Guarding the Heiress

Eddi blew out a breath of frustration. “Have a nice day, ladies.” The well-painted smiles plastered across those sweet, wrinkled faces did nothing to set Eddi at ease as she let herself out the back door. She loaded her toolbox into the back of her pickup truck, dusted her hands on her faded overalls and slid behind the steering wheel. The ancient engine started on the first turn of the key in the ignition. Eddi shifted into reverse and backed up far enough to turn around. She had a full day ahead of her. She didn’t have time to waste worrying about husbands or boyfriends, or even dates.

A choked laugh slipped past her lips. So what if she was about to turn twenty-five? There would be plenty of time for her to find a husband and start a family of her own later. With the supercenters located only a few miles away in Aberdeen, keeping the family hardware going was all she could manage, and she accomplished that by the skin of her teeth.

Besides, a good-looking stranger was about as far from husband material, in her opinion, as a member of the male species could get. She knew nothing about the man. So what if he was intriguing? Handsome?

Eddi shivered and pressed harder on the accelerator as she pulled onto the street. She headed toward the town’s square and the hardware store. She didn’t need a husband. All she needed was the promise of plenty of work to make ends meet the rest of the month.

A little tingle beneath her belly button instantly belied her words.

Eddi stiffened her spine and put a stop to that foolishness. Irene and her buddies were getting to her, that’s all. No tall, dark and handsome stranger was going to roll into town and sweep her off her feet. She’d been a good girl her whole life, she wasn’t about to start making mistakes now. It didn’t take experience in the “sex” department to know that knights in shining armor didn’t exist.

She parked in front of the hardware and shut off the truck’s engine. The best she could hope for from the handsome stranger was that he’d have some sort of plumbing emergency that required her expertise. With a dry laugh that was a touch too brittle, Eddi strolled through the old-fashioned double doors and into Harper’s Hardware, established 1918 by her great-grandfather.

“Hey, Dad.” Eddi stepped behind the scarred counter and pressed a kiss to her father’s waiting cheek. “Been busy?”

She knew the answer before she asked the question. Small-town hardware stores were nearly a thing of the past. The supercenters had all but put them out of business. But the Harpers hung on, just barely. They weren’t going down without a fight. Not as long as Eddi was still breathing.

“’Bout the same as usual,” her dad offered his routine reply as he handed her a couple of messages.

Eddi stared at him for a long while before her gaze moved down to the messages in her hand. His gray hair was cut short, his brown eyes more solemn than usual. Her father had always been such a pleasant and jovial man, but when bills piled up, his expression grew more and more grave. She knew he worried, even more so lately. He was worried particularly now. Another three months like the past three and they’d have to consider selling out. She did all she could, just as he did, and most times it managed to be enough. But that little bit of luck had run entirely too thin of late. They’d never make it through the winter if business didn’t pick up. There would be no more loans from the bank. Barring a miracle, this time next year…well, she wasn’t going to think about that.

She would not give up. Knowing how her father worried always got to her, but she had to be strong. She inhaled a big, bolstering breath. Now was not the time to be a wimp.

She gave her father the brightest smile in her repertoire of masks and produced an optimistic tone. “Well, I’ve been busy all morning. If this keeps up, by the end of the week we’ll be in good shape.”

His smile was slow in coming, but it came. “We always get by. Thanks to you.”

Eddi quickly shifted her focus to the messages so her father wouldn’t see the tears shining in her eyes. They would make it, she would see to it. Mrs. Fairbanks’s commode tank probably still wasn’t filling properly. Sometimes those fill valves could be a major pain. Eddi shuffled to the next message. Colleen Patterson needed a leak stopped in her bathtub faucet. Eddi could handle those before calling it a day, making today’s tally pretty darned good.

She gathered a new fill valve and the seals Mrs. Patterson’s faucet most likely needed. Before too long Mrs. Patterson was going to have to surrender to the inevitable and spend the money for a new faucet. Eddi wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep that ancient contraption working. But she’d give it her best shot.

“Almost forgot,” her dad said abruptly. “Your mom called. She needs you to come by the house before you go anywhere else.” He frowned. “She sounded a little odd. Swore there was nothing wrong, but insisted I send you home the next time you stopped in for your messages.”

Eddi nodded and beamed another smile. “I’m on my way.” She gave her father a little salute and headed for the door. Her forced smile slipped into a frown. Her mother rarely interrupted Eddi’s workday. She hoped nothing was wrong. Three days after Eddi’s thirteenth birthday her mother had been involved in a horrendous car crash. Though she’d survived, the accident left her with debilitating physical consequences. She could walk with a cane and only short distances at that. Even after dozens of surgeries and years of therapy she couldn’t manage any of the housecleaning or cooking that involved more than a minimal amount of walking or standing. She was, however, a woman of perpetual optimism. Eddi scarcely remembered a day in her life that her mother hadn’t worn a smile.

Eddi clung to that optimism, made it her own. It was all that got her through the really tough days since she’d learned a long time ago that fairy godmothers didn’t exist any more than knights in shining armor did and that all the wishes in the world wouldn’t change what was meant to be.

DOUG PRESSED THE DOORBELL a third time and waited for an answer. Next to him on the wide veranda, Mr. Thurston, the D’Martine attorney, adjusted his tie and looked immensely put out by having to wait past the first summons of the home’s door chimes.

“I knew we shouldn’t have called to warn the woman that we were coming,” Thurston muttered. “She’s probably made a run for it already.”

Choosing to ignore the pretentious attorney, Doug used the time to catalog his surroundings. The Harper home was a small craftsman bungalow with an inviting veranda and a neat, well-kept appearance that made one feel immediately at ease. Well, Doug amended, perhaps anyone but a man like Thurston who likely equated time with money and had already tallied a significant total since leaving Martha’s Vineyard.

Like the Harper home, the yard was immaculately maintained. Autumn’s first castoffs lay sprinkled about on the lush green grass and bursts of colorful pansies overflowed several pots bordering the four steps that divided the lawn from the veranda.

Finally, the painted door swung inward and a frail woman, wholly dependent upon the cane in her right hand to stay vertical, peered guardedly at them. “Why are you here?”

Millicent Harper. He recognized her from the case files he had reviewed. Her once honey-colored hair was now gray and her brown eyes looked dull with worry as if she expected the worst news. Doug suffered a moment of regret for what he was about to be a party to. But, unfortunately, it was necessary. Edwinna Harper could be in danger when the media discovered her true identity. If someone close to the family had recognized her and rushed to tell Mrs. D’Martine, it was only a matter of time before the right person from the media circus that followed the rich and famous stumbled into Meadowbrook and did the same.

“Mrs. Harper,” Thurston said, manufacturing a smile that made his face look as if it were about to crack. He extended one well-manicured hand and added, “I’m Brandon Thurston, attorney for the D’Martine family. My associate, Mr. Cooper—” he gestured vaguely to Doug “—phoned you earlier.”

Millicent Harper’s demeanor grew even more guarded at the mention of the D’Martine name. She made no move to shake the attorney’s outstretched hand. “What do you want?”

“Mr. Cooper is an investigator from Chicago,” Thurston said pointedly, leaving out the pertinent details for intimidation purposes. “Mrs. Harper, we’d like to come in. We have a very important matter that should be discussed in private. I think you know the subject.”

She nodded, the gesture seemingly dazed. Doug imagined she felt just that way. A ghost from a twenty-five-year-old past had just invaded her present. It couldn’t be a good feeling, especially when she had so obviously built her life well away from that past.

Once they were inside and seated, Doug quickly surveyed the room. Same as the outside, neat, well-maintained, comfortable-looking. Pictures of Edwinna Harper dotted the mantel and walls. The Harpers were clearly proud of their one and only child.

“What is it you want from me?” There was no mistaking the fear in her voice or the wariness.

“Mrs. Harper,” Doug said before the mouthpiece next to him on the sofa could screw things up any worse. “We’re here about your daughter, Edwinna.”

Millicent’s eyes widened slightly and her breath caught audibly. “Oh?”

Doug nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We believe Edwinna is the daughter of the late Edouard D’Martine. Can you tell us if that assessment is correct?” Before she could speak, Doug added, “Please be aware that certain steps have already been taken to reach that conclusion.” A DNA sample had been taken without Edwinna’s knowledge. It was not exactly on the up-and-up, but the deed was done and had been relatively easy to do for whomever the D’Martines had hired for the job. All one needed was a glass the person had used or an envelope with a licked and sealed flap. Hell, even a toothbrush would work just fine. In this case, a soft-drink bottle had been obtained.

Something like defeat stole across Millicent Harper’s face. She stared at the floor a moment before meeting Doug’s eyes once more. “Before I can tell you anything I have to talk to my daughter first.”

“Mrs. Harper,” Thurston pressed, “we know all we need to. But, there are things you need to know.”

She shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. Doug hated himself for being a party to this. They were about to unravel this woman’s carefully constructed life. What if her husband didn’t know? But, then, how could he not? Doug’s gut clenched in sympathy. “We’re not here to cause trouble, ma’am,” he put in quickly, hoping to allay her fears. “We want to help your daughter.”

She held up both hands in a plea for silence. “I have to talk to my daughter first. We can have this discussion later.” Her gaze collided with Doug’s. “Please.”

Doug tried to reassure her with his eyes as he stood. “Of course.” He stared down at Thurston and gave him a look that dared him to argue otherwise. “You can find us at the boardinghouse.”

Millicent nodded, relief evident in her face. “I’ll call you after I’ve told my daughter.”

“Told me what?”

All eyes shifted to the front of the room where Edwinna Harper stood in the doorway.

Edwinna, her expression fiercely guarded, looked from Thurston, who only then pushed to his feet, to Doug and then to her mother. “Who are these people? And what is it you have to tell me?”

Chapter Two

Dead silence filled the room for the space of three beats.

Millicent’s gaze swung to Doug’s. “Please,” she urged.

Knowing full well what she wanted, Doug nodded and offered both Millicent and Edwinna a smile. “You know where to reach us,” he reminded the mother. Then he ushered a still-speechless Thurston toward the door. Thurston stalled there, apparently unable to tear his startled gaze from the young woman standing to one side waiting for them to pass.

“My God,” Thurston murmured.

“Let’s go,” Doug insisted, giving Thurston another nudge toward the entry hall. The resemblance between Edwinna and her grandmother D’Martine was uncanny to say the least. But now was not the time to hang around and gawk.

Eddi watched the two strangers exit through the front door with a mixture of anxiety and fear tangling in her belly. Part of it, she confessed, was from the up-close encounter with the gorgeous guy Irene and her pals had gone on so about. The other part, however, was something she couldn’t quite label. What were these men talking to her mother about? Her gaze moved back to where her mom still sat in her favorite rocker-recliner, and the knot of anxiety tightened. Milly looked more frightened than Eddi had ever seen her in her entire life.

“What’s wrong? What did those men want?” She hurried to her mother’s side before she put herself through the physical rigor of getting up. If those guys were bill collectors she was going to teach them a thing or two about manners. The Harpers might be a little late on payments now and then, but they never failed to pay.

Crouching near Milly’s chair, she searched those usually smiling brown eyes and found only pain. “Please, Momma, tell me what’s happened.”

Milly nodded. “I want you to sit down over there.” She gestured to the couch. “I have some things to explain to you.”

Feeling her own tension heighten, but needing desperately to hear what her mother had to say, Eddi obediently settled on the couch. She wondered briefly how long those men had been here pestering Milly. Then she chastised herself for not coming sooner. If she hadn’t piddled so at Ms. Ella’s house to listen to the matchmaking plot, she could have been here already.

Milly Harper moistened her lips and blinked away the tears in her eyes. The strength Eddi knew her mother to possess visibly surged and the uncertainty she’d seen moments ago all but vanished.

“There are things I should have told you long ago.” She cleared her throat and propped both hands on her cane. “But, selfishly, I chose not to. Now it will be all the more difficult.”

Eddi’s confusion mounted with each passing second. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Milly took a big breath and began, “Twenty-six years ago I graduated high school and thought I had the world by the tail.” She shrugged one shoulder. “My family didn’t have any money to speak of, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I’d won a scholarship, enough to pay my tuition and such. So, off I went to Boston, to a school I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to attend. I picked up a waitressing job to keep a little money in my pocket.” Her gaze took on a distant look. “I was on my way.”

For a long while Milly said nothing else. Eddi knew that she was remembering. She couldn’t imagine why she’d never heard this story before. She hadn’t even known her mother had attended college, much less some fancy Boston institution.

“I met someone.” She fidgeted a bit, the uncertainty creeping back. “He was a little older than me and in his final year of law school.” She smiled through the layer of emotion that now shimmered in her eyes. “We fell in love immediately.” She shook her head. “It was just like a fairy tale. He was this handsome prince and I was the lowly peasant who’d captured his fancy and his heart.”

Eddi was suddenly enthralled by the story, having forgotten all about the strangers she’d found in her own living room. “Mother, you never told me you’d been in love with someone else before Dad.”

Milly’s eyes met Eddi’s briefly. “Well, we all have our secrets.”

Another moment of taut silence lapsed between them.

“We had it all planned out. As soon as he graduated we planned to marry.” Her gaze flicked to Eddi’s. “His parents would never have approved of him marrying a small-town girl like me. But he didn’t care. We were in love and that’s all that mattered.”

The fervor in her mother’s voice emphasized the truth in her words. She had been in love with the young man of which she spoke. Deeply in love. Eddi’s heart rate picked up its pace in anticipation of more of the story.

“He was about to go home for spring break, his graduation was only weeks away.” She smiled sadly. “And we were so happy. I told him then…he was going home to break the news to his parents and then he was coming back for me. He wasn’t even going to wait for his graduation….” Her voice trembled then trailed off for a time. When she spoke again, her words were strained. “But he never made it home. Someone, we don’t know who since the crime was never solved, kidnapped him…held him for ransom.”

“Oh my God.” Eddi rushed to her mother’s side, crouching next to her and taking her hand in hers in a show of comfort. “That’s horrible.”

“The ransom was never picked up and no one could understand why, until the…body was found.” Her lips trembled and she had to take a second to compose herself. “Whatever went wrong, he wound up dead.”

“I’m so sorry, Momma,” Eddi soothed. Something niggled at her and she asked, “What did you mean when you said you told him then? Told him what? What made him decide he wasn’t going to wait for graduation to speak to his parents?”

Milly’s gaze connected with hers and Eddi knew the truth even before she spoke. “That I was pregnant with his child…with you. That’s why we were so happy.”

Eddi went ice cold then fiery hot. Her head shook of its own volition. She thought of the man she knew as her father…of all that he’d done for her…all that he’d been to her. “That can’t be true. Daddy—”

“Knows the truth,” Milly put in. “He knew right up front. But he’d loved me since the third grade. He knew I was in love with Edouard, but he was gone. Your father was willing to play second fiddle if it meant spending the rest of his life with me. He loved me that much. I thank God for him every day. He’s all that kept me from losing my mind.”

Eddi managed to make her way to the couch. She wasn’t sure she could have stayed upright just then, her legs felt too unsteady. She had to sit down. This was crazy. She was Eddi Harper, daughter of Milly and Harvey Harper. The story she’d just heard simply couldn’t be.

Then all the signs hit her at once. The fact that everyone always tried to come up with the name of some Harper ancestor who looked like Eddi. The shock of white hair that started at the center of her forehead and cut a path through her strawberry-blond hair. The fact that her mother had light brown hair and her father had black, well, they were both pretty gray now, but that was beside the point. The brown eyes of her parents when she had blue. Oh, the traits had been blamed on some Harper far in the past, or maybe a Talkington on her mother’s side. There was always an excuse.

Now, all that coalesced into an epiphany that pulled the rug a little farther out from under Eddi’s feet.

“So, you’re saying that this Edouard was really my father and that Dad just kind of stepped in to play the part.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m almost twenty-five years old. Did you think I couldn’t handle the truth? Did Daddy worry that I wouldn’t love him as much? My God, he’s my father. This isn’t going to change how I feel about him.” She looked straight at her mother then. “Or you.”

Tears rolled down Milly’s cheeks and Eddi felt immediately contrite for her cross tone. She would have moved back to her mother’s side except she still didn’t trust her legs to hold her steady.

“I’m sorry, Momma. Please, tell me the rest.”

Milly nodded and swiped at her tears. “The reason I didn’t tell you or anyone else was because I was afraid.”

Eddi frowned. “Afraid of what? That Edouard’s parents might give you trouble about custody or something?” That was Eddi’s first thought.

Her mother shook her head. “I didn’t have time to even think of that.” She exhaled a heavy breath. “When Edouard was murdered, I feared for your life as well. You see, Edouard was the one and only heir to huge wealth. With him dead, that left only you. I couldn’t risk the same sort of thing happening to you that happened to him.”

That reality slammed into Eddi like an unexpected fist to the gut.

“The rich are often targets,” her mother went on. “I didn’t want to thrust you in the middle of that kind of danger. I couldn’t bear the thought of someone coming after you.”

“I have to go.” Eddi lunged to her feet with surprising agility. A second ago she wasn’t sure she could stand, but now…now the fire of fury burned inside her. This…all of this was uncalled for. She had to stop this runaway train before it became a full-fledged wreck. “I’ll be back.”

She hurried from the room without looking back. She couldn’t bear to see the pain on her mother’s face. Milly had been plagued with enough pain in the past. Eddi would allow no one to add to her suffering. She would stop this now.

Three minutes later she parked her truck in front of Ada’s Boardinghouse. An old Victorian home that had been in the Garrett family for several generations was well restored and the only thing remotely resembling a bed-and-breakfast in town. Meadowbrook had no hotels. The closest one would be over in Aberdeen. The boardinghouse was really more of a bed-and-breakfast save for two exceptions—Jesse Partin and Mavis Reynolds. The two were permanent residents of the boardinghouse. Had been for nearly half a century. According to Ada, taking in permanent boarders was something the Garretts had done for generations to support the community. Most folks around town were pretty sure Ada just liked the extra cash.

Eddi suddenly stalled halfway to the big old front porch. What if the story about her biological father had already spread around town? If either of the men had told Ada…well, they didn’t call her “The Radio” for nothing.

Taking a deep breath for courage, Eddi marched up the steps and across the porch. She didn’t hesitate as she entered the front door and smiled as Ada herself looked up from the antique desk stationed in the entry hall that served as the reception area.

“Why, good afternoon, Eddi,” Ada crooned. “What brings you here?” Her pleasant smile instantly reversed into a scowl. “Did that confounded Jesse Partin call you about his toilet again? I swear I’m going to boot that man out yet. There’s not a blasted thing wrong with that toilet except he doesn’t flush it right. Gotta give this old plumbing a little TLC. You said so yourself the last time you were here.”

Eddi worked up a smile. “That’s right, Ms. Ada. But don’t worry, Mr. Partin didn’t call. I’m here to see your two out-of-town guests.”

One fine white eyebrow winged up her forehead. “You don’t say.” She studied Eddi with a critical eye for one long moment. “Which one you want to see? The young fella or the one in the fancy suit? I gave them the two best rooms we have. Surely neither of them has a complaint.”

Ignoring the ploy for information, Eddi said, “The young one.” She had noted a look of sympathy in the younger man’s eyes. She couldn’t say the same for the older guy. In fact, he gave her the willies.

Ada smiled conspiratorially. “First door on the right.”

Eddi nodded her thanks and quickly rounded the newel post to head up the staircase.

“Where’s your toolbox?” Ms. Ada asked abruptly.

Eddi stalled, considered her options and told the truth. “I won’t need my toolbox for this.”

“You tell that big-city fella he’s supposed to let me know when something’s not working,” Ada called after her.

“I sure will,” Eddi called back. She planned to tell him a great deal more than that, but Ada didn’t need to know.

She wanted him and his hotshot friend out of this town now.

Eddi knocked firmly on the door. She considered how strange fate could be. Only an hour or so ago she was in Ms. Ella’s kitchen listening to the matchmakers go on about her nonexistent social life and the handsome stranger in town. Little did she know that this stranger had come here to ruin her entire life.

Speak of the devil, he opened the door precisely then. Eddi held her ground, didn’t step back as her mind ordered when her gaze settled on the shoulder holster and mean-looking gun he wore. She would tell this guy the way it was and demand that he take his friend and go. Maybe confronting him wasn’t smart, especially considering the gun, but she had to do something.