“Most people do grow up, Jed,” she said finally, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “You certainly have.”
“It’s really good to see you again, Rae.” Smiling, Jed took two steps toward her. Instantly alert, the dogs growled a warning at him. He stepped back against the boxwoods again.
“The old place hasn’t changed much,” he commented in a very dry voice.
Rae smiled politely to cover her amusement at his casual attitude. “Oh, a few things have.”
“I see someone is still stuck with the job of trimming the holly trees,” he added.
“Not as nicely as you did,” she assured him. “You should have come up to the house, Jed.”
“I just thought I’d take a look around first.”
“Not a very smart thing to do.”
“I guess not,” he drawled, then pointed to the dogs who growled again. “How do you turn these two off?”
Rae grinned. “You don’t ‘turn off’ Great Danes, Jed, you just hope for the best.”
“Then let’s hope for the best, shall we?”
She shrugged. “Heel!”
Without a glance at their prey, the dogs rose and circled around until they stood next to her. They butted their heads against her thighs in search of affection. Rae absently fondled Samson’s ears, then Delilah’s, as she watched Jed walk toward her.
He scowled at the dogs as they settled back on their haunches. “What the hell do you feed them, anyway? A side of beef laced with megavitamins?”
“Seems like it sometimes,” she said with a chuckle. “Actually, they’re just healthy.”
“A Doberman is healthy, Rae. These two are the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the dog kingdom.”
“Well, you won’t have to deal with them much longer—”
“Are they going on a doggie break?” he asked hopefully.
She burst into laughter. Jed gave the dogs a last look of disgust, then grinned at her. She managed to subdue her mirth enough to say, “What I meant was, you’ll have to leave now.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I will?”
“Much as I would like to visit with you, I have a broken water line to fix—”
“I wondered where the mud came from.”
“And I have to get back to it,” she finished. She refused to apologize for her appearance. Rather,
she congratulated herself on her poise. It was evident that Jed had been trying to throw her off balance with casual conversation, before broaching the subject of the estate.
“Actually, Rae, I came to see Merriman.”
She stared at him in confusion. “Merriman?”
“Yes. Merriman.”
He wasn’t making any sense, she thought. When her uncle had informed Atlantic that the estate was no longer for sale, surely he’d also told them …
“You came to see Uncle Merry?” she asked carefully, interrupting her own thoughts.
Jed frowned, suddenly looking like the boy she remembered. “Your uncle, yes. Look, Rae, I’ll be honest. Merriman agreed to sell the estate to the company I work for, Atlantic Developers—”
“I know that,” she broke in. “But why …” Her voice trailed off, when a horrible thought occurred. “Oh, my God! He did send back the money, didn’t he?”
“Obviously, you do know something about it,” he said. “The company refused the return of the down payment. We negotiated in good faith, and Merriman signed the agreement of sale. We expect him to honor that agreement, Rae. Much as I like him, someone’s got to talk some sense into him. He can’t just go around signing agreements and backing out—”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” she muttered out loud, realizing that someone had slipped up somewhere. If Jed was intent on seeing her uncle, as he obviously was, then that meant he and Atlantic Developers didn’t know about the estate’s recent change of ownership. She took a sure guess
at who had neglected to tell them. Just as he had neglected to tell her Atlantic had refused to take back their down payment. “That dirty, miserable, sneaky old … coot!”
At her angry outburst, the dogs growled menacingly. Jed just raised his eyebrows and waited for an explanation.
“My uncle,” she pronounced in a disgusted tone, more than willing to trade years of love for the opportunity to strangle him, “has not only renounced all worldly pleasures, he’s also renounced his last hold on his sanity! The damn fool never told me Atlantic refused the down payment before he left—”
“What!”
“And he obviously didn’t tell Atlantic that the reason he changed his-mind on the sale was because he deeded the estate to me.”
Jed staggered backward, as if someone had thrown him a right to the chin. His eyes widened in disbelief.
Rae nodded her head.
“Two days ago, Uncle Merry ‘retired’ into a monastery. I own the estate now.”
“A
monastery
!”
A thousand questions and demands ran through Jed’s brain. He tried to sort them into some semblance of order.
“A monastery!”
Rae nodded again. “Not any old monastery, mind you. One that’s somewhere in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal. He’s totally inaccessible, and I bet he planned it that way.”
“Nepal!” he shouted, waving his hands in the air. He immediately realized yelling was useless, and forced himself to calm down. “I don’t believe it.”
“Neither do I,” she agreed, shaking her head. “This place was supposed to be free and clear. Wait until I get a hold of Uncle Merry—”
“You own the estate!” he exclaimed in dawning realization. He was still confused and shocked by Merriman’s vanishing act, and Rae’s words were
just beginning to sink in. “That’s impossible. We had an agreement of sale with your uncle. It’s still valid.”
“I doubt it,” she said.
“But he couldn’t have sold it to you. Not with the agreement of sale as an outstanding lien against the property!”
Rae smiled. “But he didn’t sell it to me, Jed. He deeded it to me. As a gift.”
“A gift!” he shouted. He didn’t even bother to try and calm himself this time. “Who the hell gives away a two-million-dollar estate as a damn gift?”
“Uncle Merry,” she replied calmly. “Although I feel as if I’ve been given a Trojan horse.”
“Then give it back.” Jed ground his teeth together at the thought of what Atlantic’s president would say when he told him their reluctant seller was in a monastery in Nepal. This was the damnedest stunt Merriman had ever pulled …
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly give it back,” Rae said sweetly, breaking in on his thoughts. “Uncle Merry wanted me to have it.”
He glared at her. “Well, he had no legal right to deed it to you. Any court will uphold the agreement of sale, and I have to tell you, Rae, Atlantic will sue. The company has put a good deal of time and money into the plans for the marina complex. I’m sure you’d like to avoid spending years in litigation with the company—”
“But why would Atlantic sue me?” she asked, a very innocent look in her eyes. “Your problem is with Uncle Merry. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you and your company took him all the way
to the Supreme Court. Really, you should. I love my uncle very much, but he pulled a dirty trick on you by not completely clearing up the agreement of sale before he deeded the place to me. I suggest you call his lawyers and inform them of the problem. I have no idea why they didn’t inform your company of the situation in the first place.” Shaking her head, she began to walk down the maze corridor. “Negligent of them, I must say.”
He reached out and took her wrist to stop her. Instantly two sets of canine teeth closed gently around his arm. He looked down to discover Samson and Delilah gazing up at him almost gleefully. He let go of Rae, and the dogs let go of him. He smiled at her. “Be sensible, Rae, and realize that if Atlantic has to sue Merriman, you’re sure to be named a co-defendant. Probably, a judge will order you to vacate the property while a decision is being reached. Neither of us really wants to make a bunch of lawyers rich over this—”
Anger flashed in her green-gray eyes, and he found himself momentarily forgetting all thoughts of lawsuits and lawyers. She had the most beautiful eyes, he decided absently.
“I told you, Jed. I’m very sympathetic, but I’m not involved in your company’s dispute with my uncle. Call his lawyers. Uncle Merry can well afford to pay any settlement your company asks, especially now that he’s given up his Dom Pérignon and beluga caviar. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a broken water line to fix.”
She turned and walked away, the dogs pacing beside her. Jed caught up to them and fell into step next to her.
“Nice try, Rae,” he chided, as they retraced their way through the maze. “But you’ve got to be as crazy as Merriman, if you think you’re not involved in this. The deed is now in your name. Probably illegally.”
She gave him an appraising glance. “Personally, I think the only crazy one in this is you, Jed. How could you have been a part of a plan to plow the house under and replace it with hideous condos?”
“Very nice condominiums that would be in keeping with the gracious setting,” he corrected, ignoring the face she made. “It’s my job, Rae. And Atlantic planned to turn the mansion into a clubhouse for the complex.”
“A clubhouse!” She shuddered. “Now I’ve heard everything. Atlantic wants to turn a piece of history into a clubhouse. And you would have let them …”
“Atlantic will see to it that the house retains its character,” he told her in a cold tone. “Merriman insisted on that, and I would have too. This estate sits next to deep water, north of riverbank industries and Philly’s busy shipping traffic. It’s the most ideal spot for twenty miles to put up a marina and condo complex.”
They emerged from the maze, and Rae pointed to an enormous shade tree about one hundred yards away on the front lawn. Its leaves were in full fall technicolor. “See that oak? When I was eight years old, I fell out of that tree and broke my arm.”
“I remember,” Jed said. “It happened the first summer I worked for my father.”
“Then remember this. From the time I was five,
I spent every summer here with Uncle Merry. I learned to sail in that deep water you’re so hepped up about. I slept in the same bed used by seven senators, ten congressmen, and three presidents. I learned to play the harp in the drawing room. I read the library’s signed copies of
Poor Richard’s Almanac
and
Sons and Lovers
. And I had my backside tanned for clipping off all the rose blossoms because I was playing Morticia Addams. I love this estate exactly the way it is, and I love the old man who let me be myself here.” Her voice broke, and Jed felt an odd protectiveness wash through him. She drew a deep breath in an obvious attempt to control her emotions. “There’s more than local heritage here. There’s a personal one. Believe me, Jed. The last thing your company wants to do is drag me into their dispute with my uncle. The very last thing. Samson! Delilah! See the gentleman to the front gate!”
Without another word, Rachel Barkeley turned and disappeared back into the maze.
As he watched her go, Jed was tempted to give her beautiful backside another tanning. He owed her one. After all, she’d tried to blame
him
for lopping off all the roses. A helpless chuckle escaped him at the memory. That little witch hadn’t changed at all. She was still feisty as hell, and still acting the innocent.
His amusement subsided when he remembered the mess Merriman had created over the estate. Obviously, Rae intended to fight a multimillion-dollar corporation, if she had to. He decided he’d have to do something to stop her. This wasn’t Rachel Barkeley’s fight.
He looked down at the dogs, who were waiting to see in which direction he moved.
“Let’s go, guys,” he said, beginning the long walk across the lawn to the front gate.
The dogs trailed behind him, clearly disappointed.
Rae was still muttering curses under her breath, when she reached the herb garden behind the house. The garden was planted in a fleur-de-lis pattern, and there was a white wooden gazebo at the bottom point. It was usually a beautiful sight year round, but mud created by the leaking irrigation line had been tracked throughout the planting bed and grass walkway of one section, ruining the effect.
“I have managed to cut off the water to this area, Miss Rachel,” said a small man, as he looked up from the hole she’d dug earlier. His formal British accent was still strong, despite many years spent in the States.
“Thanks, Burrows,” she said, and drew on a pair of filthy work gloves. She eyed her uncle’s butler sourly, noting the spotless vinyl apron that covered his equally immaculate black suit. Even his “Wellies” were relatively mud-free. She’d never seen Burrows truly dirty and most likely never would. Knowing Burrows, he probably dipped himself in Scotchgard stain repeller every morning. “Have you called the plumbers? And if you tell me one more time that I’m too old to be digging in the dirt, I’ll bean you with the shovel.”
“Yes, miss, and the plumber shall arrive shortly.”
“Which means next week,” she muttered, wondering
how the day could possibly get worse. Don’t even consider it, she told herself. It might just happen.
She picked up a shovel and began clearing away more mud. Originally, she’d started the hole in order to assess the damage to the water line, but now she was grateful for the hard physical work. She didn’t want to think about her confrontation with Jed.
Unfortunately, the matter was taken out of her hands when Burrows said, “This section of the garden will have to be replanted. It is a shame Mr. Waters, Senior, retired to Florida. He was very knowledgeable. I’m afraid the new lawn service is incapable of doing more than trimming bushes and mowing lawns.”
Rae straightened and smiled bitterly. “Well, you just missed Mr. Waters, Junior, Burrows. He’s got quite an idea about what to do with the garden.”
“I have been expecting him, miss.”
She stared at him. “You have?”
The butler nodded. “If I may say so, miss, Mr. Merriman was very foolish over the sale of his home. Naturally, young Mr. Waters would return to discuss the matter with him when all other avenues of communication have failed.”
“Well, why didn’t you tell Uncle Merry he was being foolish?”
The butler straightened to his full height. He wasn’t very tall, but to the uninitiated, Burrows somehow always managed to project intimidation in spite of his size. “It wasn’t my place to do so, miss.”