Nicola Marsh - Inherited - Baby

Rich, pampered, spoiled? Joe had hardly looked at Chas since his birth and, as for Riley marching in here like some do-gooder bestowing benevolence on a charity case, she had news for him.

‘Well, yes,’he said, thrusting his hands in his pockets as if reaching for a cheque book there and then.

Suddenly, a sinister thought flashed through her head. What if Riley’s newfound interest in Chas was because he wanted to take her precious son away? He had the money, the connections and the power. Perhaps this whole thing tonight was about buying her off, trying to see how she’d react?

Maybe it was her suspicions, the soul-destroying fatigue of the day, the drama of the last week or the simmering guilt about Joe’s death but whatever pushed her buttons, she drew back her shoulders and tilted her head up.

‘You know what you can do with your financial support?’

He didn’t move—more of that annoying pity in his eyes, the final flame to her kindling temper.

‘See this?’ She tugged on the hem of his soft, expensive cashmere jumper. ‘You can take your offer and stuff it up there.’

For a moment, she saw something that didn’t look like pity on his face. Maya turned away before she did something even more out of character—like shove him out the door.

‘Look, I’ve made a mess of this—’

‘Just go,’ she said, stalking from the kitchen, trying to look as dignified as a fluffy pink robe and matching slippers with Princess embroidered in silver spangles would allow.

‘Maya, I—’

‘Go!’

She stormed into her bedroom, several seconds passing before the soft click of the front door and the ensuing silence signalled Riley’s welcome departure. Sighing, she closed her eyes and sank on to the bed.

She’d had enough of Bourke men to last her a lifetime.

RILEY STRODE DOWN the long corridor to his office, grunting responses to anyone brave enough to greet him. He refused to make eye contact with his staff, knowing the first unfortunate person to do so would cop an unnecessary barrage.

To say he was in a bad mood was like saying Melbourne was the sports capital of Australia—the understatement of the year.

‘Good, you’re here,’ he said, sending a brief nod at Matt Byrne as he stomped into his office, dropping his briefcase next to his desk and flinging his coat on the back of his leather chair.

‘Good morning to you too,’ Matt said, sliding the papers he’d been reading into a folder and taking a sip from a take-out coffee cup. ‘There’s an espresso for you. Though by the look on your face, maybe I should’ve dumped a ton of sugar into it. You look like you could use a bit of sweetening up.’

Riley ignored him, took a huge comforting swallow of lukewarm coffee and grimaced.

‘That bad, huh?’

‘Not the coffee; that’s fine. It’s my disposition that’s the problem.’

‘Disposition? A big word for this time of the morning.’ Matt smiled, his customary wry grin indicating he had all the patience in the world to hear what one of his biggest clients had to say.

Riley genuinely liked Matt, appreciated his wisdom, and he’d used him as a sounding board on several occasions—though he often wondered if the lawyer would be as generous with his time if he wasn’t on such a huge retainer. Probably not, but Riley didn’t need to think about that right now. He was in a bad enough mood as it was, no use fuelling it.

‘Don’t push your luck, Byrne.’

Matt’s smile broadened but Riley saw the flicker of concern in the other man’s eyes. ‘I’ve never seen you like this. Focused on business, yeah. Cool in a crisis, yeah. Level-headed, driven, serious, yeah. Sour face, uh-uh. So what’s up?’

I botched up with Maya. Big time.

Even now, twelve hours later, he cringed, wondering how he’d made such a mess of things. Stopping by the apartment had been a spur of the moment impulse and he’d driven around the block three times before deciding a quick pop-in to check on her and Chas wouldn’t be inappropriate.

And he’d been damned glad he had when she’d opened the door, huge green eyes standing out in her pale face, eyes ringed by dark circles of fatigue, her lush mouth drooping at the corners. She’d looked so helpless, so exhausted, a woman on the edge.

Not that he’d helped. He’d blundered around, firing questions at her, not articulating half of what he wanted and alienating her in the process. Before he’d really put his foot in it and she’d told him to stick his support up his jumper, booting him out the door faster than he could say, Hear me out.

‘Earth to Riley? I said what’s up?’

Riley shook his head and stuck a finger between his shirt collar and neck, loosening his tie knot and resisting the urge to rip it off completely.

‘I went to see Maya and Chas last night. It didn’t go so well.’

‘How so?’

‘She kicked me out.’

Matt’s lips twitched and Riley sent him a frown. As far as he could see, there was nothing remotely funny about the situation.

‘Did she have good reason?’

Riley shrugged, clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his director’s chair.

‘I’m concerned about Chas. He’s my nephew and I want to make sure he wants for nothing.’

Matt’s budding grin broke through. ‘Let me guess. You offered her money?’

‘Of course. What else could I do? I want to help and she basically told me where I could stick it.’

‘How well do you know Maya?’

‘Not very well; guess that’s part of the problem. I need to know more about the woman raising my nephew, to see what kind of mother she is. Ever since she hooked up with Joe, I’ve heard the rumours. Gold digger sinks her claws into rich guy, moves in and gets pregnant to hang on to him. A part of me believed them.’

‘And now?’

An image of Maya’s wan face, the fatigue lines ringing her mouth, the dark circles under her expressive eyes flashed into his mind, closely followed by the fierce way she’d bristled at his offer of money.

He hadn’t made it as Melbourne’s best stockbroker without being able to read people and, though he’d initially thought the worst of Maya, he’d bet his portfolio she’d fallen for his glib brother out of love rather than money.

‘She seems genuine enough. Time will tell.’

Matt snapped his fingers. ‘Now that’s the guy I know. Give the opposition a bit of leeway, reserve judgement, then pull the rug out from under them.’

‘It’s not like that,’ Riley said, though logic told him otherwise.

He didn’t trust easily. But Joe’s death had given him a wake up call. He travelled constantly or was chained to his desk, was most comfortable brokering deals on the Stock Exchange. He’d never had much time for family and though he’d loved Joe, he’d taken the easy option by throwing money at him. Maybe if he’d listened more, had seen that Joe had real problems, his brother would still be here.

The least he could do was be a part of Chas’s life to make up for not being there for his father.

‘Anyway, how about you tell me what you found out about Joe’s will?’

That wiped the smile off Matt’s face in record time. ‘If you’re in a bad mood, what I have to say isn’t going to improve it.’

‘Just give it to me straight,’ Riley said, assuming the worst considering Joe’s lousy money skills.

‘Your brother has nothing. In fact, he has substantial debts outstanding to several major creditors.’ Matt paused and Riley didn’t like the quick look-away. For the stand-up, look-you-straight-in-the-eye type of guy Matt was, it looked like worse was to come.

‘And?’

‘The apartment wasn’t his, he has no real estate holdings and there was no provision for Maya or Chas.’