Daddy By Default Read online

  “Had he been sick for a while before he died?”

  Suddenly wary, Madelyn turned to look at Cullen Birney. With the deepening twilight casting his face in shadow, his expression was unreadable.

  Maybe he was simply curious. Then again, maybe he was hoping to find a way to blame her for Ethan’s death, which would, in turn, enable him to have her cut out of the will.

  In truth, Madelyn had done everything she could for Ethan, trying to keep his spirits up in the face of what they had both known was an increasingly hopeless situation. Perhaps she hadn’t yet convinced herself that she’d been right to leave him alone that last night. But she hadn’t committed a crime by going along with his wishes, either. And she wasn’t about to defend herself as if she had.

  That the lawyer seemed to be considering the possibility that she might have allowed Ethan to die so she could inherit a quarter of a million dollars left a bad taste in her mouth. So bad that she was tempted to tell him thanks, but no thanks.

  As far as she was concerned, Gabriel Serrano could have the house free and clear. Only the fact that Ethan had never made any mention of his half brother, yet had included her in his will knowing she would inevitably come face-to-face with him,, kept her quiet.

  Ethan had never done anything without good reason. And Madelyn wasn’t about to walk away until she found out why he’d wanted her to make this trip to Santa Fe. Even if he had only been having one last laugh at the expense of those he’d left behind.

  “According to what he told me, Ethan contracted the virus several years ago, but he didn’t start exhibiting any serious side effects until last summer. After that, he declined fairly quickly,” she stated simply as she gazed out the window again.

  Then, determined to get a few answers of her own before they arrived at the house, she asked rather pointedly, “Am I right to assume that Ethan and his brother weren’t...close?”

  “What makes you think that?” ,

  Aware that he was hedging, Madelyn bristled inwardly. She had as much right as he to ask questions and be given honest answers.

  “In all the time I worked with Ethan, he never once mentioned he had a half brother living in Santa Fe. Nor did he ever mention anything about a house. I don’t know about you, but that certainly leads me to believe they must have been estranged,” she snapped, unable to hide her irritation.

  “I think estranged is a little harsh,” Cullen replied in a mild tone. “Ethan was twelve years older than Gabe. He had finished college, made New York his home base and begun traveling around the world taking pictures long before Gabe was out of grade school. They never really had much of a chance to get to know each other.”

  Madelyn suspected there was more to Ethan’s distancing himself from the only family he had, especially when he had known he would soon be wholly dependent on others for his every need. But Cullen had slowed the Jeep and switched on his turn signal as they approached a narrow drive cutting through the high adobe wall edging the roadside on the right.

  Apparently they had reached their destination. Aware that Cullen would probably use that as a reason to avoid answering any further questions, Madelyn sat quietly as they made the turn.

  No doubt Gabriel Serrano himself would provide some clue as to why Ethan had led her to believe he was all alone in the world. Cullen hadn’t told her much about him. She knew that he was the principal of Nuestra Junior High School, he had a nine-year-old son, Brian, and he was divorced.

  Not enough to judge what kind of man he was. At least not with any accuracy. But she would be meeting him very soon now. Maybe she’d be able to determine whether he had given Ethan good cause to stay away, or if Ethan had somehow made himself unwelcome.

  “Here we are,” Cullen said as he guided the Jeep along the drive.

  At Madelyn’s first glimpse of the house, her breath caught in her throat. Set back on a wide expanse of manicured lawn, surrounded by several towering pine trees and lit by the soft glow of lamplight, the old adobe house looked warm and welcoming. A place to come home to, she thought, suddenly wistful. How had Ethan ever managed to stay away?

  “Since it’s almost dark, you won’t be able to see much of the grounds tonight, but I’ll be happy to bring you back tomorrow morning if you’d like to take a better look around then.”

  “Oh, yes, I would,” she answered eagerly.

  Even though the house wasn’t really hers and never would be, she wanted to see it, really see it, at least once.

  After parking behind an old pickup truck, Cullen came around to the passenger door, helped her out of the Jeep and led her up the short walkway.

  Resisting a sudden urge to hang back, Madelyn wished she could feel as if she had a right to be there. Instead, she continued to be oddly ill at ease. Number 15 Alameda Road was more than a valuable piece of property, half of which she had inherited. Number 15 Alameda Road was somebody’s home, and she was about to intrude.

  Suddenly she wished she could creep back to the safety of her hotel room. But it was too late for that. Much too late.

  As she stood off to one side, the lawyer rapped on the heavy wooden door. She heard faint footsteps followed by the click of a bolt lock being drawn. Then the door swung open and a tall, dark man stood before them.

  “Cullen.” His deep voice less than hospitable, he offered his hand to the lawyer.

  “Gabe.”

  The two men shook hands. Then Gabriel Serrano turned to look at her.

  Her lips slightly parted, Madelyn stared at him, unable to hide her surprise. Not only was he tall and dark, but handsome, too. Yet he looked nothing at all like his half brother. In fact, he was the absolute antithesis of Ethan Merritt.

  Granted, Ethan had been about the same height as Gabriel. He’d also been attractive in his own way. But he’d had long, shaggy blond hair, and bright, often icy, blue eyes, and he’d been slender to the point of seeming almost effete.

  By contrast, Gabriel had neatly trimmed black hair combed back from his forehead. His eyes were a warm, rich shade of brown. And the navy pullover and tightfitting, faded jeans he wore only served to emphasize his powerfully masculine build.

  “Gabe, this is Madelyn St. James,” Cullen said by way of introduction. “Ms. St. James, Gabriel Serrano.”

  His eyes narrowing slightly, Gabriel looked her over with what she could only call hostility.

  “Ms. St. James,” he said, no warmth at all in his voice.

  He neither offered her his hand nor invited her into the house. He gazed at her a few moments longer, insolence now also evident in his dark eyes. Then he spun around and headed down the hallway, his boot heels beating a rapid tattoo on the tile floor, leaving her and Cullen Birney, sputtering apologetically, to trail after him.

  Blushing to the roots of her hair, Madelyn wanted nothing more than to fade into the woodwork. That being impossible, she squared her shoulders, reminding herself, as she had earlier, that Ethan had wanted her there for a reason. And no matter how rudely Gabriel Serrano behaved toward her, she was going to find out what that reason was.

  Not only for Ethan’s sake, but for her own, as well.

  “What a lovely house,” she said, her voice cheery, as she and Cullen joined Gabriel in the living room.

  Unbuttoning her black wool coat, she crossed to the fireplace and held out her hands for a few moments, savoring the fragrant warmth radiating from the burning logs. When neither man replied, she slipped out of her coat and tossed it, along with her purse, on a nearby chair. Then, tucking her hands in the pockets of her calflength denim skirt to hide their trembling, she glanced over her shoulder and forced herself to smile brightly as she met Gabriel Serrano’s angry gaze.

  “I can’t wait to see the rest of it.”

  Chapter 2

  “I just bet you can’t,” Gabriel muttered, ignoring the warning look Cullen shot his way.

  Though Madelyn continued to meet his gaze, the blush already staining her cheeks darkened perceptibly. For one long mome
nt, he thought she would say something more. Instead, she turned away again, tipping her chin up wordlessly as she stared at the flickering firelight.

  He was behaving badly, and he knew it. Yet Gabriel couldn’t seem to stop himself. He had thought he’d prepared himself for her arrival, but he hadn’t. Not by a long shot.

  After dropping Brian off at his friend’s house, Gabriel had come home alone, taken a hot shower, then dressed in jeans and a sweater. With time to spare, he’d lit a fire in the fireplace and grabbed a cold beer from the refrigerator. Then he’d settled into his favorite chair—the chair she had so casually draped with her coat and purse—and had a little talk with himself about the wisdom of accepting what he couldn’t change.

  By the time Cullen’s knock had sounded at the door, he had been feeling reasonably cool, calm and collected. And he had stayed that way up until the moment he’d laid eyes on the St. James woman.

  For some inexplicable reason, Gabriel had expected her to be part little girl lost, à la Lily, and part scheming seductress, and he had braced himself accordingly. Finding that she wasn’t at all what he’d imagined her to be had thrown him totally off balance.

  She was tall, at least five-seven, perhaps five-eight, and though she was slender, there was a strength about her, a...sturdiness, that he couldn’t help but admire. Her auburn hair hung smooth and straight to her shoulders and her wide, gray-green eyes seemed to hold no hint of guile. Modestly dressed in a white turtleneck sweater, a long, slim skirt and black boots, and wearing only the barest hint of makeup, she looked... honest and... dependable. Too honest and dependable for the likes of his brother.

  She also seemed poised and self-confident. Yet Gabriel sensed a certain vulnerability about her. A vulnerability that called out to him in a way that had him wanting to reassure her everything would be all right, when he was the injured party here.

  Was it any wonder his first instinct had been to lash out at her with a churlishness that now had him cringing inwardly with embarrassment? Never in his life had he treated a woman so rudely without any provocation. But what else could he have done to distance himself from her as he’d known he must?

  No matter how attractive he found her to be, Gabriel couldn’t afford to harbor any fond feelings for Madelyn St. James. Not when Ethan had already given her the power to turn his life upside down.

  Nor did he have any intention of allowing history to repeat itself, either. He had cleaned up the mess Ethan had left behind ten years ago. He wasn’t about to be suckered into doing it again.

  Of course, he could be way off base. But studying Madelyn as she stood quietly by the fire, Gabriel had the sneaking suspicion that his beloved brother had left another naive young woman in the lurch.

  This time, however, he wasn’t about to come to the rescue. He had taken on the thankless task of serving as Ethan’s stand-in once already. And as far as he was concerned, once had been more than enough.

  He could sympathize with Madelyn St. James all he wanted, and though he really ought to know better after Lily, he did. But that didn’t mean he had to bend over backward for her. He was going to do what he was obligated to do by law, nothing more, nothing—

  “If this isn’t a good time for you after all, Gabe, I’m sure Ms. St. James won’t mind waiting until another day to see the house,” Cullen said, his voice filled with reproach.

  “Actually, this is as good a time as any for me to show her the house,” Gabriel replied, attempting to sound more congenial than he felt.

  As Cullen had warned, his hostility toward the woman would only make it that much harder for them to come to an agreement on how best to settle Ethan’s estate. Also, having the chance to show her around the house without his inquisitive young son underfoot had been an unexpected stroke of luck—one he had only begun to appreciate fully when he thought of all the questions he would have had to answer if Madelyn and Brian crossed paths.

  “What about you, Ms. St. James? Are you still agreeable to seeing the house tonight?” Cullen asked.

  “Yes, of course,” she answered, turning to face them again after only a moment’s hesitation.

  “Would you like something to drink first? A soft drink, tea, a cup of coffee?” Gabriel offered as he should have done in the first place.

  She met his gaze for several seconds, a wary look in her eyes, obviously trying to determine what had caused his sudden change in attitude. A frown creasing her forehead, she finally looked away.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Cullen?”

  “Maybe later,” he replied as he set his briefcase on the coffee table then shrugged out of his overcoat.

  “Well, then, why don’t we get started?” Gabriel suggested with a heartiness he could only hope didn’t sound quite as false to Madelyn as it did to him. “As you’ve probably guessed, this is the living room.”

  While it was a little late to start acting like a gracious host—as the expression on Cullen’s face reminded him—it was the best he could do to make amends for his earlier behavior. He had only been trying to protect himself as well as what he considered his, and for that he had no intention of apologizing.

  “Very nice,” Madelyn murmured as she moved away from the fireplace.

  She paused to run a hand over the dark red fabric finely striped with gold covering the sofa. Then she continued on her way around the wide, open room, surveying the mix of antique furniture that had belonged to Gabriel and Ethan’s mother and the more modern, yet complementary pieces he had made himself, her gaze appreciative rather than avaricious.

  As Gabriel led her through the small formal dining room then into the airy, well-lit kitchen, he had to admit his first impression of her seemed valid. She was a decent woman. Yet he couldn’t allow himself to forget how she’d come to be there.

  The longer he observed her—as he found himself doing with growing interest—the harder it was for him to believe she had been the latest in Ethan’s ever-changing string of women. She just didn’t seem like the type to have been taken in by his handsome face or his famous name.

  Of course, Ethan had always loved a challenge. And surely she had done a hell of a lot more than change the film in his camera to be remembered so generously in his will. As she’d had every right to. She was an adult, after all, and as far as Gabriel knew, unattached. Why shouldn’t she have shared his brother’s bed?

  He had no reason to be concerned about her relationship with Ethan. No reason at all. She wasn’t anything to him. Not personally. He was going to have to buy her out regardless. Beyond that, nothing else about her should matter to him.

  Still, Gabriel couldn’t seem to quell his curiosity.

  “So how did you hook up with my brother?” he asked as he leaned a hip against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Pausing in her perusal of Brian’s artwork that decorated the refrigerator door, she glanced at him, her annoyance at his choice of wording plainly evident.

  “I didn’t hook up with Ethan, Mr. Serrano,” she replied. “As I explained to Mr. Birney earlier, your brother hired me to work as his assistant after seeing a display of my photographs at a gallery in St. Louis. But then, you would have known that if you’d been in touch with him over the past two years.” Still holding his gaze, she added pointedly, “But you weren’t, were you?”

  “No,” Gabriel admitted, albeit grudgingly, feeling as if he’d been called on the carpet and issued an unbarranted reprimand.

  She had no right to make him sound like the guilty party where Ethan was concerned. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say as much to her without going into a detailed explanation of exactly what Ethan had done to him ten years ago, something he had neither the time nor the desire to do.

  “Why not?” she prodded.

  “We were never close.”

  She eyed him skeptically for several moments, but much to his relief, she didn’t press him any further. Turning away, she crossed to the French doors that opened onto the p
atio, cupped her hands on the glass and peered into the darkness.

  “What’s out there?” she asked.

  “A cottage,” Gabriel answered, aware that she must have spied the small adobe building tucked in a far corner of the lamplit courtyard.

  “Is it part of the property?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I see it?” She glanced at him hopefully.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Gabriel nodded. “Yes, of course.”

  He didn’t want to take her out to the cottage, but he couldn’t refuse without giving her a reason. And he wasn’t about to do that Why he’d prefer to avoid the place really wasn’t any of her business.

  “I’ll get your coat,” Cullen offered.

  He had trailed along behind them, saying very little. But every time he had caught Gabriel’s eye, the lawyer had shot him a warning glance, reminding him wordlessly of the risk he would be running by alienating Madelyn St. James.

  “Thanks.” She watched him leave the kitchen, then turned her attention to the cookbooks lined up on a shelf of the wrought-iron baker’s rack off to one side of the French doors.

  Without Cullen to act as a buffer between them, Gabriel felt oddly uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure why. They were in his house. If anyone should be ill at ease, it should be her. But she seemed quite...content.

  Wordlessly, she took a cookbook from the shelf and thumbed through it. Gabriel wondered if she was really interested in the recipes or was only pretending to be. Then he wondered why he cared.

  Highly annoyed, he fished a set of keys from one of the drawers under the counter. Crossing to the laundry room, his boot heels clicking on the tile floor, he grabbed his faded denim jacket off the hook on the wall and shrugged into it.

  Carrying Madelyn’s coat over his arm, Cullen hurried through the kitchen doorway.

  “Here you go,” he said, offering her a beneficent smile.