The Black Sheep's Inheritance(11)

       
           



       

Sage dropped a kiss on the top of her head, then looked across the room  to Dylan, sprawled in one of the oversize leather chairs.

"You don't have anything to say?"

"I've said plenty," his brother countered, then shifted a glare to their sister. "I was shouted down."

"I didn't shout," Angie argued.

"Like a fishwife," Dylan told her, then glanced at Evan. "If you still want to marry her, you're either brave or brain-dead."

"You're not helping," Sage said.

"Yeah, I heard that from our darling sister an hour ago," Dylan told him tiredly.

"You don't understand how this feels, Dylan," Angelica said, giving him  a look that should have set fire to his hair. "Dad didn't take away the  business you love, did he?"

"No, he didn't," he admitted.

"Angie," Evan said, stepping toward his fiancée and laying both hands  on her shoulders. "I love you. We're getting married. Nothing's  changed."

She slipped out from under his grip and shook her head. "Everything's changed, Evan. Don't you see that?"

"I don't want to run your company, Angie. You'll still be doing the day-to-day," he argued. "You're still in charge."

"I don't have the title. I don't have the power. The only reason I  would still be in charge is because you allow it." She shook her head  and bit down hard on her bottom lip before saying, "It's not the same,  Evan."

"We'll figure this out," he countered, but Angelica didn't look convinced.

Sage wondered suddenly if maybe J.D. hadn't done all this just so he  could hang around as a damn ghost and watch his family jump through the  hoops he'd left behind.

"I think we've all had enough for one day," Marlene announced,  interrupting what looked as though it could turn into a battle. She  walked over to give Angelica a hug, then smoothed a stray lock of her  dark brown hair back with gentle fingers. Giving the younger woman a  smile, she spoke to the room at large.

"Why don't we all go into the kitchen? We'll have some coffee.  Something to eat. It's been a hard day but I think we all have to  remember-" she paused, letting her gaze slide around the room "-that  we're family. We're the Lassiters. And we will come through this.  Together."

* * *

"There's no reason to be so nervous." Jenna Cooper took a sip of her  white wine and smiled as Colleen changed clothes for the third time in a  half hour.

"I'm not nervous," she replied, "I'm just hyperalert."

Jenna chuckled and curled up into a corner of her chair. Colleen met  her friend's amused gaze in the mirror and released a sigh. "Fine. Maybe  I'm a little nervous, but there's no reason to be. This is not a date.  It's just dinner with a family member of a patient I've lost."

"Uh-huh."

"You might sound a little more convincing when you're placating me."

"I'll work on it," her friend said, still laughing.

Jenna Cooper lived next door, with her husband and adorable  three-year-old twin boys, Carter and Cade. At five foot two, Jenna  looked like a pixie with very short black hair that curled around her  elfin features. Her green eyes were always shining and she and Colleen  had been good friends since the second week Colleen had lived in the  condo complex two years before.

Knowing Colleen was a nurse, Jenna had come to her door in a panic late  one night because one of the boys had had a fever seizure. Colleen had  recognized it for what it was immediately and helped them lower Carter's  temperature, then she had stayed at the house with a sleeping Cade  while Jenna and her husband took Carter to the E.R. to be checked out,  just to be on the safe side.

Jenna took a sip of her wine and murmured, "I still can't get over Mr. Lassiter leaving you so much money."

Colleen's stomach churned uneasily and she slapped one hand to her abdomen in a futile attempt to stop it. "Neither can I."

She'd had several hours to think about it, yet it still didn't seem  real. Though everything Sage had said to her earlier kept replaying in  her mind. The thought of gossip gave her cold chills, but...

"So, have you told your mother yet?"

"About the money?" She shook her head and then frowned at her  reflection. Tugging at the scooped bodice, she tried to pull it a little  higher, but no matter what she did, you could see cleavage. A lot of  cleavage. "I never really noticed just how big my boobs are."                       
       
           



       

"That's because you've usually got them covered up under a layer of  cotton and wool." Jenna stood up, smacked Colleen's hand away from the  fabric and smiled. "You look gorgeous. Stop fussing. God, that's an  amazing dress."

"It is." And ordinarily, she never would have bought anything like it.  But Angelica had insisted on taking Colleen shopping for the perfect  dress to wear to the rehearsal dinner. Sage's sister had picked this  dress out for Colleen and she'd worn it the night Sage had first noticed  her. The night...her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, God. I can't wear this  dress tonight. I was wearing it the night Sage's father collapsed and  died. What was I thinking?"

She turned to head for her bedroom and the pitiful offerings she might  find in her closet, but Jenna stopped her with one hand on her arm. "You  can't retire the dress, Colleen. For one thing, it didn't kill Mr.  Lassiter, and it's just too amazing to be tossed into the dark abyss  that is your closet."

"Thank you."

"And for another thing, trust me when I say that when Sage gets a look  at you in this dress-" Jenna took a step back, swept her gaze up and  down Colleen and whistled "-it won't be funerals that'll spring to  mind."

A tiny thrill dazzled Colleen before she remembered that Jenna was her  friend. Of course she was going to compliment her. But, she told herself  firmly, let's be realistic. Sage Lassiter was not interested in her.  Going to dinner with him meant absolutely nothing.

"This is crazy," she said aloud. "I'm acting like this is a date and  it's not." Colleen wrung her hands together until she realized what she  was doing, then she stopped that pitiful action. "Honestly. Slacks and a  sweater. That's what I should wear."

"If you change one more time, I'm going to tie you to a chair," Jenna warned. "You look great, you've got a date-"

"Not a date-"

"-you're going to dinner with the most gorgeous man in Wyoming, possibly the United States-"

"I wonder what Tom would say if he heard that."

Jenna grinned. "He's not worried. My Tom's not gorgeous, but he has other...compensations."

"You're impossible." Colleen could admit silently that she felt more  than a little envy of her friend's relationship with her very cute  husband.

"Tom thinks so..." She grinned again and wiggled her eyebrows for emphasis.

If Colleen had half the confidence that Jenna had, she wouldn't be the  slightest bit nervous about her nondate. As it was though...the bats in  her stomach-too big for butterflies-were flying in tighter and tighter  circles. It was as if they were winding an invisible spring inside her  and Colleen was terrified that it was going to snap at just the wrong  moment.

Maybe the red dress would help. It was beautiful and wearing it, she  couldn't help but feel more confident. Besides, she told herself, Sage  might not even remember that she was wearing this dress at the rehearsal  dinner.

"Have some wine." Jenna offered her own glass and Colleen snatched at  it, taking a big gulp, hoping to drown the bats. Apparently though, they  knew how to swim.

"This is a mistake," she muttered and handed the glass back to her friend.

"No, it's not. You're a terrific person, Colleen. It's about time you let some man figure that out for himself."

"It's not a-"

"Yes, yes." Jenna walked back to the love seat, dropped onto the  slipcovered cushions and stared up at her. "Now, tell me how my best  friend becomes a millionaire and gets a date with the Sage Lassiter."

"Weren't you listening? It's not a date."

"Whatever." She patted the cushion beside her. "So how're you doing,  really, with this crazy, world-shifting, life-altering day?"

Good question. "Actually, I think I'm feeling better about the money."

"Yay!"

Smiling, Colleen thought about sitting down, but she didn't want to  wrinkle her dress. How did the beautiful people do this all the time?  "Really, I've had all day to think about it, and you know, Sage was  right. Even if I give up the money to charity, people will still talk.  I'll just be poor while they're talking about me."