Like One of the Family. Kimberly Meter Van

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СКАЧАТЬ “Oh, really? Since when? I hardly consider doing odd jobs as having the business acumen necessary to run a high-end resort,” Lora answered back, focusing her laser stare on Heath who only stared back, the heat between the two enough to fry an egg. “You can bet that I’m going to have a chat with Pops about this but something tells me you probably convinced him—in his current confused state—to let you take over as you saw fit. Well, I can tell you right now, that ends now.”

       “Lora!” Lilah exclaimed, horrified that her sister would imply such a thing. If she only knew… “You haven’t been here. You haven’t seen what Heath has done for Larimar. Maybe if you took a phone call every once in a while I wouldn’t have had to ask for Heath’s help. Unlike you, he found the time to take an interest in what’s been going on.” Tears stung Lilah’s eyes and she couldn’t hold them back. She’d never been good at yelling at someone, least of all one of her sisters, but she couldn’t sit there and allow Lora to believe the worst of Heath when he’d been nothing but kind to this family. Lora looked unmoved by the sudden show of tears, as if she’d expected some sort of reaction from Lilah, and the knowledge that her older sister knew her that well only served to pour salt in the wound. Seaming her mouth shut, Lilah spun on her heel, only too eager to get away from the ugliness in the room. If her sister wanted to be a coldhearted bitch, then she could deal with the fact that no one liked her or could stand her company for more than five minutes—including her sisters. “I’m sorry, Heath,” she muttered as she ran from the room. Whether she was apologizing for abandoning him in the moment or because Lora was such a she-beast, Lilah wasn’t sure. She just knew she was sorry.

      * * *

      HEATH©WATCHED LILAH©FLEE the room and he felt compelled to follow, if only to see if she was okay. Lilah was like his little sister and the fact that he felt more protective over her than her own flesh and blood only served to stoke the banked anger.

       “You sure know how to alienate every single person you come into contact with. Tell me, is this how you conduct yourself in Chicago at your big fancy corporate job?” he asked with a calm he certainly didn’t feel. He wanted to put his hands around her slim neck and shake some sense into her, but he willed that white-hot anger into an icy calm, using a tactic he’d seen Lora use more than once.

       At the mention of her career, he almost thought he saw a bit of an inward wince, but that was impossible. Lora Bell was a shark who ate guppies that had the misfortune of wandering into her pool. A show of vulnerability wasn’t in her nature. “Nice try at deflection. Now that the hysterics are over, can you tell me what the hell is going on here?”

       “Simple. As I told you earlier, your grandfather started to lose time about a year ago and when that happened, he forgot to pay bills. Of course, no one knew this until the water and power was shut off one day. I discovered months’ worth of bills that had been stuffed into your Grams’s in-box, which at first I thought your Pops was simply using as an easy place to remember where to put the bills, but then I realized, he was following what he used to do when your Grams was alive.”

       “She always paid the bills,” Lora finished in a murmur, her fingers massaging her temple. “So how many bills were behind?”

       “Everything,” he answered, sugarcoating nothing. “And that prompted me to look a little more deeply into the finances and the taxes. He hasn’t paid in years. The government started sending letters six months ago. That’s when I started calling you. When we received this—” he picked up a letter from the desktop and tossed it to her “that’s when I sent the certified letter to get your damn attention.” He paused a minute to let her read the letter. “Because I’m not family and I don’t have power of attorney on the estate I couldn’t negotiate on Pops’s behalf. Unfortunately, we needed you for that.”

       He knew the letter word for word. It said that if the back taxes weren’t paid in full by the end of the quarter, the government would seize the property for payment against the debt.

       “Oh, God,” Lora breathed, true distress on her features. He wished he could feel some sort of satisfaction for her finally admitting that the situation was serious, but he was too worried to feel anything but anxiety. For him, there was more at stake than his loyalty to the Bells. Two years ago he and Jack had went into business together and Pops had invested a fair amount of capital—money that Pops didn’t have to give, which Heath didn’t discover until it was too late. Pops had taken money socked away for the estate taxes and given it to Heath instead. Once Heath had discovered the source of the money, he’d felt sick inside. In essence Jack had banked Larimar’s future on the belief that Heath’s business would thrive. At least, that’s what Heath wanted to believe. But there was a dark shadow of doubt that lurked, that Jack had already been slipping in his mental abilities when they’d struck the deal, and if that were the case, it would appear to Lora that Heath had taken advantage of her grandfather. The very idea made him ill—but he knew he’d have a helluva time trying to convince Lora otherwise. He braced his knuckles against the desktop and stared at Lora. “Listen, we can stand here and snipe at each other all day but it’s not going to solve anything. We both want the same thing—to save Larimar. I say we work together to that end and put the personal stuff aside.”

       Her stare narrowed at his suggestion and he felt filleted. “Why do you care so much? This is my family’s problem. Not yours. I can’t imagine that you’re so attached to being a handyman. Surely there are other handyman jobs out there that you could get.”

       His temper rose but he choked it back until he could talk without shouting. “Why does it matter? I care. Whether you like it or not, I love this family. And if that doesn’t jive with how you think I should behave just because I don’t share DNA, then too damn bad. I don’t care. I love them. Deal with it.”

       She stared as if shocked by his admission but when she could find no fault with his statement, she backed down—if only incrementally. “Thank you for your help,” she managed to offer with a stiff show of gratitude and he knew it must’ve cost her soul to utter. She straightened and crossed her arms across her ample chest, which only drew his attention to the full swells barely contained in her bikini top hidden beneath the gauzy white cover-up. He jerked his gaze away as if what he saw had the ability to turn him to salt, and he mentally berated himself for looking at all. Lora held up the letter. “If I’d known it was this bad…I would’ve come sooner.”

       It was as much of an apology as she was going to offer but frankly, it wasn’t enough. Her self-absorbed act needed to go. “You need to talk to Lilah. You’re too hard on her.”

       “I’ll thank you to keep your nose out of my business with my sister,” she said, but he wasn’t afraid of her and continued.

       “You knew when you put her in this position that she wasn’t up to the challenge. Hell, Lindy would’ve been a better choice and you and I both know that Lindy is as flighty as a butterfly on the breeze, but at least she wouldn’t have cracked under the pressure.”

       “Lilah is a grown adult. I wish everyone would stop treating her with kid gloves,” Lora snapped, but he saw guilt in her eyes. “Besides, she’ll get over it. Nothing bothers Lilah for long.”

       “That’s where you’re wrong. It’s really sad that you don’t know your own sister.”

       “Oh, and suddenly you’re an authority?” she mocked.

       “More so than you,” he said bluntly.

       “Watch it, Heath,” Lora murmured. “You’re treading on dangerous ground. My Pops may have a soft spot for you but I don’t suffer from the same feeling. In essence you’re my employee. I could fire you right now.”

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