His Convenient Virgin Bride

“Could the police really extradite him from Spain?” asked Royce.

Damien gave a little half smile. “Technically, yes. Practically…It’s hard to say. But if you’re Norman Stanton, do you take that chance?”

“We’ve got him trapped in a standoff,” Alec clarified. “He talks to Stephanie, we press charges.”

“A smart man takes the money and runs.” Jared nodded.

“Any chance we can get the money back?” asked Amber. Then she glanced around at the blank faces. “We’re talking about twelve million dollars here.”

“I can look into it,” said Damien. “But he’ll have spent a lot of it already.”

Royce shook his head. “I’m done. Stephanie’s the important thing. I say if he walks away, we walk away.”

Melissa’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me? Twelve million dollars?” She glanced to Jared, and it was obvious the sum was news to her.

“Paid out over at least ten years,” Jared told his wife.

“It was Grandpa Benteen and McQuestin,” Amber elaborated. “They didn’t know how else to-” She stopped, suddenly casting a guilty glance to Jared, obviously realizing Melissa might not know about Stephanie’s illegitimacy.

“We have another problem,” Alec told the gathering.

Everyone went silent.

He snagged one of the dining room chairs, straddling it backward in the archway and propping his elbows on the back.

Damien backed off a few steps, positioning himself near the glass patio door.

“Your mother was six months older than your father,” Alec explained to Jared and Royce, trying to keep it as straightforward as possible. “Since they died together, she was deemed to have predeceased him.”

Both men watched him, expressions growing wary.

“In his will, should his wife predecease him, your father asked that his estate ‘be divided among my children, then alive.’”

There was a split second before the words sank in.

“Stephanie’s not his child,” said Jared.

“Frank Stanton.” Melissa shook her head.

“But we can fix it?” Royce asked.

“I talked to Katie Merrick. It’ll take a few lawyers, and a stack of contracts, but it’s doable. Trick is, you’ll have to get Stephanie to sign them without reading them.”

“Too late for that.” Stephanie’s terse voice intruded.

Alec jerked his head toward her.

Stephanie stood in the foyer doorway. Her face was pale, but her eyes glittered with anger.

“Oh, no,” Amber rasped.

Alec came to his feet.

Stephanie stared at her bothers. “I’m…” That was as far as she made it.

Both of them stood, but she held up a hand to stop them. “And nobody was going to tell me?” She turned her accusing stare on Alec.

“What did you hear?” he asked, his mind scrambling for a damage control plan.

“Is this a conspiracy?” She glanced around the room. Her gaze stopped on Damien. “Who’s this?”

Damien glanced to Alec.

“He’s yours,” Stephanie scoffed at Alec. “Of course he’s yours. Is this why they hired you?”

Alec took a step forward. “Stephanie.”

“Wow.” She gave a shaky laugh. “Is that what you’re doing for us? Is Ryder International even in financial trouble?”

“Stephanie,” Jared began.

“You should sit down,” Royce put in.

Stephanie rounded on him. “You should start talking.”

The two stared at each other for a moment.

“We were being blackmailed,” said Royce. “By Alec?”

“No,” Alec jumped in, unable to remain silent any longer. “By Norman Stanton. I was looking into your finances.” He wasn’t about to hit Royce and Jared with an I told you so, but it was darn tempting.

“So you claim.” Stephanie glared at him. “But we both know you can fake pretty much anything.”

“Alec’s not the bad guy,” said Amber.

“Then who’s the bad guy?”

“Frank Stanton,” said Royce.

“And he’s my father?”

“Can we talk about this later?” asked Royce, his gaze going pointedly to Damien.

“Sure.” Stephanie shrugged. “Don’t mind me.” She crossed to a desk and picked up some papers. “I just dropped by for the insurance forms. Let me know how this all turns out. I’ll sign anything you want.”

“Don’t start sulking,” warned Jared.

Alec felt a flash of anger. He moved to position himself between the two. “I think she’s got a right to be a little upset,” he told Jared.

Jared’s eyes narrowed down. “Stay out of it.”

“I don’t believe I will.” Alec folded his arms across his chest. They were the ones that hired him. They insisted he marry Stephanie. Convenience or not, she was his wife.

Royce stepped up beside his brother. “It’s a family matter.”

“I’m family.”

“Not really.”

“I have a piece of paper that says so.”

Stephanie stepped back in. “And they have a piece of paper that says I’m not. Procured by you, if I overheard correctly.”

“You’re still our sister,” Jared hastily put in.

“Half sister. Out of the will.”

“There you go again,” Royce all but shouted. “The most dramatic possible-”

“I think you’d better leave,” Alec said to the brothers.

“Us leave?” Jared’s voice was incredulous. “You leave.”

“It’s my hotel room. And she’s my wife-”

“Give me a break!” Stephanie threw up her hands. “I’ll leave.”

“No.” Alec’s hand shot out to stop her. “We need to talk.” Past today, they were still having a baby, and they still had to make that work.

“Let go of Stephanie,” Royce growled.

Amber came to her feet, voice commanding. “Stop this. All of you. I mean it.”

She placed herself between Alec and Royce. “Alec wants to talk to Stephanie.”

Royce clamped his jaw in silent protest, but everyone filed out. Alec was left alone with Stephanie. “For the record,” he told her, “I advised them to tell you the truth.”

She didn’t turn around. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

“I promised I wouldn’t.”

She was silent for a moment. “So a business contract is more important to you than your wedding vows?”

Alec drew a breath.

“Never mind,” she continued. “Don’t answer that.”

He moved a few steps toward her. “It was complicated. I had no right-”

She turned. “No right to be honest with your wife?”

“Don’t twist things to score points.”

The woman had enough on her side of this argument without doing that.

She dropped into one of the French provincial chairs. “So, I guess I’m a bastard.”

He pulled out another chair and angled it toward hers, sitting down. “So am I. It’s not so bad.”