Married In Montana by Lynnette Kent

Author:Lynnette Kent
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“I FORBID YOU to mention anything about this to your sisters or anyone else.”

Lying back in an armchair, his face white with fatigue and stress, Robert Maxwell didn’t look strong enough to be giving any kind of orders at all.

Thea stared at him in frustration. “Then I’m calling a doctor.”

“No, you’re not.” He straightened up in his chair. “I don’t have any problem that a doctor needs to deal with.”

“Except that you’re having trouble breathing.”

“One episode doesn’t mean I’m sick. I’m just getting old.”

“This is the first time it’s happened?” He didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so. You can’t just ignore something so serious, Dad.”

“I’ll decide what’s serious and what’s not.” On his feet again, he’d obviously decided to take back control. “I appreciate your help. Now it’s time for both of us to get to bed.”

She stood her ground, refusing to leave. Her dad simply waited, with a force of will she’d recognized all her life as the key to his power and success. He’d won many a negotiation, broken many an opponent’s resolution, just by refusing to concede.

And she gave in, as so many had before her. “I don’t argue with sick people,” she said in protest as she turned to leave. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

As she put her hand on the doorknob, he cleared his throat. “You just got home?”

“A little while ago.”

“That deputy let you drive all this way in the snow alone?”

“He trusts me to take care of myself.”

“Or else he’s just using you to make his case against your brother.”

The cruelty of the suggestion left her speechless for a few seconds. She wanted to exit without another word. But the pain drove her to retaliate.

“If that’s all I’m useful for—as a weapon to use against you—then at least I got a good roll in the hay out of it.”

“Althea—”

Before he could stop her, Thea shut the door and bolted across the house to her own room. Locked in, she threw herself on the bed and covered her head with a pillow so she wouldn’t have to hear her dad’s knock, his attempts to “discuss” the issue. Not apologize—Robert Maxwell never apologized. And anyway, she didn’t want an apology.

But she would give her soul for a decent measure of respect.

DESPITE THE SNOW, the deputy county attorney showed up right on time for his appointment with Rafe.

“Deputy Rafferty? I’m Ernest Gardiner.” A round-faced guy barely out of college, he shook Rafe’s hand, sat down in the chair across the desk and took a file folder out of his leather satchel. “What can you tell me about this Maxwell case?”

“Would you like some coffee first?” Having waited up to be sure Thea got home safely, Rafe was depending on caffeine to keep him functioning this morning.

“No, thanks. You go ahead. What’s the status of your investigation?”

“I’m still conducting interviews. The forensics unit did get to survey the scene before the snow hit. You have their report?”

Gardiner pushed up his wire-rimmed glasses with one finger, then flipped through his file.

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