The security guard at her father’s building looked askance as she entered with the dog in her arms, but she’d given him a nice Christmas gift, so he was inclined to look the other way. She took the elevator to the fourth floor and braced for what was likely to be a very unpleasant conversation.
The offices of Baines & Baines were small and humble, only a couple of rooms. Theirs wasn’t the kind of business that got a lot of foot traffic, so there was no need for anything fancy.
Lowell sat at one of the two desks in the front office he used to share with Shirley. It appeared he’d tidied up the place while Sydney was gone, which was a small miracle. He hadn’t so much as opened a file drawer in months.
He turned to her with a big dirt-eating grin. “There’s my star-Holy cow, what have you got there?”
“Um, a dog?”
“I thought you were afraid of dogs.”
“I’m not a dog person,” she corrected him. “This is a puppy, though.”
“Yeah, but it’ll grow into a dog. Where’d it come from?”
“I just bought her. It’s all part of my new campaign.”
“You mean, like advertising?” Lowell asked, obviously confused. “Hey, having a bloodhound as our logo could work. Maybe we could do a TV commercial! We’ll have the money to do more promotion now.”
“Um, yeah. Dad, we need to talk.” She set Blossom on the floor and opened the bag of food. She hadn’t purchased any food bowls, so she put some kibble in an empty coffee cup and set it on the floor. The puppy promptly tipped the mug over, spilling food everywhere, and started snuffling it up.
“You don’t look like a woman who just earned herself a million dollars.”
“Like I said on the phone, you don’t quite have all the facts.” She walked over to the other desk, swiveled the chair around and sat, weary to the bone. “I did find the Oberlin heir. It was a complete accident and I wasn’t sure I was right, so I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
“But you found him, right? This Russell Klein?”
Sydney sighed. “Yeah. He’s the one. But I don’t have a signed contract. He did sign a contract, but then I got mad at him and tore it up.”
Lowell’s jaw dropped. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“No. You did not raise a brilliant daughter. You raised an idiot.”
“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me…this is the guy?
“’Fraid so. But he accused me of lying and betraying him when I’d gone out of my way to be understanding about his situation.”
“What exactly is his situation?” Lowell wanted to know.
So she told him about Russ’s childhood and Winnie and how he’d built a really happy life down in Texas and didn’t want to wreck it. “But then he realized it was dumb not to accept the money and he did it. He did it for me, because he knew how badly we needed this commission.”
“Honey, you did him a favor. Not the other way around.”
She’d figured Lowell wouldn’t understand. Sydney herself had struggled to comprehend why Russ had refused the money. It was only when she spent time in Linhart and experienced the charms of small-town life herself-and met Winnie-that she’d started to understand.
“At any rate, he asked me not to tell anyone I’d found the Oberlin heir until he’d talked to his mother and explained he was putting the money into a trust. And, of course, I agreed; no harm in that. But somehow the media found out.”
“And he thought you were responsible?” Lowell asked, managing to muster up some righteous indignation of his own. “He called you a liar?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“I got news for that deluded young man. He might be trying to protect his mama, but she’s the one who alerted the media.”
That caught Sydney up short. “Winnie Klein? Are you sure?”
“I saw her on CNN. Nice-lookin’ gal with big blond hair and a bust measurement about the same as her IQ?”
“Dad, that’s not very nice.” Sydney felt compelled to defend Winnie. “She must not be too dumb, because she sure put two and two together.” And Sydney wished she could be there when Russ found out.
“So you’re telling me there’s no million-dollar commission?” Lowell said, finally grasping the most significant point of this conversation.
She nodded miserably. “I let my pride get in the way of common sense. Sorry, Dad.”
He reached over and squeezed her knee. “That’s okay, darlin’. I’m still proud of you. I wish you’d come work with me full-time. As a partner, a full partner.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“You’re every inch your mother. You know, sometimes she refused a commission when she thought the client needed it more than us. Nothing wrong with letting your emotions rule once in a while.”
Sydney expelled a long breath of air. “We’re going to have to declare bankruptcy.”
Lowell winced. “Guess I saw that coming.”
Chapter Sixteen
Russ somehow managed to get through the day. He got the hunting party outfitted in all the latest gear, garnering a nice profit. Of course, he wouldn’t have to worry about how profitable the store was if he accepted the ten million bucks.
Around noon the reporters gave up on him. They’d shot a few photos of him, but when he refused to be interviewed, they’d wandered off to greener stories.
For the remainder of the afternoon, the store was besieged by a string of customers who’d come in pretending to shop so they could gawk at him-or to offer sincere congratulations, because of course most normal people would see a windfall like this as good fortune. In fact, Russ was probably the only person in the world who saw it as a curse.
Sydney had brought a curse down on him, that was all there was to it. But whatever anger he’d felt toward her had dissipated during the day. He kept thinking about how she’d torn up the contract. If her only motive was money, she would never have done that. He couldn’t escape the niggling doubt that he’d somehow gotten it all wrong.
But Sydney
Bert had been fielding calls all day on his cell phone. He and his network of gossipers had kept the airwaves humming, though Bert was doing his best to quell the worst of the rumors.
Late in the afternoon, he hung up from a call looking troubled. “That was Eleanor Ivans. She said Winnie’s been up and down Main Street shopping, and she just bought a diamond necklace.”
“What?” Russ cursed softly. He’d wanted to wait until some of Winnie’s giddy excitement had worn off before sitting her down and forcing her to believe him when he said he wasn’t taking the money. But he couldn’t wait if she was running up her credit cards.
He shoved his sleeves into his jacket. “I’ll be back.”
“Dang, I’d like to be a fly on the wall for this conversation,” Bert said unhelpfully.
Russ found Winnie still in Stover’s Fine Jewelry. She smiled a greeting, but her smile faded when Russ scowled at her. She was wearing the necklace, which was so heavy with diamonds he was surprised she could stand up straight.
“Mom, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Just a little shopping. I haven’t had any sparklies since I sold the ones Sammy gave me and I didn’t think you’d mind.”
