To Seduce a Texan. Georgina Gentry

grip.

      He seemed to take a deep, shuddering breath for control, but she saw the muscles in his jaw working. “Ahem. Well, whatever you say, my dear. Shall we go into the library for a talk?”

      “About what?”

      “Do you have to be so blunt? It isn’t very ladylike.” He turned toward the library.

      “So my mother told me over and over. It just seems honest to me.” However, she steeled herself and followed him into the library. Did she have the courage to be her own woman now that she was almost of legal age? “Uh, I might as well tell you, Godfrey, I intend to take control over the assets on my birthday.”

      His handsome face turned pale and he rushed to close the door. “Rosemary, lower your voice. The servants will hear us and I don’t want them to think we’re quarreling.”

      “Are we quarreling? I thought I was merely making a statement.” She took a seat on a straight chair, avoiding the sofa where he might sit next to her.

      He sat down at his desk and took out his pocket knife, cleaning his nails. She noted his hands trembled. “Now, Rosemary, dear, let’s give this a lot of thought. You are a woman and know nothing of business. I just don’t think you’re capable of handling the bank.”

      “I think I can learn.” She looked him straight in the eye and it felt good.

      He sighed and paused, looking at her like he’d like to stab her with the small knife. “Your mother always said you were a difficult child, but I hoped as you matured, you’d change.”

      She might as well be brave and plunge in. “I have changed, Godfrey. I may not be a beauty, but I think I’m smart. Besides, between Daddy’s lawyer and old Mr. Wilkerson, I think I can manage.”

      “But you have me to look after your interests.” He folded up the knife and gave her the smile he always used on her mother that had gotten him promoted from lowly teller to president of the Prairie View Bank.

      “Godfrey, you have never looked after anyone’s interests but your own.” There, she’d said it.

      He seemed to be gritting his teeth. “Dearest girl, why must you be so obstinate? I do not wish to argue with you. We’ll have guests arriving in another hour.”

      She took a deep breath for courage. “We do have a lot to discuss. You know I’ll be twenty-one at the end of the month.”

      He got up from his desk and came over to look down at her. “Yes, I know.” He smiled. “I intend to give a ball in your honor.”

      “Must you? I hate balls. I always step on my partner’s feet.”

      “Oh, but everyone will expect it. Your dear dead mother would expect it. You know she loved the social scene.”

      “I am not like my beautiful, vain mother, as she so often reminded me.”

      “Dear, must you be so stubborn and difficult? We’ll talk later when you aren’t so tired from your long trip.”

      “Why is it when I don’t try to please everyone, I am being difficult?”

      He hooked his fingers in his lapels and stared down at her, his lips smiling, but his cold eyes not. “I know you are lost and still grieving, my dearest child, and need both my protection and my business advice.”

      She was not grieving for her mother, who had always been cold and distant, but she knew to say so would only make her seem more obstinate.

      She simply stared at him as he abruptly knelt down on one knee and took one of her hands in his. “Dear Rosemary, you misjudge me.”

      My mother might have, but not I, she thought as she tried to pull her hand from his, but he held on to it stubbornly.

      “You see, my dear, I have developed feelings for you. I know there is a difference in our ages, but—”

      “When did all this feeling develop?” She yanked her hand away in shock and, for once, said exactly what she was thinking. “When you discovered Mother had left the estate to me?”

      He winced. “You wound me with your cold indifference. I—I have always admired you from afar, and now that dear Agatha is gone, I thought maybe someday, you might consider marrying—”

      “What?” She was horrified.

      “Oh, my dear, we could have such a great partnership, the two of us.”

      “Gracious!” She drew back, speechless. “Uh, get up off your knees, you’ll wear a hole in your fine trousers.” She stood up and walked toward the door. “You always treated me with cold disregard, now you want to marry me? Ridiculous!”

      “Wait!” He scrambled to his feet. “Rosemary, dear, let us not be too hasty.”

      She trembled with outrage. “I’m not being hasty. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. Oh, I know I’m no beauty and probably no man will ever want me, but I certainly won’t settle for a man who has very questionable intentions.”

      He held out his hands in an entreating manner. “I swear my intentions are honorable, my dear. I admit that I have always loved you from afar. That is the reason I sent you away on tour. I didn’t want to cause gossip.”

      “So now you think that since it’s been over a year, there won’t be wagging tongues?” She snorted in what Mother would have called a most unladylike manner. “There would be a great deal of gossip if you married your stepdaughter.”

      He smiled that oily smile that some women found so irresistible. “I had already considered that, but as you know, I am a pillar of this community. I belong to all the right clubs, I’ve donated a stained glass window to the church and money to the orphans’ fund. I’m sure everyone would overlook it.”

      “Godfrey, n-o. No. You will not get control of my father’s assets that way.” She started out the door.

      “Don’t make your decision right now,” he begged, following her out into the hall. “After all, this may be the only proposal you ever get.”

      The old hurt came back and she blinked back tears as she paused and looked back at him. “You don’t need to remind me that I’m no beauty. Perhaps my talent lies in taking over the bank, in which case, Godfrey, in less than three weeks, I will fire you.”

      “Rosemary, your mother would be shocked that you might actually—”

      “Please stop mentioning my mother.” Rosemary had never felt such freedom as she did at this moment. “I’ll see you at dinner.” She marched up the stairs.

      Godfrey stared after her, furious, then looked around, wondering if the servants had heard. Damn that girl anyhow. She might be homely but she certainly wasn’t stupid. He had hoped to charm her into marriage or at least letting him stay in control of the bank while she joined ladies’ clubs, went riding, and knitted. In a few years, he could embezzle enough to last a long time as he had in St. Louis. Now there was no getting around it, he’d have to murder Rosemary.

      Godfrey returned to the library and paced up and down, thinking. How to get rid of Rosemary. He paused, considered, then shook his head. No, he couldn’t do the same thing twice. Maybe he could set up some kind of accident or hire someone to do the job. However, that would be setting himself up for blackmail.

      That made him think about Mollie. He had certainly made a mistake getting mixed up with that little tart. Besides, when he was in Kansas City a week ago, he’d hired a new maid who was coming to work next week, one who was twice as pretty, and even a dumb Mick like Mollie would soon realize she was about to be replaced.

      No, he’d have to do in Rosemary himself, make her disappear or kill her in a way that there were no suspicions about him. It wasn’t as if it would be the first time.

      Waco and his men had walked out of the bank to watch the buggy bearing