The Bride's Choice. Sara Orwig

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СКАЧАТЬ Elnora out of this, didn’t you?”

      “Of course I did,” he admitted tersely. “We never got down to exact details—like leaving all of it to cats.”

      “At least you’re honest. But I don’t know why you’re so angry with me. I knew nothing about her intentions.”

      His eyes narrowed only the slightest fraction and a mus- cle worked in his jaw, otherwise she wouldn’t have known he had any reaction to her question.

      “I think Elnora used poor judgment,” he snapped, pushing open his coat and resting his hands on his hips.

      The air seemed to crackle around them, and his dark eyes tugged at Juliana’s senses. She wanted to shake him, and realized no man had ever stirred that kind of reaction in her before. “What you think isn’t what’s important,” she re- minded him.

      “No, unfortunately.”

      “I’m a total stranger to you, so don’t take your anger out on me.”

      “First of all, I think she should have left that money to medical research, to children who need help, to the chil- dren’s hospital, to all sorts of worthy causes,” he answered in a clipped tone as if he was fighting to control himself. “There’s enough money in her estate to establish houses for stray animals all over the Southwest. To pour all of that into one home here in Colby for stray cats is absurd.”

      Juliana was inclined to agree with him, but she wasn’t about to tell him.

      “That doesn’t have anything to do with why your fury is directed at me,” she said scathingly. There had to be more, she thought. There had to be something more personal that made him look as if he would like to send her into perma- nent orbit in outer space.

      His dark eyes bored into hers as he spoke. “I wonder when you worked for her if you didn’t play on her vulner- ability just so she would do something like this. She’s been trying to get me to ask you out since—”

      “What!” Juliana interrupted. She took a step closer to him. “Listen, you, I didn’t work on Elnora to try to in- herit. Besides, I’d always assumed she and Lawrence had had their wills drawn up years earlier. I’ve just seen her on brief visits the last few years.”

      “Oh, come on. Any woman who would fight a bank robber at gunpoint for a few dollars at the risk of her life, wants money damned badly,” he remarked tersely. Juliana suspected he was getting down to his real reasons for dislik- ing her.

      “Listen, you legal harpy, I worked hard for the money that jerk wanted to take from me, and he hadn’t done any- thing but point a gun at people and take what he wanted.”

      Caleb Duncan’s lips suddenly pursed and his eyes nar- rowed, but his reaction only dimly registered with her as she shook with fury. She moved a step closer to him. “I earned every dime in the bag I was holding. I wasn’t about to turn it over to that creep and I didn’t stop to think about it. You, sir, may have been raised in affluence and don’t understand having to work hard for a living. You’re a lawyer, so obvi- ously you make more money than I do. If I’d had an easier time of it all my life, perhaps I could have tossed away the money without a care.”

      She was breathing hard, wanting to punch his arrogant jaw.

      He moved a step closer and placed his finger beneath her chin, tilting up her face. “Legal harpy?” he asked in a voice laced with curiosity. He studied her. “Maybe I’ve jumped to conclusions here.”

      Her heart missed some beats, and she tried to ignore it as well as the awareness of his finger beneath her jaw, his brown eyes watching her so intently and the change in his attitude. She yanked her chin away from his finger. “The bequest is absurd. We’ll see each other Wednesday and that should be the last time. Goodbye, Mr. Duncan.” She turned to walk away, feeling her back prickle, wondering if he was watching her.

      

      The next time—and she figured the last time—she had to deal with him was Wednesday in court. As they finished and said goodbye to Willard Mason, Gladys and Stoddard, Ju- liana nodded curtly to Caleb Duncan. She hurried down the courthouse steps and along the sunny walk toward her car.

      “Miss Aldrich,” Cal said in a deep, quiet voice that car- ried an iron command. She paused and turned around as he closed the distance between them. Wind tumbled locks of his dark hair across his forehead.

      “Is please in your vocabulary?” she asked as coldly as possible, wishing she didn’t feel so breathless. His whole attitude was infuriating and her disquieting reaction to him fueled her rage.

      “Not this morning,” Cal replied. She annoyed the hell out of him. At the same time, he was beginning to wonder about her. “Juliana—”

      “Miss Aldrich,” she stated frostily.

      “Juliana,” he drawled with emphasis. Her name rolled off his tongue, said in his bass voice, sending a tingle through her. Why did it sound far more personal when he said it?

      “Do you have any idea how much is in Elnora’s estate?”

      “Not exactly,” Juliana admitted, watching as he set down his briefcase and reached beneath his jacket to withdraw a small leather date book. “I know she was well-fixed. It’s all in the will, but since it’s a moot point, I didn’t study it. I won’t inherit it.”

      While Juliana watched, he flipped open the date book and handed it to her. His fingers were long, well shaped and blunt. With curiosity she accepted the date book, and looked at neat printing that read, Siever Assets. Below the words was a list of assets and figures. Shock at the size of the estate made her weak in the knees. “Elnora was worth this much?”

      “You’re on the first page,” he answered dryly. “Keep reading.”

      Stunned, Juliana turned the page and gazed at figures that leaped at her. There must be a million dollars in assets, she thought. If she were to marry Caleb Duncan—she looked up to find him steadily watching her and thoughts of marriage made her heart thud. Feeling her cheeks heat, she looked down again at the figures. Marriage to a stranger would be absurd. To a hostile stranger, it would be disaster.

      Numbers danced in her mind, along with knowledge of her small bank balance, and how she scrimped to make ends meet and keep her preschool running and take care of the boys. She ran her hand across her forehead. This fortune would go for one home for the stray cats of Colby.

      Cal watched her, seeing her face pale when she first glanced down the page. A slight frown creased her wide forehead. His gaze raked over her. She was a good-looking woman. There must not be any man in her life or Elnora wouldn’t have been so persistent in wanting him to take Ju- liana Aldrich out. And Willard Mason was a thorough enough lawyer that he would have checked out Juliana’s el- igibility before he let Elnora draw up a will with a clause about marriage.

      Cal rubbed his jaw, his thoughts swirling and visions of bank accounts and money dancing in his mind. He had had forty-eight hours to think about Elnora’s will.

      Idly, he wondered how Juliana Aldrich would look if her hair weren’t pinned up behind her head. There was a smat- tering of freckles across the tip of her straight nose that made her seem less the cool, unruffled blonde. With the patience of a lawyer, he waited in silence until she finished reading. She lowered the date book and stared at him.

      “Elnora СКАЧАТЬ