by Robyn Grady
When Wynn’s phone beeped, he growled but opened the text anyway. “I’ve funneled down the incoming messages to only those that seriously can’t wait.” After reading, he growled again. “Unbelievable.”
Guthrie perked up. “Bad news from New York?”
“Nothing we can’t handle with a fly swatter.” Sitting back again, Wynn crossed one ankle over a knee. “We did a feature on an actor recently, a guy who used in the ’60s. He’s in his late seventies now, but still a big name. A reliable source said this man was not only at it again, he was small-time dealing. This is after a very public display of obviously being off his tree.”
Suddenly the baby felt heavy in Teagan’s arms. Her throat was convulsing. Grace seemed to notice. She got to her feet and took Honey.
“You take my seat,” Grace said. “I’m going to enjoy this little sweetie for a while.”
Teagan folded into a chair while Guthrie offered a prediction. “So, the actor’s got some hotshot lawyer to see if he can drag a few million out of your kitty?”
Now Teagan felt ill. Her father didn’t like lawyers at the best of times. He thought they were a necessary evil, perhaps like a lot of the world.
“It seems the actor did lawyer up,” Wynn said, “but later chickened out. Only goes to show.”
Teagan was holding her churning stomach. “Goes to show what?”
“That the story was fact. Obviously this actor, Grant Howcroft, panicked when he was caught out. He wanted to file but then saw reason when his junkie brain cleared.”
Oh, this was bad. But it could be worse. Teagan didn’t know if she wanted to ask.
“Did they say who the lawyer was?”
Wynn shook his head. “Doesn’t make any difference.” Then the phone beeped again. “Ah. Here we go. He’s apparently a big deal in his world. Jacob Stone, Esquire.”
A dozen exit strategies whipped through Teagan’s mind. But she had always welcomed everyone else’s companions, partners. This was awkward but, damn it, she wouldn’t tell Jacob to cancel their plans, not after the torment she’d gone through to make the decision. In fact, despite all the down talk about attorneys, she wasn’t embarrassed to introduce Jacob as her...friend. And she wasn’t going to stew on it for however long before he got here.
“I know Jacob Stone,” she said.
Wynn’s expression was pinched. “How? He’s on the other side of the country from you.”
“We met at a wedding in LA. He knew the groom. I’m friends with the bride.”
Reaching for his coffee, Wynn replied, “Ha. Small world.”
Teagan paused. That was exactly what Jacob had said when she’d first mentioned Wynn.
“He’s very clued in,” she went on. “I think he’d be a good lawyer.”
Wynn’s expression oozed disinterest. “You don’t say.”
Grace asked, “How old is this Jacob Stone?”
“Around Wynn’s age.”
Taryn seemed to have caught on, too. “So you and he talked a lot at the wedding?”
“We talked.” Teagan pushed out the rest. “And danced.”
Cole’s eyebrows swept together as he sat straighter. “Did you see Stone again?”
“As a matter of fact, I met his family on a visit to upstate New York.”
Her father’s elbow slid off the chair arm while Wynn froze and then blinked once.
“When?” he asked.
“Three weeks ago.”
“Have you seen him since?”
“No. No, I haven’t.”
The hard line of Wynn’s mouth eased. “Probably best.”
“We have spoken, though. Most recently this morning. I invited him here.”
Wynn jerked forward in his chair like a knife had slammed between his shoulder blades. “You didn’t.”
“I did. Jacob should arrive sometime tomorrow.”
Looking around at all the shocked faces, Taryn made her point of view known. “Well, I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Me, too,” Grace said, rocking the baby again at the same time Cole studied Wynn’s fuming face and groaned, “Oh, shit.”
Twelve
Jacob tried to call Teagan—six times now since his flight had landed.
Again. No one picked up.
Sitting in a cab with the engine running, Jacob studied the entrance gates decorated with the sweeping Hunter Enterprises logo. He had three choices. Check into a hotel, fly back home, or buzz that intercom and make a complete dick of himself because if she wasn’t answering her phone, there was zero chance of anyone letting him in.
He sat a few seconds longer then threw open the cab door.
Screw it.
“I’ll get out here.”
The driver’s hands stayed on the wheel. “That’s one hell of a driveway. You’re gonna need a packed lunch.”
“I need to stretch my legs.” And clear my head, and drill down on what the hell’s going on.
After receiving that message from Ivy Schluter, he and Teagan had parted on uncertain terms. He’d phoned a couple of times, but Teagan had been hurt when she hadn’t heard from him more recently. During yesterday’s phone conversation, thankfully they’d gotten back on track. He’d offered to join her during her break Down Under. At the same time, he could meet the family.
Yeah. That was the plan.
The driver had gotten out of the cab and was collecting the luggage while Jacob pulled a bill from his wallet, currency he’d swapped out at the airport exchange.
“Keep the change.”
The driver hesitated before accepting the money. “You sure, mate? That’s twice the fare.”
“I’m sure.”
The driver had fallen all over himself to be courteous and chatty to an international visitor who was on his way to meet people who would at best view him as a gate-crasher, and at worst had already made arrangements to have him lynched. Jacob had been about to board his flight at JFK when Teagan phoned to say that her family knew about the defamation lawsuit and the attorney behind it. That was the last time they had spoken.
So had Wynn and the other Hunters convinced her to freeze him out? He’d thought Teagan was stronger than that. Then again, he hadn’t forgotten what she’d said about the Hunter clan being protective of its own. Sticking together no matter what.
Jacob was about to try the gate’s intercom when a man appeared, strolling along the sidewalk on this side of the ten-foot-high block fence. Big guy, black suit, opaque aviator shades. Not here for the fun. Given what he knew about the attempts on Guthrie Hunter’s life, Jacob guessed the man was security.
The guy stopped a good distance away. “Are you looking for someone, sir?”
“Teagan Hunter’s expecting me.”
The dude turned his head as if to assess the mansion at the same time his iron jaw edged forward. “A friend of hers?”
“That’s right. I’m visiting from New York.”
“You’ve been in contact with her recently then.”
When Jacob reached for the cell phone inside his jacket, the guy shifted enough for his own jacket to part, revealing a gun holster. Welcome to the hood.
Jacob’s movements slowed as he extracted his cell and tried to call her again. “I’ve left messages. She’s not picking up.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to pick up.”
“Maybe there’s something wrong with the connection.”
“Maybe you’d better move on.”
“Maybe you need to chill.”
A white Lexus zoomed into the driveway. Teagan jumped out and headed straight over. Jacob wanted to wrap his arms around her, tell her he was happy to see her—despite her not answering his calls and Goon Boy here wanting him to disappear. And that’s why his greeting was less than it could have been. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, a
tight smile, and then stepped back.
It killed to see her smile fade as she gave him a questioning look.
“I thought I’d be back before you got here,” she said.
“My flight was early.”
“Have you been trying to call?”
“A couple of times.”
She winced. “I’m out of charge.”
There. Simple explanation. She didn’t hate him. Hadn’t thrown him under the bus.
He was pretty sure about that.
She spoke to Goon Boy. “Brandon Powell, this is a friend of mine. Jacob Stone.”
Goon Boy didn’t remove the shades. Nor did he offer a smile, let alone an apology.
“Yeah. Don’t worry about the misunderstanding,” Jacob said with just enough shove it behind the words. “We’ve all got jobs to do.”
The other man’s lip curled in a grin that said, Bet your ass we do.
Teagan had returned to her vehicle, so Jacob tossed his bag in the back while she thumbed a button on her remote. The gates fanned back and they headed down the pine-lined drive, leaving Mr. Personality Plus behind.
“Serious security,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Brandon’s the head of a PI firm. He’s also a longtime friend of the family. One of Cole’s mates from his Navy cadet days.”
“So, is this a regular thing or because of the trouble?”
After Lanie had brought up the attacks on Guthrie Hunter over dinner, Jacob hadn’t found the time to discuss the details with Teagan. He got the feeling she would rather not discuss it now.
“There hasn’t been another incident since Cole’s wedding,” she said. “But no one’s been caught yet, either. Until he, or she, is locked away, Dad needs all the help he can get.”
“Must be something the super rich have to deal with.”
She gave him an unimpressed look. “Thanks for the support.”
“No. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” Like, Boo-hoo, poor you. “It’s just that those with wealth are more visible, and there are a lot of crackpots out there. People with no scruples and even less conscience.”
He’d dealt with them more often than he’d like to admit.
Turning into the elaborate porte cochere, which led to a ramp of granite steps and set of soaring front doors, she shut down the engine.
He wanted to lean across and kiss her like he’d dreamed so often of doing these past weeks. But her posture and expression now said, Not so fast. He had hoped that with his coming here they could get back to where they’d been before he’d received Ivy’s message that day. But his relationship with Teagan was obviously still on shaky ground, and not only because the paternity question was still up in the air. Her family knew about the lawsuit. They were aware he had planned to cut Wynn Hunter off at the corporate knees.
Yesterday, he’d been pumped when Teagan had given him the go-ahead to jump on a plane. Now he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d walked into some kind of trap. If her family were less than friendly—if they came down on him like a ton of bricks—would she come to his defense or sit back and watch the fireworks?
* * *
From the moment she’d spotted Jacob standing at the gates to the Hunter estate, Teagan’s scalp had been tingling. He hadn’t looked impressed, and not purely because Brandon Powell had been doing his job and checking the situation out. Jacob’s greeting had been stiff, and he hadn’t warmed after she explained that her phone had run out of charge. She had no idea that he’d arrived early.
Now as they made their way through the house, headed for the great room where her family had arranged to gather this afternoon, Teagan couldn’t shake the sinking feeling. When Jacob hadn’t bothered to keep in touch, she’d written their relationship off. But hearing his voice again yesterday had brought back into sharp focus how he made her feel. Alive and desirable. Vulnerable and yet strong. Rather than sticking to her guns and saying goodbye for good, she’d been gripped by an overwhelming need to feel that way again.
Now she was rethinking that, big time.
On top of not being able to contact her and receiving a grilling from Brandon, Jacob must be on edge about those pending paternity test results. She understood why he hoped they were negative. But if he did turn out to be that baby’s father, would he still feel angry and cornered or, ultimately, proud?
Teagan couldn’t help but be envious. She had even fantasized about that baby being their own. Pointless. Even upsetting. But sometimes, lying awake in bed at night, she just couldn’t help it.
And then there was that other matter.
Her family knew that Jacob had planned to drag the Hunter name through the courts. How would Jacob and Wynn handle this face-to-face? She doubted her father or Cole would be overly welcoming, either. Frankly, she couldn’t blame them.
On top of all that, everyone was dealing with escalating pressures brought on by another “outsider.” It seemed Eloise had really gone off the rails this time. But Teagan felt torn over Guthrie’s decision to file for full custody. Of course her little brother and sister needed to be protected, which meant being without their mother most of the time.
That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Teagan still missed her own mom so much. If she were in Eloise’s position, she would want to spend every moment with those kids.
So, in hindsight, Jacob being here now was not a good idea. Not a good idea at all. In fact, she wanted to pull up and tell him to just forget the whole damn thing.
But then they were walking into the room and everyone was turning to look their way. Wynn’s scowl said it all.
Pressing her damp palms together, Teagan tacked on her smile.
“Everyone, this is Jacob Stone.”
She could have kissed Cole for striding over first and putting out his hand. “Good to meet you, Jacob. I’m Cole, the oldest and wisest sibling.”
Teagan saw Jacob’s expression relax a little when Taryn introduced herself. The woman was all class and heart.
“I’m Taryn. The wise man’s wife.”
Her dad stood near the fireplace that Eloise had remodeled to overtake the entire wall, all the way up to the vaulted ceiling. Now he came forward.
“I’m Teagan’s father. Please call me Guthrie. A funny name, but it’s the only one I have.”
Jacob shook the older man’s hand. “It’s a fine name, sir. Good to meet you.”
“Tate, my youngest boy, is outside taking advantage of this warm weather and the sandbox. I also have another daughter—” Guthrie winked at Teagan “—a little younger than the first.”
“That would be Honey,” Jacob said.
Guthrie’s gaze sharpened like, You’ve done your homework. “My Honey. That’s right.”
“I haven’t had much experience with babies.” Jacob shrugged. “Actually none up to this point. But I look forward to meeting her, too.”
Next up was Grace. “I’m the newest addition to the family. Wynn and I took our trip down the aisle just a few weeks ago.”
Jacob’s smile reached his eyes like he was genuinely pleased for her. “Congratulations. I hope you have many happy years ahead.”
And then there was one introduction left. Teagan prayed it wouldn’t be a clash of the titans.
“Jacob, this is Wynn,” she said. “My brother who works in New York—”
“For Hunter Publications,” Wynn said, stepping up, visibly gritting his teeth as he put out his hand. “I believe you work in Manhattan, too.”
“Busy place,” Jacob said, all too briefly taking Wynn’s hand. “It’s good to have some time off.”
“I’m due back week after next.”
Jacob nodded, looked around. “It’s a long way from here.”
“These days we’re all so connected. It’s so much easier to keep up to date than, say, fifty years ago.
”
“Even twenty.”
“It’s a different world. Nowhere to hide”
Jacob’s smile was tight. “Nowhere at all.”
Wynn’s jaw shifted. “So, Jacob, you’re a lawyer. What are you working on at the moment? Any interesting cases?”
Jacob shrugged. “They come up all the time.”
“And when there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute? I suppose those cases are dropped?”
“There are other reasons a case will be put aside.”
“Oh?” Wynn crossed his arms. “Name one.”
Jacob’s grin was wry. “Are you in need of a lawyer, Wynn?”
“Actually we have an exceptional team. Always prepared to fight. And win.”
Teagan groaned. Enough. Obviously, Grace thought so, too. Wynn and Jacob weren’t talking; they were shaping up. Grace linked an arm through her husband’s while Guthrie interjected. He might not approve of the visiting attorney, but thankfully he wasn’t making a show of it.
“It really is a full house today,” he said. “I’d like you to meet my nephew, Sebastian.”
Teagan hadn’t realized Sebastian was there. Sitting in a high-backed chair, facing the fire, he got to his feet.
“An attorney, huh?” Sebastian grinned as he ran a hand through his hair. “Wish I’d gotten a law degree.”
Jacob arched a brow. “It’s not too late. I hear you have fantastic universities in Australia.”
Sebastian was the only son of Guthrie’s older brother, Talbot, who had left the family business in a huff decades earlier. The families hadn’t spoken since that major falling-out, until Sebastian had reached out and reconnected. That side of the family had attended Cole’s wedding, and had witnessed the explosion. Now Sebastian was working for Cole, and while he and Jacob talked, Teagan wondered...
If Talbot hadn’t opted out of Hunter Enterprises all those years ago, Sebastian would most likely be a CEO now, wielding as much corporate power as his cousins. That was enough reason for a lot of people to be jealous, vengeful. Not that Sebastian ever came across that way. In fact, he was nothing but accommodating.
Someone else Teagan hadn’t noticed was pushing to his feet. His hair was thinner and grayer, but she instantly recognized one of her father’s oldest friends. Rather than put out his hand, Milo Vennard studied his perpetually unlit pipe as he spoke to Jacob.
