Gift-Wrapped Family (Family Ties #3) Read online

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” she demurred.

  Caleb thought that sounded like someone else’s assessment. But he said nothing as she rinsed out a small brown china teapot.

  “I dream up designs for quilt fabrics,” Mia finally said almost apologetically.

  “Oh.” That fit, Caleb decided, then realized that though he’d just met Mia, he’d instinctively known that employment suited her. Getting too involved. Maintain your distance, his brain scolded. That was difficult to do with this intriguing woman.

  “When my designs are incorporated into fabric, the company sends me a bolt of each. I then make up several quilts to feature various aspects of the fabric and how to use it. It’s nothing like the law,” she apologized. “Nothing at all like the important work Harlan did.”

  “Why should it be like his?” Caleb wished he’d met the man who’d made his wife feel that her work was trivial. “It’s just as important to have beautiful things in the world as it is to have the law.” She had the tray ready. “Can I carry something?”

  “The tea?” Mia smiled her thanks and led the way into a sunroom that took his breath away. Vibrantly painted canvases lay sprawled around the room, flowers in riotous color, a seaside scene, the cool white on white of deepest winter. “I’m sorry it’s so crowded. Harlan was always after me to stack these away.” Mia gulped, then reached to move one.

  “Please leave it. They’re beautiful,” Caleb said, and meant it.

  “Oh.” Startled green eyes met his before quickly veering away. “Thank you. Please sit wherever you like.” She poured their tea and then sat across from him on a rickety wicker chair whose quilted cushion said it had been well loved. “Mr. Grant—”

  “Call me Caleb.” Nothing in her expression to suggest she was flirting or playing games, but Caleb clung to his defenses anyway. He had a job to do. He couldn’t let her sad situation get to him.

  “Very well, Caleb. Well, other than serving you tea, I don’t know how I can help you.” Mia Granger frowned. He thought it a shame to mar the beauty of her face, but the helplessness in her next words irritated him. “What is it you expect of me?”

  “I’m not sure.” Caleb remembered Lily’s parting words. Can you find me a home, Uncle Caleb? Please? That plea from Lara’s niece broke his heart. “I came here hoping to learn the truth, but I’m not sure you know it.”

  “Whose truth? Yours?” Mia sipped her tea. “Like your claim that Harlan had a ranch.”

  “He did. Riverbend Ranch.” Caleb thought her eyes widened for a second.

  “We didn’t have a ranch. If we had, why would we live here?” she asked with some asperity. “Why would Harlan need to travel for his business?”

  “Are you sure he did ‘need’ to?” Though she tried to hide it, Caleb had seen Mia’s reaction to the word Riverbend. Now his senses were on high alert. She was hiding something, and he intended to find out what, despite that gaze of wide-eyed innocence.

  In Caleb’s experience very few women could carry off a claim of innocence. Lara had been one, but he wasn’t totally certain about Mia because there were even fewer women who managed to tug at his compassion, and she did.

  Surprised by the emotions she raised in him, Caleb decided he’d best be on guard around Mia Granger. Anything but friendship was impossible.

  *

  Caleb Grant was the most handsome man Mia had ever met. Tall, lean and dark, he exuded confidence, something she’d always admired but lacked. At the moment, Mia didn’t like the way he studied her with his silver-cold eyes. Nor did she like how his tall muscular body invaded the place where she’d mostly lived alone. She especially didn’t like the calculation in his voice, as if he expected to catch her in a lie.

  Caleb’s suggestion that Harlan had been unfaithful stung. The situation hadn’t been ideal, but she’d done her best to be a good wife after a simple ceremony at city hall had joined them in holy matrimony. No, they didn’t share a strong, fairy-tale love. But he’d kept her safe after her mother died and she was grateful. Mia mourned his death. Now she was all alone.

  But even though they hadn’t really been married, not the way other couples were, that didn’t mean Harlan would have done what Caleb Grant said.

  On the tail of those thoughts, snippets of details dawned. Hadn’t she always felt uneasy over Harlan’s frequent late-night meetings with Reba? And the way Reba touched his shoulder so fondly before jerking her hand away when she realized Mia had come to the office for her one and only visit? That had stuck in Mia’s mind for ages, especially after Harlan had ordered her to stay away. But that didn’t mean…

  She shoved her wayward thoughts out of her mind. She’d think about Harlan and Reba later. Right now Caleb Grant was here. He was a lawyer. Maybe he’d have some advice that could help sort out her pressing financial problems. Inhaling a breath of courage, she dived in.

  “Caleb, this land, er, ranch you speak of Harlan owning. Where is it?”

  “Riverbend Ranch is outside Buffalo Gap, about thirty-five miles from here.” Caleb’s innocent gaze turned cunning. “Do you know of it?”

  He’d seen her reaction to that name, so there was no point in pretending. Mia rose, walked to her big battered desk and removed a thin file. She held it out.

  “What’s this?” he asked, taking it from her.

  “It’s about Harlan’s estate, according to Trent, Harlan’s partner and also my lawyer.” She sat down, lifted her cup and took a refreshing drink. “Go ahead and look. Riverbend is a lawsuit my husband was handling, if I understand those papers correctly.”

  His eyes searched hers. Mia held it until—there went her stomach again, clenching and whirling as if some flu bug had hold of it. A minute earlier she’d felt perfectly fine, but now she closed her eyes and waited for her stomach to settle.

  “Are you all right?” Caleb’s eyes bored into hers.

  “A little flu. I hope you don’t catch it.” Mia sat perfectly still, hands in her lap. When he didn’t move she said, “Please read it. I’ll wait.”

  She watched him, amazed by the speed with which he scanned the documents she’d taken hours to peruse. Less than two minutes later he looked up, his mouth stretched tight in a grim line.

  “You see? There’s nothing about a ranch or money,” she said, her voice dropping at the stern look on his face. “I’m not lying.”

  “This is all Trent gave you? Nothing more?”

  Mia shook her head.

  “Did you sign anything recently?” Caleb voice was tight and sharp.

  “Of course. There were a number of papers Trent needed me to sign to deal with my husband’s estate.” She shivered, intensely disliking this inquisition but not sure how to stop it.

  Caleb had said he was a lawyer and she was sure he was a good one, though she’d never heard of this adoption agency, Family Ties. But as a lawyer he would know how to get people to say things—she should be on guard. He might actually be from some collection company.

  “Do you have copies of what you signed?” Caleb demanded.

  “No. Trent said he’d copy them at the office and bring them back. He hasn’t yet returned with them.” Something in the frost of his silver-steel eyes made her shiver. “Is—is anything wrong?” she asked hesitantly, and reared back when he nodded.

  “Yes. I think quite a lot is wrong.” Caleb closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Mia, this will be hard to hear, but you must listen because it’s the truth. I’ve been investigating your husband’s affairs, for Lily’s sake. Nothing I’ve found indicates he was hard up for money or that he or Trent had taken on a new client in months.”

  “But that can’t be.” She struggled to sort it out and looked at him. She saw nothing but honesty in his expression. Could it be true? “Then, what were he and Reba doing on all these trips?”

  “That’s what we need to discover.” Caleb glanced at his ringing phone, read the message and frowned. When he lifted his gaze to hers, the icy anger made her shiver. “Did you know your lawyer filed documents this morning seeking to take over all your affairs because he says you are incompetent?”

  “What?” Mia couldn’t believe Trent would do such a thing.

  “We need to act fast to protect you. Call Trent,” Caleb ordered. “Ask him to come here. Beg if that will get him here immediately.”

  “Why?” She was afraid to trust Caleb, to trust anyone, yet there was something in Caleb’s hard, cold eyes that reassured her he would not be part of any wrongdoing.

  She didn’t truly trust him, but if he was right about Trent, who else could she turn to for help? She picked up the phone and pressed in her lawyer’s number.

  “Trent, it’s Mia. Can you c-come here? P-please? It’s urgent.” She listened to his gruff excuses but said nothing. Finally he agreed. “Th-thank you.” She hung up.

  “Well?” Caleb Grant’s silver eyes probed hers.

  “H-he’ll be here in half an hour. But I have no idea what I’ll say to him. What do I do?” Even asking the question scared Mia.

  “I’ll speak for you.” Caleb’s fierce glare faded slightly. “I know it hurts and you don’t want to think about it right now, but Harlan Granger was not the man you thought he was and neither is his partner. Something’s been going on, something more than an affair. I intend to find out what. Okay?”

  A picture of Harlan and Reba together, laughing and loving, sharing a child, while she sat alone, would not leave Mia’s mind. Her husband had always been cool, distant and businesslike. He’d promised her mother he’d care for her. Surely he couldn’t, wouldn’t have turned to another… Suddenly her stomach heaved and Mia could think of nothing but escape.

  “Excuse me.” She hurried to the bathroom, where she was violently sick.

  Oh, Lo
rd, I feel so bad. And something is terribly wrong. Please help me.

  She’d barely had a chance to regain her breath when he rapped on the door.

  “I’m all right,” she called, irritated by her weak voice. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “We need to hurry.” Caleb’s voice left little room for argument. In fact, he was leaning against the hall table impatiently tapping his foot when she emerged. Feeling disheveled and weaker than she’d ever been, Mia walked slowly to the sunroom and sat down. She reached out to take her cup, but Caleb ordered, “Don’t touch that.”

  Mia flinched and drew her hand away. “Why?”

  “I believe there’s something in your tea that makes you sick.” His tone was harsh.

  “Caleb, that’s ridiculous,” she burst out. Maybe he was wrong about Harlan… “Trent would never—”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s done it before,” he said, certainty in his voice. “You’ve been drinking the stuff for days and you’ve felt ill about that long, right?”

  “Yes. But—” Mia stared at her cup as frightening scenarios played through her mind.

  “That tea should be tested. The police will be here shortly.” Caleb’s lips tightened. “They can do that. I’ve also ordered an ambulance.”

  She felt herself sway and grabbed the table. “Why?”

  “To check you out and take blood samples that will discern if something’s off in your system.” Caleb leaned forward and covered her hand with his. His touch sent ripples of awareness up her arm. “Mia, you won’t like what I’m about to say.”

  “Is it worse than you saying Harlan was having an affair? That he had—a child with his secretary?” She had to force the words out. When Caleb nodded she saw pity on his face. She did not want his pity, so she straightened her spine. “Go ahead, say it.”

  “I believe that Harlan, along with Trent, was running some kind of scheme to secrete money. After Harlan died in the car accident, I believe Trent saw a way to get that money for himself.” Caleb frowned. “I think Riverbend Ranch is the reason, though I haven’t yet made all the connections. In order to get the ranch, Trent needs you out of the way.”

  Mia sat in stupefied silence as Caleb explained about the ranch her husband had supposedly bought. He spoke of a petition for divorce Harlan had supposedly filed the day he died and listed a money trail Caleb claimed he was still uncovering.

  Dazed and ill, horrified to imagine the man she’d married was capable of such betrayal, Mia tuned out the pain and hurt that threatened to overwhelm her. How could it be possible? How could God have betrayed her trust? She’d believed for so long that He was there, protecting her, comforting her in her lonely marriage. Now it felt as though He’d played a horrible trick, just as Caleb claimed Harlan and Trent had. It was too much to deal with.

  Her brain numb, she sat silent as Caleb told the same story to the police when they arrived. They waited in the kitchen when she let Trent inside. Mia could see guilt build in Trent’s eyes as Caleb pummeled him with questions. She couldn’t bear to believe that this friend, one of the few she had and the only one she’d truly trusted since Harlan’s death, had deliberately set out to hurt her.

  While Trent scrambled for a defense, Mia held her whirling emotions at bay. For now she’d be strong. But in her heart of hearts she knew she believed Caleb’s accusations. So deep was her feeling of betrayal, she couldn’t even manage a silent plea to God for help. He’d let this happen. How could she trust Him again?

  A detective arrived, showed Trent a warrant for his arrest and after a few questions told the officers to take her lawyer to the station. The detective seemed to know Caleb and the two whispered together before Caleb introduced her to Detective Ed Gray.

  “Our police station has been investigating Harlan Granger for several months via a request from the IRS who are tracking what they believe is unreported income,” the detective told Mia. “This new information about your lawyer adds to our investigation. For that reason I hope you’ll allow these paramedics to take a sample of your blood. Then I’ll need to ask you some questions.”

  “Okay.” Mia remained silent when he beckoned the paramedics forward. They took several vials of blood, which were then handed to an officer, who sealed them in an evidence bag and left with another officer.

  “They’ll have our lab run tests on your blood,” the detective explained. “As a precaution, I’d like the paramedics to check you over now.”

  Mia nodded and the two medical people got to work.

  “Your vitals seem to be getting stronger,” they told her sometime later. “You’ll be okay.” The detective thanked and dismissed them.

  Mia was rolling down her sleeve when two men came out of her kitchen carrying evidence bags that contained her teas. Her heart sank a little further. Could it be true—had Trent been trying to poison her?

  “Now for the questions.” Detective Ed Gray’s face tightened.

  Mia did her best to answer everything he asked, even though some of his questions puzzled her. From time to time she glanced at Caleb. His gaze never wavered from her. But it was not a flattering look. It was a suspicious look that asked how she could have been so naive.

  In retrospect Mia asked herself the same thing as she finally accepted that she’d been incredibly stupid to have trusted her husband. But it had never occurred to her to not trust him because her mother had. In fact, she’d placed Mia’s life in his hands. And Trent was Harlan’s trusted partner. So why— She silently groaned, tired of trying to make sense of it.

  As the weight of her situation settled on her shoulders, Mia wanted to be left alone. And yet she didn’t want to be alone to think about Harlan’s betrayal. They hadn’t had a normal marriage, but to imagine that he’d betray her with Reba—

  One word played over and over in her mind. Betrayed. And following it—you can’t trust anyone.

  “Mrs. Granger?” The detective touched her shoulder.

  “Sorry. What did you say?” She forced herself to concentrate.

  “I know all of this must come as a shock, especially right after your husband’s death, but one of my officers has phoned to say Trent just admitted to lacing your teas with a substance to make you sick.” He gave her a sympathetic smile. “Our medical people advise drinking plenty of fluids to flush it out of your system. You can thank Caleb for acting on his instincts. There should be no long-lasting effects.”

  “Thank you.” Mia looked at the lawyer and the detective, not knowing what else to say. Everything seemed surreal, like being an actor in some horrible play she couldn’t escape.

  “The total of what Trent and your husband perpetrated isn’t yet clear, but we’ve launched a full investigation,” the detective explained.

  “Oh.” If possible, Mia now felt worse. The rest? There was more betrayal in store for her?

  “I suggest you retain new legal counsel who can begin sorting through your husband’s affairs.” The detective inclined his head toward Caleb. “I can vouch for Caleb. He’ll be straightforward with you. And to be frank, I think you’re going to need his help.”

  Relief swamped her. Surely if the detective trusted Caleb, she could, too, if only for a little while, just until things were straightened out. A niggle of hope flickered to life. Maybe with Caleb’s help she could finally dare to imagine a future with hope. Please, Lord?

  “Any questions?” the detective asked.

  “Why did Trent want to hurt me?” Mia asked.

  “I can’t answer that yet.” He gave Caleb a sideways glance. “But I will find out, I promise you.”

  “Thank you,” she said again. A thought pricked her brain. “I don’t know if it’s important, but Trent didn’t buy all of those teas. Harlan brought some home from several of his trips. So if Trent did try to hurt me, and I’m still struggling with that, only some of the tea would be affected.”

  The two men shared a look before the detective nodded, then said goodbye.

  “What do I do now?” she asked Caleb, feeling lost, when the detective was gone.

  “Were all your bank accounts joint?” When she nodded he said, “Let’s go.”

  “Where?” His hand on her arm urged her to move. Mia grabbed her handbag from the hall table and followed Caleb outside. She jerked her arm free of his grip to lock the door. “Where are we going?”