Heidi Betts - How To Seduce An Heiress

“No, I did not. I meant what I’ve said to you, Sophia. I swear. I meant what I said about how special this weekend was for me—about how special you are to me.”

“Oh, please,” she snapped, hating him for what he’d done and angry with herself for tossing aside all caution where Garrett had been concerned. She was shaking and hurting all over, and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of him and make sure she never had to lay eyes on him again. “You can get out, Garrett. Out of my house and out of my life.”

“I’m not going until you listen to me and hear my side of the story.”

“Get out of here,” she cried. “I don’t want to see you or talk to you. I want you out of my life.” She tried to slip the bracelet off her wrist, her hands shaking as she fumbled. She finally succeeded, throwing it at him. He caught it and slowly put it into his pocket, never taking his eyes off her.

“I just want you to listen for a moment,” he said, speaking quietly. “You’re harming yourself as much as you’re hurting them and they haven’t done any more than you have. All they did was end up with Argus Delaney as their father. You can’t select your parents, and neither could they. So why are you doing this to them, Sophia?”

“I already told you. I don’t want anything from Argus Delaney. He never gave me love or attention or even acknowledgment that I was his daughter. Never,” she declared bitterly, tears over Garrett’s betrayal blinding her eyes as they spilled faster than she could wipe them away. “My father gave us money as a man gives cash to a prostitute. I’m not turning down the money to hurt my half brothers. I’m refusing it because it’s the only way I can reject Argus Delaney. He gave it out of guilt at the end of his life, and I will do nothing to exonerate the way he treated me or my mother.”

Garrett reached out to touch her and she jerked away from him as if he had scalded her with his touch.

“This isn’t about them,” she said. “It’s about him. All those years from the time I was born until I was in my twenties, he treated me as if I was nothing. I’m not trying to hurt them.”

“But you are hurting them. Can’t you see? And not just your half brothers. Sophia, there’s a grandchild. An adorable little girl, Caroline, who someday will inherit Delaney money. You’re hurting that child.”

Momentarily startled, she stared at Garrett. “There’s a grandchild mentioned in the will. A trust was left for her, which has nothing to do with these inheritances. So how could this affect her?”

“Eventually, she’ll inherit money left by her uncles. It’s not as big a thing with Caroline, but she’s in the family and will inherit family money,” he said, pulling out his phone and holding it out for Sophia to see. “Here’s Caroline with Will, who is her guardian since her father was killed. Look at it, Sophia. Here are two of the people you’re hurting.”

She snapped her mouth closed and looked at a picture of a beautiful child with long, black, curly hair and huge brown eyes. Shocked, Sophia stared. The little girl looked like her at a young age. She could see the family resemblance between herself and both the child and the smiling, handsome man in the picture.

“I hadn’t thought about the future for her.” She continued to stare at the picture, suddenly struck by the fact that she had a family, a family that she had never met, a family that looked very much like her. There was no doubt they were all related. Shaken, she couldn’t stop staring at the picture—until she looked at the man who was holding it. Her hurt deepened and she walked away from Garrett to put space between them.

“They have money. The Delaneys are worth billions. This isn’t going to hurt any of them.” She spun around to glare at him, her anger returning. “If they don’t get this inheritance, they’ll still be enormously wealthy. They are young and into enough enterprises. They will make more money than they even know what to do with. I want no part of my father or anything that belonged to him. Not a dollar—not a fortune. I will have no part of him.”

“He’ll never know,” Garrett answered, putting away his phone. “Your father is dead now, Sophia. You’re not hurting him. The people whose lives you are affecting are Will, Zach, Ryan and Caroline,” Garrett said quietly. “Sophia, they didn’t even know about your existence— Don’t punish them when they haven’t snubbed you. When they found out they had a sister, they wanted to meet you. They feel you’re part of the family and all of you should be united. Aside from the money, they would have tried to meet you and bring you into the family. They are great guys in spite of their father. They don’t want to hurt you. They want you to have your money as much as they would like to have theirs. And they want to meet their sister.”

“So they sent you to trick me into meeting them.”

“There was no tricking you. They tried to meet you openly. Will called. Zach flew here. You’ve rejected every contact, including their attorney.”

Sophia was losing her patience with Garrett, and she couldn’t stand here and have this conversation with him any longer. “I don’t see why you are still standing here when you know you’re unwanted,” she said coldly, her eyes still blurry from tears that streamed down her cheeks. “Once again, I don’t care about the Delaney brothers’ inheritances or about meeting them. I don’t want to see you again, and I never want to see the Delaneys. I want you to go. You deceived me, Garrett.”

“You’re not going to listen or give me any kind of chance, are you?”

“How could you do this?” she lashed out, her voice a hiss. She wanted him to get out of her house and her life. Why couldn’t he understand?

“I did it because those guys are important to me. And all they want is for you to give them a chance. But I don’t want to lose you,” he said. Her burning anger had turned to a chill. She shook and couldn’t stop tears from falling.

“Get out, Garrett. Just go. You can’t change my mind, and you and I are through.”

“Sophia, don’t do this. You’re being stubborn and foolish. If you don’t want the money for yourself, give it to charity and do some good with it. You don’t have to keep it or live on it.”

“There is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. I don’t ever want to meet my half brothers. The only thing we have in common is Argus Delaney and nothing else. Garrett, get it through your head—I don’t want to have anything to do with any part of my father, and those half brothers are all part of him.”

“You’re part of him, Sophia.”

“Don’t remind me. If I could do anything to erase that, I would.” She walked toward the door, opening it to make it very clear that she needed him to leave. “You have to go now.”

“Why the hell are you being so selfish about this?” he said. Momentarily, she was taken aback by his harsh accusation and then her anger surged again.

“Selfish? Haven’t you been listening when I’ve talked about my father? His world revolved around him. He thought only of himself. His ego was enormous. Don’t accuse me of being selfish. He took the prize.”

“But what would it hurt to meet them? There’s no way you can be harmed by a meeting. You’re being stubborn and unreasonable about this—spiteful and hurtful for no reason. Argus will never know, Sophia. You are not getting back at your father,” Garrett said, his voice rising.

“How dare you. How dare you call me spiteful and hurtful after what you’ve just done to me. In case I haven’t made it abundantly clear, Garrett, I don’t want to see you again ever.”

“Sophia, I don’t want to lose you. You’re important to me and I thought I was to you. I thought we had something special between us. Other than my connections with the Delaneys, I’ve been open and truthful with you.”