Accidentally Yours Read Free Page B

won’t be the first time. It’s not like you actually had the references you claimed to have to get that restaurant job.”
    “I know, but the reference thing would fall in the white-lie category. Is announcing a donation that hasn’t been made illegal? I’m all Cody has. If I were to go to jail…” She opened her mouth, then closed it. Somewhere deep inside her brain a light went on.
    She straightened. “I’m having an Oprah ‘aha’ moment,” she said, hardly daring to think the whole thing through. Was it possible? Could she pull it off?
    “I have letters,” she told her friend. “Form letters from King’s company. So I could scan in the letterhead and then write a different letter saying he’s giving us the money. I give that to the local paper. They get all excited, word goes out to the wire service and voilà, the whole world knows.”
    Linda grinned. “It could work. And the jail threat?”
    “That’s the great part. Do you really think a big-time developer is going to put the mother of a sick kid in jail? If he tried, there has to be some sleazy lawyer willing to take on my case. Think of the publicity. Worst-case scenario, Nathan King backs out of the donation, then someone else may step forward.”
    Linda leaned forward and pulled a folder out of her purse. “I don’t think he’ll be backing out. I did a little research of my own. Nathan King is trying to build those luxury high-rise towers on Puget Sound.”
    Kerri wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, yeah. Million-plus-dollar condos and upscale shopping and restaurants. In my next life I’ll buy one.”
    “He’s getting a lot of resistance from city government. You’ve only been living here a few months, but I’ve been in the Seattle area all my life. Nathan King has made a lot of enemies. He’s not well liked. Really bad publicity could ruin his chances of getting his project through.”
    Hope burned hot and bright in Kerri’s chest. “He couldn’t afford to put me in jail.”
    “Probably not.”
    “I would represent every little person he’s ever stepped on in his quest to amass his fortune.”
    “Exactly.”
    “I like it.”
    The two women clinked wineglasses.
     
    A FTER FINISHING his breakfast, Nathan King put down the Wall Street Journal and opened the folder of clippings that had been left with his paper. Every morning he reviewed what the newspapers had said about him the previous day.
    In his current battle for zoning and funding, press reports were a necessary evil.
    He flipped through copies of articles about his various businesses, an op-ed piece on the horrors of luxury high-rise construction, a short report on the wire about his plans to contribute fifteen milliontoward research on Gilliar’s Disease and an interview with a pro-environment reporter who had twisted his every response to make him sound both cruel and stupid. If they—
    He carefully set his coffee on the table, then flipped back to the previous page.
    There weren’t many details. Just a statement about the donation and a couple of sentences that research would resume at the facility in Songwood, Washington.
    Nathan already had out his cell phone. He hit the speed dial for Jason Hardy.
    “You’re getting an early start,” Jason said when he answered. “What’s up?”
    “Someone is trying to blackmail me into giving her fifteen million dollars.”
    “What? Who?”
    “I don’t know her name. Some psychotic waitress who ambushed me at lunch last week. She wants me to donate to some cause.” There was no point in telling Jason what cause. Nathan never discussed his son’s illness and subsequent death with anyone. Not even his closest friend and attorney. “She even tried bribing my chauffeur to get to me. She’s crazy. I want her stopped.”
    “And people think being incredibly rich is trouble free,” Jason said easily. “Was she working at The Grill?”
    “As a server. A bad one.”
    “I’ll start there. Give me until the end of the dayand