ Jed continued firmly, ‘in view of the fact that neither my grandmother nor your grandfather has set eyes on you in two years—any time is probably a good time to go and see them! In fact, I would say it’s past time!’

Georgie’s mouth tightened at the rebuke. ‘You—’