Guarding the Heiress. Debra Webb

they were inside and seated, Doug quickly surveyed the room. Same as the outside, neat, well-maintained, comfortable-looking. Pictures of Edwinna Harper dotted the mantel and walls. The Harpers were clearly proud of their one and only child.

      “What is it you want from me?” There was no mistaking the fear in her voice or the wariness.

      “Mrs. Harper,” Doug said before the mouthpiece next to him on the sofa could screw things up any worse. “We’re here about your daughter, Edwinna.”

      Millicent’s eyes widened slightly and her breath caught audibly. “Oh?”

      Doug nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We believe Edwinna is the daughter of the late Edouard D’Martine. Can you tell us if that assessment is correct?” Before she could speak, Doug added, “Please be aware that certain steps have already been taken to reach that conclusion.” A DNA sample had been taken without Edwinna’s knowledge. It was not exactly on the up-and-up, but the deed was done and had been relatively easy to do for whomever the D’Martines had hired for the job. All one needed was a glass the person had used or an envelope with a licked and sealed flap. Hell, even a toothbrush would work just fine. In this case, a soft-drink bottle had been obtained.

      Something like defeat stole across Millicent Harper’s face. She stared at the floor a moment before meeting Doug’s eyes once more. “Before I can tell you anything I have to talk to my daughter first.”

      “Mrs. Harper,” Thurston pressed, “we know all we need to. But, there are things you need to know.”

      She shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. Doug hated himself for being a party to this. They were about to unravel this woman’s carefully constructed life. What if her husband didn’t know? But, then, how could he not? Doug’s gut clenched in sympathy. “We’re not here to cause trouble, ma’am,” he put in quickly, hoping to allay her fears. “We want to help your daughter.”

      She held up both hands in a plea for silence. “I have to talk to my daughter first. We can have this discussion later.” Her gaze collided with Doug’s. “Please.”

      Doug tried to reassure her with his eyes as he stood. “Of course.” He stared down at Thurston and gave him a look that dared him to argue otherwise. “You can find us at the boardinghouse.”

      Millicent nodded, relief evident in her face. “I’ll call you after I’ve told my daughter.”

      “Told me what?”

      All eyes shifted to the front of the room where Edwinna Harper stood in the doorway.

      Edwinna, her expression fiercely guarded, looked from Thurston, who only then pushed to his feet, to Doug and then to her mother. “Who are these people? And what is it you have to tell me?”

      Chapter Two

      Dead silence filled the room for the space of three beats.

      Millicent’s gaze swung to Doug’s. “Please,” she urged.

      Knowing full well what she wanted, Doug nodded and offered both Millicent and Edwinna a smile. “You know where to reach us,” he reminded the mother. Then he ushered a still-speechless Thurston toward the door. Thurston stalled there, apparently unable to tear his startled gaze from the young woman standing to one side waiting for them to pass.

      “My God,” Thurston murmured.

      “Let’s go,” Doug insisted, giving Thurston another nudge toward the entry hall. The resemblance between Edwinna and her grandmother D’Martine was uncanny to say the least. But now was not the time to hang around and gawk.

      Eddi watched the two strangers exit through the front door with a mixture of anxiety and fear tangling in her belly. Part of it, she confessed, was from the up-close encounter with the gorgeous guy Irene and her pals had gone on so about. The other part, however, was something she couldn’t quite label. What were these men talking to her mother about? Her gaze moved back to where her mom still sat in her favorite rocker-recliner, and the knot of anxiety tightened. Milly looked more frightened than Eddi had ever seen her in her entire life.

      “What’s wrong? What did those men want?” She hurried to her mother’s side before she put herself through the physical rigor of getting up. If those guys were bill collectors she was going to teach them a thing or two about manners. The Harpers might be a little late on payments now and then, but they never failed to pay.

      Crouching near Milly’s chair, she searched those usually smiling brown eyes and found only pain. “Please, Momma, tell me what’s happened.”

      Milly nodded. “I want you to sit down over there.” She gestured to the couch. “I have some things to explain to you.”

      Feeling her own tension heighten, but needing desperately to hear what her mother had to say, Eddi obediently settled on the couch. She wondered briefly how long those men had been here pestering Milly. Then she chastised herself for not coming sooner. If she hadn’t piddled so at Ms. Ella’s house to listen to the matchmaking plot, she could have been here already.

      Milly Harper moistened her lips and blinked away the tears in her eyes. The strength Eddi knew her mother to possess visibly surged and the uncertainty she’d seen moments ago all but vanished.

      “There are things I should have told you long ago.” She cleared her throat and propped both hands on her cane. “But, selfishly, I chose not to. Now it will be all the more difficult.”

      Eddi’s confusion mounted with each passing second. “What on earth are you talking about?”

      Milly took a big breath and began, “Twenty-six years ago I graduated high school and thought I had the world by the tail.” She shrugged one shoulder. “My family didn’t have any money to speak of, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I’d won a scholarship, enough to pay my tuition and such. So, off I went to Boston, to a school I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to attend. I picked up a waitressing job to keep a little money in my pocket.” Her gaze took on a distant look. “I was on my way.”

      For a long while Milly said nothing else. Eddi knew that she was remembering. She couldn’t imagine why she’d never heard this story before. She hadn’t even known her mother had attended college, much less some fancy Boston institution.

      “I met someone.” She fidgeted a bit, the uncertainty creeping back. “He was a little older than me and in his final year of law school.” She smiled through the layer of emotion that now shimmered in her eyes. “We fell in love immediately.” She shook her head. “It was just like a fairy tale. He was this handsome prince and I was the lowly peasant who’d captured his fancy and his heart.”

      Eddi was suddenly enthralled by the story, having forgotten all about the strangers she’d found in her own living room. “Mother, you never told me you’d been in love with someone else before Dad.”

      Milly’s eyes met Eddi’s briefly. “Well, we all have our secrets.”

      Another moment of taut silence lapsed between them.

      “We had it all planned out. As soon as he graduated we planned to marry.” Her gaze flicked to Eddi’s. “His parents would never have approved of him marrying a small-town girl like me. But he didn’t care. We were in love and that’s all that mattered.”

      The fervor in her mother’s voice emphasized the truth in her words. She had been in love with the young man of which she spoke. Deeply in love. Eddi’s heart rate picked up its pace in anticipation of more of the story.

      “He was about to go home for spring break, his graduation was only weeks away.” She smiled sadly. “And we were so happy. I told him then…he was going home to break the news to his parents and then he was coming back for me. He wasn’t even going to wait for his graduation….” Her voice trembled then trailed off for a time. When she spoke again, her words were strained. “But he never made it home. Someone, we don’t know who since the crime was never solved, kidnapped him…held him