But not alone. He wasn’t a fool. Michael remembered the thugs, and he remembered Gloria’s threat of a private jet. Gary was too precious to risk.
So he waited in the foyer as planned, and two minutes after he arrived, Garrett and Lana and Shelby came through the revolving doors to meet him.
“She let him go! Well done.” Lana was first to reach him, and her eyes devoured the newborn Gary. He was so swaddled in his blankets, all she could see was one pink nose. Michael was taking no risks at all. “And Ford said it was okay to bring him?”
“Ford met me at Megan’s. He’s given me the all clear, and he’ll cover us if Jen starts asking questions. But we only have an hour.”
“So let’s do it,” Garrett said. He looked at his three siblings and grinned. “Four Lords and one baby Lord against one old lady. Poor old lady.”
THERE WAS NOTHING poor about Gloria. Garrett hadn’t met her. He did the knocking while Michael stayed in the background.
Michael had paved the way with a call.
“Gloria, it’s Michael Lord, and I’d like to talk to you. There are things you and I need to discuss.”
He almost saw the curve of satisfaction play on Gloria’s mouth as she’d taken in what he said. She’d be expecting some sort of proposition. A request for money.
Every man had his price. That was the way she worked, Michael knew, and she wasn’t to know the Lords had a different set of values entirely. Like absolute loyalty.
So she’d given him her room number, and Michael stood back while Garrett faced her, Shelby and Lana flanking him.
“What on earth…” Gloria’s breath whistled in as she saw the group by the door. “I don’t know you.”
“I’m Garrett Lord,” Garrett said smoothly. “I’m Michael’s big brother. Gary’s uncle, in fact. And these are Michael’s sisters, Lana and Shelby. Gary’s aunts.”
Gloria stared at them, contempt mixing with confusion on her face. Behind her, in her luxury hotel suite, Michael caught sight of her two lackeys solidly behind her. They weren’t thugs for hire by the hour, then. She had them at her beck and call-and she must have summoned them fast at Michael’s phone call.
He was right, he thought. He’d have been a fool to bring Gary here alone. How would she react now, with Gary surrounded?
She was confused. “I don’t know any Gary, and I have nothing to discuss with Michael’s-” Then she caught sight of Michael. Her voice stopped with a sharp intake of breath as she saw what he was holding. She took an involuntary step backward, and her jaw dropped about a foot.
“We’re here to introduce you to your grandson, Gloria,” Michael said gently, taking a step forward to stand beside Garrett. “Gary Richard Lord was born last night, and we’d like to know what you intend to do about it.”
SHE INTENDED NOTHING. Not yet. For a long, long moment Gloria couldn’t speak at all. She stood, totally flummoxed, while her hirelings came up behind her, looking almost as confused as she was.
“Aren’t you going to invite us in?” Garrett said at last. He was sizing up the group before him and acknowledging Michael’s wisdom in setting this up. Last night he’d thought it was stupid, bringing four people to face this woman. But one look at the thugs behind Gloria and he knew that Michael had done the right thing.
If he had come here on his own, they could simply have relieved him of the baby and disappeared.
Not now. Not with four of them. Lana and Shelby had power dressed for the occasion, and the Lord siblings looked every bit as formidable as the thugs behind her ladyship. The only way they could reach Gary was to draw guns, but then they’d be involved in a shoot-out with four U.S. citizens. No matter how desperate Gloria was, she wouldn’t be that stupid.
So the thugs had nothing to do but stand aside. Gloria did the same, and the four Lords-and baby-entered the suite without a protest.
It was like something out of a bad play, Garrett thought grimly, but by the look on Michael’s face, he knew this was deadly serious.
But there was no threat. Not now. There was just one old lady’s reaction to watch, and so much depended on this.
“Jenny gave birth to your grandson this morning,” Michael said softly, and Lana walked forward and lifted the covers from Gary’s tiny face. “Would you like to see?”
“I…” Gloria looked as if every ounce of air had been sucked out of her. Suddenly she seemed old-defeated. “Why should I?”
“Because he’s your grandson,” Michael said. “Because he’s Peter’s son, and I assume you loved Peter. Jenny’s called him Gary Richard. Richard is for your husband.”
“Richard.” There was a sharp intake of breath. “I don’t believe it.”
“What don’t you believe?” Michael’s voice was quietly insistent, and his eyes didn’t leave her face. Everyone else had faded into insignificance now. For Michael there was only this woman in the room. Everything depended on the next few minutes. His future. His love for Jenny.
No way could Gloria realize that!
“I can’t-”
“Look at him,” Michael said, and he took two steps forward so Gary was almost touching Gloria’s black cashmere cardigan. She took a step backward, then another. She did look just like Wallis Simpson, Michael thought suddenly, and wondered whether that was the image she aimed for. A woman who swayed men’s emotions.
“Look at your grandson,” Michael said again, and pressed Gary forward, as if he would entrust her to hold him.
Gloria didn’t take him, but she did look down.
Gary’s hair was so red, Michael thought ruefully, and wondered for the sixtieth time whether it had been crazy to bring him here. But…
“Dear God,” Gloria said, and her face crumpled as she saw the tiny child. Her hands flew to her cheeks, and she stared, while the icy mask of self-control and vicious intent faded to nothing.
There was only awe.
“Richard had red hair,” she whispered finally. “My Richard.”
“Peter’s father?” Michael frowned. Jenny hadn’t said that. It hit him with a pang. Last night, Jenny’s words had been like a gift to him. If she’d known the red hair came from her dead husband’s family…
But Gloria was shaking her head. “My Richard,” she said again. “Not Peter’s father. Peter’s brother.”
Another silence. The air was thick with it, and suddenly Shelby couldn’t bear it.
“Hey, I need a cup of tea here,” she told everyone loudly. “There’s a kitchenette through here, right? You don’t mind if I make one, do you, Gloria? I’ll make one for you, too. You English always want tea. You two-I need help.” And before Gloria’s hired men could say a word, she’d taken an arm apiece and marched them to the other room.
“I know when I’m not wanted,” she told them as she propelled them forward. “I’ll bet you do, too. You look like the sort of guys that can take hints real well. Speaking of which… Garrett! Lana! Come!”
And Michael was left alone with his son and Gloria.
And with the silence.
“You want to hold him?” he asked, and he proffered the baby as if he was the most precious thing in all the world.
“You mean it?” She looked at him in disbelief.
“I mean it. If you want.”
“I do…oh, I do.” And Gloria gathered Gary into her arms and burst into tears.
“HOW COME…” Michael asked, when he figured Gloria could speak again. He’d pushed her into an armchair and found a tissue or two to mop the flood. “How come I never got to hear about this Richard? About Peter’s brother?”
Gloria looked at him, then at Gary. She could scarcely keep her eyes from him.
“Peter didn’t know about his brother,” she said. “No one did.”
Michael frowned. “I don’t understand. You want to run that past me again?”
“I had a baby before Peter,” she whispered, almost as if she was talking to herself. “In those days…well, a baby that hardly made it through the delivery was hushed up. Not spoken off. Especially in a family like ours. He…
