The Black Sheep's Inheritance(3)

"To Colleen Falkner," he went on and Sage shifted his gaze to the blonde. "I leave the sum of three million dollars."

Colleen gasped and rocked back in her chair. Blue eyes wide, mouth  open, she stared at Walter as if he had two heads. If she was acting  then send her an Oscar fast, Sage thought dryly. She looked as genuinely  surprised as he was. J.D. had left three million dollars to his nurse?                       
       
           



       

Walter kept reading. "Colleen, you're a good girl and with this money, I  want you to go on and chase your dream down. Don't wait until it's too  late."

"Oh, my-" She shook her head in disbelief, but Walter was moving on already and Sage braced himself for whatever came next.

"To my son Dylan Lassiter, I leave controlling interest in Lassiter  Grill Group, and enough cash to tide you over while you take it to the  top. Oh, and I'm giving you ten-percent share of the Big Blue, too. It's  your home, never forget that."

Beside Sage, Dylan looked shell-shocked and he couldn't blame him.  Hell, the man was now the owner of one of the fastest-growing restaurant  groups in the country. If that didn't stop your heart a little, you  weren't human.

"My son Sage Lassiter-"

Sage tensed for whatever was coming. He wouldn't have put it past J.D.  to take one last swipe at him from the grave. To remind him publicly of  the distance that had grown between them over the years. Like oil and  water, Sage thought, he and J.D. had just never managed to mix well  together.

"Sage," Walter read with a shake of his head, "you're my son and I love  you. We butted heads too many times to count, but make no mistake,  you're a Lassiter through and through. I'm leaving you  twenty-five-percent interest in Lassiter Media, a ten-percent share in  Big Blue-to remind you that's always your home-and lastly some cash that  you won't want and don't need."

Surprised and touched, Sage snorted.

Walter continued word for word, "You're building your ranch your own  damn way, just like I did. I admire that. So take this cash and buy  something for that ranch. Something that will always remind you that  your father loved you. Whether we could get along together or not."

Damn. The old man had surprised him one last time, was all Sage could  think. His throat felt like a fist was squeezing, closing off his air.  If he didn't get out of here soon, he was going to make a damn fool of  himself. How the hell did J.D. know how to touch him, even from beyond  the grave? How had he scripted words in a will months ago that could  reach out long after he was gone to do what he hadn't been able to do in  life?

"And lastly," Walter was saying, "I come to my beloved daughter,  Angelica Lassiter. You are my heart and soul and the light of my life."

Sage glanced at his sister and saw her beautiful face crumple into tears again.

"And so," Walter read, "I leave you, Angelica, a ten-percent share of  Big Blue, just like your brothers, the Lassiter estate in Beverly Hills,  California, enough cash for you to spoil yourself some and finally, a  ten-percent share in Lassiter Media."

"What?" Sage jumped to his feet, outraged, and Dylan was just a breath  behind him. All of the warm feelings for his adoptive father vanished in  a blink. How could he do that to Angelica? He'd groomed his daughter  for years to take over the day-to-day operations of Lassiter Media, a  conglomerate of radio, TV, newspapers and internet news outlets. Hell,  she'd practically been running the damn thing on her own since J.D. got  sick. And now he cut her out of the thing she loved?

"You can't be serious," Sage argued hotly, with a quick look at his  sister's shocked, ashen features. "She's been running Lassiter Media for  J.D. He left me more interest than Angie? That's insane!"

"We'll challenge the damn will," Dylan was saying, moving toward his  sister to lay one hand on her shoulder in a show of solidarity.

"Damn straight," Sage agreed, glaring at the lawyer as if it were all his fault.

"There's more," Walter said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "And I  warn you, try to challenge this will and you might all be sorry-but more  about that later. For now, voting control with forty-one-percent share  of Lassiter Media, chairmanship and title of CEO, I leave to Evan  McCain."

"Evan?" Angelica pulled away from her fiancé even as he was rising to his feet, stunned speechless.

"What the hell is going on here, Walter?" Sage demanded, coming around  the corner of the man's desk to snatch up the will and read the terms  himself.

"J.D. knew what he wanted to do and he did it," the lawyer argued.

"Well, it won't stand," Marlene said.

"Damn right it won't," Dylan piped up, charging the desk and snatching the will from his brother's grasp.                       
       
           



       

"It's not right." Chance came to his feet slowly, his calm, quiet voice nearly lost in the confusion.

"I can't believe it," Angelica murmured, looking at her fiancé as if she'd never seen him before.

"I swear I don't know anything about this," Evan said, taking a step toward her only to stop when she backed away from him.

"Well, somebody does, and I'm going to find out what's going on," Sage  promised, then snapped his gaze to the door. Colleen Falkner was  slipping out of the office like a damn ghost.

She'd gotten what she wanted, he told himself. He only wondered what  she'd had to do for three million dollars. And he also had to ask  himself if she'd known about J.D.'s plans. Had she been involved in his  decision to rob Angelica of the very thing she cared most about?

Damned if he wouldn't find out.

* * *

Colleen leaned back against the door briefly, closing her eyes and  forcing herself to drag a deep breath into her lungs. Her heart was  pounding so hard and so fast she felt dizzy.

She hadn't expected anything like this.

Three million dollars?

Tears burned her eyes, but she frantically blinked them back. Now  wasn't the time to indulge in tears for the loss of her friend-or for  thinking about the future he had just made possible.

Behind her, she heard muffled shouts through the closed door. Sage  Lassiter's voice was the most unmistakable. Though he didn't have to  shout to be heard. The cold steel in his deep voice was enough to get  the attention of anyone in the room.

God knew, he'd had her attention.

She'd felt him watching her earlier. Had sneaked a peek or two over her  shoulder at him in return. He made her nervous. Always had. Which was  why any time he'd come to the Big Blue ranch to visit his father-which  wasn't often-Colleen had made herself scarce.

He was so...male.

Sage Lassiter was a force of nature. The kind of man women drooled  over. And she was the kind of woman men like him never noticed. Well,  not usually. He'd certainly noticed her today, though. And he hadn't  looked very happy about it.

Tossing a quick look at the closed door behind her, Colleen hurried  down the long beige hallway toward the elevators. She wanted to be long  gone before Sage left that room.





     Two

She made it as far as the parking lot.

"Colleen!"

Standing beside her car, Colleen took a breath and braced herself. That deep voice was unmistakable.

Goose bumps broke out on her arms and it wasn't because of the icy wind  buffeting her. Blast Wyoming weather anyway. One day it was spring and  the next, it was winter again. But the cold was the least of her  worries.

It was him. Colleen had only been close to Sage Lassiter one time  before today. The night of Angelica's rehearsal dinner. From across that  crowded restaurant, she'd felt him watching her. The heat of his gaze  had swamped her, sending ribbons of expectation unfurling throughout her  body. He smiled and her stomach churned with swarms of butterflies. He  headed toward her, and she told herself to be calm. Cool. But it hadn't  worked. Nerves fired, knees weakened.

And just as he was close enough to her that she could see the gleam in  his eyes, J.D. had his heart attack and everything had changed forever.

Looking back on that night, she told herself she was being silly even  thinking that Sage might have been interested in her. He'd probably only  wanted to ask her questions about his father's care. Or where the  restrooms were.

In her own mind, she'd built up the memory of that night into something  magical. But it was time to remember that she simply wasn't the kind of  woman a man like him would ever notice. Sadly, that didn't stop her  from noticing him and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about him  since that night.

Now he was here, and she had to battle down a flurry of nerves. She  turned and brushed a few stray, windblown hairs out of her face as she  watched him approach.