The Inheritance

Still confused, Greer looked to the other woman for a further explanation, but there was no enlightenment coming from that quarter.

“I’d better be getting back,” Alyssa announced suddenly, as if she’d just become aware of the time. “I have to be putting dinner on the table soon. Mr. Owen doesn’t like to be kept waiting. If you need anything—” she underlined the word, looking at Rafe “—just call. Nice meeting you,” she added as an afterthought, glancing at Greer. The next moment, Alyssa slipped out the front door.

“Same here,” Greer murmured, her voice utterly flat.

Rafe caught the uncomfortable note in her voice and looked at her curiously.

She didn’t care for the way he seemed to be continually scrutinizing her. It made her feel awkward, as if she were found wanting. To get his attention off her and back to her yet unanswered questions, Greer nodded at Bethany. “Whose baby is that?”

Because of the hour, Bethany had begun settling down. He knew that Alyssa had already changed and fed her. He stroked the fine, dark hair. “She belonged to Lil and Rory Butler.”

Greer picked up on the past tense. “The friends you mentioned earlier?”

“You were paying attention.” A minor smile gracing his lips, Rafe nodded his approval.

If there was one thing these schoolmarm types were, it was sticklers for detail. He figured that having her in the courtroom as his fiancée might impress the judge enough to make him see things Rafe’s way. After all, he was young, with his whole life in front of him, and the Prestons were well past their primes. Too old to be taking care of a one-year-old, really, he reasoned.

“I always pay attention,” she informed him.

He didn’t like the coolness in her voice. You would have thought he’d insulted her.

“Good.” His voice was crisp, matching hers. “Then I won’t have to repeat myself. Lil and Rory were killed in a car accident a little more than a month ago. I always knew they wanted me to be Bethany’s guardian, but it’s not really the kind of thing you pay attention to when the people you’re talking to are twenty-three years old and in perfect health.”

If he had paid attention, maybe he would have tried to talk them out of it, he thought. Tried to make them pick someone else who could give Bethany more than he could. But what was done was done and, Rafe had to admit, he doubted if anyone could care as much for the little girl as he did.

“Anyway, after the accident I took Bethany in, and not long after that, I heard from some guy claiming that he represented Lil’s aunt and uncle and that they were coming for the baby.”

Most men she knew would have been relieved to relinquish the responsibility of raising a toddler. Especially alone. Her own mother had seen fit to leave her sitting alone in the last pew of a church when she was barely three. That was where she was told they’d found her. Curled up, asleep in a pew with only the clothes on her back and a battered stuffed animal that was so worn it was unidentifiable.

“That would make things easier for you.”

He couldn’t quite read her comment. She wasn’t one of these liberated females who looked down their noses at families, was she? Not that it mattered if she played her part right.

If.

That was the all-important word.

Of course, if he could find the softer side of Megan Maitland, he might be able to get the woman to use her influence and settle things for him, then there’d be no need to continue the engagement charade.

The thought of using his aunt’s influence didn’t sit well with him, even though he wasn’t planning to use it for any personal monetary gain.

Because it raised issues he just didn’t have time to sort through, Rafe put the whole thing out of his mind for now.

“Sometimes ‘easy’ isn’t the best way. I gave my word and I intend to stick by it.”

Rafe didn’t add that giving Bethany up would create a giant-size hole in his heart. The little girl had created a space for herself that he’d never expected to be there. He wasn’t given to attachments or bonding. But he had bonded with the little lady in his arms and he intended to do right by her. No matter what it took or what it cost him.

This wasn’t making any sense to Greer. “And you honestly think that by lying to the court, you’ll get to retain custody?”

He didn’t like being judged. Especially not by a stranger who had no idea what was involved. His eyes grew flinty as he looked at her. “Call it a stopgap maneuver. Until I can come up with something better.”

Her breath caught in her throat. There was no reason to feel as though she’d just been put in her place, and yet she did.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Greer said, backpedaling in case Mrs. Maitland’s long lost nephew thought she was criticizing him. She didn’t want to take a chance on losing him after she’d gotten him to agree to come, albeit with an unusual addendum. “But why didn’t you ask Alyssa to pretend to be your fiancée?” In Greer’s estimation, the fiery-looking woman would have been far more believable in the role. Rafe and Alyssa looked as if they belonged together.

Quite simply, the answer was that he’d only just now thought of the ruse. And asking Alyssa to pose as his fiancée might get sticky. He knew she had more than a passing liking for him, and while he was flattered, he didn’t want to get his life tangled up with anyone else’s at present. Bethany was the only female he could safely handle for the time being.

Rafe took the easy way out. “Because she’s not asking me to go off to Austin and pretend to be happy about some reunion.”

They seemed doomed to continue getting off on the wrong foot. “I’m not asking you to pretend to be happy about it—”

“Good, one less thing to do.” Bethany began fussing against him. He’d gotten good at telling the different noises apart. This one meant she was sleepy.

“I think you’re going about this all wrong.”

Didn’t this woman every stop flapping her gums? “And ‘this’ would be…?”

“The Christmas reunion.” She was beginning to think he was deliberately being difficult. “It’s supposed to be fun.”

“I’ll put on my happy face,” he promised her, sarcasm tingeing his words. And then he thought of something. They couldn’t just say they were engaged and expect the judge to believe them. He needed something to serve as outward proof that he was serious.

“Here, hold her for a minute.”

Not waiting for Greer to say anything, he thrust the baby toward her.

Surprised, Greer had no choice but to take the fussing baby into arms that were far more adept at holding on to stacks of tightly bound quarterly financial reports.

Then, to her further dismay, Rafe walked away from her.

“Where are you going?” she called after him. The baby squirmed in her arms.

“To get something” was all he said.

As Greer tried to hold on to Bethany without dropping her, her dismay deepened. This time it was a pint-size fiery womanette who was making her feel that she was decidedly out of her element. Large or small, the end result was the same.

With a sigh, Greer looked toward the room that Rafe had disappeared into. Now what?

Chapter 3

Once in his bedroom, it took Rafe only a few seconds to locate what he was looking for. The item was just where he’d left it, tucked in the back of the top drawer of the lone nightstand that stood by his bed. He’d never thought he’d have any use for it.

Taking it out, he rubbed his thumb over the top of the black velvet box. Strange the way some things worked out. When he’d won this from Albert Hackett that long weekend he, Albert and a couple of the other hands had played poker until dawn, he’d had every intention of going into town and selling it at the pawnshop the first chance he got. At the time, he’d had no more use for an engagement ring than Albert had. But he’d never gotten around to selling it and now, it looked as if that was a good thing. The ring was going to come in handy.

Closing the drawer, he walked back out into the living room and then stopped dead. If he’d ever seen anyone who looked more awkward than this woman as she tried to hold Bethany, he certainly couldn’t recall it. He didn’t think that even he’d been this ungainly the first time Lil had had him hold the baby. Weren’t women supposed to have some kind of a natural instinct when it came to babies? If so, someone must have forgotten to tell the Lawford woman that.

He shook his head as he crossed to Greer. It was a wonder she hadn’t dropped Bethany.

“You’re holding her like she was a sack of solidified sugar.” She looked as if his comment embarrassed her. That hadn’t been his intention and it chafed his conscience a little, which made him all the more short-tempered. “Haven’t you ever held a baby before?”