Susan Mallery - Lone Star Millionaire

“I know, but Venice sounds so fun. All that water, those boats. Venetian glass.”

She was already up twenty percent. It was his own fault. When they’d started their game, she’d insisted on a handicap. He wasn’t allowed to invest in oil or gas stocks, the one area he was guaranteed a win. She, on the other hand, invested heavily in his own company. Last year that had been enough to push her over the top.

“I know a great Italian restaurant in New York.”

The phone rang. She reached for it and grinned. “Don’t even think about weaseling out of it,” she said before picking up the receiver. “Mr. Langtry’s office. This is Sabrina.”

Cal didn’t pay attention to the call. It hadn’t come in on his private line, and Sabrina took care of most of his other business.

After a couple of minutes, she put the line on hold. “You’d better take this one,” she said.

“Next year the rules are changing. Either I can invest in my industry or you can’t, either.” He put down the paper he’d been reading and glanced at her. “Otherwise— Sabrina, what’s wrong?”

She’d gone pale. She didn’t have much color in her face, anyway, but the little that was there had drained away, leaving her ashen.

“Is it Tracey?” he asked, knowing his older sister was usually responsible for any trauma in his life.

“No. It’s your lawyer.” She motioned to the phone. “You’d better talk to him.”

Before he could ask her anything else, she rose and crossed the room, then let herself out. Cal frowned. He couldn’t think of a single thing he and his lawyer had to discuss that would require privacy. Sabrina knew almost all of his secrets. It was part of her job.

“Jack,” he said, when he’d picked up the receiver and released the hold button. “What’s going on?”

“Are you sitting down, Cal?”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “Get to the point, Jack. Whatever you said chased Sabrina from the room, and she’s pretty unflappable.”

“Okay. Do you remember a woman named Janice Thomas? You had a relationship with her back in college.”

Cal frowned as the memory fell into place. “That was about twelve or thirteen years ago. Between college and grad school. We went out for a summer. What does that have to do with anything?”

“It seems she had a baby. A daughter. From what I’ve found out, when she discovered she was pregnant, she approached your parents. She wasn’t interested in marriage as much as money. They agreed on a very tidy sum with the understanding that you would never know about the child. Unfortunately, Janice died in childbirth. The baby was given up for adoption. Her adoptive parents were killed in a car accident nearly a year ago. She’s been living with an aunt in Ohio, an older lady who no longer wants responsibility for the girl. That’s why I’m calling. I thought you’d want to know. If you don’t take the girl, the aunt is going to make her a ward of the court.”

Cal knew intellectually there weren’t any fault lines in Houston, so the sudden tilting he felt couldn’t be an earthquake. But that’s how it seemed. As if his whole world had just been jolted from its axis.

“Cal, are you still there?” his attorney asked. “Did you hear me? You’ve got a twelve-year-old daughter.”

A daughter? From Janice? The enormity of the information stunned him. Nothing made sense. A child? Him? No wonder Sabrina had left the room.

“I heard you, Jack.” He’d heard, although he didn’t have a damn clue as to what he was going to do now.

“I don’t know what to say,” Cal told his attorney. He turned in his chair so he was facing the window, but he didn’t even see the view. Instead, images of Janice filled his mind. He remembered her as being of average height and pretty. They’d met while interning for the same oil-and-gas firm one summer. “Are you sure about this? Why didn’t she tell me she was pregnant?”

“Like I said, she was after money, not matrimony. I guess she knew about the trouble your parents had with Tracey and figured they would be willing to pay her off. One of the retired partners here at the firm prepared the paperwork, Cal. I’ve seen it. In fact, telling you this raises some issues regarding attorney-client privileges within the firm. But this is important enough that I’m willing to deal with any backlash. Janice was offered a sizable amount to keep quiet and stay away from you. If she hadn’t died unexpectedly, she wouldn’t have had to work again for life.”

Nothing made sense. Cal tried to pick a rooftop outside and focus on it, but the task was too difficult. Janice had gotten pregnant? She’d gone to his parents instead of him? She hadn’t wanted to get married, she’d just wanted the money?

“I don’t want to believe any of this,” he said, too stunned to be angry. “I tried to get in touch with her when I went back to college. She just disappeared. I thought she’d run off with someone else.”

A child. He couldn’t imagine that being real. That one of those long summer nights had resulted in a new life.

Jack cleared his throat. “Look, Cal, I’m your lawyer, not your conscience. You say the word and I’ll pretend this conversation never happened. You don’t know this kid from a rock and that doesn’t have to change. Let the aunt turn her over to the state. It’s probably better that way. The reports I have say she’s been having problems. Poor adjustment in her new school, falling grades, antisocial behavior. Do you really want that kind of mess right now? Face it, your life is pretty damned good. Why change that?”

Cal knew Jack was just trying to do his job—which was to make his most wealthy client’s life easier, however possible. Cal supposed there were many men who would simply walk away from this kind of information—he had a feeling he was going to wish he had. But he couldn’t.

“If she lost her parents less than a year ago, I’m not surprised she’s having trouble adjusting,” Cal said. “Everything’s been taken away from her. She’s living with an aunt who doesn’t want her. She probably knows she’s going to get thrown out any minute. These circumstances wouldn’t make anyone look like a poster child for mental health.”

“You’re right, of course,” Jack said. “I’m not the enemy here, I’m simply pointing out different options.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Cal said. “This is impossible for me to believe. I can’t help thinking I would have known if Janice was pregnant, but that, as Sabrina would gladly tell me, is male arrogance at its worst.”

“I understand. You’re going to need some time to think about this. The aunt will keep her about two more weeks, so no decisions have to made today. There are a lot of different ways to play this one. I suspect with a little financial encouragement, the aunt might be willing to keep her longer. If you want, I can look into boarding schools. Or, as I already mentioned, she can go into foster care. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

Cal felt as if he’d been blindsided by a tanker. He heard his attorney’s words and knew he had plenty to think about, but one thing was certain. “I’m not going to let her go to the state. If there’s proof she’s my daughter, then she’s my responsibility.”

“Oh, there’s proof. Your parents had her checked when she was born. She’s yours.”

That was all Cal had to know. He’d done a lot of things in his life that he wasn’t especially proud of, but he’d never walked away from his responsibilities. “I have a few things to take care of. Sabrina or I will be in touch in the next day or so with the particulars. In the meantime, call the aunt back and tell her I’ll be out to pick up my daughter before the end of the week.”