Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (33 page)

The meaning of Thanksgiving was brought home to her and made even more real as she looked from Ben to Quinten. She’d feared trusting those two men in the beginning, but she was so glad she’d taken a chance on them. She was thankful indeed as she watched her two lovers converse with their friends.

Quinten, the consummate tease, over-sexed and always inspiring laughter or a smile with his antics. Loving him was fun.

And Ben, so overprotective and steadfast in his desire to love her and take care of her, filling a need that she’d tried to ignore and bury deep. The funny thing was that he’d been filling that need for a while. Becoming lovers had only brought it to full bloom.

It was such a blessing to be loved by these two men who were so unique, and so necessary to her happiness. When she turned her attention back to her friend, it was to find her watching her. Grace gave her a smile of silent understanding.

Late November…

Camilla sat with Ben and Quinten amongst the large group of strangers that had met in Tom Barton’s attorney’s office for the reading of his will, after his funeral. Shock rippled through her system, accompanied by a chill, although she wasn’t sure if that could be attributed to the temperature in the darkly paneled office or the news she’d just received.

“What?” the coiffed and manicured blonde screeched as she jumped from her chair. Her brittle tone startled Camilla and broke the solemnity of the moment.

Camilla’s heart pounded as the lawyer finished his comments, and she looked at the strangers surrounding her, staring at her, some with hostility and others with curiosity. Ben shifted at her left, and Quinten, sitting at her right, stroked her palm gently as he held her hand. She felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

From his seat next to the woman, an older man muttered, “Sit down, Brittany. At least you get the house and an annual income.”

“I hate that house! I lived in it because he wouldn’t buy something closer to Dallas.”

“So sell it and quit your bitching,” said a younger and very disgruntled-looking woman from her seat across the room. “Daddy didn’t leave Mason and me hardly
anything
.” She glanced at a man who was similar in age, and he stuck his lip out and nodded petulantly.

Camilla hadn’t expected to be a part of all this family drama when she’d agreed to come to Tom Barton’s attorney’s office Tuesday afternoon. The funeral had been at ten o’clock earlier that same morning, and only a handful of the people in that room had even been there.

Tom’s attorney looked wearily over his reading glasses at the young woman, scanned the page in front of him, and read aloud from the document. “‘Shelley and Mason shall receive seventy-five thousand per year for the next ten years. That should give them time to pull their heads out of their asses, finish their educations, and get a good job supporting themselves.’” Camilla saw the briefest hint of emotion flicker on his lips before he looked up at Shelley. “Perhaps you could put some of your father’s financial suggestions to good use and invest it, make something out of…nothing.” In Camilla’s book, seventy-five thousand dollars per year was hardly “nothing.”

He read on until Shelley interrupted him and pointed at Camilla. “Why does she inherit practically everything?”

The attorney looked at Camilla sympathetically. She wasn’t even sure why she was in the room. “Tom’s reasons were his own, Shelley. I’m simply sharing information. As per Tom’s instructions, Ms. O’Neal inherits the bank accounts, the oil wells, the mineral rights, the acreage—”

The older man haughtily held up his hand. “Please, you don’t need to go through the list again.”

Mason, who was still pouting, asked, “Can we get it all in a lump sum up front?”

“No. Tom stipulated that we were to send the amount specified on January first for the subsequent ten years after his death.”

Shelley was aghast. “We have to wait until
January
?”

The attorney nodded and continued with the reading of Tom’s will. The chatter faded as she recalled all the conversations she’d had with Tom over the last few years. Because she was interested in running her own business and would need practical advice, she’d listened to his suggestions and had been pleasantly surprised at the results. She never would’ve guessed that he intended to leave his vast wealth to her, of all people.

“We’re fighting this,” Brittany said as she rose again from the chair and marched from the room. She had been Tom’s wife. Camilla hadn’t even known Tom was married. She didn’t look old enough to be Shelley and Mason’s mother, and Camilla recalled that he’d mentioned being married many years before but his wife had died.

Once the reading was over and they were the only ones left in the room, the attorney lifted a thick envelope from the desk and came to her. He shook her hand and then presented her with the envelope.

“Congratulations, young lady. Tom spoke very highly of you.”

She took the envelope from him hesitantly. “I don’t understand.”
That
was the understatement of the century.

The attorney smiled kindly at her. “Tom told me you’d say that. Everything you need to know is on the enclosed disk. After you’ve watched it, if you have any questions, you just call me, dear.”

She followed him with Ben and Quinten out of the office, and he bid them farewell. Of all the outcomes to a meeting with this lawyer, this was the last thing she’d expected. She never would’ve known it, but Tom had been fabulously wealthy, evidently taking his own financial advice, and he’d left almost all of it to her. She was now a millionaire.

At the house, Ben took the disk from her, slipped it into the DVD player, and asked, “Do you want to be alone?”

Camilla shook her head negatively and thanked Quinten when he brought her a glass of iced tea and sat down beside her.

Tears burned in her eyes as Tom’s lovable, sun-weathered face appeared on the screen. “Hey, Camilla. I’ll bet you’re in shock right now. But it’s all going to be okay.” Tom paused for just a second before he swallowed and continued on.

“You’re the hardest-working little gal I’ve ever known. I like that about you. I know you’re wondering why you had to be at that meeting. I can imagine what it was like for you, but I had a good reason. I knew you’d want to know
why
I chose to leave it all to you.”

He looked off for a minute and grinned about something and then said, “I can imagine the reactions of all those vultures in Jerry’s office, waiting to find out what they’d inherited. I wanted you to see them, so you’d understand why I left it to you.

“My kids would run through it in a matter of a few years. My so-called wife would spend it with no thought for the future because she still has the looks to find another rich man to pick up where I left off. She was a mistake from the day I met her. Shelley and Mason didn’t turn out so hot, either. That’s my fault for not doing a better job as a father when they were younger. Shoulda known better.

“Brittany probably said something like, ‘We will see you in court!’ before she stormed out.” Tom chuckled and waved a hand dismissively. “She can bring it on. Jerry has all the information he needs about her to make it go away, but even if she does tie the will up in court, you’re okay. Just see Ethan, Ben, and Quinten about the arrangements I’ve made.”

He was the silent investor!

“I invested in your nightclub up front with instructions for y’all to use the money however you saw fit. Those vultures can’t touch that money because I’ve already given it as a gift.”

He heaved a deep sigh before continuing, “I want you to use this money in any way you see fit. Invest it in your business, buy some land, take a trip. I know you’ll take care of it. Oh, and remember to give to charities you believe in. If you ever meet someone who has a dream and a good work ethic, maybe help them too. I’m proud of what you’ve made of yourself and the success you’ve had with what you learned from this old man’s ramblings.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she chuckled. The small amount she’d earned from her investments was a pittance compared to what she’d inherited that day.

Tom continued on. “You’re probably still wondering why I trusted you with all this money.” He squinted at the camera and said, “She who is trustworthy with little will be trustworthy with much. You’ve been a blessing to me, shortcake, and I want to be a blessing to you.”

Tom nodded at someone off camera and smiled one last time. The screen went black, and Camilla felt like a knife had been jabbed in her chest. She burst into tears as Ben wrapped his arms around her and Quinten stroked her back. Her heart felt like it was on fire as she was overwhelmed by the depth of Tom’s generosity.

When her tears were all gone, she took a deep breath, and determination stole over her. Her business now had the best possible chance of succeeding. She’d make Tom proud of her.

Cody rapped his knuckles on Camilla’s office door and she looked up. Leaning against the wall, he gave her his trademark shy smile, which was such a contrast to his deep, gritty voice. “Ben just called me. He was worried about you. Said he called you earlier and you didn’t answer. And you never called him back.”

“Oh! Shoot. I had my ringer turned off while I was interviewing Ms. Anders. I forgot to turn it back on.” Lately, it seemed the days were over before they’d even gotten started.

“I told him you were in a meeting, and he said not to worry about it as long as we were with you.”

Heath walked up and looked over Cody’s shoulder. “Did you tell her she’s in trouble?”

A chuckle rumbled in Cody’s chest as he looked back at one of his best friends. “Stop trying to scare her. She wouldn’t buy it. Anyway, he said that he’d be here in a few minutes.”

Heath nudged Cody. “Did you tell her?”

Cody looked back at Heath with mild irritation. “I’m getting to it.”

“Tell me what, guys?”

Cody was thoughtful for a minute and then said, “We just wanted you to know that we think Ben and Quinten are pretty good guys. We kinda…”

“Kinda what?”

“We saw them as competition. When we got back into the area and came to see you the first time…we could tell that they didn’t want us around you—”

Heath nodded sagely as he interrupted. “They’re territorial. We would be too.”

Cody cast a disgusted look at Heath. “Long and the short of it is this. They’ll take good care of you.”

Camilla smiled at her friends. “So you approve. And you’re not…pining?”

Cody gave a small shake of his head, but Heath slid his lower lip out, his pale green eyes twinkling, and nodded pathetically. Cody must’ve guessed at Heath’s antics because he jabbed backward with his elbow, and Heath’s breath left him in a whoosh. “You’ll always be the one that got away, Cami. But we’re really happy for you.”

“Someday you’ll find a girl to be overbearing, overprotective assholes about and you can drive her crazy with all your territorial bullshit. Whoever she is, she’s a lucky girl.”

Camilla jumped up from her chair and hugged them both. She was pretty sure the men were intent on sharing a woman. And it was one hell of a woman that could deal with
one
of those big guys, much less
all three
of them.

Cody, with his dark-eyed and long-haired good looks. Heath, with his tightly cropped blond hair and sexy light-colored eyes. And Spencer, who was every woman’s bad boy wet dream come to life, with his golden eyes, closely cut dark hair, and all those tattoos… Camilla hoped that whoever won their great big loving hearts was worthy of them.

“Speaking of lucky,” Heath began, “who was that gorgeous chick who was in here earlier? She’s hot.”

“She’s considering the club management position.” Leveling Heath and Cody with a serious look that came easy from years of practice, Camilla was about to give them her “Work is work, pleasure is pleasure, and the two don’t mix,” speech but thought better of it. It felt unfair to do that to them. They’d been bouncers for years. They weren’t assholes by any stretch of the imagination, and they wouldn’t abuse their responsibilities or their job titles.

“Her name is Sylvan Anders, but she also goes by Sylvie. She’s single, but…”

“But what?”

“She’s not sure how long she’ll be in the area. She’s rather nomadic.”

“Hmm,” Heath said speculatively. “Good to know. I don’t suppose you have her number.”

Camilla scoffed and punched his rock-hard abs. “Gah! Get your own hookups, Heath.”

Heath feigned pain as he clutched his toned gut and backed out of the office. He directed his attention to the front door and said, “Hey, boss.”

Camilla was pleased with the easy conversation between the three men as Ben walked up to the group and gave her a kiss when she put her arms around him. “Hey, sugar. You ready to go?”

She nodded and grabbed her purse and her laptop case, which he took from her as she shut off the lights in her office. “Where’s Quinten?”

“He’s eating out with Ethan, Grace, and the other guys, and probably doing Princess Rose Marie’s bidding, I imagine.”

“Huh?”