Ladd Fortune Read Free Page B

the curved seat, she wrapped her arms around
her leg and rested chin to knee. “I don’t,” she said. “Though it’s
funny...when we were young, we used to be good friends.”
    “ What happened?”
    Delaney’s mind ripped through the past,
their cat fights with regard to boys, the petty jealousy...
Jeremiah had been a good-looking, scrappy kinda boy when they were
growing up which drew the eye of the girls. Delaney took him for
granted. He was her cousin, her constant playmate and the last boy
on earth she’d ever be interested in. Jeremiah had been hardened by
his father, and the shell he’d built around himself was
impenetrable. He’d take risks that would take her breath away, like
the time he jumped off a rocky ledge into the river below, not
knowing how deep the waters ran before taking the plunge. He could
have been killed, but instead broke through the surface with a whip
of blond hair and a raging smile. “Your turn!” he’d
hollered.
    “ Not on your life!” she’d
told him—on more than one occasion. She’d stick to horse-back
riding and mountain hikes and leave the cliff-diving to
him.
    “ Annie had a thing for
Jeremiah,” Delaney said. “For as long as anyone could remember, she
pined away but he didn’t know she was alive. And if he did, he
could of cared less. Until she threw herself at him in high school,
that is.”
    “ And I’m assuming he did
what every hot-blooded teenage boy would do,” Nick said.
    Delaney nodded. “She gave herself to
him and he took full advantage. She claims that Casey is
Jeremiah’s.”
    “ Is she?” Malcolm asked, as
if alerted to a new wrinkle in their plans.
    With a shrug, Delaney replied, “Who
knows? There were rumors she was sleeping with Clem at the time,
too.”
    “ Clem Sweeney?” Nick asked,
his demeanor jolted by the revelation.
    She looked at him. “Why so
shocked?”
    “ Annie’s a good-looking
woman,” he replied, shooting a hand up between them to fend off the
distasteful look Delaney fired his way. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s
not my type, but Clem?” Nick glanced between her and Malcolm. “The
guy is a loser.”
    Delaney glared while Malcolm
chuckled.
    “ Annie is average, maybe ,” Delaney gave him.
“But good taste is not one of her strong points.”
    Nick reached for Delaney, but she
unfolded her body and rolled off the barstool, ignoring his attempt
at appeasement. Annie Owens was the enemy. She was the one
responsible for bringing Jeremiah back into the picture, and if
Nick wanted to use this property for his hotel, he’d better get his
alliances straight. She turned, unsettled by the two men staring at
her. Two very handsome men, neither of whom bothered to mask his
masculine appreciation. Dressed in tank top and jean cut-offs,
Delaney suddenly felt exposed in her minimalist attire. “It’s
Annie’s fault Jeremiah is involved,” she declared with a cross of
her arms. “I want him stopped.”
    “ Understood.” Nick gathered
her in his sights.
    “ As I see it, he has two
ways to go,” Malcolm said, holding his fingers up. “Jeremiah can
challenge the validity of the deed based on procedural error or
duress.”
    “ What does that mean?”
Delaney asked.
    “ Procedural error is just
that—something done wrong in the procedure of filing and recording
the deed,” Nick explained. “Undue duress or coercion means that
Ernie signed the deed over to you against his will.
    “ But Ernie signed it over
willingly.”
    “ You and I know that, but
the judge doesn’t.”
    “ Jeremiah will have to
challenge you in court—or the validity of the deed, that is—and
prove that you forced Ernie to sign,” Malcolm said. “But I’ll tell
you, reversing a deed is not easy.”
    “ That’s good, right?”
Delaney asked.
    “ It’s good,” Nick confirmed.
“But it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet.”
    “ I checked with the clerk of
the court,” Malcolm continued. “The deed was filed and recorded per
the