Estate Affair Read online

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  WINE COUNTRY COURIER

  Community Buzz

  Cinderella and the Rogue Ashton Prince

  With Spencer Ashton’s murder still unsolved, rumors are swirling all over Napa Valley like wine in a fine crystal goblet. Spencer Ashton had a way with business, but he made few friends and many enemies along the way. His scandalous love life has left behind three feuding families and bitter feelings all around. It is no surprise that the police are sniffing for suspects among some of his own offspring!

  And now one of those offspring may be getting the ultimate revenge on his estranged late father. The buzz out of Ashton Estate Winery is that Eli and his siblings were completely cut out of their father’s will. Now Eli Ashton has been seen romancing Lara Hunter, a servant at the winery. While we hope Eli is carrying that glass slipper for his lovely lady, we wonder at his motives. Is this truly a romance, or an abandoned son’s attempt to seek entrance into father’s home and second family—at Cinderella’s expense?

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  ESTATE AFFAIR

  Sara Orwig

  With thanks to Melissa Jeglinski

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Sara Orwig for her contribution to the DYNASTIES: THE ASHTONS series.

  Books by Sara Orwig

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  The Bride’s Choice #1019

  A Baby for Mommy #1060

  Babes in Arms #1094

  Her Torrid Temporary Marriage #1125

  The Consummate Cowboy #1164

  The Cowboy’s Seductive Proposal #1192

  World’s Most Eligible Texan #1346

  Cowboy’s Secret Child #1368

  The Playboy Meets His Match #1438

  Cowboy’s Special Woman #1449

  * Do You Take This Enemy? #1476

  * The Rancher, the Baby & the Nanny #1486

  Entangled with a Texan #1547

  † Shut Up and Kiss Me #1581

  † Standing Outside the Fire #1594

  Estate Affair #1657

  Silhouette Intimate Moments

  Hide in Plain Sight #679

  Galahad in Blue Jeans #971

  * One Tough Cowboy #1192

  † Bring on the Night #1298

  † Don’t Close Your Eyes #1316

  SARA ORWIG

  lives in Oklahoma. She has a patient husband who will take her on research trips anywhere from big cities to old forts. She is an avid collector of Western history books. With a master’s degree in English, Sara has written historical romance, mainstream fiction and contemporary romance. Books are beloved treasures that take Sara to magical worlds, and she loves both reading and writing them.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  June 1976

  I t was an unpleasant task but he needed to do it tonight. Standing in the library of his home in San Francisco, Spencer Ashton gazed out the night-darkened window. In his mind he was seeing the Ashton vineyard—in daylight—acre upon acre of lush, prime-producing vines bearing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.

  His gaze roamed the library, with its shelves of leather-bound books; oil paintings in gilt frames on the walls; leather chairs; his immaculate, massive desk. Satisfaction shot through him because now his wealth would soar. What a long way he had come from Crawley, Nebraska!

  At the sound of the door opening, his wife appeared. She rarely came to the library, and the children were forbidden to enter it. Spencer had proclaimed this room his domain, a haven from his family.

  His gaze raked over Caroline. She wore a pink dress, typical for her. Ordinary and insipid. After tonight he would be rid of her for good. Distaste filled him. His only regret was that his split with her couldn’t happen faster.

  “You wanted to talk,” Caroline said, her hazel-green eyes gazing at him.

  “Yes, come in,” he replied, thinking how mousy she was. Not the woman for him. Maybe at one time he’d been attracted to her and thought she might be exciting enough to hold his interest, but that feeling had soon been dispelled. Yet she’d been the means for acquiring what he’d wanted. and she’d served his purposes well.

  Entering the room, she gazed up at him. “What is it, Spencer?”

  “I’m leaving you, Caroline,” he stated bluntly, glad to finally break their ties. “Our marriage is finished—but then it’s been finished for quite some time.”

  She paled and flinched as if he had hit her, and his distaste deepened. Why was she acting surprised, he wondered. How could she have hoped to hold him?

  “Leaving me!” she repeated as if she couldn’t hear well. “Spencer, we have four small children—we took vows.”

  “I’ve filed for divorce. It’s already done and will be in the paper tomorrow. I thought you would prefer to hear it from me first.”

  “You didn’t discuss this—”

  “There’s nothing to discuss. I want out of this marriage. I’m taking the Lattimer Corporation stock with me, Caroline. Your father willed his shares of the investment banking business to me,” Spencer declared, getting to the heart of the matter.

  “You can’t do that!” she cried, trembling badly. “My father left everything to you in good faith. As my husband and father of our children, his grandchildren, he bequeathed land and stock and money to you. He didn’t give it to you to take everything away from his daughter and grandchildren! I won’t let you do that!”

  Her eyes flashed with a fire that surprised Spencer. He had expected her to burst into tears and plead and beg. Instead her fists were clenched, and she was shaking. Except for bright spots of color in her cheeks, she was deathly pale.

  “Caroline, he bequeathed it all to me. Everything is mine. End of argument.”

  “I’ll get my lawyer, and we’ll see about ending this discussion. I’ll contest the will. You can’t take your children’s heritage and my life support from us!”

  “Think not?” He didn’t like opposition and hadn’t expected any argument from her. Spencer stepped closer to her, angrily grasping her shoulders and digging his fingers in until she flinched. “If you try to stop me, I’ll take the children from you and you’ll have nothing. I have people on our staff who will, if I want, testify that you’re on drugs.”

  “That’s a lie! I’ve never done anything like that!”

  “These people will testify under oath that you have.”

  “You’ll pay them to lie!” she cried, her voice rising. “It’ll all be lies!”

  “You can’t keep me from getting everything your father passed down to me. Believe me, Caroline, I’m prepared. I can get the children and the estate and you’ll have absolutely nothing.”

  “You’re pure evil, Spencer!” she exclaimed in a low voice. “You can’t take my children!” The tears did come now, spilling down her cheeks just as he had expected, while she trembled violently.

  He dropped his hands.

  “You do one thing to contest the will and you’ll never see the children. Do you understand that, Caroline?” he snapped, furious that she was threatening him. He would ruin her if she interfered with him!

  Caroline stared hard at Spencer through her tears. She’d been so wrong about this man, her husband. She’d known something between them was never right, that he was cold to their children, but she’d hung on for their sake. But now she saw him for what he truly was. A cold, heartless and calculating bastard. He’d never cared about her
. Never cared about his own children. All he’d ever wanted was her inheritance. And she’d been fool enough to fall for his lies. He didn’t deserve her tears.

  “I can see you for what you truly are now, Spencer,” she said, her voice shaking from fear and anger. “I can see that you don’t deserve the children. They deserve so much more. I can’t stop you from taking what my father left you, but I can raise my children to be honest and loving and have integrity. I can teach them to be nothing like you. And I still have the vineyard my mother left me. You can’t touch that. So go, if you must. Perhaps you are doing us all a favor.”

  Stunned, Spencer stared at Caroline and saw something in her eyes he’d never seen before: strength.

  Shrugging off the odd feeling this produced, he said, “You agree to accept my terms without a fight?”

  Caroline squared her shoulders, even as fresh tears fell from her eyes. “Yes.”

  Spencer’s pulse pounded with enthusiasm and victory. He was free of her and the children! He didn’t ever want to see any of them again. He swept into the hall and almost collided with his oldest son.

  Eight-year-old Eli Ashton gazed up at Spencer with round eyes, his skin as pale as his mother’s. For a startled instant Spencer and his son stared at each other, and then Eli flew at him.

  “I hate you!” he cried, his small fists doubled as he leaped at Spencer and pounded him.

  Spencer swung his hand, his palm cracking against Eli’s cheek, sending the child sprawling. Spencer headed to the door, where he’d left the bags he’d already packed. And then he left, turning his back on Caroline and the children forever.

  One

  Twenty-Nine Years Later

  W ho killed Spencer Ashton? Eli Ashton’s gaze drifted over the remaining mourners who had come to the Ashton Estate to give condolences to the family at the funeral reception. The event was winding down, yet the family was still busy talking to friends and hadn’t noticed Eli’s presence. When and if they did, he was certain he would be asked to leave.

  How many of these people had really liked Spencer? Eli thought his father’s enemies were probably legion.

  He was the only one of his family who had come to the funeral reception at the Ashton Estate and he knew why. Not one of them was welcome. The tension between the two families at the funeral had been palpable. But curiosity had overcome him and he had to see the house that should have been, and once was, his mother’s. His grandfather’s house and vineyards. All stolen by Spencer, Eli thought bitterly.

  Jamming his clenched fist into the pants pocket of his charcoal suit, he strolled across the large reception hall and stepped outside onto the veranda. Beyond the manicured gardens were acres of lush green vineyards. As head winemaker for his family’s vineyards, Eli knew the vines would be going into fruit set and already have tiny green grapes. It was the first of June in a season that, so far, had been good.

  His gaze ran over the vineyards again and the knot of anger inside him tightened. All of this stolen from his mother! All of his family rejected by Spencer. And now, Grant Ashton, Spencer’s first-born son, had turned up from Nebraska. The scandalous news had broken of Spencer’s first marriage. A marriage that had never been dissolved. Spencer had committed bigamy, Eli thought. Legally Spencer shouldn’t have been able to inherit this estate, mansion, vineyards, any of it.

  “Sir, do you need anything?” a woman asked.

  Eli barely glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I need a lot of things. Right now, solitude. I came out here hoping I would be left alone,” he replied, clamping his jaw closed and knowing he needed to control his anger. He raked his fingers through his straight, brown hair. He had been too abrupt, but he didn’t want to talk to a stranger.

  “And I thought all the big egos were inside,” came the soft reply.

  Startled, Eli forgot his anger. He turned to look at the woman who was heading back into the house. Taking a quick inventory, he observed long shapely legs, high-heeled pumps, a sleeveless black dress that ended above her knees. Thick auburn curls were looped and pinned on her head. The tendrils that had managed to escape made him think about running his fingers through her hair.

  “So, when you stir up the heat, you run?” he drawled.

  She stopped and turned around slowly, as if she had all the time in the world to deal with him. The moment their gazes met, he could feel electricity snap between them. She strolled toward him, and her sensual, languorous movement made his pulse jump. When he looked into her light honey-brown eyes, with the thickest lashes he had ever seen, his breath quickened. Her eyes captivated him. As she slowly approached him, he saw sparks dancing in their depths. She had a sexy walk, a slight sway of her hips, but it was the provocation in her eyes that kept his pulse racing.

  “Nothing you can do will make me run,” she replied with conviction.

  “Nothing?” he drawled, moving closer to her. “That’s an interesting statement and conjures up all sorts of things I’d like to do.”

  “Like what?” she challenged, her eyes carrying their own defiance She was self-confident, intriguing.

  “Like hold you in my arms and feel your softness against me. Like taste your lips in a slow, wet kiss,” he confessed in a husky voice, a little surprised at his own admission. He didn’t normally behave this way with women he didn’t know. But she’d opened the door and invited him in. “For starters, I’d like to have a drink with you, and later, dinner,” he replied.

  “We’re total strangers. I don’t do that,” she answered coolly, stopping only a few feet from him.

  “We can remedy that quickly. I’m Eli,” he said, extending his hand. “And you are—” he asked.

  When she held out her hand, he grasped warm, slender fingers. The heat between them burned even hotter when they touched. It sent a current straight to his nether regions, while his gaze slipped down to her full, rosy lips.

  “I’m Lara,” she replied.

  What would it be like to feel those lips against his, he wondered. “I didn’t think I’d be around any firecrackers until next month, but now I see I was wrong,” he said.

  “Me? A firecracker!” She laughed with a dazzling smile and a flash of even, white teeth. “All I did was rock your quiet, climate-controlled world a tiny bit.” He still held her hand while their gazes remained locked, feeling the same sizzling results.

  “Let’s get out of here and have a drink together,” he said, and took her arm, touching her so lightly, feeling the contact to his toes. She smelled enticing, and then he recognized the perfume. For a second she hesitated. “Let’s go, Lara,” he repeated, liking the sound of her name. “You know you want to,” he added.

  “You’re dangerous,” she said softly.

  “No, I’m not,” he replied, touching her slender throat. “Your pulse is racing and you want to go.”

  She ran her index finger across his wrist, a slow, sensual stroke while pinpoints of fire danced in the depths of her gaze. “I think your pulse is racing, too.”

  “If we can do that to each other already, then we have to get to know each other,” he said, linking her arm through his, knowing he wasn’t ready to let her out of his sight.

  “You’re incredibly sure of yourself.”

  “Right now, I’m sure about both of us,” he replied. He rarely acted impulsively, but he wanted to spend time with her, and they needed to get away from the Ashton Estate. He wanted her to himself. His gaze drifted down over her, over her slender throat and lush curves. He wanted to peel away that black dress and see what was beneath. “Let’s go,” he said, holding her arm as he took a step.

  “All right, Eli, I’ll throw caution to the wind and act on impulse. Don’t make me regret it.” She fell into step beside him. He was intently aware of her at his side, her head coming to just slightly above his shoulder.

  “Midnight Desire,” he said softly, and as she glanced up, her eyes widened.

  “You know my perfume!” Lara exclaimed in surprise. “You m
ust know a lot of women to identify a perfume quickly like that.”

  “No. It’s not women in my life. I have a nose for scents. And I have sisters.”

  “Sisters—right,” she said, obviously dubious of his declaration.

  He directed her to a shiny, black sports car. When he opened the passenger door for her, Lara slid into the seat and watched him as he walked around the car. He was ruggedly handsome with riveting green eyes, but it wasn’t just his appealing looks or his green eyes that had her seated in his car.

  It was this breathtaking, hot attraction and her curiosity about him. He was mysterious and intriguing. He had been harsh on the veranda when he’d snapped at her, but she hadn’t been any better with her smart-mouthed reply. She blamed the strain of the emotional day for her loss of control. She’d expected him to ignore her, but instead he had given her a challenge that she couldn’t ignore. Now here she was in his elegant sports car, going to dinner with him.

  She ran her hand over the soft, brown leather that covered the seat. She had never been in such a splendid car or with a man as exciting as Eli, yet she knew that she was out of her element with him. So far out of her element that she should get out of the car and go back where she belonged. She was an Ashton maid, domestic help, and when the fall semester started, a college student. Whatever he did, she guessed he was wealthy. But he was too enticing to pass up, and just this once she wanted to be with a dashing, stimulating man, riding in his fancy car, tossing aside cares and enjoying the moment.

  When he slid onto the seat beside her and started the engine, she caught a whiff of his aftershave. She shifted, adjusting her seat belt so she could watch him. His profile was to her and she drank in the sight of him, looking at his brown hair, fantasizing about running her fingers through the thick strands.