LITMIR.BIZ

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the Jarrod world she was curious about. She wondered what his life had been like before Don Jarrod. In fact, she just wondered about Christian in general. Thoughts of him were never far from her mind, even though she told herself that now was definitely not the time to indulge in an attraction. She had to find her own footing here. Did she really have time to explore a relationship? And did she dare risk trusting someone so new in her life? Besides, it wasn’t as if Christian had made a move. Maybe she was alone in feeling the draw toward him. And if she was, then she’d keep it to herself.

      “So,” she said, “your father took an interest in Christian and then what?”

      “Our father,” Melissa corrected with a brief smile. “He helped him get into college, then hired him when he got out of law school. He’s worked for the Ridge most of his life, I guess. Dad made up his mind that Christian was going to be the official Jarrod Ridge attorney and that was that. Our father wasn’t someone easy to walk away from.” Then she cocked her head to one side. “Hearing me call him our father must be very strange for you.”

      “It is.” Erica thought that was the biggest understatement of all time. She had hardly had time to wrap her own mind around it. Now finding herself sitting here with her sister was just one more oddity in a world suddenly turned upside down. But despite the craziness, she liked the camaraderie that Melissa had instigated. “Though you’re making it easier.”

      “Happy to help. Trust me, I’m glad to have another female in the Jarrod ranks.”

      “Thanks,” Erica said and meant it. In all the strangeness of her new world, it was good to have at least one person here who seemed to be on her side. Why Melissa had decided to be an ally seemed clear enough. Heaven knew that Erica would have loved to have a sister to help her stand against her older brothers occasionally.

      “Now,” Melissa asked, pointing at the piles of brochures and pamphlets scattered across the coffee table, “what are you doing with all of this stuff?”

      Laughing, Erica scooped up one or two of the forgotten pamphlets. “I was trying to learn all I could about Jarrod Ridge.”

      Melissa took a sip of wine. “There’s an easier way. Just ask me.”

      “Okay, I will as soon as I figure out what to ask.”

      “Deal. So, Christian told me you’re in PR?”

      Glad for a respite of talking about her now tangled family ties, Erica said, “Yes, and apparently that’s what I’ll be doing here, too.”

      “That means working with Trevor. You’ll like him. Easygoing, hard to ruffle,” Melissa said, “unlike the rest of the bunch.”

      “I met Guy this afternoon.”

      “How’d that go?”

      “Cool, but polite.”

      “That sounds about right,” Melissa told her. “Of the twins, Guy’s more reasonable. Blake not so much. But he’ll come around. Just don’t let him scare you off.”

      That didn’t sound promising, Erica thought, now even more reluctant than ever to meet Blake Jarrod. But there would be no way to avoid it and now, knowing for sure that he was going to be less than welcoming, it gave her a chance to prepare. To be ready to stand up for herself as she’d had to do most of her life.

      “I’m here and I’m not leaving,” Erica told her. “If Blake’s unhappy with that, he’ll just have to get over it.”

      “Good for you!” Melissa grinned at her, obviously pleased at her new sister’s inner strength.

      If only she knew, Erica thought, that right now, her strength was little more than a carefully constructed front. Inside, she was quavering. But she, too, would get over it.

      “Now then,” Melissa was saying, “there’s Gavin to deal with, too. He’s sort of shut-off emotionally, so probably won’t be much trouble. But good luck getting a smile out of him.”

      “He sounds a lot like my older brothers.”

      “That’s right. Christian told me that you’re the only girl in your family, too. What do your brothers think of you being here?”

      “They tried to talk me out of it—as did my fa—” she caught herself and amended what she had been going to say. “Walter.”

      Melissa reached out and patted her hand, sending her a commiserating smile at the same time. “It’s going to get confusing with all of the fathers around here, isn’t it?”

      “I suppose.”

      “Look, my dad may have been your biological father, but Walter’s still the man who raised you,” Melissa said softly.

      “I know, it’s just …” How to explain her need to stand alone, to find answers? To live with the feelings of guilt and betrayal she had for turning her back on Walter, despite the fact that she’d never really felt any real warmth from him?

      “So, are you and Walter close?”

      “No,” she answered quietly, wishing she could say otherwise. “How about you and your dad?”

      Melissa sighed and shook her head. “No. I was two when my mother died and my father didn’t really know what to do with me, I guess. So he did nothing.” She smiled ruefully. “I know how it sounds, poor little rich girl. The truth is though, Erica, you got the better end of this bargain. You weren’t raised here.”

      “At least you had this place,” Erica told her. “It’s so beautiful here.”

      “A golden jail is still a cell.” A long moment of silence passed during which Erica didn’t have a clue what to say or do. She’d have liked to offer her sister comfort, but wasn’t at all sure it would be welcome. Besides, she knew all too well that sympathy didn’t always salve ancient hurts. Sometimes it only made it worse. So she kept quiet and waited until Melissa came out of her musings herself.

      “Anyway, ancient history for both of us, right? Moving on. So, PR girl … what do you think about helping me design a new menu of services for the spa?” She grabbed the old one off the coffee table and glared at it. “This one is so generic it’s tired. I’d like something splashy. Something bright. Oh, and something about the yoga classes I’m going to be teaching. Do you do yoga?”

      Erica laughed at the rapid-fire statements, grateful that they’d left the subject of their fathers and sad, lonely childhoods behind. Shaking her head, she said, “Yoga? No thanks. I’m just not that bendy. But I’d love to work up a new brochure with you. If I have time with the food and wine gala preparations …”

      “Oh, yeah.” Melissa sighed in disgust. “True. Okay, once you get that going, then we’ll tend to my little slice of Jarrod Ridge.”

      “Sounds good.”

      “So,” Melissa said, and lifted her wineglass in a toast. “Here’s to us. Sisters by birth, friends by choice.”

      “Here’s to us,” Erica said and clinked her glass against the rim of Melissa’s. She could only hope that the remaining meetings with her siblings would go even half so well.

Six

      The next morning, Gavin walked into the Manor to meet Erica Prentice in Christian’s office.

      Sister?

      Not as far as he was concerned. She was a stranger who shared a little Jarrod DNA. Logically, he knew that she, too, was being manipulated from the grave by Don Jarrod. But it didn’t make her being here all right.

      He wasn’t sure how he felt about this new sister taking up a place at Jarrod Ridge. Hell, he wasn’t even happy about having to be there himself. But for him it was different. The Manor was filled with memories, good and bad. He felt his father’s

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