AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I need to tell you something Cheryl’s spreading around.”
Dipping her head again, Jenna sighed.Things couldn’t possibly get more complicated.ButAnne’s lead-in of “don’t panic,” told her they could.
“At her last liquid luncheon, Cheryl told everyone she saw you with Eric Laine. She said you two looked very cozy, and that if a married movie star was one of your conquests Ash had better watch his wallet.”
Jenna gagged on her latte. “Did anyone believe her?”
“Not after I poked some holes in her story.”
Anne’s smile was a simpering grin that took Jenna back to high school. She sucked in a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
“I’ll run interference for you any time…but…”
“But itwashim,” Jenna admitted. “I guess you know that.”
Anne set her coffee down and made order out of the items Jenna had indiscriminately set on the counter—receipts, earrings, and pots of lip gloss. More things slanted in uncharacteristic disarray on shelves. “How did he find you? Why is he here?”
Dropping onto a stool set behind the glass showcase, Jenna shook her head. “I’m not sure. But now that he is here, I’m going to have to tell him something I should have told him a long time ago.”
****
Over homemade muffins, Ina told Eric all about the dirty dealing Baldwin Family. They had been swindling people out of their land since the early twenties when Addis Baldwin cheated Ina’s grandfather out of the property that was now Baldwin Square.
“His golf course is on land that was part of my little farm here, and Ash won’t be satisfied until he’s driven me off my last few acres.”
Eric took an automatic glance toward the window. It was a grid of wavy panes of glass, peeling paint, and glazing putty curling away from the wood. “How much land do you have?”
“Enough for him to build another section of ugly condos instead of the detached houses he was supposed to build.” She pushed the plate of muffins closer to Eric, but he waved away the offer. “Ash promises me market value, but he’s never really offered me anything fair. I won’t sell anyway. I’ve lived in this house all my life.” Ina stood and motioned for Eric to follow. “Come on, let me show you something.”
In sharp contrast to the front of the house, the back was an explosion of color. Shoots of spring perennials were reaching through the soil. In the center of the yard, a circle created by a low hedge housed railroad-tie boxes. In each box, a variety of budding herbs grew. A large greenhouse stood in the distance.
“I’ve been doing this as a business for more than twenty years, but I’ve tended my gardens all my life.” It was a proud declaration and the old woman’s smile was a wide crescent. “In the spring I sell flats of flowers and herbs, in the fall sugar pumpkins that I grow in that field over there.”
She and Eric traveled the verdant yard, the sky above the blue of a lupine. A shed, in as much need of repair as the house, listed beyond a tilled section of earth. Ina’s hands were at her back as she played tour guide and roamed her gardens. “I sell jams and pies, too. Make them from fresh peaches and apples I buy in bulk from an orchard the next town over. I do a very good business when folks vacationing in the mountains travel through on their way back to the city.”
It wasn’t hard for Eric to figure out how a businessman like Baldwin felt about having the run-down housesituated so close to his stately country club.
Ina continued, looking more frustrated than angry. “Last year I had three veterans living here. The VA paid their board and, hand to God, I used the money on meals and keeping the place warm. Whatever was left over I used for repairs.”
Eric gazed more at the charming splendor of the grounds, and then back at the house, a gnarled collection of boards and banking shutters. It was obvious there hadn’t been much “left over.”
“With no warning the town council pulled my gentlemen out…some bullshit about building codes and my back stairs being hazardous. But it was Ash. He got those spineless bastards to do his dirty work. I’m sure of it. Mark my words if you move in, he’ll see to it that you’re thrown out, too.”
A budding grimace that worked its way to Eric’s lips was replaced by a half smile. “Are there any laws in this town that prevent a long-lost nephew from visiting?”
****
Eric returned to his motel to collect his things. He made three phone calls. One was to his agent to tell him he was declining an offer to star in yet another action flick. The next was to his law firm. They gave him the news that Bree’s attorneys were moving full force in their pursuit of Jewel Incorporated. Eric told them to give her sharks access to whatever they wanted, then he asked them to find out what they could about local zoning laws in New York. The third call was to Nick. “Any news for me?”
“None of it good.” A hard sigh preceded his disclosure.“True Hollywood Scandalsis planning a feature on Jenna. The producers offered me a king’s ransom for an interview. They also contacted Alan Stark, but he gave me his word he won’t have anything to do with it.”
Eric muttered a curse. The news was bad, but it was the mention of Alan Stark that prompted the epithet. Every time Eric was reminded of Jenna’s former manager, the man who’d embarked on a desperate quest to ruin him, it was like cracking a tooth, the pain swift and sharp.
“You sure about Stark?”
“Yeah,” Nick answered. “He might be scum, but whatever creepy fixation he had with Jenna was never meant to hurt her. He won’t want to now.”
Chapter Nine
