“Didn’t I tell you back in San Francisco to mind your own business when it came to Deidre?” Nick asked.
John straightened his tie in a nervous gesture. “DuBois Enterprises is my business. It used to be your sole focus as well, Nick.”
“Get out of here,” Nick growled through clenched teeth. He was mad enough to bite through steel. John must have noticed, because he blanched.
“If you have the right to wait and find out if that’s the phone call we’ve been waiting for, then I certainly—”
“Have no right whatsoever,” Nick finished. He stalked over to the coat tree and grabbed John’s coat. John started back when he shoved it in the vicinity of his chest. “You’re an employee of DuBois Enterprises, and even that’s an uncertainty at the moment.”
“Are you threatening to fire me?” John asked furiously. “I have a contract!”
“Contracts can be broken. Besides, I doubt I’m the only one you’ve insulted by coming here. Are you so shortsighted—so dense—to alienate Deidre, when she’s your new employer?”
“You don’t know that she’s my new employer for sure. You don’t know that I insulted her,” John hissed as he put on his coat. “Maybe it’s you that she was insulted by.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nick demanded, narrowing the distance between them in a split second, but he was talking to the older man’s back. Apparently, John was remembering all too clearly what Nick had graphically told him he’d do to him if he continued with his subtle threats and innuendos in regard to Deidre.
He slammed the door after the fleeing man, stifling a nearly overwhelming aggressive urge to go after him. He didn’t want to leave Deidre.
He couldn’t believe John had come to Harbor Town to confront her without Nick’s knowledge or approval.
He left the kitchen, meeting Deidre as she entered the living room. She came to a halt when she saw him.
“I heard the door slam. Did John leave?” she asked.
His nerves seemed to prickle beneath his skin when he noticed the tightness of her mouth when she spoke, the unusual pallor of her face, the way her usually soulful eyes were shuttered.
“He’s gone,” Nick said, stepping toward her. She didn’t back away from him this time, but he sensed her wariness. “What is it? What’s happened? What did John say to you? Deidre?” he prodded when she didn’t immediately reply. He didn’t care for the way she was detailing his features as if she were seeing him for the first time.
“He told me about the letter.”
Her whispe
r in the silent room struck him like a slashing razor.
“He told me that you believe Lincoln was demented when he made me his heir. He told me that you suspected he was of unsound mind...that the Lincoln you knew would never have done such a foolhardy thing as change his will because of a crazy wish that I was his daughter. Is that true?” she asked softly.
“No. I mean...yes, it is partly true.” He made a sound of frustration when he saw her shocked expression. “You haven’t seen the letter, Deidre.”
“Because you wouldn’t let me,” she said, her subdued voice now vibrating with anger. “I asked to see it. I wanted to see it.”
“I know,” he said in a pressured tone. “But I thought it might upset you.”
“So you did it all for my benefit. Is that right, Nick?” she asked, taking a step toward him, her rigid stance portraying her emotional distress.
“Not in the beginning, no,” he admitted.
“That letter is apparently crucial potential evidence in a court of law—evidence that Lincoln was of unsound mind when he changed his will. Do you deny it?”
“It is...potentially.”
“That’s why you didn’t want me to see it.”
Nick clenched his eyes shut, feeling the situation spinning out of control. Damn John Kellerman’s conniving interference. He opened his eyes and held Deidre’s stare, trying to will her to understand.
“That may have been true in the beginning, when I first came here.”
Something flashed in her eyes that looked like hope. “So you don’t believe Lincoln was of unsound mind? You’ve changed your opinion?”