The Inheritance (The Donatelli Series)

by SUE FINEMAN

  The main floor master bedroom suite had a huge walk-in closet, spa tub, glass block shower, twin vanities, toilet and bidet.

  Blade stared at the bidet. “What in the hell is that thing?”

  “It’s for a woman. You don’t see many of them around here, but I understand it’s standard in some countries.”

  “A woman, huh. That’s a useless piece of equipment for a bachelor.”

  “Unless the bachelor has a girlfriend.”

  His mouth played with a smile. “Are you applying for the job?”

  “Mr. Banner, I don’t need another man in my life.” Especially one whose presence sucked the air out of the room and replaced it with the smell of leather and testosterone.

  She changed the subject. “What do you think of the house?”

  “The workmanship is great, but the plan doesn’t work for me. What I had in mind is more like a big beach house, casual and comfortable.” He cocked his head and gazed into her eyes. “If you could design a house for yourself, what would you want?”

  “I’d want a big kitchen that’s open to the informal living room and breakfast room, so I could keep an eye on the kids while I cooked. Four bedrooms. Andy and Jimmy like to share, but Robbie needs his own space.”

  “What about a formal living room?”

  “It’s just another room to clean as far as I’m concerned. The kids always end up in the same room with the adults anyway, so why not have one nice living area instead of two smaller ones? I’d want a separate dining room for family dinners, though, and maybe a rec room or game room for kids’ parties.”

  “Master upstairs or downstairs?”

  “Either way works for me. I have enough kids that they look after each other. It’s different when you only have one or if you have a baby. In that case, you need to be closer to their bedrooms.”

  “What else?”

  “If I had a big house, I’d want an intercom system, so I didn’t have to yell or search for the kids when I needed them.”

  That made sense to Blade. He wanted to put in enough features to make the house appeal to future buyers in case he decided to sell it at some point. That meant it had to appeal to women with families, women like Maria.

  After they walked through the rest of the house, Maria reset the alarm and locked up, and they walked out to her car.

  “Do you want more babies, Maria?”

  “I’d love to have another one, but not without a husband. And what man in his right mind would take on a woman with four kids, especially when their mother doesn’t get any child support?”

  One who stood to get close to a half-billion if he married, thought Blade. But even though Maria hurt financially, he doubted she’d marry for money. Maria had too much pride to sell herself to any man. She’d want love and fidelity, a good father for her children, someone she could rely on. He wasn’t prepared to make that kind of commitment, especially to a woman with four kids.

  Still, he hadn’t met any other woman he’d even consider marrying.

  On the other hand, he hadn’t really started looking yet.

  On the drive back to the office, Blade watched the woman behind the wheel. Kids or not, Maria intrigued him, and he couldn’t eliminate her from consideration until he knew what she tasted like.

  She pulled into the parking lot in front of the office and unfastened her seatbelt. “Mr. Banner, if you’re looking for a wife, look elsewhere.”

  “How did you know I was looking for a wife?”

  She didn’t answer.

  He unsnapped his seatbelt and twisted to face her. “Maria, I haven’t told anyone. How did you know?”

  She pulled the key out of the ignition. “I can’t explain it. Sometimes I just know things.”

  “Damn,” he said mostly to himself. What the hell else did she know?

  “Would you like a piece of advice from someone who’s been there and done that?” Without waiting for a response, she said, “Don’t even consider marrying without love. Marriage is hard enough when two people start out loving each other.”

  He gazed into her eyes, and she didn’t look away. “Okay, let’s get it out of the way right now.”

  “Get what out of the way?” Maria asked, but she knew.

  He leaned over to stroke her face and kiss her. His lips were soft and warm and insistent, and without conscious thought, she kissed him back. Maria felt the spark through her whole body, and knew he wasn’t just thinking of marrying someone.

  He was thinking of marrying her.

  She tried to read more, to hear more of his thoughts, but his kiss had flustered her so much her radar had stopped working.

  She sat in the car and watched him mount his motorcycle and pull his helmet on. Her heart still pounded. Fred had never kissed her like that, and he’d never thought Wow, or She’s a magnificent woman. And Fred had never made her body come alive with anticipation. Not like Blade.

  Blade smiled at the stunned look on Maria’s face. Eliminate her? Not a chance. The woman was starved for affection, and he’d gladly give it to her. Why would any man in his right mind divorce a woman like that? She was warm, affectionate, and had a body like a goddess. So what if she was uptight? If he could get her in his bed for one night, that would cease to be a problem.

  He blew a kiss, started his bike, and drove out to Nick’s house. He parked on the street and walked down a half-flight of steps to the circle driveway and across to the front porch. Up close, the house was even more impressive. The lighthouse-shaped tower overlooked the house and the territory around it.

  Nick had the front door open before Blade got there. Blade pointed at the tower. “I’ll bet you can see for miles up there.”

  “That’s for the guards,” said Nick. “We put in one-way glass, so nobody knows when they’re up there.”

  “You need guards here?”

  “Cara needs them everywhere. Money brings out the worst in people, and you’d be surprised how many people think they deserve a piece of her money.”

  “If I end up with my grandfather’s entire inheritance, I imagine I’ll have the same problem.”

  Nick’s eyebrows shot up. “If?”

  “My grandfather put some conditions on it. I’ll have plenty without the bulk of the estate, but—”

  “But you want it all.”

  Blade cocked his head. “Wouldn’t you?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  They walked inside. The house had a room for the guards below the tower, and the security monitoring equipment looked like the best and most up-to-date available. These people could afford the best.

  Cara’s office was on the left and on the right of the main entry hall, Nick showed Blade a big rec room with an adjoining bedroom and bathroom. “This is where my aunt stays sometimes, and the pool table comes in handy when my cousins come over.” The entire suite could be closed off and made into a separate apartment. It even had a kitchen.

  The rooms on this level were designed with views of the water over the roofs of the levels below. Clever.

  Nick pointed to an alcove between the rec room and center hallway. “We put in an elevator to carry groceries and whatever. Aunt Sophia had a stroke last year. She’s doing fine now, but we don’t like her using the stairs.”

  They walked down a few steps to the bedroom level. There were three bedrooms, each with a private bath, on the left side. On the right of the hallway were two more bedrooms—the master bedroom and the nursery. The master had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the water, and a spiral staircase on the side of the bathroom led downstairs.

  The lower level, the one nearest the water, had a big living room with a corner window seat and fireplace, a dining room, kitchen, laundry, and a wraparound sun porch with a bump out corner in the same shape as the lighthouse guard tower, only shorter and fatter. A spa bubbled in the corner and the spiral staircase he’d seen in the master bathroom came out on the side of the sun room.

  “The glass in this room is one-way,” said
Nick. “We can see out, but nobody can see in. It makes the spa more private.”

  “It’s an amazing design.”

  “Yeah, we like it. My youngest cousin designed the house before he started college.”

  Nick talked about the family and the company, and Blade had the impression that he either employed or intended to employ anyone in the family who needed a job. They all had their special talents—his youngest cousin studied architecture, one supervised the Gig Harbor crews, one managed the California division of the company, one kept the books, and another one did the landscaping. And then there was Maria.

  “Hiring Maria was one of the best decisions we’ve made lately. She has a sense about people and what they really want, and she has a good eye for decorating.”

  Blade had already noticed that about her. “Does she know things about everyone, or is it just me?”

  “Maria senses what people are thinking. I don’t know how it works. I just know between her and Aunt Sophia, we never got away with anything when we were kids.”

  “Spooky.”

  Nick laughed. “You learn to focus your thoughts when you’re in the same room with them.”

  “I’ll remember that.” Maria knew the house in Canterwood was too formal for him, and she knew he was thinking about marriage. What else had she picked up? Before, he thought that psychic stuff was crap. Now he wondered.

  Turning back to Nick, Blade said, “I want something more casual than the house in Canterwood, but not so far out there I won’t be able to sell it if I decide to move on. I’ll need a security system and maybe a guard service to keep an eye on the place at night, but I don’t think I’ll need a guard tower.”

  “Most people don’t need a guard tower. Al came up with that one.”

  Cara came downstairs. The toddler with her had pink cheeks and curly black hair. Nick lifted the baby and kissed him, then he introduced Cara to Blade. She wasn’t what he’d call beautiful, not like Maria, but she was pretty and she had a warm smile. The baby was adorable. It almost made him want one of his own. Almost.

  “How do you like our home, Blade?” she asked.

  “I’m amazed. It’s as outstanding inside as it is outside.”

  Cara took the baby back and the two men walked down to the beach and looked back. The house looked as interesting from the beach as it did from the road. A winding path led from the lower level down to the beach, and the landscaping had been done by someone with an artistic flair. Raised planting beds were surrounded by rock rivers which framed the plants and provided a way for rainwater to run off without washing out the slope.

  They walked on down to the property Blade wanted to buy. Nick said, “I have a cousin who does landscaping. He could turn this into a real showplace.”

  As they walked back, Blade pointed to the vacant lots between the lot for sale and Nick’s house. “Who owns this property?”

  “We do, and we plan to build a big gazebo down toward the beach,” said Nick. “No house, just a place for family picnics.”

  The only dock Blade had seen along this stretch of beach was the one in front of Nick’s house. “How hard is it to get a shoreline permit to build a dock?”

  “It’s tough. Our dock was already here when we bought the property. We’re trying to get permission to move the dock down this way, so it doesn’t obstruct our view. Are you a boater?”

  “Not yet.” Blade could never afford a boat before. Now he could.

  They walked up the steps on the side of Nick’s property.

  Black clouds blew in from the coast, and Blade wanted to get home before they opened up. He thanked Nick for the tour and left, riding slowly past the property.

  If he worked with Nick’s company, he’d have Maria’s undivided attention. Maybe he could break down her defenses. He tasted passion in that kiss and he wanted to taste the rest of her. Maybe he couldn’t read thoughts like she could, but he could read expressions and kisses, and hers said she wanted him.

  The fun with Mommy was just beginning.

  <>

  Blade beat the rain home by seconds. Before he put the garage door down, the rain came down in sheets, and that mess on the driveway foamed like a rabid dog. That reminded him that he’d forgotten to buy more soap. Maybe he could wash the dishes with shampoo. Or Tide. That would work, wouldn’t it? He should have used laundry soap on the dog.

  The phone started ringing and he hurried inside to answer it.

  “Hello, darling.”

  “Sunny?” He’d never called his stepmother anything but Sunny.

  “Would this be a convenient time for a visit, Blade?”

  “Hell no.” He didn’t want her in his house. He didn’t want her in the same state. “I thought you were dead by now.”

  She laughed, a mirthless sound that set the hairs on his arm prickling. “I’m staying at a charming little inn here in Gig Harbor. If you don’t come here, I’ll come there.”

  “What do you want?” As if he didn’t know.

  “I want to see my son, of course. I understand you’ve inherited a substantial sum from your grandfather’s estate.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where’d you hear that?”

  “It doesn’t matter, darling. I took care of you for the first fifteen years of your life. Surely you have enough money to take care of your mother for the next fifteen years. Two million a year should do it. Thirty million. I’ll take a hundred thousand tonight, a million by the end of the month, and the balance by the end of the year.”

  Yeah, right. “Your information was wrong, Sunny.”

  Silence from the other end told him that Sunny hadn’t anticipated this. Finally, she said, “You didn’t get anything?”

  “Pocket change. The big bucks come when I get married, and I don’t plan to give you any, so get lost. Crawl back into your hole and leave me alone.”

  Blade hung up and immediately called the phone company. “I want to cancel my phone service, effectively immediately.”

  Thirty million. Sunny made his childhood a living hell and now she wanted him to pay her thirty million dollars? She could go straight to hell. He was tempted to send her there himself.

  His natural mother was Deanna Benjamin, a young actress. He’d looked for her when he was a kid, when he desperately needed a mother who cared. He figured she’d married and changed her name, maybe even moved away from LA, and he didn’t know how to find her. She didn’t want him anyway or she wouldn’t have left him with Sunny.

  Blade had only had one year of high school when he ran away from home. Three years later, after he settled in Tacoma, he practically lived in the public library, cramming to take his GED exams. He passed every one of the tests. Bolstered by his good scores and determined not to let Sunny ruin the rest of his life, he put himself through college and graduated with honors. After graduation, he found a decent job at a big forest products company. When everyone in his department got laid off four years later, Blade decided to get a graduate degree instead of looking for another full-time job.

  If he’d stayed with Sunny, he wouldn’t have any degrees. He’d either be dead or in prison for killing her. She fed him bourbon, made him buy her drugs, and turned his life into a living hell. He didn’t want her in his life. Not again.

  For the first time in years, he needed a drink.

  Chapter Four

  Blade left the phone off the hook in the kitchen and used his cell phone to call Maria. “I need a good real estate broker, one who knows how to negotiate for the best price. Do any names come to mind?”

  “June Akiyama at John L. Scott. Do you want a phone number?”

  “Yes, please.” He wrote down the number and put his pen down.

  “What’s that noise in the background?”

  “My phone is off the hook.” He walked into the kitchen and disconnected it from the wall, immediately silencing the racket. “If I give you my cell phone number, will you promise not to give it to anyone without my permission?”

  “Why would
I want your phone number, Blade?”

  “Because I intend to work with Nick’s company, primarily with you, to find the right house plan for the property I intend to buy.”

  He heard a big sigh. “Are you sure you want to work with me, Blade?”

  “Would you rather I take my business to another company?”

  “No, of course not.”

  He gave her the phone number and the bedroom phone started ringing. “I’ll talk to you later, Maria.”

  He picked up the bedroom phone and listened. It was Sunny again, and she was not happy. She’d come here to get money and she didn’t want to leave without it. He didn’t say a word as he disconnected the phone. She wouldn’t come here, would she? Maybe she’d break her leg on that oil and soap on the driveway. If she did, knowing the way her mind worked, she’d sue him for a hundred million.

  Sitting on the side of the bed, Blade scrubbed his hands over his face. Sunny had made his childhood a living hell. He thought briefly of hiring a hit man and then put it out of his mind. He’d done some bad things in his life, but he’d never deliberately harmed anyone. Stealing a motorcycle was the worst thing he’d ever done. As much as he wanted Sunny out of his life, Blade couldn’t kill anyone. Not even the stepmother from hell.

  He called June and asked her to represent him in buying a piece of property. He told her the location and how much they wanted for it. “I don’t want to pay that much. Can you find out what it’s really worth, so I make an reasonable offer?”

  They made arrangements to meet later that afternoon, after she’d had time to do some research. Assuming he could get the property for a reasonable amount and find a workable house plan, he’d start construction as soon as weather permitted. He’d done some construction in his younger days, and although he didn’t have the knowledge or experience to build an entire house by himself, he could lend the builder a hand.

  The only wildcard was Sunny. She smelled money, and he didn’t intend to give her any. When he was alive, John paid her enough to live well, and the payments probably continued long after Blade left home. The Banner family had given Sunny more than enough.