The Golden Chance (25 page)

“Especially when you knew in your soul he'd gotten a bum rap?”

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Maybe. Perhaps I'm being too charitable. I'm assuming that you kept in touch with Nick because you suspected he was innocent, but maybe the real reason was a lot more practical—a lot more mercenary. Did you keep in touch with him because you knew that someday the families would need him back to run Castleton & Lightfoot? Did you want to leave the door open in case you decided to recall him for active duty?”

The spout of the can trembled as Eleanor tried to water a plant. “I do not have to explain my actions to someone of your type.”

“Fair enough. I don't have to stand around and explain myself to someone of your type.” She turned toward the door.

“
Miss Fox
.”

“Yes, Mrs. Castleton?”

“I demand that you tell me what you are going to do with those shares.”

“When I decide, I'll be sure to let you know.”

“Those shares belong to my son, damn you.”

“Crissie had as much right to them as Darren did. She was Burke's daughter, remember?”

“No. No, damn you, no.
She was an outsider
.” Eleanor's eyes filled with tears, and her proud face began to crumple.

Phila went through the door and closed it behind her with shaking hands. Her legs felt weak. When the dogs danced over to greet her, she nearly collapsed beneath their assault.

But there was something very comforting about their cheerful, overflowing affection. Phila sank to the ground and hugged the animals close.

* * *

That afternoon on the firing range, Phila concentrated fiercely on Tec's instructions. He seemed to sense that her attitude toward the handgun lessons had undergone a major change. He gave his orders in a crisp, no-nonsense voice, and Phila did exactly as she was told. When she finally succeeded in putting a whole group of shots into the target, he nodded with satisfaction.

“Nick'll be pleased,” Tec said. “Let's do it again.”

She went through the routine over and over again. Time after time she gripped the revolver as she had been taught, found the trigger with her index finger, brought the weapon up in a sweeping motion and fired. Round after round went into the paper targets. The muffled roar of the .38 and Tec's harsh voice became the only sounds in the world.

“Don't worry about speed. It doesn't do any good to get off the first shot if it's a bad one. Just take it slow and easy for now.”

When Tec finally signaled a halt, Phila had to yank herself back to reality. She pulled the hearing muffs off her head and rubbed her temples with thumb and forefinger.

“You're lookin' good,” Tec said. “Damn good. Nick'll be real happy with the way you're comin' along.”

“We must please Nick at all costs, mustn't we?” Phila said wearily.

Tec looked up from where he was packing away the .38. “Somethin' wrong? You sound kinda funny this afternoon.”

“I'm fine, Tec. I think I'll walk back to my place.”

“It's a long walk.”

“I don't mind.”

“I'll drop the .38 off at the Gilmarten place on my way back to the house. I've got a key.”

“Thanks. You can leave it in a drawer in the kitchen.”

“Right. But move it into you bedroom tonight, huh?”

“Yes, Tec.”

Tec straightened and started for the jeep. Then he stopped. “This guy who jumped you. What's he look like?”

“Very big. Huge through the shoulders. Strange blue eyes. The last time I saw him, he had a beard and long hair, but that may be gone now.”

“You're sure he didn't hurt you?”

“No, he didn't get the chance. The cops arrived just as he was trying to drag me into his pickup.”

“Damn lucky for you.”

Phila smiled fleetingly. “Yes. Very lucky. I'll see you later, Tec.”

“Hey, you don't have to worry about that bastard, you know,” Tec said gruffly. “Nick'll look after you.”

“I've been looking after myself for a long time, Tec. I'm pretty good at it.”

Hilary poured coffee from the early-nineteenth-century pot and handed a cup to Eleanor. The beautiful coffee service had been a wedding gift to Eleanor and Burke nearly forty years before, she knew. It had descended through Eleanor's family and had been used by generations of her female ancestors.

Hilary wondered if a loveless marriage was also a family tradition. How many of Eleanor's forebears had poured coffee from this lovely Georgian silver pot and secretly wondered if it and all the other things they had were worth the price they had paid?

“She upset you, didn't she?” Hilary asked quietly as she sat back on the sofa, her own cup and saucer in hand.

Eleanor took a fortifying sip of coffee. “She's a very difficult young woman.”

“We knew that from the beginning. What did she say to you that disturbed you so much?”

“So many things. She made more of her vile accusations and refused to tell me what she's going to do with the shares.”

Hilary sensed there was more to the story than that, but she also sensed this was not the time to find out what it was. “I think we can assume she's going to hand the shares over to Nick or at least vote them the way he tells her to vote them.”

Eleanor sighed. “I was so certain Nick would do the right thing. I thought he could convince her to return the shares to us. Nick was always good at business matters. So good at making deals. I never dreamed it was going to get this messy.”

“What made you think Nick would do the right thing in this matter when he didn't bother to do the right thing three years ago?”

Eleanor shook her head vaguely and looked away. “This is business. Family business. I thought surely…” She let the sentence trail off. “I was wrong.”

“You thought that in a pinch he would come through for you? For the sake of the families?” Hilary smiled regretfully. “I know you did what you thought was best, Eleanor. But the net result is to make things infinitely more complicated than they were before you involved Nick.”

“I know. I just wish I knew what that Fox woman wants from us.”

Hilary looked at her pityingly. “Don't you know yet what Philadelphia Fox wants from us? It's rapidly becoming perfectly clear. She wants exactly what Crissie wanted. To be a part of the families.”

Eleanor shuddered. “My God. Do you think she honestly believes she can get Nick to marry her?”

“Why not? Nick is obviously encouraging her to think precisely that.” Hilary set her cup and saucer down on the table. “After all, he is sleeping with her.”

“That means nothing. I warned her not to put too much stock in that kind of sordid maneuvering. She must realize she's far beneath him and that he's just using her.”

“Perhaps. But she may be shrewd enough to put a price tag on those shares before she hands them over to him.”

“Marriage being the price tag?” Eleanor shuddered. “Do you think he would pay that price, Hilary? She's such a little nobody.”

“He wants those shares very badly,” Hilary reasoned. “I think it's possible that, if he can't seduce them out of her, he might marry her for them. After all, he can always divorce her later.”

“She'd make him pay heavily for a divorce.”

Hilary lifted one shoulder negligently. “Her notion of a large settlement would probably be small change to Nick. He can afford it. Or perhaps I should say Castleton & Lightfoot can afford it.”

“What are we going to do, Hilary?” Eleanor asked wearily. “Whatever are we going to do?”

Hilary ran her finger lightly along the delicate carving of the scroll-back sofa. “Nick can't do anything drastic at the annual meeting with just his shares and Phila's. He needs another large block to be able to control things.”

“I know. But if he can talk Darren or Reed into going along with him, he could take control of the firm.”

“Or you. He could do it if he had your block of shares, Eleanor.”

“Don't say such things. I'm hardly likely to back him.”

“It would certainly put Darren's future at risk, wouldn't it? If Nick regains control of C&L he's not going to make it easy for your son to go after the governor's mansion. You heard Nick the other night at dinner. He doesn't have any interest in financing a political campaign for Darren.”

“No,” Eleanor said uneasily. “It's obvious Nick's attitude toward a member of the families going into politics is as negative as it ever was.”

“We must make certain no one in either family wavers.”

Eleanor shot Hilary a searching look. “Do you think Reed might? He's starting to change toward Nick. I can feel it.”

“Reed will do what he knows is right, regardless of how he feels about Nick. He might soften toward his son, but he would never back him to take control of Castleton & Lightfoot. He would never really trust Nick again.” Hilary hoped she was right on that count. “But in any event, I think I will make another personal stab at getting the shares back from Phila.”

“If she turned down your offer, what makes you think you have any chance of talking her out of them?”

“Crissie used to talk a great deal about Phila. I know more about her than she realizes.”

“What's to know about that cheap little hustler?” Eleanor's cup rattled in the saucer. She set it down quickly. “She's just like Crissie.”

“No,” Hilary said thoughtfully, “she's not just like Crissie. And that's why I may be able to use another tactic.”

Phila had intended to go straight back to the cottage from the firing range, but when she passed the path down to the beach, she changed her mind. The beach was empty. The promise of windswept solitude lured her. She started down the path.

She was halfway along the trail through the trees when a familiar yelp alerted her. She glanced back just as Cupcake and Fifi started to bound down the path. Darren Castleton followed more leisurely in their wake.

The dogs crowded around Phila for a moment. She patted them absently, her eyes on Darren. He was watching her with a thoughtful gaze.

“Hello, Phila. Tec said you were walking home from the range. Thought I'd meet you. I wanted to talk to you.”

“What about? Or is that a dumb question under the circumstances.”

“Not so dumb.” He followed her down to the beach, his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. “I'm not sure myself what I want to say.”

Cupcake and Fifi raced to the water's edge and began chasing sea gulls.

“The dogs really love it down here, don't they?” Phila shoved her hands in her jeans pockets. “Look at them. Do they ever catch the gulls?”

“No. But, then, I'm not sure how hard they really try. It's just a game to them. They're not serious about the hunt right now.”

“What happens when they get serious?”

“Then they're dangerous. Just like some people I could mention.”

“Is this a veiled warning about Nick's intentions?”

“I take it you've had a lot of such warnings?” Darren smiled and kicked idly at a small shell.

“From just about everyone, including his own father.”

“Reed's got his reasons for warning you about Nick.”

“Silly reasons.”

Darren glanced at her. “What makes you say that?”

“We're talking about Hilary's famous baby, right?”

“So you know about that. You think Nick was right to let his father pick up the pieces after that disaster? Because that's exactly what Nick did. Reed felt obliged to step in and protect Hilary.”

“Then he was a fool. Nick is perfectly capable of handling his own disasters. Reed should have known that.”

“Wait a second. You do know the baby was Nick's don't you?”

“I know that's what everyone thinks, including Reed, apparently,”

Darren frowned. “But you don't believe it?”

“Not for a minute.”

“Well, I guess your viewpoint is bound to be a little biased. After all, you're having an affair with Nick. You want to believe the best of him.”

“He's no angel,” Phila muttered, thinking about the phone call to Santa Barbara that morning. “I know that. He's secretive, and I know for a fact he's deliberately misled me in some things. He's also quite mysterious, and I'm not sure how far to trust him when it comes to certain matters. But I do know he wouldn't have let his father step in and take responsibility for the baby if the baby had been his.”

“You sound very sure of yourself. Why would Hilary have lied?”

“Good question. Perhaps because the marriage was falling apart and she didn't want to lose everything she'd gained by marrying into Castleton & Lightfoot?”

Darren was silent for a moment. “I thought of that possibility myself, once or twice three years ago,” he finally admitted. “But my mother seemed so sure of her. She was convinced Hilary had been abused by Nick and that Reed as well as Castleton & Lightfoot owed her protection. She feels very protective toward her. How much do you know about Hilary?”