“Then,” Mark interrupted, “we can definitely declare the Lion out of his mind.”
“He was mentally competent,” Benton stated again.
“Nevertheless, I plan to contest the will. The Collins Company will not go to a stranger.” He paused, feeling a moment’s regret for Leanne’s feelings, but determined all the same. “I won’t lose control of the company to anyone, family or not.”
“IT WAS dreadful,” Leanne told her mom later in her mother’s living room, having taken a cab rather than accept a ride from Mark Collins. She swirled her lemonade. She’d angled herself on the couch facing her mother, who was wedged against the opposite corner. They’d sat like this for years, whether to gossip or have a heartfelt conversation. “He was so angry, so hurt. He wouldn’t let me say anything. I meant to say I didn’t want the damned company, that I didn’t want anything from Lionel.” Nothing for myself, she thought. Recognition of her mother’s loyalty and some money so her mother could retire would have been nice.
Leanne sighed. She didn’t want the company, but she wouldn’t be dismissed as worthless. She’d been overlooked and neglected by the Collins family her entire life. To have her ability to run the company compared to scrapping the place had irritated her.
“Oh, dear,” her mom said when she didn’t continue. “What did you do?”
Leanne shook her head, feeling idiotic. “Exactly what you’re afraid of, I’m sure. I let my feelings run away with me. My mouth ran with them, charging ahead without my permission.”
Her mom laughed. “You’re too blond to have such a temper. If you’d let me dye your hair red, people would at least have a warning.” She patted Leanne’s hand. “So, are you going to compete for the company with the boy?”
“‘The boy’ is four years older than I am, as you well know.” Lionel had admitted to her mother he had a family, Leanne would give him that. He’d been honest, in his way.
“Will you do it?” her mom asked.
Leanne didn’t know. Her pride had taken a hit with Mark’s vehement rejection. By naming her in the will, Lionel had acknowledged her as his daughter. To inherit some money mollified her pride. To be given a chance to take over CoCo, as she and her mother referred to the Collins Company, confused her.
She’d wanted Lionel to honor her mother with an inheritance as well, no matter how small the amount.
“I’m not sure,” she said when she realized her mother still awaited her answer.
“Could you?”
“What? Take it from him?” At her mother’s nod, she shrugged. “I could give him a run for his money, I think. But what would I do if I won?”
“Control CoCo.”
“I’m pretty happy teaching at the university, Mom. What would I want with their company?”
Her mother’s gaze dropped to her own glass. “Revenge?”
Leanne stilled. Avenge her mother? She swallowed. “But…I thought you loved Lionel and didn’t regret your time together?”
Her mother nodded but didn’t raise her head.
“Mom.” She laid her hand over her mother’s.
Her mother looked at her, her eyes wet with unshed tears. “I gave him up and never saw him again. I was the other woman, Lee. I knew I wouldn’t get to keep him. I never intended to take him away from his family. I just wanted him, for however long he could stay.”
Leanne didn’t understand that kind of thinking. If she loved someone, she’d want him all to herself.
Her mother sniffed and sipped from her lemonade glass. “Did you like the boy?”
“Please stop calling him that. His name is Mark.”
Her mother winced, and Leanne cursed her clumsy tongue. Mark had been Lionel’s middle name.
“Although from the way he acted,” Leanne teased, “you’d think it was Barnabus Collins.”
Her mother laughed, as Leanne had hoped, picking up her reference to an old TV show about vampires. “I’m sure that was just the eerie setting. I didn’t notice any pointy teeth, but he definitely had hypnotic eyes.”
“Full of deep-brown sin,” Leanne agreed.
“Better and better,” her mother said, wiggling her eyebrows. “He’s certainly handsome enough to be supernatural.”
“Yeah.” Leanne sighed. “More’s the pity.”
“Why?”
“Mother, he’s not only the enemy, he’s my nephew.”
Chapter Two
Mark poured himself a drink, downed it, then poured another. It had been that kind of day. The alcohol burned his throat, and he tried not to wince at the bitterness. He never could stand the taste. Another reason Father and the Lion thought he was too soft.
“I’ll take one of those,” his mother said, entering the sitting room.
“Don’t you want to ask what I’m having?”
“It doesn’t matter. After your news, I’ll drink anything.”
He poured his mother a Scotch on the rocks and took it to where she lay on the couch. Except for her sharp dark-blue eyes, she looked weary, her face wilted. She’d swung her feet onto the couch, black spiked heels and all, and reclined as though the effort to sit upright was beyond her. Not a hair escaped her expensively maintained blond twist.
Taking a seat in the Queen Anne chair across from her, he reviewed what he wanted to ask. He’d have to proceed carefully. If his mother didn’t like his tone, he’d never find out anything.
“What can you tell me about Leanne Fairbanks?”
Gloria opened an eye for a moment, then put the cold glass back against her forehead. “She’s the Lion’s daughter.”
“She’s about my age.”
“Hmm? Oh, she’s thirty.”
“I was four. So, Grandmother was alive.” He hated to state the obvious, but he needed to gently lead his mother into disclosing pertinent details. If he didn’t finesse his way around her, she’d close up. “Did she know?”
His mother snorted. “Your grandmother knew everything, from the moment he first saw the tramp. Helen knew every time they got together, God help her.”
“I don’t understand. Grandmother would never have put up with the Lion having an affair.”
“You think not? This wasn’t his first, although it was his last. I’m sure this girl is the only illegitimate child we’ll have to deal with. The Lion was careful. The tramp must have tricked him.”
Mark clenched his teeth. He couldn’t refer to Jenny as “the tramp,” but he didn’t want to dissuade his mother from talking, no matter what terms she used. He could only be thankful she’d called Leanne illegitimate, not something worse.
“So,” he said, “this woman had an affair with the Lion and got pregnant. Then what?”
She shrugged. “Then nothing. Helen insisted he ‘come home and stop this silliness,’ I believe were her words.”
“And he did.” It wasn’t a question. Mark knew the Lion. If Grandmother said come home, then home he’d come. “Are you sure he had multiple affairs?”
Gloria drained her glass. “You are naive.”
“He seemed very much in love with Grandmother.”
She laughed, the