anyhow? Why couldn’t the lawyer simply have called her and told her whatever was so important? Garrett didn’t appear even to have considered the fact that she might have to work, or have plans of her own.
In fact, both were true. She had the day off from her job as a teller at a local bank, although she did have to work this evening at the restaurant where she was a waitress. But she had planned to work today anyhow, in another sense.
Two days ago, she’d received a call from the agent who had approached her about doing a book on the history of hats after she’d given a lecture at a local college’s textiles fair. The man had an editor at a New York publishing house who was very interested in seeing her ideas for the book.
The phone call had left her buoyant and giddy, although frustrated and apprehensive at the same time. She’d been thinking about the project ever since—and that’s about as far as she’d gotten.
It drove her crazy that she had so little time for anything other than simply making ends meet. Since her mother’s death three years ago shortly after Ana’s twentieth birthday, there had been more bills to pay and less time for designing the line of hats and handbags she’d started. Almost none, in fact.
Her accessories currently were sold at two exclusive boutiques in the Baltimore area and both retailers had told her they could sell anything she could give them. Some days her fingers itched for a pencil and a sketchpad when she was struck by yet another idea or theme for her unique creations. Invariably she was in the car on the way to work, or counting money, or carrying plates of food to a table when it happened. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but she was determined to find more time to design and sew. If she had the smallest hope of becoming a serious artisan, even making a living from her work, she had to produce more. Acquire wider recognition.
Publishing a book would certainly help with that goal if she could find the time to fit it in.
She could have worked this morning. And yet, here she was, stuck in an office with a man who couldn’t stand her. The feeling was rapidly becoming mutual.
He strode toward the door before she moved to open it, yanking it wide. “Come in. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Irked by his inference, she made a show of checking her watch. “Goodness. You’re early, too. Here I thought I’d be the one cooling my heels.”
If she’d managed to irritate him, he didn’t show it. “Follow me. They’ve reserved a conference room for us.” Without waiting for her answer, he turned and swiftly moved off through the suite of offices, leaving her to follow or be hopelessly lost in the rabbit warren of corridors through which they passed. Feeling rebellious, Ana stuck out her tongue at his broad back as she hurried along behind him. Immediately she felt the urge to giggle. She’d been mocking Garrett Holden!
She would have known his name even if he hadn’t been her father’s stepson. He was extraordinarily wealthy, reputed to have parlayed a small stock market windfall into the immense assets he held today. In accordance with Americans’ vulgar fascination with piles of money, he often made the pages of both gossipy newsmagazines as well as more serious financial tomes. His name had been linked to some very high-profile ladies from the entertainment world as well as the young women whose families inhabited the rarified world in which he lived, but there had never been one who lasted more than a few months, according to Robin.
“He’s never confided in me,” Robin had said to her once, “but he wasn’t always so cynical about relationships. I suspect the change might have stemmed from a bad experience with a woman who wanted his money. It’s amazing what a whiff of wealth will do to supposedly decent people.”
Now that she’d met him, she couldn’t imagine a woman actually wanting to spend time with Grumpy Garrett on a regular basis. She’d rather be boiled in oil.
Two
They settled into two stately leather chairs before Mr. Marrow’s desk. The lawyer peered over the top of reading glasses at them after examining Ana’s driver’s license and being satisfied that she really was who she’d said she was.
“Robin’s wishes were a bit…unusual,” the man began.
“In what way?” Garrett clearly was used to being the one to direct things.
“Perhaps Mr. Marrow will tell us if you don’t interrupt him,” she said sweetly. When Garrett sent her a seething glance, she smiled at him, determined to show him his antagonism didn’t unsettle her in the least.
The lawyer cleared his throat. “I’ll dispense with the legalese and explain this in plain English. The disposition of Mr. Robin Underwood’s assets is as follows: To Garrett Wilbur Holden, Robin gives all his worldly goods, possessions and monies with the exception of those specifically designated in this will.”
Wilbur? His middle name was Wilbur? She smothered a bubble of hysterical laughter that threatened to pop right out of her. At her side, Garrett’s elegantly clad foot stopped the ceaseless tapping motion it had been making since he’d sat down. She supposed what he’d just heard had reassured him that she wasn’t going to get any breathtaking bequest that would threaten his inheritance. Although why Garrett Holden needed to worry about inheriting money was beyond her. Though she was a pragmatic person who accepted the way fate had shaped her life, she couldn’t help but think of the difference that even a small amount of money could have made to her.
Her attention returned to Marrow as he plowed on with his explanations. “To Ana Janette Birch, Robin gives one half of the property known as Eden Cottage on Snowflake Lake in the state of Maine, in the county of—”
“What?” Garrett sprang to his feet, his tone outraged. “What kind of crazy bequest is that? It makes no sense. Why would Robin give her half the cottage?”
She sat up straighter in her chair, equally astonished at the gift. A cottage?
Mr. Marrow held up one finger for silence. “Additionally, Ana is to receive a sum commensurate with the total of her rent and utility bills for the Baltimore home as well as a living allowance for the thirty-one-day period immediately after her residence in Snowflake Cottage is established.”
“What?” Now it was her turn to interrupt the man. She lived in Baltimore!
“To Garrett, Robin bequeaths the other half of Eden Cottage. There is, however, a condition attached to the transfer of ownership to each of you. If each person named herein is unmarried, for a thirty-one-day period beginning no later than one week from the reading of this will, Ana Birch and Garrett Holden are to cohabitate at the cottage.” The man’s prim voice and stuffy language gave the word “cohabitate” overtones that echoed uncomfortably through the spacious office.
There was a dead silence in its wake. A tense silence.
“I hope this is Robin’s idea of a joke,” Garrett finally said, and there was a restrained fury in his tone that made Ana want to move her chair to the far side of the room. “He can’t have been serious. Why in God’s name would he want Ana and me to live together?” He turned to face her. “It’s unenforceable. This can’t be legal.”
“I’m afraid he was deadly serious and it is fully legal, unless you married previous to the reading of this document,” Marrow said. “You did not. Nor did Miss Birch. My job was to ensure that. If either of you should refuse to comply with the requests contained in the document, you both will lose the property and it will be sold, proceeds to benefit
