“Let’s just get down to it, shall we?” he said as he recapped a bottle of expensive Scotch.

Zach rested a hip against the fireplace.

“What is it you want, Miss Nash?” Jason asked.

She was ready for him. “Recognition.”

“That you’re London?”

“Yes.”

Jason’s smile was so cold, Zachary felt a moment’s concern for Adria. “You know we don’t believe you.”

“I expected it, yes.”

“And you know that there have been hundreds of young women who have claimed to be our half-sister.”

She didn’t bother answering, but her eyes never left Jason’s face.

“She says she has proof,” Zach interjected, uncomfortable with Jason’s arrogant attitude.

“Proof?” Jason’s eyebrows raised and a muscle tightened in his jaw.

“I have a tape.”

“A tape of-?”

“It’s from my adoptive father. It explains what happened.”

Jason looked at his brother. “You’ve seen it?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for? I assume you have it with you, Miss Nash.”

“In my purse.” She reached for the purse near her feet.

Zach stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Don’t you think we should wait until Nelson and Trisha are here?”

“Why?”

“We’re all involved, Jason,” Zach said as Adria handed Jason the tape.

Opening the plastic cover, Jason asked, “Is this the only copy?”

Adria slanted him a glance that told him to quit acting as if she didn’t have a brain in her head. “Of course not.”

“Didn’t think so.” Jason stared at the videocassette, flipped it over, and slipped it onto the corner of the desk. “Everything on this tape can be verified, right? If there’s any question of legality, there would be documents to back it up.”

“Such as?”

“Adoption papers, that sort of thing.”

“The papers were destroyed.”

Jason’s lips twitched. “Destroyed?”

“By a fire.”

“Convenient.”

“I don’t think so.”

For a reason he couldn’t explain, Zach stepped in. “There must be copies filed with the start.”

Adria shook her head. “I think the adoption was illegal.”

Jason’s mouth swept into a grin. “This just gets better and better.”

Zach felt his stomach curl at the way Jason stepped closer to Adria-moving in for the kill. “Back off,” he warned his brother.

“Oh, no, she started this.” Jason was suddenly enjoying the evening.

But Adria didn’t back down. “Look,” she said, getting to her feet and staring the brothers down. “I know you’re going to do everything you can to disprove me. I expect you to put me through hell. I did a lot of soul-searching before I came here, because, to put it frankly, I’m not sure I’m London Danvers.”

Jason looked smug, as if he thought she was already hedging her bets. “You’ve changed your mind.”

“No,” she said emphatically and stepped toward him. “I just want you to know where I stand. My father thought I was London.”

“Your father?”

“Victor Nash. He died last year. I didn’t find out the truth until I discovered the tape.”

“That makes things easy, doesn’t it?” Jason asked. “Your father-and I presume your mother, as well-aren’t around to be questioned. But, happily for you, he leaves you a mystery tape telling you that you’re going to inherit millions. Have I got it right so far?”

“Dad thought I should know,” she said, a slight defensive edge to her voice.

“So he gave you some sort of deathbed swan song about you being the lost princess of the Danvers kingdom, is that it?”

She pinned him with eyes that darkened with the pain of her past. “That’s it.”

“And you must believe it or you wouldn’t be here.”

“Of course. But I’m not sure.”

“How much would it cost to convince you that you’re no blood relation?”

“As I said before, it’s not a matter of money. If I find out I’m not London, I’ll leave.”

“And you won’t go running to the press?”

Suddenly she crossed the short distance between Jason and the couch so quickly, Zach’s breath caught. Without the added inches of her heels, she was a full head shorter than Jason, yet she craned her neck upward and glared at him. Two spots of color stained her cheeks. “You may find this impossible to believe,” she said in a voice so low it was nearly inaudible over the hiss of the fire, “but I don’t really care about money. I’ve seen what it’s done to your family as well as a few others, but it is important to me to find out the truth.” Her lips flattened in distaste and her eyes narrowed just a fraction. “Be honest, Jason-wouldn’t you like to know if I’m really London?”

“I already know,” Zach said.

Jason glanced at his brother.

“She’s a fake.” Zach finished his drink.

So like Zach to make a snap judgment, Jason thought. He was so damned cocksure. To Zach, everything was black or white, right or wrong, good or bad. Once again, Jason’s hotheaded brother wasn’t reading the situation the way it was. The reason this woman worried Jason wasn’t because of her incredible resemblance to Kat. Hell, any decent plastic surgeon could alter her face, her black hair could come out of a bottle, and she could be wearing sky-blue contact lenses for all he knew. Her looks weren’t the real problem, though they did worry him more than a little, but it was her attitude that bothered him. Adria was the first person to claim she wasn’t sure of her birthright. Whereas every other imposter, the pretenders to the Danvers crown, were sure of themselves and threatening lawsuits, adverse publicity and stories in newspapers coast to coast. Adria was different…chillingly so.

“Sit down, Miss Nash,” he suggested in a voice that most witnesses in a court of law obeyed instantly.

Unmoving, she stood her ground and from the corner of his eye, Jason saw Zachary’s mouth twitch in amusement. He was enjoying this, because he didn’t have much of a stake in the inheritance. The old man had written him out of his will once and then, as he’d aged Witt had mellowed, tried to patch things up with Zach and offered him the ranch, the only asset that Zach cared about.

Zachary had been reluctant, but finally capitulated. The old man and his rebellious middle son had struck a deal of sorts, something no one ever brought into conversation. There were no signed papers and yet somehow Zach had ended up doing Witt’s bidding and refurbishing the Hotel Danvers. In return, Zach would inherit the ranch in Bend-acres and acres of rich farmland, a drop in the bucket as far as the family fortune was concerned, but worth something nonetheless. The fact that Zach wanted it gave Jason a bargaining point with his headstrong younger brother. Jason suspected that deep down, Zach was just as greedy as the rest of the clan.

If London suddenly were to appear, Zach’s share of the estate wouldn’t alter too much. He had no percentage of the assets, just the damned ranch, which would shrink by a few hundred acres if he had to pay off London for her share. But Jason, Trisha, and Nelson would suffer seriously because Witt, damn him, had talked his lawyers into leaving fifty percent of his holdings, including the value of the ranch, to his youngest daughter. Fifty goddamned percent. There was no provision for the fact that she couldn’t be found. Only after fifty years-fifty years-would the assets revert back to the rest of the estate. By that time, Jason would have one foot planted firmly in the grave.

Hell, what a mess!

Fortunately, most people didn’t know the terms of the will, or there would be London Danvers after London Danvers crawling out of the woodwork trying to get their hands on the fortune.

And this one was glaring defiantly up at him, and looking so much like Kat that he felt the same hot urges he had when he was in his early twenties and his stepmother had been the most gorgeous and sexy woman on this earth. He’d had dreams about her, fantasized about making love to her, but she’d had the hots for Zachary, who had only been a boy at the time.

Zach, for God’s sake!

Zach’s attitude reeked of insolence and he had no respect for the good things in life, yet women seemed to flock to him. Kat had been the first in a long succession of women who would have given their eye teeth, or their diamond earrings, just to get him into their beds. The fact that Zach had always appeared uninterested had seemed to drive them into wild and hot pursuit.

Jason didn’t understand it, never would. All he knew was that Zach had always been more trouble than he was worth.

“Look,” Adria was saying, her chin lifted several notches. “Why don’t you just play the tape?”

“I will,” Jason assured her as he glanced at his watch. “But we can wait a few more minutes, until Nelson and Trisha get here.”

“So it’s a family party after all,” Zach said, cynicism edging his words. “Should be a barrel of laughs.”


“I tell you, Trisha, it was downright eerie,” Nelson said as he braked in front of the garage. Zach’s old Jeep and Jason’s Jag were already parked in the drive. “I mean, I felt like I’d traveled back in time about twenty years. She looks just like Kat.”

Trisha wasn’t impressed. She’d been through this routine too many times before. Nelson was quick to jump off the deep end. “So what does she want?”

“No one knows. Money, I imagine.”

“Where does she come from?”

“I’m telling you no one knows a damned thing about her.”

“Don’t you think it would have been smarter to check her out before we confront her?”

“Jason didn’t want her to cause a scene at the party. Too many reporters were there.”

“So he hustled her out here. Great.” Trisha climbed out of Nelson’s Cadillac and slammed the door shut. She didn’t have time for these kinds of games. There had always been women who claimed they were London Danvers, and there always would be. Why was this one any different? Either intimidate the bitch into leaving the family alone, or buy her off. The imposters could usually be purchased cheaply. Offer them a check for twenty-five or thirty thousand and a promise not to prosecute them for fraud, and they were only too happy to do anything anyone asked. They all signed sworn statements that they would never pretend to be London Danvers or bother the family again and in some cases, Trisha suspected, they’d slept with Jason. He seemed to get off on bedding any woman who remotely resembled Kat. Some sort of weird Oedipal thing. Trisha didn’t care, just as long as the women took off. Paying off the little fakes saved a whole lot of time and lawyers’ fees and everyone was happy. So why not do the same with this one?