‘We’ll very quickly sort it out,’ Jordan assured her. ‘Thank you, Lloyd. Not your fault you weren’t aware of Ivy’s family situation. Though my mother should have been. I told her.’
His frown deepened as he steered Ivy off the dance floor. ‘Let’s find Sacha first,’ he muttered. ‘Confront the guy with both of you.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, her stomach churning at having to face the disgusting con-man. She wanted her mother there for back-up.
They found her out on the balcony with a group of her friends. Ivy quickly collected her for a private discussion with Jordan. As they joined him she was anxiously explaining, ‘A man has come here claiming to be my father, presenting some identification that has to be false. I need you to …’
Sacha stopped dead, shock draining the colour from her face. ‘No! No!’ The fierce denials exploded off her tongue. Her eyes glazed over.
Ivy grabbed her around the waist to support her, worrying that she was going to faint. It was awful, someone stepping into a dead man’s shoes to make some sensational situation, especially when her real father had been dearly loved. ‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted out. ‘It was a shock to me, too. He’s with Jordan’s mother, and we have to denounce him, Sacha, before he makes more mischief.’
A shudder ran through Sacha. The limpness was shaken off by a surge of outrage. ‘How dare he!’ She looked at Ivy with wildly ferocious eyes. ‘How dare he after all these years! The rotten snake in the grass!’
‘Who?’ Ivy asked, feeling a flutter of fear.
Sacha turned to Jordan in fighting determination. ‘We have to get rid of him. For Ivy’s sake. Order your security people to take him away and keep him away.’
‘But who is it?’ Ivy pleaded, not understanding anything.
‘Your father’s brother! Dick Thornton! Tricky Dicky!’ It was a snarl of hatred. ‘I haven’t seen him since before you were born, Ivy, but I know him to be a total bastard without any conscience whatsoever. You can bet he’s come to try and make some capital out of your connection to Jordan. It’s the kind of lousy thing he’d do.’
An uncle! Her father had never mentioned having a brother. His parents—her grandparents—had died before she was born, and he’d told her they were on their own, just the two of them, plus Sacha when they had weekends together.
‘Right! Let’s go and undo the mischief he’s already made,’ Jordan said grittily, his handsome face instantly settling into a look of formidable power.
He hooked his arm around Ivy’s to carry her along with him. She felt too dazed by the idea of having a wicked uncle to even begin to comprehend what it might mean to her. Sacha marched ahead of them, the panels of her split jacket flying out with the furious energy driving her forward.
The man standing beside Nonie Powell near the entrance to the ballroom had the gall to smile at their approach, not the least bit alarmed at the prospect of being unmasked as an imposter. He cut quite a fine figure in his formal black suit. He’d certainly made himself presentable. There were still some threads of ginger in his greying hair. The straight line of his nose was very similar to her father’s, as was the distinctive slant of his eyebrows. Ivy sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes—green eyes—targeted her with dancing delight.
It was easy to understand why Nonie Powell had not denied him entry to the party. The family resemblance, the name of Thornton, would have given her pause for further investigation. However, she had discreetly held him aside from the known guests, waiting for confirmation of his claim, for which Ivy was intensely grateful.
‘Well, well, I didn’t know what a beautiful daughter I had,’ the man rolled out as they arrived to deal with him.
‘She’s not yours! She was never yours!’ her mother declared in towering outrage.
‘Still as exotic as ever, Sacha,’ he tossed at her, his smile broadening, not dimming at her rebuttal of his claim. ‘You make me remember now why I couldn’t resist you.’
‘Don’t think you’ll get away with anything this time,’ she fired back at him. ‘Robert’s gone so I don’t have his feelings to consider.’
‘Poor Robert, who was left sterile from his stint in Vietnam,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘You must have had to ‘fess up to him that it was me who got you pregnant. And you know and I know that DNA will prove it. So let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Our lucky daughter has hit the jackpot and I’m here to collect my share of it or the skeletons will come out of the closet with a vengeance.’ He smiled at Jordan. ‘I can’t imagine the high and mighty Powell family would like that.’