What the Lady Wants (11 page)

The memorial went quickly after that. As Mitch remarked later, nobody could clear a room like Barbara Ross. Most of the people said vaguely comforting things as they sidled out the front door, but Tess Jamieson was the most help. "If all this starts to get to you," she told Mae, "call me. We'll rent videos and eat ice cream."

"That sounds wonderful." Mae turned to Nick to say goodbye, only to hear him say to Mitch, "You have to talk to Newton for me. He won't let me buy into this tin mine in Bolivia."

"Tin mine?" Mae's eyes went to Mitch. "What do you know about tin mines?"

"Exactly as much as Nick does, which is nothing."

Mitch glared at him. "Which is why he should listen to Newton. Tin mines. Grow up, Jamieson."

"Who's Newton?" Mae asked. "What's going on?"

"Newton is a mutual friend," Mitch said. "And Nick is leaving."

"Goodbye." Nick pulled Tess after him as he went out the door. "Let's not do this again sometime."

Tess laughed and blew Mitch a kiss.

"Tin mines?" Mae asked again, but there were more people to say goodbye to, and when they were all gone, Claud asked her to join him in the library with Barbara and Armand's lawyer for a discussion of Armand's assets.

"You may go," Claud told Mitch, and Mitch looked at Mae.

"Go or stay?" he asked her. "It's your call."

Mae thought of Claud and Barbara and the lawyer. "Stay. I know that's above and beyond the call of duty but—"

"Whatever you want, boss." Mitch took her arm. "Let's go hear what the lawyer has to say."

"He is unnecessary," Claud said, but Mae just shook her head and led them both to the library.

His voice droned on, and Mitch tuned him out, watching Mae instead. She looked tired. It had been a god-awful afternoon, of course, but it was more than that. Whatever it was that was getting to her was growing worse. And he didn't believe for a moment that it was Armand's death. She was worried about something, and on a guess, that something was money. Whatever else happened, she believed she had to take care of Harold and June. And she needed money for that, and Armand's estate was disappearing before her eyes, some of it stolen by Armand before he died, half of it stolen now by this Mayflower harpy with the plastic hair.

Which meant he was going to have to find out what happened to the things that Armand had taken.

Which probably meant that he was going to have to find the diary.

Mitch grinned. Mae Belle was going to get what she wanted, after all.

The lawyer droned on. "...and therefore, the will stands as is, with half of the assets devolving upon the widow, and the other half distributed as provided for in the will. Those provisions are as follows." The lawyer cleared his throat self-importantly. "Fifty thousand dollars each to June Peace and Harold Tennyson."

"Ridiculous," Barbara said.

"You're right," Mae said. "It should have been ten times that."

"One half of all stock held to Claud Lewis," the lawyer continued. "And the balance of the estate to Mae Belle Sullivan." He peered over his glasses at them all. "It's quite straightforward. However, there is a problem."

Claud's eyes flickered. "A problem?"

The lawyer cleared his throat again. "We are still investigating, of course, but the bank as executor and I..."

His voice trailed off again and Mitch sat up straighter, interested. This was one unhappy lawyer.

"Actually, there doesn't seem to be an estate," the lawyer said.

"What?" Mae said, and the lawyer looked miserable.

"As far as we can determine," he told her unhappily, "the only assets Mr. Lewis possessed were this house and its contents."

Claud remained silent. Mae took a deep breath and then was quiet. But Barbara began to talk immediately. "I can't believe it. Armand was a wealthy man. He had stock, investments...." She turned to Claud. "Surely you must know—"

"I purchased all his outstanding Lewis and Lewis stock. I have no knowledge of any of Armand's other assets." Claud stood and looked down at Mae. "Do not concern yourself about this. You and Harold and June will be taken care of." He nodded once to the lawyer and once to Barbara, and then he was gone.

Mae leaned back in her chair and covered her eyes with her hand.

"I want this house and its contents evaluated on Monday," Barbara announced to the lawyer.

"Miss Sullivan?" the lawyer said even more unhappily, and Mae waved her hand at him.

"Go ahead. I don't care."

"You have nothing to say about it," Barbara snapped.

"That's enough." Mitch stood up. "It's been a long day and Mae's tired. You can talk about this again on Monday."

"I'll talk about it now," Barbara said. "I want to—"

"Go home," Mitch said, and his voice was so firm and matter-of-fact that even Mae looked up. "Now."

Barbara opened her mouth and then must have thought better of it. She gathered up her things and swept out of the library, followed by the lawyer who practically ran her down trying to get away.

"Half the value of the house and its contents." Mae shook her head and swallowed. "It's not enough. It'll support them for four or five years, but not for the rest of their lives. They need enough for an annuity. I've got to find a way—"

Mitch sat down next to her and put his arm around her, alarmed at the quaver in her voice, cursing the chair arms between them. "So we'll find a way. Tomorrow. Tonight, we'll talk about something else. Just forget it all for right now. You sound like you're about ready to crack."

Bob peered through the open doorway and then padded into the room.

"You know, I really don't want to think about much of anything anymore." Mae's voice was heavy with fatigue.

"Then we'll talk about nothing. Tell me about Bob."

"About Bob?" Mae smiled and relaxed against him, and he closed his eyes briefly under the luxury of her weight. "There's not much to tell about Bob."

"Tell me what there is."

"I found Bob about seven years ago and brought him home to stay." Mae reached down and played with the dog's ears, sending him into ecstasy, and Mitch felt a moment's envy. That was bad. Envying a dog was not a good sign. "Armand hated him," Mae went on, still caressing the dog. "But I was twenty-seven, and it was harder to bully me than when I was a kid, so Bob stayed."

"I had a dog when I was a kid." Mitch watched the light gleam on her bent head, picking out the half circles of her dark curls. "A beagle. Of course, he was brighter than Bob. These chairs are brighter than Bob."

"I had a dog when I was a kid, too." Mae's smile faded as she straightened. "I found him on my way home from school. He was all skinny and hungry, and I brought him home, and June fed him, and we gave him a bath. He was beautiful, and we named him George."

"What kind was he?"

"All kinds. My kind. But George wasn't a pure breed, so when Armand got home, he took him to the pound."

"What?" Mitch tightened his hold on her. "That son of a bitch."

"I was hysterical," Mae went on, still playing with Bob's ears as she leaned against Mitch. "And Armand refused to go back and get George. So June called Uncle Gio because I wouldn't stop crying, and Uncle Gio said, 'Tell her I will fix it,' and June did, and I still cried myself to sleep. And the next day, June took me to Uncle Gio's, and George was there, and Uncle Gio promised me he'd always be there, and after that, I went to dinner every Sunday and played with George." Mae looked up at him, her eyes bright. "And that is why I do not believe that my Uncle Gio has ever hurt anybody, and why I still go to dinner every Sunday even though George died twelve years ago, and why I hated my Uncle Armand, and why I'm not sorry that he's dead."

Mitch pulled her out of her chair and into his lap, holding her close, his cheek against her hair, while she buried her face in his shoulder. "It's going to be all right," he said.

"I know," Mae said on a muffled sob. "I know. I'm just so tired."

"And maybe I was wrong about Gio," Mitch went on, closing his eyes again as he held her. "But your cousin Carlo is still for the birds."

She laughed into his shoulder then, and he relaxed into relief, but she was still tense when he finally left her.

He really hated leaving her.

"No. This place always reminds me of how poor I am." Mae scanned the menu tiredly. "I'll have a small salad,'' she told the hovering waiter.

"Lobster." Stormy beamed at him. "I love lobster."

The waiter beamed back and left them, and Mae did some quick calculations to see how badly lunch was going to maim her financially.

"Armand didn't bring me here much." Stormy's smile faded, and her eyes brightened with incipient tears. "He liked it to be just us at home."

He liked it cheap,
Mae amended silently, but all she said was, "That must have been nice."

"I like this better." Stormy looked around and began smiling again. "Dalton brought me here three times this week."

"So you're seeing Dalton," Mae said, trying to goose the conversation away from Armand and tears. "How nice."

Stormy leaned forward a little. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Mind what? That you're seeing Dalton?" Mae laughed. "Good heavens, no. Feel free."

"Well, he is your ex-husband," Stormy offered. "I thought maybe..."

"Take him with my blessings," Mae said firmly. "Dalton is definitely out of my life."

Stormy put her chin in her hand and surveyed Mae. "What about Mitch?"

"What about Mitch?" Mae echoed, suddenly not finding the conversation as amusing.

"Are you dating him?"

"No." Mae picked up a breadstick and crunched into it. "I'm employing him," she said when she'd swallowed. "That's it."

"Because I think he's really sexy." Stormy let her eyes roam the room again. "I don't know why. He's not very handsome. Dalton is handsome."

"Date them both and split the difference." Mae tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice. It was a good thing that Stormy was interested in Mitch since it was inevitable that Mitch in turn would be interested in Stormy. It meant that she wouldn't have to worry about all of the problems that might develop if she gave in to her baser instincts and made a pass at him.
He didn't seem too thrilled with her yesterday,
a little voice inside her offered, but she squelched it. If Stormy turned those big blue eyes on him, Mitch would fall. Any man would. Especially a man who needed to lay pipeline and open the West. "He's all yours," she told Stormy and crunched into her bread-stick again.

"Well, I don't know. I'm seeing a couple of other guys, too. I just met one yesterday—" Stormy stopped as the waiter served their salads. "Thank you."

The waiter stopped, stunned by her smile.

Mitch wasn't going to have a chance. Mae sighed and stabbed her salad.

"None of them are like Armand, though," Stormy said when the waiter was gone, and Mae resisted the urge to point out that this was a definite plus. "They keep asking me what I want to do. Armand just told me. That was nice. Sort of."

Mae chewed faster to keep from blurting out her opinion.

"I mean, that's how I knew he loved me." Stormy poked at her salad listlessly. "He took care of me. You know? Isn't that what every woman wants?"

"No." Mae put down her fork. "Didn't you ever want to make the decisions?"

"No." Stormy blinked at her. "Not very much. It was like Armand said, his way, everything was a surprise. It was like Christmas, only everyday."

"But what if you didn't want to do what Armand wanted to?" Mae persisted. "What if you wanted to do something else?"

Stormy's eyes shifted away from hers. "Why would I want to do something else? Like Armand said, that's what love is, having somebody take care of you. Armand knew what was best." She put down her fork and fumbled inside her purse to pull out a small jeweled box. "I liked it that way," she said defiantly. She popped a tiny white pill in her mouth. "It was best."

"Not for me." Mae thought of her car and a thousand other things Armand had overruled her on for her own good. "For me, love is a partnership. Making decisions together."

"That's dumb." Stormy dropped the box back into her purse and went back to her salad. "If a guy will take care of you, let him."

"And then what happens when he's gone?" Mae stopped with her fork in midair. "What happens when he leaves you high and dry?"

"Armand didn't leave me." There was an edge to Stormy's voice. "Armand
died
."

"Armand married Barbara Ross."

Stormy flushed and looked more beautiful than ever. "He wasn't leaving me. He bought me my own place and gave me money so I'd feel secure, but he wasn't leaving me. He loved me."

Mae bit back the impulse to say, "
He married another woman, how is that love?"
and said instead, "So what are you going to do now?"

Stormy cocked her head, looking about as thoughtful as she ever got. "Well, there's Dalton. He's fun and rich, and he wants to take me on vacation, but he's no Armand. And then I met this new guy yesterday, and he's sweet and rich. And then there's Mitch."

"Mitch is broke," Mae put in and then kicked herself.

"I know, but he's..." Stormy furrowed her brow. "He's safe. You know? He makes me feel good."

"Then go for it." Mae stabbed her salad again. "Money isn't everything."

"Oh, I wouldn't give up the money. I'd have to see Dalton or somebody else, too."

Mae put down her fork. "You'd two-time Mitch?"

Stormy bunked at her. "Do you think he'd care?"

Mae thought of Mitch and his "everybody lies" outlook on life. "No. I think he'd expect it." She felt sorry for him suddenly, spending the rest of his life with a woman who would only reinforce his lousy philosophy. Well, she wasn't any better than Stormy. She'd lied through her teeth to him about Armand being murdered.

"Why did he say that Armand was murdered?" Stormy asked and Mae jumped at the unexpected echo of her thoughts.

"What?"

"Why did Mitch say Armand was murdered? He wasn't. I was there." Stormy set her mouth into a stubborn line. "He wasn't murdered."

A tactful woman would have said "of course not," but Mae wasn't a tactful woman. "His diary is missing. It's important, and it's gone, and we figured that whoever has it murdered him to get it. Of course, if the diary turns up, that blows that theory out of the water, but it hasn't turned up. So we're looking for the diary." Mae watched her to see if there was any flash of recognition or guilt in her eyes, but there wasn't anything in Stormy's eyes except endless blue depths.

"That's dumb," Stormy said, and since basically she was right, Mae went back to pick at her salad.

"Maybe Dalton will bring me here for dinner tonight," Stormy went on. "I'd like that."

"Suggest it," Mae said, exasperated.

Stormy blinked at her, not comprehending.

"Never mind." Mae thought gloomily of Mitch. He'd better develop ESP fast if he was going to keep Stormy. She put down her fork and stared in misery at her salad.

"You're not eating your lunch," Stormy said.

"I'm not very hungry," Mae said.