Ever After Read Free

house and a job waiting for me on the beautiful island of Nantucket?”
    Jared smiled at her tone. She sounded like she was on the receiving end of a magic wish. Considering what he’d just seen of her stepsister, that’s what she was being offered. “If you want them, that is. You could leave with me now, or come later. Or Icould sell the house for you and send you the proceeds. It’s your choice. I’ll help you, whatever you want to do. I certainly owe you.”
    For the first time since she’d come home, Hallie smiled. “Can I have twenty minutes to pack?”
    Jared grinned. “I’ll call the pilot, delay the flight, and you can have thirty.”
    Hallie went to her luggage, which Shelly had filled with her own clothes, emptied the contents onto the floor, and pulled out her things that her stepsister had “borrowed.” She looked at Jared. “If Shelly wanted to do this, that means your cousin Jamie must be either gorgeous or rich—or both.”
    Jared shrugged. “I don’t know about gorgeous. He’s short and stocky, just a kid, really, but his stepmother is the writer Cale Anderson.”
    Hallie nodded. “Rich. I thought so. I’ll be ready in twenty-five minutes.”

Chapter One

    BOSTON AIRPORT
    E
ven the sight of the private jet she was to take to the island of Nantucket didn’t cheer Hallie up. The interior was tan leather and dark wood, beautifully elegant, and she and Jared were the only passengers. She hoped that the trip would distract her from her thoughts. Before a few hours ago she would have sworn that her stepsister was incapable of doing something so treacherous, as well as illegal. The forged passport, the planned meeting with the famous architect, and the contract signed in an imitation of Hallie’s handwriting all ran through her mind.
    On the way to the airport she’d asked Jared how he’d first contacted her, and he said he’d sent an overnight package. Hallie’s guess was that Shelly accepted delivery, opened the envelope, read the contents, and decided to take what wasn’t hers.
    Hallie thought about what would have happened if she hadn’t returned home unexpectedly. Would she have come home from work to find an empty house and a note from her stepsister saying she’d decided to leave town? How long would it have taken her to find out about her stolen inheritance?
    When they were on the plane, Jared made sure she was belted into a seat, the thick folder of papers on her lap and a glass of champagne beside her. As soon as they were aloft, he stepped away to make some calls, and Hallie started reading about why she’d been left property by a stranger. It seemed that she had an ancestor, Leland Hartley, who had been married to Juliana Bell, whose family—including her sister, Hyacinth—originally owned the house. At the sight of her own unusual name, her interest was piqued. Was this her ancestor? But, no, poor Juliana and her sister had died before either of them had children. Leland Hartley had returned to Boston, remarried, and had one son. Hallie was descended from him. Henry, the man who’d willed the house to Hallie, was descended from the Bell side. He had no immediate family so he’d left everything to Miss Hyacinth Lauren Hartley, aka Hallie.
    Henry had composed a genealogy chart that traced Leland down to Hallie. She unfolded the long paper and read the names and dates. There was her mother’s death when Hallie was four, and her father’s remarriage when she was eleven. It ended with the death of her father and Ruby—Shelly’s mother—in a car accident when Hallie was in her second year of college and Shelly was still in high school.
    Jared returned to his seat. “Do you understand about the inheritance?”
    “I think so,” Hallie answered. “But I’m not a blood relative of Henry Bell.”
    “I know,” Jared said, “but on Nantucket we take relationships—however tenuous—seriously. And by the way, Henry left his house to you specifically, not to your father.