The Moment of Truth

Frowning, Cassie’s gaze remained open. “Do I know your mother?”

“No! And I’m making more out of this than I should. I need to tell you who I am and why I’m in town, but before I do, I’d like to ask you to keep what I’m about to tell you to yourself.”

“I can’t promise that. In the first place, I’m not in the habit of keeping secrets from my husband.”

“Sam, Jr.”

“You know Sam? Were you in the peace corps with him?”

“No.” But he was surprised to hear that Cassie’s husband, Sam, had been. A stint in the peace corps wasn’t typically something you found on the résumés of the sons of the elite.

Curious.

“I’m sorry, I just thought...” Cassie broke off. “Other than Sam’s time in the peace corps, we pretty much know all of the same people. We’ve been friends since kindergarten.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to keep anything from your husband,” Josh jumped in. “Though I’d hope that he’d keep anything you tell him to himself.”

“I still can’t give you any assurances that either one of us will keep your secret until I know the nature of it.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bothered you at all except that I need you to send a letter to my mother, assuring her that I’ve arrived and am being properly looked after.”

She hadn’t asked him to do so. But he knew her. She’d manage to keep her word to stay out of things longer if she had some sort of contact, was involved in some little way.

The other woman’s frown deepened. As did the look of compassion in her eyes.

“Are you ill?” Cassie asked.

“No. I’m in perfect health.” As fate would have it. Michelle was the one who’d paid for his years of selfish indifference. “And I have absolutely no intention of being looked after.” He had to make that quite clear. Whether the Montfords agreed to keep his secret or not was not going to change his plan. It just might change his location.

“Okay, tell me who you are, and I’ll tell you what I’m willing to do for you.”

“I’m your cousin,” Josh said. “Or rather, your husband’s cousin. Twice removed, but not so much when it comes to the family fortunes. As near as my mother could tell, Sam and I are currently the only direct heirs, once our parents pass.”

Cassie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re a Montford,” she said, as though she’d expected him to show up some day.

“My mother is the sole descendent of the Boston Montfords. Your husband’s father is the sole descendent of the Arizona Montfords.”

“It’s my understanding that the Boston Montfords disowned our Sam and that the two branches of the family haven’t been in touch in all the generations since.”

Josh’s mother was an only child. Josh was an only child. The Boston Montfords just might die out.

“I know,” he said. “But my mother, as the only heir to the Boston half of the fortune, intends to change that.”

“And she’s using you to do so.”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“So what’s in it for you?”

Josh bowed his head.

Cassie Montford, who, according to his mother, had been born and raised in Shelter Valley, had obviously learned a thing or two about the outside world, as well.

He sized up the woman across from him. Like he’d study a client across the boardroom table. To see how far he could push, how much he could get.

He saw a spot of moisture on her lip.

A spot of moisture that, in that second, reminded him of Michelle.

“Peace,” he finally answered. “And it’s not something you or anyone else can give me,” he said, knowing that his life in Shelter Valley depended on his honesty in this moment, because it depended on her full cooperation.

“I don’t understand.”

“Like Sam’s great-grandfather, I’m in Shelter Valley to start a new life,” Josh said, looking her straight in the eye. “Also like him, I am choosing to do so without benefit of the family fortune.”

“Choosing to do so.”

“Yes.”

“So you aren’t on the run? Or cut off for heinous deeds?” She might have been joking, if not for the dead seriousness of her gaze.

“No. On the contrary. I’m in Shelter Valley because the only way my mother would be at peace with me leaving Boston was to know that I was coming here. My parents think that I’m living off my monthly inheritance draw.”

“And that’s why you want me to write to her and let her know that you’re here and being cared for, for her peace of mind?”

“Right.”

“What kind of care do you need, Mr. Redmond?”

“Call me Josh...please. And the only thing I need from you and Sam—other than this one communication with my mother who is, by the way, a wonderful lady who will want to meet you someday—is my space and a promise that you will not say anything to anyone, including family, about who I really am.”

“Let me guess, you want your mother to believe you’re here as a Montford, but you want no part of the family name and all that goes with it.”

“Pretty much. My mother has promised to stay out of my life for a while at least. She agreed not to pursue a relationship with your side of the family until I could get established on my own.”

It was the only way he’d agree to live in Shelter Valley. And maybe it was harsh, but he was only asking her not to get to know people she’d never met.

Cassie nodded. Obviously assessing him.

“You don’t seem surprised by any of this.”

“I’m not. Seems to run in the family.”

Josh remembered her peace corps comment. “From what my mother was able to find out from her searches, your husband, and his father before him, have been upstanding Montford heirs, honoring the family name.”

“She must not have looked far enough,” Cassie said with a not quite humorous, half grin. “My Sam was more like the man he was named after,” she said. “He left town when we were barely out of our teens. He’s only been back in Shelter Valley, living as a Montford, for the past twelve years. His father, James, had some health issues several years back. We thought we’d lost him, but he surprised us all.”

For the first time, Josh was actually curious about the family he’d come to town to avoid.