Daddy By Default Read online

  “John Santos? The real-estate agent? Why?” Gabriel asked, momentarily confused.

  “As executor of the will, it’s my duty to take into consideration the best interests of all those named as beneficiaries,” Cullen replied, meeting Gabriel’s gaze once again. “I’ve already mentioned that Ms. St. James has a right to take a look at the property.”

  “I know, but why—?” Gabriel began, unable to hide his impatience.

  “She also has a right to know how much it’s worth,” Cullen stated matter-of-factly.

  “How much it’s worth?” Still puzzled, Gabriel sat back in his chair and stared at his friend. “A lot, I imagine. But I’m not planning on selling. Not to her or anyone else. Unless—”

  Stopped by a sudden thought, he frowned.

  “Unless what?”

  With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Gabriel gripped the arms of his chair so tightly, his knuckles turned white. “Unless there’s some way she can force me to do it.”

  “Only if you choose not to buy her out. In that case, she can insist the house be sold to a third party. Then the two of you would split the proceeds equally.”

  “But the house is easily worth half a million dollars,” Gabriel snapped.

  “Easily,” Cullen agreed.

  “And I’m a junior high school principal living paycheck to paycheck. Aside from a modest savings account, my half of the house is all I have of value. Buying her out isn’t going to be all that easy for me to do.”

  “Then I suggest you try to be as cordial to her as you can. Maybe she’ll be willing to work something out.”

  Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of desperation, Gabriel stood and walked to the window overlooking the Plaza. The house meant so much to him. Always had, and always would. He couldn’t lose it. Not to satisfy the whim of some moneygrubbing woman who had probably done nothing more than service his besotted brother sexually.

  “Like what?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Cullen.

  “I’m not sure,” Cullen replied. “Let me give it some thought. With luck, I should be able to come up with something you’ll both find agreeable. But you’re going to have to mind your manners in the meantime. She’ll be a lot more amenable if she doesn’t feel she’s being bullied.”

  “Whatever you say,” Gabriel muttered, staring out the window again.

  He and Cullen had been friends for a long time. Trusting him came naturally. But there was a good chance Madelyn St. James had arrived in Santa Fe with an agenda all her own. An agenda that could end up costing him his home no matter how conscientiously Cullen worked on his behalf.

  “When I meet with Ms. St. James this afternoon, I’ll explain the situation to her as best I can. Then I’ll let John Santos give her an idea of how much the property is worth. After that, I’ll bring her over to the house. Probably around four-thirty or five o’clock. Unless you would rather I wait....”

  “I can be home by four. Come anytime after that,” Gabriel said.

  Luckily he didn’t have any meetings scheduled that afternoon, and his assistant principal could handle any problems that might arise later in the day.

  “You’ll be hospitable, won’t you?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I’d try hard if I were you,” Cullen admonished. “You want Madelyn St. James working with you, not against you. Right?”

  “Yeah, right,” Gabriel agreed reluctantly as he moved away from the window.

  “Hey, I’m on your side, you know.”

  “I know.” Dredging up a smile, Gabriel paused in front of Cullen’s desk. “And I appreciate it,” he added as they shook hands. “Really, I do.”

  “Hey, isn’t that what friends are for?”

  As Gabriel walked down the flight of steps leading from Cullen’s office to the street that bordered one side of Santa Fe’s central Plaza, he glanced at his watch. Almost one o’clock. He had been gone longer than he’d thought he would when he left the school almost two hours earlier. But then, he hadn’t thought Ethan’s will would contain any surprises, either. Fool that he was, he had assumed his half brother—for once in his life—had simply done what was right.

  And in all fairness, at least to a certain extent, Ethan had. A generous sum of money had been deposited in a trust fund for Brian. All things considered, that was only just. Ethan’s money should have gone to the boy, and had.

  But to bequeath his half ownership of the house to a stranger...a stranger who could turn their lives upside down on impulse...

  Why had he done it? To remind his younger brother—one last time—of how much antipathy he bore him?

  Try as he might, Gabriel had never been able to break through the wall Ethan had insisted on erecting between them. For years, he had worshiped the ground his older brother walked on. But Ethan had wanted nothing to do with him, and he’d had no qualms about letting Gabriel know it.

  Eventually, Gabriel had learned to give him a wide berth. The two of them had hardly spoken on the rare occasions Ethan had come home from college. Then he’d graduated and moved to New York. Years had passed without a visit from him. Gabriel had finished high school, then college, and had begun to teach.

  Then their mother and Gabriel’s father had been killed in an automobile accident. Ethan had come home for the funeral, and once again, Gabriel had found himself hoping they might finally be friends.

  Instead, Ethan had driven one final, hurtful, hateful wedge between them.

  As Gabriel paused on the sidewalk, a blast of cold air sent a shiver down his spine. Despite the bright sunlight, the temperature hovered in the low forties—not unusual for mid-January in northern New Mexico.

  Tipping his face to the sun, he slipped into his wool overcoat, dug out his gloves and put them on, then headed across the street Nuestra Junior High School was only a few blocks away, an easy walk on a day like today. He was glad he hadn’t brought his car. He needed the time to clear his head and calm down before facing whatever awaited him back at the school.

  Gabriel exchanged greetings with several people, then turned a corner, leaving the hustle and bustle of the Plaza behind. With only the occasional whoosh of a vehicle passing to disturb the quiet of early afternoon, he strode along purposefully.

  He had been sorry to hear of Ethan’s death almost a month ago. Truly sorry. There might not have been any love lost between them, but along with Brian, Ethan had been all the family Gabriel had left.

  The letter he’d received from Ethan’s lawyer—via Cullen—had advised that Ethan had died of complications from a virus he’d contracted, and that according to his wishes, his body had been cremated and his ashes scattered along a beach on the island of Roatán.

  Gabriel hadn’t had any problem accepting the circumstances of his brother’s death. Nor had he had any concerns about Ethan’s will. The lawyer had forwarded a copy to Cullen along with the letter, but Gabriel hadn’t been in any hurry to have it read. He’d wanted to wait until after the Christmas holidays, and reluctantly, Cullen had agreed.

  Now Gabriel could only curse himself for being so unconcerned. Had he known about Ethan’s bequest to Madelyn St. James a few weeks ago, he would have had time to prepare for her arrival. As it was, he’d be meeting the woman face-to-face in a matter of hours, and those hours would be filled with the wants and needs of several hundred unpredictable preteens and adolescents.

  Formulating a plan of action in the midst of what he often considered barely controlled chaos would be impossible. Luckily, Brian had been invited to a friend’s house after school, so he would have a little time to himself then. Not enough to do him much good. But he’d take what he could get.

  Once again, the thought of all he was going to have to deal with before the day was done had Gabriel feeling. Having someone with whom to share the burden would have been a help. But as he’d done each time a problem had come up in the eight years since Lily had run off, he was going to have to cope alone.

  “Ah, Gabriel, get ou
t the violins, why don’t you?” he muttered, just barely containing the urge to feel incredibly sorry for himself.

  And not a moment too soon, he added to himself as he rounded another corner and spied Ricky Montoya and Fred Grimes huddled half under a bush alongside the front steps of the school building, each puffing away on a cigarette.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” he asked, his voice laced with amusement as he gazed down at them.

  Talk about begging to be caught. But then, the two of them thrived on any attention they could get. Which wasn’t surprising considering their family backgrounds.

  “Mr. Serrano,” Ricky yelped. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I was just about to ask you the same question.”

  Sitting beside Cullen Birney in his aging Jeep Wagoneer as he pulled out of the parking garage a block from his office, Madelyn St. James wondered if she had ever felt quite as stupefied as she did at that moment.

  Yes, once before. And then—as now—all thanks to Ethan Merritt.

  Dazzled by his praise of her work and desperate to get away from her overbearing parents, her egocentric brothers, their wives and children, she had eagerly accepted his offer of a job as his assistant. She had resigned from her teaching position, given up the tiny garage apartment she’d rented three blocks from her parents’ house, put her meager belongings into storage and gone off to South America with him, only to realize she’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

  On her own, hundreds of miles from home, she’d been in a state of shock. But not for long. Much too proud to admit what a mistake she’d made, Madelyn had pulled herself together then dealt with Ethan as best she could.

  She’d had to put him in his place umpteen dozen times, but eventually they had reached a level of mutual understanding and respect that had made leaving him impossible for her to do.

  Finding him dead—more than likely by his own hand, though he hadn’t left a suicide note, and the aging, overworked island doctor hadn’t seen any need for an autopsy—had saddened her greatly. And learning that he had remembered her in his will had touched her deeply.

  Now she realized she should have known there was more to Ethan’s leaving her a house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, than she could have ever guessed. She had seen for herself how slyly scheming he could be, often just for the fun of it. Setting up one last rather clever ruse would have been right up his alley.

  Not that suspecting the worst of him would have kept Madelyn from traveling to Santa Fe to claim her inheritance. After almost a month back home in south St. Louis, she had known that if she stayed there permanently, inevitably she would end up acting as the St. James family dogsbody once again.

  Moving to what she had assumed would be her own home in New Mexico had been an acceptable alternative as well as an affordable one—just barely, considering how little she had left in savings after buying a small car.

  Blissfully unaware of what awaited her in Santa Fe, Madelyn had loaded several boxes of clothing and camera equipment into the car, bid her disapproving family farewell and headed west, sure that no matter what state the house was in, she could soon turn it into the home of her own she’d always wanted.

  Her only real concern had been finding a job. But with her teaching credentials in order and several letters of recommendation in hand, she hadn’t thought that would pose too great a problem. She had known she was going to need a regular paycheck coming in to afford the upkeep of a house. And she’d been willing to go back to teaching rather than work at her photography to guarantee she would.

  Now her careful consideration seemed all for naught. She didn’t actually own a house after all. She had inherited only Ethan’s half of a house that also belonged to his younger brother. Or rather, half brother. A man Ethan had never mentioned in all the time she had worked with him.

  Why, Ethan? Why? she wondered, her shock gradually turning to dismay as Cullen Birney guided the Jeep along first one street rimming the Plaza, then another.

  “We probably could have walked the distance to the house just as fast as driving,” Cullen said, interrupting her thoughts. “But once the sun sets, the temperature is going to drop fifteen or twenty degrees. That would make the walk back a little chilly even for a native like me.”

  “I’m not in any hurry,” Madelyn replied, offering the lawyer a slight smile.

  True enough. She could have waited a good long while to meet Gabriel Serrano. And though she knew hardly anything about him, she suspected the feeling was mutual. But as co-owners of what real-estate agent John Santos had indicated was a very valuable piece of property, she and Gabriel had quite a lot to discuss.

  Cullen had made it clear that Mr. Serrano wasn’t interested in selling. Madelyn certainly didn’t have any problem with that. Obviously, Gabriel had a personal attachment to the place while she did not. And with her limited funds and lack of collateral, she couldn’t very well afford to buy him out.

  In fact, considering her current financial situation, Madelyn had to admit she’d be more than happy to accept the quarter of a million dollars Gabriel Serrano was going to have to pay her in order to gain sole ownership of the house. She would be able to buy a more modest home of her own and have enough left over to support herself while she worked on her photography.

  As Cullen had advised, the sooner they could come to terms, the better.

  She should be thrilled with her good fortune. But in all honesty, Madelyn couldn’t say that she was. Truth be told, she was filled with an inexplicable sense of dread.

  She would have found it creditable had Ethan bequeathed her a small, run-down house somewhere on the outskirts of town. But to leave her something of such value...

  Why had he done it? Out of the goodness of his heart? No, not the Ethan Merritt she had known. While he had never been truly hateful to her, neither had he been especially kind or considerate. More often than not, he’d been ill-mannered and overbearing. In addition, he’d been one hell of a wily rascal, delighting in all sorts of tomfoolery. Which led Madelyn to believe that very soon now the other shoe was going to drop.

  “Have you had a chance to look around town?” Cullen asked.

  A stocky man of medium height, probably in his midto late-thirties, with shaggy sandy-colored hair and mild blue eyes, he seemed nice enough. However, despite his rumpled clothing and laid-back manner, he also seemed remarkably adroit.

  “Just a little,” Madelyn admitted.

  After arriving yesterday afternoon, checking into a small hotel a short distance from the Plaza and calling the lawyer as instructed in the letter Ethan had left for her, she had gone for a walk. Unfortunately, spending months at a time living in one tropical location or another for the past couple of years had left her more susceptible to the cold than she’d realized.

  She had walked only a few blocks, then scurried back to the warmth of her hotel room. Venturing out again late that morning, she had gotten as far as the Plaza. There she had browsed in various shops until her appointment with Cullen Birney.

  “This time of year it’s kind of quiet, but there’s still a lot to see and do,” he said.

  “I gathered as much from the guidebook I bought.”

  “I hope you’ll have time to look around before you leave.” Glancing at her, the lawyer smiled congenially.

  “Oh, I’m sure I will,” Madelyn replied, a hint of amusement creeping into her voice.

  Mr. Birney seemed to believe her stay in Santa Fe would be decidedly short. Of course, he wouldn’t know she hadn’t anywhere else to go but back to her autocratic family, and she wasn’t about to tell him as much.

  She might not have a home of her own yet. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t start making a life for herself in Santa Fe. She had liked what she’d seen of the city so far. Liked it a lot. But she’d just as soon keep her plans to herself for the time being.

  As executor of Ethan’s will, Cullen seemed to be going out of his way to treat her fairly. Still, Madely
n couldn’t help feeling that if he were forced to make a choice, he’d put Gabriel Serrano’s best interests ahead of hers.

  Of course, she couldn’t blame him. Evidently, he had known Ethan’s brother for years. However, that gave her all the more reason to keep her own counsel.

  “You said you stopped in St. Louis to visit with your family over the Christmas holidays. Are you from there originally?”

  “Yes,” Madelyn answered easily.

  The lawyer seemed to want to talk and she didn’t mind telling him a little bit about herself. She certainly didn’t have anything to hide. No bad debts, no warrants out for her arrest, not even a speeding ticket to her name.

  Until two years ago, she had led a very dull life. And though her time with Ethan had been quite...interesting, she hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of while they were together, either. Well, almost anything—

  “How did you meet Ethan?” Cullen continued.

  Surprised that the lawyer seemed so attuned to the trail her thoughts had taken, Madelyn hesitated. Then, realizing her relationship with Ethan would be of interest to him, she answered matter-of-factly.

  “Some of my photographs were included in a show at one of the more reputable galleries in St. Louis’s Central West End. Ethan was in town on business of some sort and came to the opening. He admired my work, the gallery owner introduced us and before the evening was over, I’d agreed to quit my teaching job at the end of the month—it was June and the school year was almost over—and sign on as his assistant.”

  Gazing out the window at the unique Southwestern-style adobe homes lining the winding residential street onto which they had turned, Madelyn wondered where she had ever found the courage to do something so totally out of character. Ethan had been charming, not to mention very persuasive. Still—

  “And you were together how long? Just two years?”

  “Actually, a little more than that,” she replied, her manner toward the lawyer chilling at the way he had used the word just. His tone had been dismissive, as if he considered the time she had spent with Ethan negligible at best.