LEAD ME ON Julie Ortolon (mind reading books .TXT) 📖

“Allison? What is it?”

She turned to face him. “Your sister’s here.”

His expression turned wary as he closed the door. “And?”

“Is it true? Are you ... are you John LeRoche’s son?”

Scott closed his eyes. “I was going to tell you.”

“Oh, my God.” She covered her mouth.

“I swear, I was going to tell you.”

“When?” she demanded. “You’ve been here three weeks!”

“I know, but I couldn’t. Not before.” He started toward her, needing to hold her and soothe her. “You’ve got to believe me—”

“Do not touch me!” She stepped away with her arms wrapped about her middle. “How could you do this? Was it all some kind of joke? Were you calling your father to brag and laugh behind my back?”

“Allison, how can you say that? How can you even think it! I would never use you, or any woman, that way.” He moved closer, and this time when she tried to step away, he slipped a hand about her arm. “Listen to me, I’m not Peter. I don’t use women, then brag about it. You can scream at me for not telling you I’m related to John LeRoche, but don’t hang some other man’s sins on me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Did you come here to spy on us? To help your father win the lawsuit?”

“No! It had nothing to do with him. In the beginning, I didn’t tell you because I don’t tell anyone. That’s why I never do personal interviews. My connection to John LeRoche is nobody’s business. As for my name, I didn’t lie, it is Scott Lawrence. I had it changed legally years ago before I was even published.”

“Changing your name doesn’t change who you are. You’re still his son, and you never told me. For the past three weeks, we’ve been—” She motioned toward the bed. “How could you do this to me?”

“Because if I’d told you in the beginning, you wouldn’t have let me stay here.”

She searched his eyes. “Why did you want to stay? If not to spy on us.”

“For exactly the reason I said. I was in a writing slump and hoped being here would get me out of it. And it has. The book is going great. Everything’s back on track for me.”

“Your writing slump,” she echoed numbly, as if mentally fitting the pieces together. “You thought your slump was because your family lost Pearl Island. So you came here to use Marguerite.”

“You knew from the beginning I hoped her charm would help. If it didn’t bother you then, why now?”

“I didn’t know you were a LeRoche then.”

“Does that matter? Hell, you claim to be one of Henri’s direct descendants. If that’s true, you’re as much a LeRoche as I am.”

“It matters because you lied.”

He started to explain that he’d hoped she’d come to care for him enough to accept him anyway. But looking in her eyes, he realized she’d closed herself off from him completely. Nothing he said would change her mind. “Don’t do this, Alli. I’m begging you—” His throat closed around the words. “We’re so close to having something special, don’t throw it away over things that have nothing to do with you and me personally.”

“It has everything to do with us, because what we came from is part of us. Your side of the family stole our inheritance and spread so much slander about us we’ve lived on the fringe of acceptable society for generations while you’ve lived in the lap of luxury. And now, when we finally have a chance to regain what was taken from us, your own father is trying to drive us into bankruptcy so he can steal it back. You’ve known that for weeks, yet you said nothing.” She shook her head. “If you’d lie about something as basic as who you are, how can I trust you about anything?”

“You can trust me.” He nearly got down on his knees and begged her to listen, but he stopped himself. What good would it do but postpone the inevitable? He’d known all along it wouldn’t last, but God, he’d hoped it would last longer than this.

“Fine.” He turned away, unable to look at her without touching her. “If you want to play this out like some modern-day version of the Hatfields and McCoys, go ahead. Wallow in it.”

He felt her standing there staring at him a long time. Finally she headed for the door, and he told himself to let her go—squeezed his eyes against the tearing pain in his chest.

“Allison.” Her name slipped past his lips of its own will. He looked over his shoulder and found her standing with one hand on the doorknob, her back to him. “It doesn’t have to be like this. I know you’re scared, but don’t use this as an excuse to run away.”

She turned her head and he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I trusted you, and you lied to me.”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“Well, you succeeded.” She opened the door. “I want you gone. I’m going to go down to the apartment for a while, and when I come back up, I want all trace of you gone.”

“Allison—”

“No.” She held up her hand. “Just go.” The moment the door closed, he collapsed onto the settee and buried his face in his hands. What a fool he’d been. What an utter fool!

Chapter 24

Scott lost himself in his work. Rather than return to New Orleans, where too many people knew how to find him, he moved into the beach house on Galveston. The only person who knew he was there was his mother. He’d called her out of courtesy to ask if he could stay there, and to be sure no other family members were planning a visit in the near future.

Assured of his privacy, he set up his laptop on the student desk in his old room upstairs where he’d done some of his very first writing,