Presumed Guilty

motives.”

Blackmail was what she meant. Lorne couldn’t see that such a scheme made much sense. First of all, none of those secrets was particularly nasty. Embarrassing, perhaps, but nothing that couldn’t be lived down. And that included his own penchant for married librarians. Second, the would-be victims ranged from the moderately well- to-do Forrest Mayhew to the outright cash-strapped Gordimers. Why blackmail a family that can scarcely pay their grocery bills?

Unless money was not the sought-after payment.

He wondered about this all the way back to town. Wondered why Richard Tremain would want those secrets. Wondered if he was even the one who’d collected them in the first place. The cottage, after all, had been open to others in the family. Cassie. Phillip.

Evelyn.

No, not Evelyn, he thought. She wouldn’t dirty her hands in this filth.

“You and Valerie Everhard,” Ellis muttered as he drove. “I never woulda guessed.”

“Look, I felt sorry for her,” said Lorne. “She needed some male attention.”

“Oh.” Ellis kept staring straight ahead at the road and nodding to himself.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Lorne demanded.

“Oh, I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“How awful sorry you must be feeling for that woman right now.”

“Valerie Everhard?”

“No.” said Ellis. “The widow Tremain.”

“It’s a matter of loyalty, Chase,” said Noah. “To the family. To your brother. To the people who matter.”

Chase said nothing. He simply continued slicing his ham, albeit with more concentrated vigor than usual. He knew they were all watching him. Noah and Evelyn. The twins. They were waiting for him to respond. But he kept on slicing that meat, mangling it, really, into smaller and smaller pieces.

“Never mind, Daddy,” said Evelyn. “Can’t you see? He’s so wrapped up with that witch, he can’t see the trap he’s—”

“Please, Evelyn.” Chase set down his knife.

“She’s twisted you around, Chase! She has a talent for that! Among other things. But you can’t be bothered with the facts anymore. No, all you want to believe are her lies.”

“I want to believe the truth,” he said quietly.

“The truth is, she’s a whore.”

“Evelyn,” cut in Noah. “That is quite enough.”

Evelyn turned on her father. “Whose side are you on?”

“You know damn well I’m on your side. I always have been.”

“Then why don’t you back me up?”

“Because this conversation doesn’t become you. You’ve forgotten all I taught you about dignity. Pride.”

“Well, excuse me, Daddy. It’s not every day one’s husband gets murdered.” She glanced around at the sideboard. “Where’s that wine? It’s not too early for a drink.”

“You will get over the murder. You’ll get beyond it. And you will remember who you are.”

“Who I am?” She rose to her feet. “Who I am is more of an embarrassment every day.” She shoved her chair back against the table and left the room.

There was a long silence.

“She does have a point, Chase,” said Noah, sounding quite reasonable. “The family should stick together. No matter what attractions this Miranda Wood person offers, don’t you think it’s best you stand by us?”

“What attraction does she offer?” asked Cassie.

“That’s irrelevant,” snapped Chase.

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

Chase met Noah’s gaze with a look of sheer indifference. Which, at that moment, wasn’t at all what he was feeling. He had plenty of feelings when it came to Miranda Wood, and indifference wasn’t one of them. All night he’d dreamt about her. He’d awakened sweating, remembering the fire, feeling once again the panic of not being able to find her in that well of smoke and flames. He’d drop back to sleep, only to sink yet again into the same nightmare. Some time during his fitful tossing and turning, he’d come to several realizations. That he was incapable of logical thought where Miranda Wood was concerned. That the attraction he felt for her was growing more dangerous every day.

And that, no matter what his instincts told him, the weight of evidence still pointed to her guilt.

This morning he’d risen from bed exhausted but absolutely clearheaded. He knew what he had to do. He had to put some distance between them. As he should have done from the very beginning.

He said, “You don’t have to worry, Noah. I don’t plan to see her again.”

“I always thought you were the smarter Tremain,” said Noah. “I was right.”

Chase shrugged. “Not really a flattering comment. Considering how little you thought of Richard.”

Noah glanced at the twins. “You two! Don’t you have something better to do?”

“Not really,” said Phillip.

“Well, clear the table, then. Go on.”

“It’s not as if we didn’t know,” said Cassie.

Noah frowned at her. “Know what?”

“That you and Dad didn’t get along.”

“For that matter, young lady, he didn’t get along with you, either.”

“Normal father-daughter disagreements. Not like you two, always at each other’s throats. All that yelling and name-calling—”

“That’s enough!” Noah’s face had turned an ugly red. He rose partway out of his chair, his gaze targeted on his insolent granddaughter. “The day you were born, Cassandra, I took one look at you and I said, ‘Watch out for that one. She’s going to be trouble.’”

“Yes, it runs in our family, doesn’t it?”

Instantly Phillip was on his feet, tugging at Noah’s arm. “Come on, Granddad. Let’s go outside, you and me. Walk around the block. I wanted to tell you about my year at Harvard—”

“Damn nursery for snooty rich boys.”

“Just a walk, Granddad. It’ll do you good.”

Noah harrumphed and shoved his chair against the table. “Let’s go, then. Hell, I could use the fresh air.”

The two men walked out, slamming the front door behind them.

Cassie looked at Chase and smiled ironically. “One big happy family.”

“What was that you said? About Noah and Richard.”

“They despised each other. You knew that.”

“Despised wasn’t the word that came to mind. Disliked, maybe. You know, the usual rivalry between father and son-in-law.”

“This wasn’t just your usual rivalry.” Cassie began to slice her ham into dainty pieces. For the first time Chase found himself actually seeing his niece. Before, she’d always seemed lost from view, the colorless sister skulking in the shadow of her brother. Now he took a new and closer look, and what he saw was a young woman with a square jaw and eyes like a ferret’s. The resemblance to Noah was startling. No wonder the old man didn’t get along with her. He probably saw too much of himself in that face. She looked him straight in the eye. No squirming, no discomfort, just that steady gaze.

“What did they argue about? Noah and your father?”

“Anything. Everything. Oh, they never let it get beyond these walls. Dad was weird that way. We could all be screaming at each other in this house, but once we stepped out the door he insisted we look like the perfect family. It was so phony. In public Dad and Noah would make like old buddies. And all the time there was that rivalry between them.”