her slide across him, enjoying the feel of her body on his. “Whoever is calling can wait.”
Grace picked up the phone and turned it off. “There. You don’t know how much pleasure I get from turning off your phone. Do you realize that it’s always on? That we’re always at the mercy of that piece of plastic?” she asked, sliding her body down his, making his breath quicken as her fingers trembled over his heated skin.
“You can turn my phone off anytime, Mrs. Fellowes, if this is what you intend to do while it’s off,” he said, his hands reaching for her shoulders, his body arching toward hers.
“This and a whole lot more,” she murmured as her gaze met his, the love in her eyes fueling his need for her. He stretched out in the bed, luxuriating in her touch, anticipating every move her body made along his.
The room phone blared.
Grace sighed and shifted to lie next to him. “What is going on?”
“It must be important, or maybe it’s the inn wondering if we need anything. Either way,” he said, reaching for the sleek black phone on the bedside table, “I’ll take care of it and we can get back to...” He looked into her eyes, saw her excitement and almost didn’t pick up the phone. “I’ll get this over as fast as I can.”
He grabbed the phone.
“Aidan, it’s Nancy. Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve had an urgent call from a lawyer in Spartanburg. He insists on talking to you now. He’s on the other line to be transferred to you.”
“Did he say what he wanted?”
“No. Just that he needed to talk to you as soon as possible. There seems to be some sort of emergency.”
He exchanged surprised glances with Grace. “But Lucas looks after our clients in Spartanburg. Did you tell him that?”
“I did, but he said it’s a personal matter, that he needs to speak to you directly.”
“Okay, put him on,” Aidan said with a sigh, pulling Grace closer as he settled in to hear what the man had to say.
“Hello, is this Aidan Fellowes?” a deep, gruff voice inquired.
“It is. What is so urgent that you need to speak to me today? I’ll be back in the office on Monday and we can talk then.”
“I’m afraid that won’t work. I have to ask you a few questions,” the man said.
“Who is this?” Aidan said, annoyed at the man’s presumption that he could dictate to him.
The phone was silent for a few moments. “It’s Larry Knowles. I’m the attorney for Deidre MacPherson.”
“I’m sorry,” Aidan said, his mind scrambling over the possibilities. Deidre had never attempted to contact him after their long-ago weekend together. “Why are you calling me? I have no connection to that person.”
“Ms. MacPherson was killed in an automobile accident on Thursday. According to her will, you are sole beneficiary of her estate with the proviso that you become the legal guardian of her daughter, Emma.”
Aidan swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “You’ve got the wrong person. This is a mistake.”
“Not according to what I’m reading here.” He could hear the rustle of pages and a short pause. “She states that you are Emma’s father. She wants you to be her daughter’s guardian and to adopt her as soon as possible. When you do, you will receive the total of her estate worth over five million dollars. Her will is very clear on this point. Did you have no idea that she’d done this?”
It wasn’t possible. He couldn’t be the father of Deidre’s child. They’d spent a weekend together. Nothing more. He’d tried unsuccessfully for years to get his wife pregnant. What was the likelihood that he’d fathered a child with another woman?
This story had to be a lie. Obviously, Deidre had decided to make him responsible for a child he’d never met and couldn’t possibly have fathered. He took a deep breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I think this conversation has gone far enough,” he said forcefully, his eyes meeting Grace’s anxious expression as she snuggled under his arm, the gentle touch of her hand offering him her support.
“No. It hasn’t. Not until you agree...” More paper shuffling. “I have here a document, a DNA test that Ms. MacPherson had done on her child and you. You are the father of Emma Leigh MacPherson. We need to talk. When can you be in Spartanburg, Mr. Fellowes?”
“There has to be a mistake. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aidan said, the lie slipping so easily off his tongue.
Aidan’s stomach rose against his chest as his mind raced over the words this man had spoken. Something was wrong. This couldn’t be happening. It had been years ago, another lifetime, and none of it had meant anything to him. Grace knew nothing about that weekend, had never questioned any of his business trips.
His wife was a Christian who believed that the truth was a guiding principle in life. He believed it, too. He hadn’t wanted to lie to her about that weekend, and so had pleaded a heavy workload in Spartanburg.
He didn’t want to lie to her now, but he had no choice. If she found out that he’d fathered a child while they were trying to get pregnant, she would be devastated. He had no doubt that she would leave him. He couldn’t let that happen. Not over a mistake he had always regretted.
It had nothing to do with their life now. Grace’s happiness meant everything to him. He glanced furtively at his wife, seeing a look of confusion on her face, wishing he could end the call and it would all simply go away.
“What is going on?” she asked, sitting up straighter, slipping away from his side.
He had to do something to save the situation before he was forced to use words that would cause Grace to be suspicious. “Look, Mr. Knowles. We can discuss this on Monday. I’m sure there is some misunderstanding. We’ll clear it up then.”
“That won’t work. This child, your daughter, is living with her nanny, but arrangements need to be made for her. There is no immediate family, and if you don’t take the little girl, other arrangements will have to be made. I need to see you tomorrow. I’ll be in my office. What time can you be here?”
“I can’t drop everything just because you want to meet,” Aidan said, trying to make sense of this, but even more, trying to absorb that he was supposedly the father of a child he’d never known existed.
He scrubbed his face in disbelief. If this proved to be true, how was he going to tell Grace? He pressed the bridge of his nose, concentrating on regaining control of the situation. Whatever was going on with this Mr. Knowles, he would not let it spill over into his life with Grace.
AT THE SUDDEN change in Aidan’s voice, a chill ran through Grace. Something was horribly, terribly wrong. She’d never seen Aidan look so awful, so confused and uncertain, in all the years she’d known him. “Honey, what is it?”
Grace watched his anxious expression as fear wrapped around her heart, blocking the air from her lungs. Had someone been hurt? Was it a friend? Someone at work? Lucas? Her body quaked at the thought. It couldn’t be her brother, could it? The way Aidan’s gaze moved around the room, never connecting with hers, was terrifying. Unable to help herself, she reached up to put her arms around his shoulders, needing to learn more with each passing minute. “What is going on, Aidan? What is it?”
Clutching the phone tighter to his ear, he turned away from her. “If you insist, I will be there tomorrow afternoon. Not a minute before. Whatever is going on here, I’m as anxious as you to get to the bottom of this.”
Relief whistled through her at his words, the strict business tone he used. From