The Heiress
Jack Granger, counselor to the Deveraux shipping empire and totally devoted to the senior Deveraux, has been shadowing the love child of his mentor for nearly a decade. Granger had watched Daisy grow up from a petulant rich girl into a driven young woman with a mission to find her roots–a quest he had long prevented her from ever accomplishing…harboring his desire for her all the while.Both were outcasts searching for redemption and truth in an unforgiving world of wealth and deception. Instead, they found each other…without pretense or promises. But at what cost would they seek the future?
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THE DEVERAUX LEGACY LIVES ON!
“Am I getting to you?” Daisy asked.
Jack’s eyes narrowed. Perspiration beaded his temple. “This won’t help your situation.”
Daisy laughed softly. When he didn’t move—didn’t react in any way—she recklessly reached behind her and released the zipper on her sundress.
Jack’s expression grew even grimmer, more forbidding. Although she could tell he wanted her, he was not in the least bit amused by her antics. “Don’t do this,” Jack whispered. His fingers gently encircled her wrist, forcing her hand down. “It wouldn’t help either of us,” he said sternly.
More tired than she could ever say of being told what to do, think, even feel, Daisy replied, “We’ll just see about that.” And before Jack Granger could respond, she stood on tiptoe, wrapped her free hand around the back of his neck, tilted his head down and pressed her lips to his….
Dear Reader,
Have you ever felt that you just didn’t belong somewhere? Or that everyone knew what was really going on behind the scenes but you? Heiress Daisy Templeton has felt that way her entire life. Her intuition tells her there are secrets that have something to do with her adoption into the blue-blooded Templeton clan, and she is determined to discover the truth about her heritage. When she does, it rocks her world. She is a true heir to the Deveraux legacy. Her real mother and real father have been in her life all along!
Jack Granger, on the other hand, knows more than he cares to about his sordid past and wishes fervently he were a member of a family like the Deveraux. That isn’t possible, until he’s given the assignment by his boss Tom Deveraux to keep the beautiful and spirited Daisy safe. A job that soon becomes a lot more personal for Jack.
Daisy doesn’t want Jack around or cleaning up Tom’s mess. But soon their lives are entangled more deeply and irrevocably than they ever could have imagined.
I hope you enjoy this book and the rest of THE DEVERAUX LEGACY as much as I have enjoyed writing all six books. And don’t forget to look for Taking Over the Tycoon, coming in June 2003 from Harlequin American Romance.
Happy reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cathy Gillen Thacker has published over sixty books, more than fifty with Harlequin American Romance. And with good reason! The family dramas and romantic comedies are very close to her heart. Her books have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists and are published in seventeen languages and thirty-five countries around the world. She lives in North Carolina with her family.
To my darling daughter Sarah—
who understands the “creative process”/art of storytelling like only another former English lit major/Web site designer/law student can. Thanks for listening, kiddo. (A lot!) This one is for you.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER ONE
WE HAVE TO STOP MEETING like this, Daisy Templeton thought.
Not that she and Jack Granger were really socializing. Just that, for the last month or so, the two of them had been showing up at the same locations in Charleston, South Carolina, at the same time with disturbing regularity. Sometimes, the handsome attorney said hello and engaged her in the kind of brief chitchat one had with an acquaintance. On other occasions—like tonight—the sexy bachelor kept his distance, remaining clear on the other side of the airport baggage claim.
Daisy knew Jack Granger hadn’t been on her return flight from Switzerland in any case. The tall sandy-haired southerner with the nicely chiseled jaw would have been impossible to miss. But, as company counsel, he certainly could have been somewhere for Deveraux-Heyward Shipping. He was dressed in a dark-blue pin-striped business suit, white shirt, tie. As always, his clothes were sharp, if a little worn.
He had been standing there, arms crossed, leaning up against the far wall, when Daisy walked through the security gate that separated arrivals and departures from the rest of the Charleston, South Carolina, airport. Dark aviator sunglasses on, a cell phone pressed to his ear, he appeared to be waiting for someone or something. But unlike everyone else—Daisy included—who was gathered around the motionless baggage claim, waiting impatiently for their luggage, Jack Granger didn’t seem to care whether the ear-splitting warning buzzer ever sounded. He appeared more interested in whatever was being said to him on the other end of the line.
Not that it should matter to her what Jack Granger was doing, Daisy reminded herself as the red light flashed and the conveyer belt finally began to move. Others crowded in. She wedged her way in once she saw her case, grabbed it by the handle, lifted it off the conveyor belt, pulled up the handle, then wheeled it toward the automatic doors.
