The Heiress

Alyssa studied her mother, at eighteen seeing a lot more than Ginger cared to admit. “Maybe it’s not too late for me to go to USC with the rest of my friends,” Alyssa said quietly.

Ginger shook her head, vetoing that. Alyssa had opportunities here that most of her high-school graduating class could only dream about. “Honey, we’ve been through this. I told you if you got accepted to Yale, you’d go.” And Ginger had promised her daughter that, knowing full well that expenses for the year would exceed her thirty-five-thousand-dollar salary. But she’d been determined to provide for her only child, and provide she would.

“But…” Alyssa’s lower lip trembled; her hazel eyes suddenly filled with tears. “We don’t have the money yet. Do we?”

Ginger refused to make this her daughter’s problem—hadn’t she already hurt Alyssa enough by marrying and divorcing such a loser? She explained patiently, “I told you. I don’t want you worrying about this.”

“How can I not worry,” Alyssa demanded plaintively, “when we’re not poor enough to be eligible for any of the need-based scholarships or financial aid, and not rich enough to qualify for the private loans?”

Exactly the problem, Ginger thought. Fortunately for the two of them, where there was a will there was always a way. “Look, I know this is tricky, but I have arranged to get the funds for you.”

“From that private funding source,” Alyssa ascertained uneasily.

“Right,” Ginger said.

“And you’re sure the money has been guaranteed to us?”

“Absolutely.” Ginger smiled.

Alyssa continued to regard her mother suspiciously. “It’s not a loan shark or anything, is it?”

“No. Of course not,” Ginger said firmly. She might be willing to take a little risk, but not that much! “Just a wealthy friend of a friend with a philanthropic streak.”

“Then what’s taking so long?” Alyssa demanded petulantly.

Exactly what I’d like to know, Ginger thought, secretly feeling more than a little irked herself. She’d been working darn hard to hold up her end of that particular bargain for months now. But thus far, despite the generous promises made to her, she had actually garnered only nine thousand in cash from Alyssa and Ginger’s secret benefactor. Not that she was about to let him fail to pony up! Twice last week, he’d told Ginger he was going to bring her the balance of the money when they met. Twice, he had forgotten. Ginger wasn’t about to let him do so again.

“Maybe we could ask Daddy to help us,” Alyssa said hesitantly.

Ginger would have given anything if that were possible. But she knew she couldn’t count on Mack Zaring for anything, and the sad truth was she never had been able to. During the ten years they’d been married he had spent every dime they both brought in, and then some, leaving the three of them deeper and deeper in debt with every year that passed. The final straw, however, had come when Mack turned thirty and decided he hated his life. Telling Ginger privately that the mundaneness of their life together was suffocating him, he walked out on Ginger and eight-year-old Alyssa. Quit his job as an electrical engineer, moved to a shack in the Blue Ridge Mountains and began working on and off as a fishing guide. Since then, he’d been chronically late with child support payments, criminally unenthusiastic about their daughter’s many stellar achievements and completely unsupportive of Alyssa’s goals and ambitions for the future. Personally, Ginger didn’t care if she never saw Mack again, but for Alyssa’s sake, she knew she had to keep some connection going. It was important, Ginger knew, that Alyssa think her father loved her every bit as much as Mack should have loved her. “Honey, I’m sure he would help us if he could,” Ginger fibbed gently. “But your daddy doesn’t have that kind of money. You know that.”

Alyssa ducked her head, discouraged, and Ginger understood full well how dejected Alyssa felt. Her own parents’ lack of money and ingenuity had kept her from going to a great private university. No way was the same thing happening to her daughter. Alyssa, Ginger determined resolutely, was going to have the opportunities in life that Ginger had never had. Alyssa was going to get the Ivy League education, and the prestige and hefty salary that went along with a degree. Even if it meant Ginger had to forfeit her pride and keep moonlighting at her second “job” in addition to her work as an airlines reservation agent. Deciding it was best to simply change the subject to something more hopeful, Ginger asked, “Do you still have that list of things you’re going to need for your dorm room—like extra-long twin sheets—for your bed?”

Alyssa nodded. “It’s on my desk.”

“Well, why don’t you go get it?” Ginger suggested cheerfully. “And we’ll go to the outlet mall and get what you need as soon as I finish up here.”

Alyssa’s face broke out into a relieved smile, sure now that everything was going to be all right. “You mean that?” she asked excitedly.

“Absolutely.” Ginger hugged her daughter warmly. “Just give me a few minutes.”

As soon as Alyssa dashed upstairs to her room, Ginger picked up her cell phone. Knowing this was a good time of day to get him, she walked outside onto the patio, where she couldn’t be overheard, and grimly dialed the number she knew by heart. That man had made her a promise. And by God, whether he wanted to or not, he was going to keep it.

CHAPTER SIX

DAISY CAUGHT JACK’S ARM before they could enter the Deveraux-Heyward Shipping Company executive office building. As Jack looked down at her, he couldn’t help but note how beautiful and fragile she looked in the snug-fitting capri pants and white sleeveless tank top, with a sweater knotted casually around her neck. Her hair fell loose to her bare, freckled shoulders. She abruptly tightened her grip on his bicep and confided in a low, compelling tone, “Before we go in, Jack, we need to make a deal.”

“Okay.” Jack paused in the shadows of the building. The protective way he was feeling right now, she could have whatever she wanted.

She turned to face him and took a bolstering breath. “I don’t want to tell anyone about the pregnancy just yet.”

His wife’s request was surprisingly inconsistent with the rest of her behavior, especially when all along she had been the one demanding the entire truth be brought into the open. Unable to recall ever meeting a woman so full of contradictions, Jack countered just as firmly, “Secrets are trouble, Daisy. You should know that better than anyone.”

“Maybe.” Daisy’s pretty chin took on that familiar stubborn tilt. “But I’m not up to hearing that I shouldn’t do this because I’m not at a point where my life is settled and orderly.”

“And deadly dull?” Jack joked, seeing where this was going.

“You know what I mean.” Daisy’s lower lip shot out petulantly as she dropped her hold on him and stepped back a pace, wedging a little more distance between them. “I wasn’t married yet when it happened, to someone I loved more than life itself. I didn’t have a prosperous career and a house, two cars and a dog—or, as Charlotte and Richard would have wanted, a suitably blue-blooded husband with a bank account to match.”

Ouch! That certainly got him where he lived. But there was nothing Jack could do about growing up on the wrong side of the docks, or being the offspring of a long line of brawny, uneducated dockworkers.

“Sorry,” Daisy amended quickly, realizing she had both insulted him and hurt his feelings. “But that’s how my adopted parents, Charlotte and Richard, are going to feel about my hooking up with you. I guarantee you, the confrontation with them won’t be pleasant.”

Jack had already figured as much, and braced himself for the familial maelstrom to come. “It likely won’t be pleasant with Tom, either,” Jack added with a warning glance.

Daisy looked down at her toes. “In any case—” Daisy’s voice became not just petulant but overly emotional “—I don’t want anyone ruining this pregnancy for either of us with predictions of doom and gloom about what kind of parents we’re going to make.” She looked up at him earnestly. “It’s too special, too new.”

Jack nodded, in that respect knowing exactly how his wife felt. “For me, too,” he said quietly. Because although Daisy’s pregnancy had been unexpected and unplanned, it had also brought joy to Jack’s life, and, as he adjusted to the idea of becoming a father, under these less-than-ideal circumstances, hope for the future unlike anything he had ever experienced. “All right, we won’t tell anyone until we both feel the time is right,” Jack promised.

“Thanks.” Relief shining on her face, Daisy stood on tiptoe and pressed a quick, casual kiss to his cheek. Together, they headed up to the executive suites.

Tom was waiting for them in his office. To Jack’s relief, Tom seemed genuinely happy and relieved to see them both. “I’m glad you’re back, Daisy,” he told her in a cordial tone as he ushered Daisy to one of the two armchairs flanking the sofa in the corner. Tom took a place on the sofa closest to Daisy, leaving Jack to the chair at the far end of the coffee table. “I was really worried about you.”

“Yeah.” Daisy sighed, morphing into the smart-ass she became whenever she felt threatened. And Tom, and his ability to hurt her, threatened her, Jack noted as the hair on the back of his neck prickled, the way it always did before a business meeting totally broke down.

“Nothing like having a wild cannon on the loose,” Daisy continued, giving Tom a vaguely reassuring wink, “but you don’t need to worry. Because I am not going to tell anyone outside the family that you’re my father.”

That was news to Jack. Daisy hadn’t said anything of the kind to him! Furthermore, he was surprised she would agree to that, given all she had gone through these past five years to uncover the truth about her real identity.

Oblivious of the impending danger, Tom shot Jack a grateful look, giving Jack credit where none was due. “I think that’s wise,” Tom said, pleased.