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Tiffany nodded, her heart freezing with the fear that he was telling the truth. Dear God, what had Ellery done?
“Because of King’s Ransom’s age and coloring, it was relatively easy to discover what horse was being used in place of him to cover his mares. I did some research, and once I saw the pictures of Devil’s Gambit again, I knew that he was the sire responsible for the faster offspring in the past few years.”
“This is all still conjecture, you know,” she said, trying to find any way possible to refute what he was saying. Even as she did so, she knew that she was grasping at straws.
“You’re right. Except for one fact.”
Tiffany steeled herself. “Which is?”
“That six years ago the ownership of the breeding farm where King’s Ransom is standing at stud changed hands. A corporation now owns the farm. It took a lot of digging, but I finally found out that the primary stockholder in Emerald Enterprises is none other than your brother-in-law.”
“Dustin?” Tiffany gasped, hoping with all her heart that Zane would come up with another name, any other name.
“One and the same.”
Tiffany felt weak but outraged. Her knees buckled and she leaned against the desk for support. Even if everything Zane told her was the truth, she had to settle it herself with Dustin and Ellery . . .ifEllery was alive.Ifshe could. Two very big “ifs.” For a moment her voice failed her. When at last she could speak, all she could manage was a hoarse whisper. “I think, Mr. Sheridan,” she suggested, “that you’d better leave.”
“Are you so afraid of the truth?”
Tiffany closed her eyes, and her finely arched brows drew together.Yes, Zane,she thought,I am afraid. I’m afraid that what you’re telling me is reality. I’m afraid the man I trusted as a brother-in-law lied to me, I’m afraid that my husband has betrayed me and I’m afraid, so afraid of you—and what you do to me!
She reached for her wineglass with shaking fingers. Her voice was husky. “You seem to have done your homework,” she admitted. “But just because Dustin owns part of the farm in Ireland—”
“Did you know about it?” he demanded.
She managed to shake her head, and the golden light from the fire caught in the soft brown silk of her hair. Zane fought against the sudden tightness in his chest.
“Don’t you think that’s odd—since you’re still business partners here in the States?”
Odd as hell,she thought to herself as she pushed the hair from her face and stared at the ceiling. Her brother-in-law had been the one solid thing in her life when her world had shattered in pain and desperation on the night that Ellery and Devil’s Gambit were killed. Becoming a widow had been a new and frightening experience, and the scandal about Ellery and his tragic horse had only made facing widowhood worse. Reporters hadn’t left her alone for over two weeks. If it hadn’t been for Dustin and his strength . . . “I don’t know everything about Dustin’s business. He’s just my brother-in-law, not my . . .”
“Husband?”
Her throat was parched, and the words forming in her mind were difficult to say. “Have you . . . did you . . . see any evidence to indicate that Ellery might still be alive?” she asked, her fingers tightening over the edge of the desk fiercely enough that her knuckles showed white.
“No.”
A lump formed in her throat. “But you can’t be sure?” she insisted in a breathless whisper.
Zane frowned darkly. “Oh, lady, I wish I could answer that one for you,” he said fervently.
She felt the sting of tears and forced them back. “If Ellery was alive, he wouldn’t have let me believe that he was dead,” she said as much to convince herself as Zane. Her small hands balled into fists, and she pounded them against the varnished surface of the desk she had used for four years . . . Ellery’s desk. “You know that you’re destroying everything I’ve worked for, don’t you? In two days, everything I’ve believed in is slowly being torn apart . . . and I don’t understand why.”
“Don’t you want to know if your husband is alive?”
“Yes!”
“And if he is?”
“Oh, God.” She clasped her hand over her mouth before she managed to steady herself. “I . . . I don’t know.”
“Would you divorce him?”
She shook her head and pressed back the tears threatening her eyes. “No. Not until I heard his side of the story.”
“And when you did?” Zane asked, his features becoming harsh.
Tiffany let out a ragged breath. “I don’t know. It’s all so unbelievable—I don’t have all the answers.”
