Meredith said. “Whether I had an abortion, whether I had the baby and put it up for adoption, all of it. And you can take your offer of money with you. I’m afraid I still can’t be bought.” Meredith stood up.
Myrna rose from her chair looking nervous and shaken. “Everyone has a price,” she said. “Even you.”
“Oh, that’s true enough,” Meredith agreed. “But then, you know what my price is, don’t you?”
The older woman started to speak, but Meredith opened the door in a way that was more than a suggestion that she leave.
Myrna stopped in the doorway. “Your male visitor was very formidable, wasn’t he?” she asked. “Are you living with him?”
Meredith couldn’t find an answer fast enough. Myrna smiled venomously. “I’m sure Cy will be interested to hear that he’s been replaced in your affections. Good day.”
There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do, that would stop Myrna from taking news of Mr. Smith’s visit home to Cy. Not that she cared, really, she told herself. It would only fortify his opinion of her. Probably he couldn’t have a worse one. He’d accused her of being unfaithful many times, not just with Tony. Myrna Harden had said she was sleeping with Tony, and Tony had been paid not to deny it. Cy had thought of her as a tramp. She had no reason to suppose his attitude had changed over the years.
She went to work, and fortunately it was a busy day. She didn’t have to think. But dinner brought Cy back for the second night in a row, and his whole posture spelled trouble.
“May I get you something to drink?” she asked politely with carefully schooled features and a blank smile.
Cy’s dark eyes stared back at her from a face like a wall. “Who was the man your neighbor saw leaving your house early this morning?”
“It wasn’t a neighbor,” she replied carelessly. “It was your mother.”
He scowled. Apparently Myrna hadn’t shared her visit with him. Meredith smiled.
“Didn’t she tell you she came to see me? Pity. She offered me ten thousand dollars to leave town.”
“That’s a lie,” he said coldly.
She shrugged. “Okay. What would you like to eat?”
His face hardened. “My mother doesn’t need to pay you to leave town. I can get rid of you whenever I like.”
“Can you really?” she asked with genuine interest. “It would be fascinating to watch you try.”
“You don’t believe it?” His smile was calculating. “For instance, I could buy the mortgage on your aunt’s house and foreclose.”
“The house doesn’t have a mortgage,” she said easily. And it didn’t. Henry had paid it off, anonymously, through a Realty company in Illinois.
Cy was surprised. Something niggled at the back of his mind for just an instant before he dismissed it. “I could fire you.”
“I can get another job,” she said. “Even you can’t control quite every business in Billings. I seem to remember that you used to have enemies. I could go to one of them for work.”
His eyes flashed. “Try it.”
“Why don’t you ask your mother why she wants me to leave?” she asked quietly.
“I know why. She thinks you’ll worm your way into my life again and leave me bleeding, like you did years ago.”
She laughed softly. “You don’t bleed,” she said huskily. “If you did, it would be pure gold, or silver.”
“You cheated on me and helped another man steal from me. You’re the one who might bleed money, not me.”
“Think so?” The pain and anguish of the past contorted her features, made her eyes darker. “What you and your mother did to me didn’t count?”
“We did nothing to you,” he said tersely. “Although we could have. I could have sent you to prison for that theft.”
She shook her head. “Because a good attorney would have cut Tony to pieces on the witness stand. Where is the dear boy now?”
“I don’t know,” he said coldly.
“Don’t know, and don’t care.” She nodded. “Well, that’s too bad. I liked Tony, despite what he and your mother did to my life.”
“My mother did nothing to you!”
Her gaze was level and unflinching. “Nothing?” She leaned forward. “Ask her. I dare you. Ask her why I’m here, why I won’t leave. Ask her for the truth.”
His eyes glittered. “I know the truth. Don’t push me. You’re only here on sufferance.” He threw down his napkin and got up, towering over her. “You won’t find me as vulnerable this time.”
“The reverse is also true,” she said quietly. “And you can tell your mother that my price is now beyond her pocket.”
“Careful, honey,” he said softly. “You’re on my home ground now, and I fight to win.”
“Then you’d better start polishing your sword, big man,” she replied. “Because this time you’re going to have to make the first cut count. Have a nice evening.”
She turned and walked over to the next table without batting an eyelash.
CHAPTER FIVE
MYRNA HARDEN ATE NOTHING that evening. Her interview with Meredith hadn’t gone at all the way she’d planned it. She hadn’t wanted to make threats, but the younger woman had frightened her. This wasn’t the shy young girl who’d once cringed at her cold tone, who’d been beaten and sent packing. No. This new Meredith was an unknown quantity, and when Myrna hadn’t been able to ruffle her composure, she’d said things she never meant to say.
She’d wanted to tell Meredith how desperately she’d searched for her, how upset she’d been at her own irrational actions. She hadn’t wanted to leave a young, pregnant girl at the mercy of a heartless world, and when Meredith had sent back the small wad of bills she’d given her, along with all the expensive things Cy had tried to give her, she was even more afraid. Meredith’s people wouldn’t have had much to give her. The young girl, alone and pregnant in a large city, would have been at the mercy of any stranger who wanted to hurt her.
Shocked and horrified at what she’d done, Myrna had hired private detectives, unbeknownst to Cy, in a furious attempt to track Meredith down and provide for her. The thought of her own grandchild being aborted or put up for adoptions by strangers had haunted her for years. Her best efforts hadn’t produced one scrap of evidence that would point to Meredith’s whereabouts. The girl might have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Myrna gave up trying to eat and pushed the plate away. She was alone tonight, as she frequently was. Cy had business, he’d said. Even his attitude had changed over the years. He was no longer the loving, considerate son he’d once been. Meredith’s departure had
