Page 227 of Under Her Skin
Molly laughed, clearly relieved that she was okay. ‘Shame, though. You and Theo will have the most beautifulbabies.’
Jess flushed with pleasure. ‘Thank you, but woah horsey. We’ve never talked about kids, let’s just be happily engaged for abit.’
Molly pouted then laughed. They chatted through lunch and by the time Molly went back to her own desk, Jess was feeling good again. She glanced once more at her engagement before shoving everything to the back of her mind and getting on with herwork.
Theo shookthe hands of his colleagues and went to find an empty office. He switched on his laptop, and as he was waiting for it to fire up, he switched his phone back on. A text fromJess…
Pretty sure Max has soundproof walls… wake me when you get in tonight, I’ll make it worth your while. I love you, Jxx.
Theo grinned and shot her areply.
I look forward to it, beautiful. I loveyou.
Then he flicked through his call log. Three missed calls. Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that. Theo sighed. Time to bite the bullet. He pressed the call button and let itring.
She answered on the thirdring.
‘Theodore Storm, where the hell have youbeen?’
Theo let a long breath and cleared histhroat.
‘Hi, Mom, how have youbeen?’
At almost five,Molly knocked on her door again. Jess blinked, trying to get her head out of the file she was looking at. Molly wasfrowning.
‘Jess, there’s a guy here who says he’s your family lawyer. WilliamCorcoran?’
Jess’s eyebrows shot up and she got up and walked into the outer office. ‘William?’
The older man smiled kindly at her and she embraced him, ushering him into her office. They sat together on one of the long couches. William looked around approvingly. ‘This is very impressive, Jessica, your parents would beproud.’
Jess grinned wryly. ‘You mean they wouldn’t believe I slept my way to thetop?’
William frowned, shaking his head. ‘No one who matters would believe that. Does believethat.’
Jess thanked him. ‘Why are you here, William? Not that isn’t always lovely to seeyou.’
‘Sweet girl. Well, I come bearing gifts, though I hardly believe it myself. Julien has released your inheritance. The board has agreed and I have the paperworkhere.’
Jess was speechless for a long moment. ‘What’s thecatch?’
William looked at her, understanding in his old eyes. ‘None that I cansee.’
Another long pause then Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. After all this time, Jules would just give in. I don’t trust it, I don’t trusthim.’
‘I understand, Jessica, believe me, I do. But, legally, as far as the transfer is concerned, it’s all aboveboard.’
No, no. There was something very wrong here. Jules wouldn’t just give up his only way to control her, not this easily. She sat back, running through every eventuality in her mind. Did Theo or Max have something to do with this? Did they find evidence of Jules’ involvement in Camilla and Josh’s deaths? If they did, she would insist they go to the police, not use it to blackmail Jules into releasing her. No, that couldn’t be it. No matter how loyal Max was, he’d never let Josh’s killer go free to protect Theo, to protect her. Nor would she. Theo…she wasn’t sure. He loved her more than life, she knew that. She would have to talk tohim.
‘Jessica? Jess?’William was speaking to her and it took a moment before she responded, so lost in thought was she. She smiled at him. He patted herhand.
‘Congratulations.’ He nodded towards her engagement ring and shesmiled.
‘We haven’t announced it, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. We just kept it lowkey.’
‘Iunderstand.’
The elderly man stood and kissed her cheek. ‘Jessica, marry Storm, he is a good man. It doesn’t take much to see that. Julien is nothing more than a spoilt little brat. I think this is his way of admittingdefeat.’
