couldn’t dismiss the old man’s
bequest.
If Mitchell Riese wanted to go to battle
over The Cedars, she’d be glad to oblige him.
CHAPTER FOUR
“What do you mean there’s nothing we can do about
it?” Mitchell demanded. “You’re a lawyer, dammit. File some sort of
brief or motion and get the will set aside.”
“Mitchell,” Alec said calmly, “I wrote that will.
Since I’m a fairly good lawyer, I made sure there were no problems
with it. Hell, it’s not a complicated will. This is something a
third year law student could do.”
“Maybe it’s not legally complex,” Mitchell said,
slapping his hand against the desk top in disgust, “but it creates
a damned complicated situation for me.”
He got up and went to the window. “There is no way
I’m letting that woman steal half of The Cedars.”
Alec was quiet for a moment. “You know, I understand
how you feel about the resort but, she seemed fairly…presentable.
And she’s a professional woman. You don’t want a partner in The
Cedars, but if you have to have one, she’s not that bad. After all,
you couldn’t find any complaints against her business-wise. Maybe
this is just one of those situations you have to make the best
of.”
Snapping his teeth together to hold back his hasty
response to the lawyer’s measured advice, Mitchell remembered just
how “presentable” Lanie Carlyle had looked earlier.
She’d lost some weight in the last year and a half,
but her auburn hair, still parted on the side, now swung smoothly
to her jaw line. Her brown suit had been neat and professional even
if the skirt had skated on the short side. She’d appeared sexy and
young and completely desirable.
Damn her.
But her green eyes had looked at him with no hint of
acknowledgement. She’d greeted him as if he were a stranger.
For one fierce moment, he wished he’d called her
bluff on that, reminding her of how she’d lain in his arms,
moaning. Kissed him with a passion that left him shaking.
The bitch.
Calling him Mister Riese! As if they hadn’t
spent one of the hottest nights in his life wrinkling the sheets.
As if he hadn’t thrown her off The Cedars’ grounds and demanded she
stay away from his grandfather or he’d prosecute her for fraud.
He’d thought he’d been successful in keeping her
away from his grandfather, too. Foolishly, he’d believed Donovan
had stopped talking about the woman after that weekend. Mitchell’s
occasional carefully-casual questions to the older man’s employees
seemed to indicate that the interaction between he and his
much-younger mistress had ended.
Then Donovan died and left this firebomb of a
will.
Mitchell came away from the window, returning to sit
down in the chair he’d vacated earlier.
“Mitch, as much as you hate this,” Alec said, “I
think you need to make the best of her. That or buy her out.”
He met the lawyer’s sympathetic glance without
expression.
“No way.”
Alec Parker’s eyebrows raised. “It would get her out
of your hair and you’d have full ownership of The Cedars.”
“I’m not giving that witch one more dollar of Riese
money. She’s already bled Donovan while she was working on the
resort. I’m not enriching her further.”
“Then how are you going to settle this?”
Mitchell sat forward in the chair, thinking of
Delanie Carlyle’s smile, the way her firm breasts filled his hands,
the breathy sound of her passionate moans. The way her red-gold
hair glimmered against her cheek, tears shimmering in her green
eyes.
The complete lack of recognition in her eyes
today.
“I’m going to fight her,” he told the other man
crisply. “I’ll put my other business on hold, go up to The Cedars
and find a way to get rid of her without paying her a dime.”
“Okay,” Alec said slowly. “But how do you know
she’ll go up there. She has a business here in town.”
“She’ll come,” Mitchell responded with contempt.
“She thinks this is the biggest coup of her
bequest.
If Mitchell Riese wanted to go to battle
over The Cedars, she’d be glad to oblige him.
CHAPTER FOUR
“What do you mean there’s nothing we can do about
it?” Mitchell demanded. “You’re a lawyer, dammit. File some sort of
brief or motion and get the will set aside.”
“Mitchell,” Alec said calmly, “I wrote that will.
Since I’m a fairly good lawyer, I made sure there were no problems
with it. Hell, it’s not a complicated will. This is something a
third year law student could do.”
“Maybe it’s not legally complex,” Mitchell said,
slapping his hand against the desk top in disgust, “but it creates
a damned complicated situation for me.”
He got up and went to the window. “There is no way
I’m letting that woman steal half of The Cedars.”
Alec was quiet for a moment. “You know, I understand
how you feel about the resort but, she seemed fairly…presentable.
And she’s a professional woman. You don’t want a partner in The
Cedars, but if you have to have one, she’s not that bad. After all,
you couldn’t find any complaints against her business-wise. Maybe
this is just one of those situations you have to make the best
of.”
Snapping his teeth together to hold back his hasty
response to the lawyer’s measured advice, Mitchell remembered just
how “presentable” Lanie Carlyle had looked earlier.
She’d lost some weight in the last year and a half,
but her auburn hair, still parted on the side, now swung smoothly
to her jaw line. Her brown suit had been neat and professional even
if the skirt had skated on the short side. She’d appeared sexy and
young and completely desirable.
Damn her.
But her green eyes had looked at him with no hint of
acknowledgement. She’d greeted him as if he were a stranger.
For one fierce moment, he wished he’d called her
bluff on that, reminding her of how she’d lain in his arms,
moaning. Kissed him with a passion that left him shaking.
The bitch.
Calling him Mister Riese! As if they hadn’t
spent one of the hottest nights in his life wrinkling the sheets.
As if he hadn’t thrown her off The Cedars’ grounds and demanded she
stay away from his grandfather or he’d prosecute her for fraud.
He’d thought he’d been successful in keeping her
away from his grandfather, too. Foolishly, he’d believed Donovan
had stopped talking about the woman after that weekend. Mitchell’s
occasional carefully-casual questions to the older man’s employees
seemed to indicate that the interaction between he and his
much-younger mistress had ended.
Then Donovan died and left this firebomb of a
will.
Mitchell came away from the window, returning to sit
down in the chair he’d vacated earlier.
“Mitch, as much as you hate this,” Alec said, “I
think you need to make the best of her. That or buy her out.”
He met the lawyer’s sympathetic glance without
expression.
“No way.”
Alec Parker’s eyebrows raised. “It would get her out
of your hair and you’d have full ownership of The Cedars.”
“I’m not giving that witch one more dollar of Riese
money. She’s already bled Donovan while she was working on the
resort. I’m not enriching her further.”
“Then how are you going to settle this?”
Mitchell sat forward in the chair, thinking of
Delanie Carlyle’s smile, the way her firm breasts filled his hands,
the breathy sound of her passionate moans. The way her red-gold
hair glimmered against her cheek, tears shimmering in her green
eyes.
The complete lack of recognition in her eyes
today.
“I’m going to fight her,” he told the other man
crisply. “I’ll put my other business on hold, go up to The Cedars
and find a way to get rid of her without paying her a dime.”
“Okay,” Alec said slowly. “But how do you know
she’ll go up there. She has a business here in town.”
“She’ll come,” Mitchell responded with contempt.
“She thinks this is the biggest coup of her
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