could hire a housekeeper...”
“So, now my house is dirty?” Her whispered words reflected her irritation as clearly as if she had shouted.
He glanced around the room at the assortment of toys that littered the obviously expensive furniture. However, despite the presence of a two-year-old, the pale blue print sofa and chair were surprisingly spotless. “Not dirty, exactly.”
“Perhaps you’d like to take a moment to get your foot out of your mouth.”
Ian rose and paced around the room. Shannon had been right. His communication skills were lacking, but only around her. Normally, he made his point without leaving room for argument.
She carefully slipped out from underneath the child and lovingly tucked a small crocheted blanket around her tiny body. “She doesn’t need nannies, cooks and housekeepers coming in and out of her life.” Shannon stormed into the kitchen.
Ian followed. “Then why don’t you tell me what the chi.. Chelsea needs.”
As she spun to face him, her full skirt swirled around her legs. “Time, Ian. She needs time and compassion and love from what little family she has left. Are you offering her your time in return for her shares in the company?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s not difficult to understand. You can deal with her now or when she’s an eighteen-year-old stranger you didn’t have the time or interest to know.”
“I don’t follow.”
“You want your precious company. Fine.” She leaned against the tile counter and folded her arms over her waist. Her full red lips curved upward in a challenging smile. “For the next twelve months you maintain a regular relationship with your sister. At the end of the year you can buy her shares in the company.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
“And if I refuse?”
She shook her head. “I’m not about to make a bunch of empty threats. That’s something you’ll have to fight out with Chelsea fifteen years from now. The only decision you have to make is how long you want to wait for Westervelt Properties.”
“And you believe that blackmailing me into visiting my sister is in her best interest.”
Shannon met his gaze without blinking. Despite the fact that he towered a full head above her, she didn’t show any sign of being intimidated. “First of all, I’m not blackmailing you, I’m bribing you. And secondly, the idea must have some merit, since that’s the first time you’ve referred to her as your sister.”
Ian bit back an angry retort. He still had the option of suing for control of Chelsea’s inheritance, but he had no guarantee he’d win. He didn’t like having his back against a wall. Shannon obviously knew how to manipulate a man She might present a better package, but was she really any different than her gold-digging sister?
“What’s in it for you?”
“Nothing.”
“Given your family history, I find that hard to believe.”
She arched her eyebrows. “And which history is that?”
“Your sister managed to get herself a substantial child support settlement. You mother married her wealthy patient less than a month after she began working as his private nurse.”
“You had my mother investigated, too?” She blinked and he noted an unmistakable sadness in her shimmering eyes. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time and money?”
“I never had any of you investigated. That was Wesley’s doing,” he said, too defensively for his own liking. Where had this feeling of guilt come from? He’d never felt compelled to explain his actions to anyone.
“Oh, your father. That paragon of family values who was seduced and outwitted by his twenty-five-year-old manicurist.”
“I never said he was blameless.”
“They’re both to blame but Chelsea is the only one who’s left to pay.” She pushed off the counter and walked to the Dutch door. “Why don’t you go back to the city and try to figure out what’s in it for me. I have a dirty house to clean right now.” She gestured toward the alcove where the pile of spaghetti stained the white tile floor.
“Listen, Shannon...”
She opened the screen door. “Just go. We’ve both said enough for today. It will only get nastier.”
She was throwing him out! He couldn’t believe it.
Perhaps he should leave. He needed distance. Something inside him responded to her Not in the obvious way, although in different circumstances, he probably would have been drawn to her cool, reserved beauty. She reached him on a different, more primitive level, bringing out the worst side of his nature. The part of him that reacted without thinking. She had the ability to disarm him and that made her a dangerous woman.
If her sister had possessed one-tenth of Shannon’s allure, he could understand how his father had lost his head. And, God help him, if he wasn’t careful, he could end up a casualty of the same fate.
Shannon watched from the front yard as Ian got in his sports car and drove away. When she turned to go back in the house, she saw Wendy sitting on her front stoop with a mischievous grin on her face.
“Now, that was a man!”
“You could have fooled me,” Shannon grumbled.
“Put on your glasses, girl. He’s gorgeous.”
“He’s also Chelsea’s brother.”
Wendy crossed the lawn and met her at the picket fence. “So that’s the mysterious Ian. No wonder you haven’t wanted to talk about him. You’re keeping him all to yourself.”
“You’re a happily married mother of three.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m dead.”
Shannon let out a puff of air. “That man isn’t interested in any kind of long-term relationships.”
“Who cares? That’s the kind of man you have fun with. You don’t have to marry him.”
“I don’t have fun with men.”
“That’s because you don’t have one like him.” Wendy sent her a sly wink. “If you’re not interested, send him over here. I’ll play house with him.”
Shannon pressed her hand to her chest and feigned shock. “You’re destroying my illusions of the demure suburban housewife.”
“I know. You thought we sat around all day watching soap operas and swapping cake recipes while you career women got to eat power lunches and live out all your carnal fantasies.”
“I
