How To Seduce An Heiress. Heidi Betts

news. Somehow I thought you would eventually let reason take charge. Usually you’re quite levelheaded and sensible, and I expected the moment to come when you could stand back and see what you’re doing here.”

      “Edgar, I’m getting the lecture again.”

      “All right, I apologize. If you don’t want dinner, I’ll try again another time. But don’t go flying off to Santa Fe. Running isn’t going to help on this one.”

      “All right, I’ll bear your suggestion in mind.”

      “‘Bye, Sophia.”

      She put away her phone and gazed into space. She didn’t feel like eating. The sun slanted in the western sky and in another hour twilight fell. With it her spirits sank and nothing could get her mind off the Delaneys—and Garrett. She thought about the time she had spent with him, going back over their moments together, their lovemaking. Had he really cared about her? Or had it been a tactic he used while he tried to get close to her for his own purposes?

      Even though his deception hurt badly, she missed him and his dynamic personality. Her life had been different with him, more exciting even through the most ordinary moments.

      Have you once thought about if our situations had been reversed? What would you have done? His words had echoed continually in her memory. If she had been the one to try to get to know him with secret intentions, would she have had the same kind of reaction?

      Had Edgar been right—was she making a mistake she would regret forever? Worse, had her anger with Garrett been misplaced? Had he been working toward a solution that would help them all, including her?

      Garrett flew home Monday morning and went to see Will in the afternoon. Entering Will’s office, Garrett carried a wrapped package under his arm. He crossed the room to place it on Will’s desk.

      “What’s that?”

      “It’s for you, from me.”

      Will gave Garrett a puzzled, searching look and picked up the package to open it while Garrett settled in a leather chair across from the desk.

      He tossed aside wrappings and paper and lifted out a painting in a simple wooden frame. “Garrett, this is excellent.”

      “It’s one of hers. Now I don’t have to tell you that she is truly talented—you can see for yourself.”

      “Damn, I’ll say. This is a great picture. Looks like Santa Fe.”

      “It probably is.”

      “I’ll put it here in the office. Give me a sales slip and you don’t need to bear the expense.”

      “Forget it. It’s a gift. Of course, she knows nothing about it.”

      “Yeah, too bad,” Will said. His smile faded as he set the picture on a nearby table and then picked up the wrapping to dispose of it in the trash. He sat and faced Garrett.

      “I did my best, Will. Sorry I didn’t come back with Sophia.”

      “We all know you did what you could. What do you think? Any chance she’ll appear?”

      “I don’t think there is, but she was taken aback when I showed her your picture with Caroline and told her this was Caroline’s future inheritance, too.”

      “She must have really hated the old man. He didn’t abuse any of us, he just ignored us until we were young adults. Even then, it was never a deep relationship. But once I started in this business that all changed.”

      “From what I could glean her anger toward him came mostly from him ignoring her. And she’s angry over how much he hurt her mother. He merely liked her mother, but her mother always loved him.”

      “I don’t know where we go from here.”

      “I’ll think about it. In the meantime, keep hope alive because I sent her annual reports and brochures about the companies. I sent a few family pictures. I’ve said a lot to her that she can’t keep from thinking about.”

      “Good. Maybe your efforts will pay off.”

      “It may be Caroline who does it.”

      “I don’t care how it comes about, but we’d all like to know her. We’d like to have her in the family, which is where she belongs. Give her time and then you can try again.”

      “Next time, Will, get someone else. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want to deal with me.”

      “Garrett, sorry if this job assignment interfered—” Will started.

      Garrett shook his head. “I’m ready to start catching up here. If you want me, I’ll be in my office.”

      As Garrett stood, Will came to his feet. “Garrett, we all appreciate what you did for us. Time will tell. It may be too soon to judge.”

      “Even though she hasn’t yielded on this, she’s a great person. She’s a very talented artist. I bought five paintings, including yours. I liked her.”

      “Evidently you had something going with her and this killed it. I’m sorry for that.”

      Garrett shrugged. “She was happy to tell me goodbye.”

      He walked out, feeling as if his story with Sophia was now officially over. He went back to his office in long strides and closed the door, crossing to his desk to start on the backlog of email. He only got through two before he stopped to pull out his phone and retrieve the picture of Sophia in the snow. His insides clenched as he looked at her picture. Memories engulfed him of that night and that moment when he could not resist kissing her.

      He ached for her. Realizing where his thoughts were going, he put away his phone and concentrated on trying to catch up on work that had piled up while he had been away. But all through the day, memories of Sophia were distractions. His thoughts would drift to her and then when he realized he was lost in reminiscence and forgetting his work, he would try to focus.

      Wednesday night, when he returned home from work, Garrett swam laps and worked out before going to his room to shower. As he dressed, he pulled on sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Glancing at a bedside table, he picked up the delicate gold bracelet he had given Sophia. He turned it in his hand, remembering it on her wrist. He recalled the moment she had thrown it at him. With a sigh, he laid it back on the table.

      He wasn’t hungry so he skipped dinner and went to his workshop to start building a rocking chair, sawing and losing himself in the labor, finding a respite from memories for a short time only to stop working to think about her.

      He shook his head and returned to building the chair, a task that at any other time in his life would have given him real pleasure. But not now, not tonight.

      Thursday came and he hadn’t talked to Will about Sophia since Monday. She apparently had held to her original decisions and his disappointment was heavy. As he sat in his office, his cell phone beeped. He glanced at the number and frowned, growing nervous and curious. He touched it to say hello and heard Sophia’s voice.

      “Good morning,” he said cautiously, hope flaring.

      He struggled to keep from speculating on the reason for her call.

      “You win, Garrett,” she said, and he closed his eyes. Just her voice made his heart thud. He wanted to see her and be with her to such an extent it took a second for her message to register. His eyes flew open.

      “How’s that?” he asked, holding his breath.

      “I’ve decided that I will meet with the Delaneys.”

      Relief swamped him, and along with it, his yearning to be with her intensified. “Sophia, you won’t regret it,” he said. “I’ll arrange the meeting wherever you want.”

      There was silence and his heart drummed as she hesitated. “I’d like you to come with me. This is not something I expected