The Black Sheep's Inheritance(8)

Which wasn't helping her breathing any. "I was thinking out loud, that's all."

"About?"

She met his gaze. "If you must know, about whether or not I should accept the money J.D. left me."

Surprise shone briefly in his eyes. "And the decision is?"

"I haven't made one yet," she admitted, dropping the T-shirt onto her  half-packed suitcase. "To be honest, I don't know what I should do."

"Most people would just take the three million and run."

Colleen shrugged helplessly. "I'm not most people."

"I'm beginning to get that," he said, stuffing both hands into his  jeans pockets as he walked toward her. "Look, I came on a little strong  earlier-"

"Really?" She smiled and shook her head. She remembered everything he'd  said that morning. Every word. Every tone. Every glittering accusation  he'd shot at her from his eyes. She also remembered that electrical jolt  she'd gotten when she touched him.

He nodded. "You're right. And I was wrong. J.D. wanted you to have the money. You should take it."

"Just like that?" She studied him, hoping to see some tangible sign of  why he'd changed his mind, but she couldn't read a darn thing on his  face. The man was inscrutable. As a businessman, the ability to blank  out all expression had probably helped him amass his fortune. But in a  one-on-one situation, it was extremely annoying.

"Why not?" He moved even closer and Colleen could have sworn she felt  actual heat radiating from his body to enclose her in a cocoon of  warmth. Warmth that spread to every corner of her body. She swallowed  hard, lifted her chin and met his eyes when he continued. "Colleen, if  you're thinking about turning down your inheritance because of what I  said, then don't."

A cold breeze slipped beneath the partially open window and dissipated  the warmth stealing through her. That was probably a good thing. "I  admit, what you said has a lot to do with my decision. But mostly, I'm  worried that other people might think the same thing."

He pulled one hand from his pocket and slapped it down on the brass foot rail. "And that would bother you?"

Stunned, she said, "Of course it would bother me. It's not true."

"Then what do you care what anyone else thinks?"

Did he really not see what it would be like? Were the rich really so  different from everyone else? "You probably don't understand because  you're used to people talking about you. I mean, the Lassiters are  always in the papers for something or other."

"True," he acknowledged.

"And as for you, the press loves following you around. They're always  printing stories about the black sheep billionaire." She stopped  abruptly when she caught his sudden frown. "I'm sorry, it's just-"                       
       
           



       

"You seem to keep up with reports about me," he said softly.

"It's hard not to," she lied, not wanting him to know that she really  did look for stories about him in the paper and magazines-not to mention  online. God, she was practically a stalker! "The Lassiter family is big  news in Cheyenne." She covered for herself nicely. "The local papers  are always reporting about you and your family."

He snorted. "Yeah, and I'm guessing the will is going to be front-page news as soon as someone leaks the details."

Surprised, she asked, "Who would do that?"

"Any number of clerks in the law offices, I should think," he said.  "The right amount of money and people will do or say anything."

"Wow...that's cynical."

"Just a dose of reality," he said, his hand tightening around the brass  rail until his knuckles whitened. "I used to think most people were  loyal, with a sense of integrity. Then I found out differently."

"What happened?" she asked, caught up in the glimmer of old pain and  distant memories glittering in his eyes. The house was quiet, sunlight  drifting in through the bedroom window, and it felt as though they were  the only two people on the planet. Maybe that's why she overstepped.  Maybe that's why she allowed herself to wonder about him aloud rather  than just in her mind.

He almost looked as though he would tell her, then in an instant, the  moment was gone. His features were once again schooled in pokerlike  stillness and his eyes were shuttered. "Doesn't matter. The point is,  you shouldn't let gossips rule your decisions."

Colleen was sorry their all-too-brief closeness was gone, but it was  just as well. "It sounds so simple when you say it like that, but I  don't like being gossiped about."

"Neither do I," he said, glancing down at her suitcase, then lifting his gaze to hers again. "Doesn't mean I can stop it."

He was right and she knew it. Still, he was a Lassiter and rumors and  prying questions came with the territory. She was a nobody and she  preferred it that way. "Maybe if I don't accept the inheritance, they  won't bother because there would be nothing to talk about."

He smiled, but it wasn't a comforting expression. "Colleen, people are  going to gossip. Whether you take the money or not, people will talk.  Besides, trust me, a beautiful woman like you taking care of J.D. all  these months...there's gossip already."

Beautiful? He thought she was beautiful? Then what he said struck home.  A flush of embarrassment washed over her as she realized he was  probably right. There was no doubt talk already, and with her living  here at the ranch, she had fed the flames of the gossip.

"That's just awful. I was his nurse."

"A young, pretty nurse with a sick old man. Doesn't take much more than that to get tongues wagging."

She argued that because she had to. For her own peace of mind. Colleen  hated to think that people were making ugly accusations about a sweet  old man. And oh, God, had her mother heard the talk? No. If she had, she  would have said something, wouldn't she?

Shaking her head, Colleen said, "But J.D. wasn't my first patient. This has never happened to me before."

He shrugged the argument aside. "You'd never worked for a Lassiter  before, either. I'm only surprised you haven't already heard the  speculation."

She plopped down onto the edge of her mattress, her mind racing as  images from the past few months flashed across her brain. She hadn't  really paid attention before, but now that she was looking at things in a  new light, she realized he was right. The gossip had already started.  She remembered knowing winks, slow smiles and whispered conversations  cut short when she entered any of the local shops.

"Oh, my God. They really think that I-that J.D.-oh, this is humiliating."

"Only if you let them win," he said quietly and she looked up at him,  waiting for him to continue. "Small minds are always looking for  something to occupy them. If you live your life worried about what  they're saying, you won't do anything. Then they win."

"I really hate this," she murmured. He did have a point, but this was  the first time in her life that she was the subject of gossip. She'd led  a fairly quiet existence until she'd taken the job with J.D.

Sage was looking at this from an entirely different angle. The truth  was, as a Lassiter, he was insulated from the nastiest rumors and  innuendos. He didn't have to worry about what people were saying about  him, because his career was already made, and he had a powerful family  name behind him. Besides, how bad was it to have people discussing how  incredibly gorgeous you were?                       
       
           



       

No, this was different. If people were talking about her, it could  affect her work. Her life. If the nursing agency she worked for got wind  of any of this, they might be reluctant to send her out on other  assignments-and that made her cringe. On the other hand, if she simply  accepted J.D.'s generosity, she could make her own way. Though she would  still, as a nurse practitioner, have to work through local doctors and  hospitals.

"My head hurts," she muttered.

He laughed and it was such a rich, surprising sound, it startled her.  Looking up at him, she saw that his eyes were shining and the wide smile  on his face displayed a dimple she was fairly certain didn't show up  very often.

"You're thinking about this too much."

"It's very hard not to," she told him, shaking her head. "I've never  been in this position before and I'm not really sure what to do about  it."

"Do what you want to do," he advised.

Want was a big word. She wanted a lot of things. World peace.  Calorie-free chocolate. Smaller feet. Her gaze drifted to Sage's mouth  and locked there. And she really wanted to kiss him.