The Tycoon's Baby Revelation (The Abbot Sisters Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  Pepper nodded. “Yeah, this is too nice. It’s a bit creepy.”

  Sloane nodded, looking around at the adorable cottage. It was even furnished! “We should get out of here. Something just isn’t right.”

  All three of them nodded, then turned to walk down the stairs. They were so narrow that they had to go down single file, but by the time they reached the front door, they were almost running to get out of the house.

  But outside, they came to a stop because a man in his mid-seventies was standing in front of the house, leaning heavily on a cane.

  Once again, Sloane pushed Pepper and Rayne behind her, but they tried to step in front of her, each trying to protect the other two. It would have been comical if they hadn’t been so terrified.

  “I’m Jefferson Lamont,” the older man explained, extending his hand to Sloane. “And you are Sloane Abbot.” He shook Sloane’s hand, then turned to Rayne, shaking her hand and then Pepper’s. “It is a pleasure to meet you ladies,” he said with a gentlemanly voice. “And this,” he said, waving to the older woman standing behind him, “is my housekeeper, Wilma.”

  “Sir,” Sloane said with a nod of acknowledgement. “Thank you for the offer, but we’ll have to turn it down.”

  “Don’t,” he said softly, looking every moment of his seventy-plus years. “Please, girls, don’t turn down my offer.” His hands clasped over his cane and he smiled. “I’m a very wealthy man and I have a ridiculously large house, including this carriage house. I know what the three of you have gone through over the past several months, and I guarantee that I don’t have any nefarious plans. I just want to help.” When he saw the stubborn just of Sloane’s chin, he sighed. “You’re working for Josh Starke,” he said to Sloane. “Is that correct?”

  “Yes, but…?”

  “He’s a good man,” Jefferson interrupted gently. “And he said that the three of you needed a place to live.” He tilted his head towards the carriage house. “This place has been empty for a while now. Please, take my offer and move in. Today, if possible. You’ll be safer here than at the shelter. Josh recommended you,” he explained, and smiled as if he grasped a secret. “I think I understand why.”

  There was a long moment of silence and Sloane could hear the indecision pinging between her and her sisters. “Why?” Sloane finally demanded, asking the question they were all thinking.

  Jefferson shifted, standing up slightly and smothering his amusement. “Well, let’s just say that I have a sixth sense about people. It’s part of the reason for my success, and let’s leave it at that, shall we?”

  “I don’t think…!”

  The man frowned unrelentingly at them. “The rent is five hundred dollars, which I will put into a retirement fund for each of you and will ensure that the money is invested properly. The rent is pointless to me, but I invest in people. I suspect that the three of you will go far in this world.” He looked directly at Sloane. “Take the house and come up to my place for dinner.” With that, he turned around and headed towards the pathway that lead to a line of trees. “I’ll expect you at six!” he called over his shoulder, not waiting for an answer.

  Wilma waved to them and followed the older man without another word.

  Sloane, Pepper, and Rayne watched until the duo disappeared into the woods. Sloane turned to her sisters.

  Sighing, she rubbed her forehead, not sure what to do. “What do you think?” Sloane asked.

  Rayne stood with her arms folded over her stomach, contemplating the situation. Finally, she nodded firmly and looked at Sloane, then at Pepper. “I trust him,” she announced.

  Sloane and Pepper stared at Rayne in surprise. “You never trust anyone,” Pepper whispered in awe, a slow smile making her blue eyes glow.

  “It’s settled then,” Sloane decided with a firm nod. “We’ll live here until we figure out what the catch is.” She turned to face her sisters. “But we live frugally, saving up every penny we can! We’re not going to be caught without money again!” she told them forcefully.

  Pepper and Rayne nodded in full agreement. “We’ll all work, earning money however we can,” Pepper assured her.

  Rayne linked arms with her sisters. “I bet I could get some babysitting jobs around here,” she announced, their positive attitudes coming back to give them a small glimmer of hope. Then they moved over to the car and each lugged their box of clothes out of the trunk and up the narrow stairs.

  Chapter 3

  Sloane pulled into the parking lot early the following morning, looking around warily but not seeing the sleek Mercedes. Breathing a sigh of relief, she shoved against the door of her car. “Ouch!” she muttered, rubbing her shoulder. But for once, the jammed car door didn’t bother her. Because for the first time in more than six months, she’d gotten a full eight hours of sleep.

  “Mr. Starke, brace yourself!” she whispered as she strode purposely into the building.

  Thankfully, keys had been included in that envelope on her first day here, so she could get into the building without him, plus she locked it during the day when she was here alone. Looking around, she bit her lip, trying to determine what needed to get accomplished first. Desks, she thought. Not desks for the whole building, but desks for herself and for her boss. She had a computer now, but needed somewhere to put it!

  “You’re early!” a voice growled behind her.

  Sloane spun around. “Mr. Starke! What are you doing here so early?”

  “I’m always here this early and call me Josh. I hate formality. Now explain to me what you’re doing here this early.”

  Sloane pressed her lips together, shifting her feet impatiently. “Yesterday, you told me that I was late when I arrived one minute after eight o’clock. Today, you’re angry because I’m early.” She started to say something more, but smothered the sarcastic comment. “I’m ready to work. And my first thought is that we need desks.” She pulled a notebook out of her purse and pen, which she’d bought yesterday at the office store. “Can you tell me how many employees you anticipate hiring?”

  “At least fifty to start. Once they are working efficiently, then I’ll expand.”

  She wrote that down, then looked up at him. “And what’s the style of furniture that you’d like for your office?”

  “Clean. But hire a decorator to get things in.”

  She blinked in surprise. “Won’t that be expensive?”

  He chuckled and something inside of her tightened at the sound. She ignored her reaction and focused on his next words. “I’m a wealthy man, Sloane. And I’m determined to become even wealthier. I’ll need to project wealth in order to attract more clients. Also, the kinds of people I want to hire will demand a work environment commensurate with their skills and egos.”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant, but suspected that he planned to hire a bunch of arrogant jerks. But instead of offering her opinion, she wrote that down as well. “Right. Hire a designer.” She scribbled quickly, sensing that he was impatient with her questions. “If I’m to oversee the construction of this building, can you give me the name of the contractor you’ve hired?”

  He named the company, and she wrote it down. For the next fifteen minutes, she asked questions and he answered them, if not patiently, at least he answered them thoroughly.

  “Any other questions for me?” he asked.

  Sloane glanced down at her list, more than slightly intimidated by what he was asking of her. She had no idea how to hire an office designer, but as she looked up into those green eyes of his, eyes that were watching her as if he suspected he’d made a dire mistake in hiring her, Sloane stiffened her resolve. “None, Mr.…uh, Josh,” she finished lamely.

  “Good. Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be working out of my home office. Email me at the end of your day with your progress.” With that, he turned and headed towards the exit. With one hand on the door, he paused and turned back to her. “And Sloane, you need to get out of here before ten o’clock tonight.”

  With tha
t, he left and Sloane felt…deflated. There was something about the man that was enervating. And that was such an odd sensation, so she brushed it aside as ridiculous. For the next several hours, she researched and sifted through all of the information. There was a knock on the glass doors around one o’clock and she looked up, startled to see a food delivery person standing at the door, looking around as if he suspected that he was in the wrong place.

  Sloane walked over to the door and unlocked it, pushing it open slightly. “Can I help you?” she asked.

  The guy jumped at the sound of her voice, then smiled weakly. “I have a delivery for Sloane Abbot. Is that you?” he asked.

  She nodded, not sure what to say. “But…I didn’t order anything.”

  He pulled a bag out of his satchel and handed it to her. “Well, this was ordered for you by some guy named Starke. At least, that’s what’s on the credit card receipt.” And a moment later, the guy, barely more than a teenager, hurried away.

  Something warm and wonderful blossomed in her chest as she peered into the bag and found a meatball sandwich with chips and a soda. The bag was still warm and she went back inside the building, locking the door behind her.

  “Thank you for the sandwich,” she e-mailed to him.

  In response, he sent her a list of other tasks he wanted her to accomplish. As Sloane looked at the list, she suspected that she could truly grow to hate her green-eyed boss. Seriously hate him!

  “I’ll make it six months,” she vowed. “Just six months and then I’m gone!”

  By seven o’clock that night, she’d either finished everything on the list he’d given her this morning or had made headway if the task required others to get back to her, such as researching health insurance options. Feeling extremely proud of herself, she shut down her computer and sighed with satisfaction. Some of the task items had been simple, such as scheduling meetings and arranging for a delivery person to deliver some papers to the lawyer’s office. Other tasks had been more complicated and required her to call several people, asking for help. But she’d done it! Sloane had panicked a bit over some of the tasks, not sure even how to figure out how to do them, but she’d called one of the social workers at the shelter who had helped her and her sisters over the past few months, Maggie Bennet. Maggie knew a lot of people and connected Sloane with people who knew other people. Eventually, she’d figured everything out and patted herself on the back.

  “You’re still working?” he snapped as soon as she called to update him. “Get out of that building, Sloane. Call me in the morning!”

  And he’d hung up on her.

  Sloane stared at her cell phone, furious with the horrible man and wishing that he were here so that she could kick him.

  “Six months!” she muttered as she gathered her belongings and stomped out to her car. “Just six months!”

  Josh muttered under his breath as he glared at the phone. “She should have left two hours ago!” he growled, prowling his office, glancing back at the phone every few steps. He wanted to call her, to make sure that she’d left and gotten home safely. But he resisted.

  For ten minutes.

  In the end, he couldn’t banish his concerns for her safety. Sloane Abbot, he was discovering, was a determined, stubborn woman, who wouldn’t stop when it was good for her simply because she was out to prove something to the world and to him.

  He understood why, but she was in the building by herself after hours. That wasn’t safe!

  With a muttered curse, Josh grabbed his keys and hurried out of his building, flinging himself into his car. He broke several speed records along the way to the office. Why he felt so protective of his new assistant, Josh didn’t bother to examine. He just needed to make sure that she’d made it home alive, safe and sound. Even her current car was a death trap, he thought and made a mental note to get a mechanic out there to look it over. It was most likely a candidate for the trash heap, but he doubted she would accept a new car from him. He could damn well afford it though, thinking that he just wanted to take care of his employees.

  If he looked too closely at his inner thoughts and motivations, he would have understood that his protectiveness wouldn’t extend to the employees that he would eventually hire onto his staff. But there was no way he would examine why he felt so protective of Sloane. She was too young and too damn beautiful. Not that he’d paid attention to her appearance. Nope, he hadn’t noticed her dark, silky hair or the pale skin that needed significantly more food than she was eating in order to glow. Josh pushed the image of those huge, baby blue eyes out of his mind. He suspected that she wasn’t eating well, saving their meager food supplies for her younger sisters. With that in mind, he pressed a button on his steering wheel, activating his cell phone.

  Wilma picked up on the first ring. “Hey there, honey. What’s going on?”

  “Hey Wilma. I was wondering if you might have any leftovers from Jefferson’s dinner tonight?”

  Wilma laughed, a full-bodied, throaty laugh that pulled a rueful smile from him. “I know where your mind is going and trust me, it’s already done, honey,” she assured Josh. “I’ll be making extra for a while, until those sweet girls get some color back into their cheeks. Especially Sloane. That girl is skinny to the point of being sickly.”

  “I agree. And, since you brought up Sloane, any chance she’s at the house yet?”

  “Let me check,” he heard her pressing buttons on the security panel. “Yeah, she’s pulling through the gate now. What are you doing working that poor girl so hard?”

  “I told her to leave two hours ago,” he growled. “She’s stubborn, Wilma. She just…” he didn’t finish, not sure how to describe the woman-girl that he’d hired for no other reason than his gut told him that she’d be a good fit.

  “Yeah, but she’s a good person,” Wilma replied, her voice softer, warmer now.

  Josh didn’t reply, but nor did he alter his course, heading over to Jefferson’s estate even though Wilma had assured him that Sloane had arrived home safely. He still needed to see for himself, and didn’t question the reason. He just…needed to make sure she was safe.

  He pulled through the gates of his friend’s estate and turned down the long, winding driveway, and breathed a bit more easily when he saw Sloane’s impressively rusty car parked next to the carriage house. And inside, she hadn’t pulled the curtains that Wilma had made for them yet, so he could see the three girls through the windows.

  For a long moment, he watched as the girls hugged Sloane, then they worked together to heat up the dinner Wilma had brought them.

  As he watched their interactions through the window, he found he could easily distinguish their individual personalities. Rayne frowned a lot, and there was an intensity in her eyes that was frightening in someone so young. He had no idea where her future might lead her, but Rayne would conquer whatever world she chose to enter.

  Pepper, as the youngest, should be the most spoiled. But as the three of them sat down together at the small table, it was Pepper who jumped up several times to get something from the kitchen. Pepper was also the most creative of the three, he suspected. Sloane was the protector. Rayne was the cerebral one, and Pepper was the creative sister. Such different personalities and, if he looked closely, the only family resemblance was their impossibly bright, blue eyes. The first time he’d seen Sloane, he’d wondered if she was wearing blue contact lenses. But now that he knew her better, he’d dismissed that possibility. Sloane wouldn’t dare spend money on anything so superficial as colored contact lenses.

  Even as he watched, his gaze was repeatedly drawn back to Sloane. With fascination, he watched as the three took hands at the table, each smiling and saying something. Pepper and Rayne then dug into the food, obviously famished. But Sloane…deeply introspective Sloane, closed her eyes, almost as if she were offering up a prayer.

  With a grunt, Josh turned around, and headed home.

  Wilma walked into the library with a cup of tea in each hand. She didn�
��t bother to knock since her friend and employer was expecting her. She handed one of the cups to Jefferson, then sat down across from him at the chess set.

  “You were right,” she said as she settled in her seat.

  Jefferson chuckled. “When it comes to people, when am I ever wrong?”

  Wilma rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a jerk,” she muttered. “He drove all the way over here and sat in front of their house, just watching her.”

  Jefferson’s eyes sparkled with triumph. “They’ll be good together,” he said softly.

  Wilma’s eyes softened as she reached for her pawn on the chess board. “Is Sloane and Josh the next step in your evil master plan?”

  He threw back his head, laughing at her quip. When his laughter finally died down, he nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I guess they sort of are.” Then he turned serious. “He works too hard. You’ve said so yourself.”

  “I know,” she replied, having had this conversation many times before. “And I agree, the boy seems to be fascinated with her.” Josh might be twenty-five years old, but to Wilma and Jefferson, he was still a boy.

  “I was worried that he might get caught up in Pepper’s charm,” Jefferson replied, moving his knight into position on the chessboard. “She’s a vivacious little thing, isn’t she?”

  Wilma countered his move with her castle. “Why not Rayne?”

  Jefferson shook his head and moved another pawn. “Nah!” he scoffed. “Rayne is too quietly determined. That red hair of hers is going to get her into trouble with the boys when she actually starts noticing them. But Sloane…” he smiled and leaned back in his chair. “There’s a quiet dignity about her that Josh needs. I knew from the first time you mentioned those three girls that Josh would be caught in Sloane’s web.”

  Wilma grunted, taking a sip of her tea. “What ever will you do when you’re wrong about someone?” she asked, taking his knight in a swift move.

  Jefferson grunted, examining the chess board carefully. “Dunno. Hasn’t happened yet.”