Tina Leonard - Daddy's Little Darlings by Tina Leonard

Author:Tina Leonard [Leonard, Tina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1998-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

ALEX SLIPPED AWAY from Daphne’s side as she lay sleeping. He checked on the babies, none of whom appeared to be ready to awaken. Danita said they were in a resting period of their lives, recovering from being pushed out into the world.

He under stood that feeling. The after noon with the lawyer had pushed him out into the world, and if he could have, he, too, would be sleeping.

There wasn’t time for that. He needed to talk to Beatrice and see exactly what she planned to do. Surely that particularly ugly arm of his family didn’t plan on staying? Maybe they meant to get what they could and run. People who had never worked land usually didn’t have an appreciation for it. They only saw the money the soil could yield. Perhaps a check or two every year would see them on their way to Philly.

In the great hall, he found Sinclair and Nelly working quietly. One by one, they had removed the ancestral portraits from the walls. Dark outlines on the silk-papered walls gave a naked and harsh appearance to the stair case.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

Nelly and Sinclair jumped in tandem, the picture of his father bumping oddly between them.

“Oh, sir, Ms. Beatrice told us to take down all these portraits.” Nelly’s red, twisted hair was completely askew with her efforts. Tiny beads of sweat dotted her face, but it was her eyes that held the most distress. “She said a female’s running the ranch now, and we don’t need to be looking at a bunch of dead men in out-of-date suits.”

Sinclair met Alex’s eyes, chagrined. “We’re wrapping them care fully for storage. Ms. Beatrice says we’re to have the walls repapered in gold and have a decorator in to choose more modern artwork. Copies, of course, but some thing suitable to her taste.”

“I see.” Fury boiled inside Alex. Did Beatrice think she could just come into his home and rip apart the very fabric that seamed the memories and heritage of Green Forks? A female running the ranch, indeed. He’d never thought of himself as a true chauvinist, but he felt that Beatrice was more likely to ruin the ranch than run it. “I will have to speak to my long-lost aunt.”

“She’s in the parlor, sir.” Sinclair looked away, while Nelly looked at the patterned carpet beneath her feet.

It wasn’t their fault, and Alex didn’t want them feeling he was angry with them. Without another word, he strode to the parlor.

Gloria and Phillip were ensconced in chairs on opposite sides of the room, apparently having a long-distance conversation. Beatrice eyed some papers she held in her hands.

She glanced up and motioned to him. “Come on in,” she stated with an imperative wave of her hand. “I want to talk to you about these.” The papers she held fluttered as she thrust them at him. “What, exactly, is Green Forks worth? I can’t tell from this statement.”

His jaw dropped as he glanced at his father’s private bank statement.

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