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“About the fact that Granda left every single penny to our long-lost cousin Kitty.”
A proper heroine would have fainted. But I was afraid that I was the villain of the piece, and I didn’t have that option. “That’s ridiculous!” I said faintly. “He hasn’t seen Kitty since she was sixteen.”
“Is there any kind of explanation, Mr. Fergell?” Mary Alice demanded. “Some rationalization for such a crazy decision?”
“As I said before, your grandfather was of sound mind. It was not my place to ask him why he made the decision he did. However, he did leave a letter for one of you.”
I immediately looked at Ian. Surely, he must have given him some explanation. He met my gaze, and I recoiled at the cold disgust in his eyes.
“It’s for Bella Whitehead,” Fergell broke in, reaching out with a sealed envelope. I made no move to take it, and with a muttered curse, Marcus snatched it and shoved it at me.
“What does it say, Bella?” Mary Alice demanded. “Surely he’ll give you a good reason for disinheriting his little darling.” Her voice was like acid.
“Yes, what does he say?” Marcus added impatiently.
I folded the letter in half and shoved it in my pocket. “I’ll read it later.”
“Aren’t you curious?” Valerie asked, the first time she’d spoken since all hell had broken loose.
“Not particularly,” I said lightly. “If he tells me anything I think you all need to know, I’ll be sure to pass it on.”
“Bitch,” Mary Alice said under her breath.
I gave her Bella’s most charming smile, the one that left men besotted and had women sharpening their nails, but I didn’t say a word.
“He must have been very angry with all of us, to leave everything to Podge,” Valerie mused.
“Everything? Including Mariposa?” I couldn’t quite fathom it.
“The house, the lands, the olive groves, the vineyards,” Ian said in an icy voice. “Everything.”
Guilt swamped me, but I had no reason for it. “Don’t blame me. I lose out like the rest of you.” I looked at Ian. “He really left you nothing?”
“Mr. Whitehead will be adequately compensated for his years of work on the estate,” Mr. Fergell intoned.
“Like a goddamned servant,” Marcus fumed. “I don’t mind so much for me, but for Ian to lose everything...”
Ian made a dismissive gesture. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve got work to do. The rest of you can fume and fuss all you want—I’ve got plans to make.”
I wanted to go with him. Of course, Bella would be the last person he’d want near him. No, he’d be even less welcoming to Kitty, who’d somehow managed to take everything away from him that he’d worked so hard for.
And what in God’s name was I going to do? Tell them who I was? Slink away and refuse the bequest? That made a certain kind of sense, more sense than Granda leaving everything to the child he’d banished. I touched the letter in my pocket. Maybe that would explain things, but I wasn’t about to open it. I would leave it behind for Bella whenever she planned to return. Though if there was nothing in it for her, then she might not bother.
It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how thoroughly disillusioned I was about my glamorous cousin. I’d let her use me, as she used everyone, and now I was in so deep I didn’t know how to crawl out.
“I’m going out,” I announced as Ian strode from the room without looking back. “I’ve got a lot to think about.”
“It won’t do you any good to chase after Ian—he’s in as dire circumstances as the rest of us,” Mary Alice said.
“When have I ever chased after Ian?” I said in an icy voice.
There was a sudden, damning silence in the library, and it took all my self-control not to blush. Had I been that obvious? Obvious that even Ian noticed? Of course he’d noticed—I’d spent the night in his bed without a single objection.
And I did want to chase after him. To make him admit that last night was more than simple lust, that it meant something. It would be a waste of time. The man had just been effectively disinherited—he wasn’t going to be worried about a night of hot sex.
It was warm and sunny in the courtyard, and there was no sign of Ian. I looked out over the fields and saw they were full of workers. I would be perfectly safe. Wouldn’t I?
The man in the taberna had terrified me. The huge dark man at Mariposa had sealed my paranoia, and the last thing I wanted to do was be caught alone with him. He could break my neck with a twist of his massive hands, and no one would ever know.
