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“Corporate stuff,” Travis said lazily. “This is different.”
Caleb gave a thin smile.
“Shall I let you in on a secret?” His smile faded. “That’s what I do. Corporate law, in case you never noticed.”
Travis lifted his briefcase into his lap, opened it, took out a manila envelope and held it out. Caleb ignored it and Travis shrugged, aimed, and sailed it onto the desk.
“Take a look.”
“I’m not interested.”
“It’s from one of my clients. A Yankee, but I try not to hold that against him. Smart. Tough. More money than God, and a pedigree that goes back to the Mayflower.”
“Good for him. Now, if you don’t mind—”
“But he has a problem. Only one heir. A son. Never did anything to make Daddy proud and now he’s compounded things by dying.”
“A sad tale,” Caleb said coldly.
“It is, but it turns out that he did leave something for posterity. A baby, nice and snug in the belly of his pregnant mistress.”
“Trav, I’m sure this is fascinating to soap-opera fans everywhere, but—”
“No more soaps, Caleb, hadn’t you heard?”
Caleb took a deep breath. Something was going on here, something more than Travis’s tale about a client’s problems.
“Okay. Get to the point.”
“I am. See, the mistress won’t do what my client wants.”
“Not that. I meant—”
“He wants the child. Wants it to carry his family name. Wants to raise it. Better still, adopt it.”
“Adopt it?” Caleb said, caught up despite himself. Corporate law was his first love but there were times it seemed clinical. This, the situation Travis was describing, was as far from clinical as you could get.
“Exactly. He wants the lady to sign the kid over to him at birth.”
Caleb snorted. “Like a car.”
Travis grinned. “Exactly like a car. But she refuses. So my man wants to take her to court.”
“On what grounds?”
“He says she won’t be a fit mother. She has no money. No job. Lives in what he calls a hovel. Has loose morals.”
“And your guy has everything. Money. Status. Power. The morality of all those stiff-necked old Pilgrims.”
“Exactly.” Tra
vis paused. “The thing is, the lady does have one thing he hasn’t. Well, beside the baby in her womb, of course.”
“And that is?”
“She says the father wasn’t my client’s son.”
Caleb nodded. “Interesting. “Well, DNA testing will prove—”
