Eventually though, they did enter into a somewhat strained coexistence. Nick gave his father the courtesy of listening to his offers and enticements before he refused. Even now, Nick had to admit some of the offers had been pretty good, but hed easily turned them down. Henry accused him of obstinacy, but it was more disinterest than anything else. Nick just didnt care anymore, but even if hed been seriously tempted, everything had a price. Nothing was free. There was always a tradeoff. Quid pro quo.

Until six months ago. In an effort to bridge the gap between them, Henry gave Nick a very generous gift, a peace offering with no strings attached. He outright deeded him Crescent Bay. “So my grandchildren will always have the best beach in Truly, hed said.

Nick took the gift, and within a week, submitted plans to the city to develop condominiums on the five acres of beachfront property. The preliminary plan was approved remarkably fast, before Henry knew and could raise an objection. The fact that the old man didnt find out until after the fact was incredible luck.

Henry had been furious. But he got over it quickly because there was something Henry wanted more than anything else. Hed wanted the one thing that only Nick could give him. Hed wanted a grandchild. A direct blood descendant. Henry had money and property and prestige, but he hadnt had time. Hed been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Hed known he was going to die.

“Just pick a woman, Henry had ordered several months ago after barging into Nicks downtown offices. “You should be able to get someone pregnant. God knows youve practiced enough to get it right.

“Ive told you, Ive never met a woman Id consider marrying.

“You dont have to get married, for Gods sake.

Nick wasnt willing to produce a bastard for anyone, and he hated Henry for suggesting it to him, his bastard son, as if the consequences were unimportant.

“Youre doing this to spite me. Ill leave you everything when Im gone. Everything. Ive talked to my attorney, and Ill have to leave Gwen a little something so she wont contest my will, but youll get everything else. And all you have to do is get a woman pregnant before I die. If you cant choose someone, Ill pick the girl for you. Someone from a good family.

Nick had shown him the door.

The cell phone chirped on the seat next to him, but he ignored it. He hadnt been all that surprised when hed learned the cause of Henrys death had been a gunshot wound to the head and not the fire. Hed known Henry was getting worse, and Nick would have done the same thing.

Sheriff Crow had been the one to tell Nick that Henry had killed himself, but very few people knew the truth. Gwen wanted it that way. Henry had gone out on his own terms, but not before hed created one hell of a will.

Nick had figured Henry would pull something in his will, but hed never expected Henry to place the condition on what Nick did or didnt do with Delaney . Why her? A real bad feeling tweaked the base of his skull, and he feared he knew the answer. It sounded perverse, but he had a feeling Henry was trying to pick the mother of his grandchild.

For reasons he didnt want to examine too closely, Delaney had always spelled trouble for him. From the start. Like the time shed been standing in front of the school bundled up in a fancy blue coat with a furry white collar, her blond hair a mass of shiny curls about her face. Her big brown eyes had looked into his, and a little smile had tilted her pink lips. His chest had grown tight and his throat closed. Then before hed realized what he was doing, hed picked up a snowball and nailed her in the forehead. He hadnt known why hed done it, but it had been the one and only time his mother took a belt to his behind. Not so much because hed hit Delaney, but because hed hit a girl. The next time hed seen her at school, shed looked like Zorro, with twin black eyes. Hed stared at her, feeling sick to his stomach and wishing he could race home and hide. Hed tried to apologize, but shed always run away when shed seen him coming. He guessed he didnt blame her.

After all these years, she still had a way of getting to him. It was the way she looked at him sometimes. Like he was dirt, or worse, when she looked through him as if he didnt even exist. It made him want to reach out and pinch her, just to hear her say ouch.

Today he hadnt meant to hurt or provoke her. Well, not until shed given him that “youre scum look. But listening to Henrys will had provoked him . Just thinking about it pissed him off all over again. He thought about Henry and Delaney, and that real bad feeling tweaked the back of his neck once more.

Nick reached for the ignition key and headed back toward town. He had a few questions, and Max Harrison was the only person who knew the answers.

“What can I do for you? the lawyer asked as soon as Nick was shown into a spacious office near the front of the building.

Nick didnt waste time on idle conversation. “Is Henrys will legal, and can I contest?

“As I told you earlier when I read the will, its legal. You can waste your money on a contest. Max gave Nick a wary look before he added, “But you wont win.

“Why did he do it? I have my suspicions.

Max looked at the younger man standing in his office. There was something unpredictable and intense lurking just beneath that cool exterior. Max didnt like Allegrezza. He didnt like the way hed behaved earlier. He didnt like the disrespect hed shown Gwen and Delaney—a man should never swear in the presence of ladies. But hed liked Henrys will even less. He sat in a leather chair behind his desk, and Nick sat across from him. “What are your suspicions?

Nick leveled his wintry gaze on Max and said without reservation, “Henry wants me to get Delaney pregnant.

Max debated whether to tell Nick the truth. He felt no love or loyalty toward his former client. Henry had been a very difficult man and had ignored his professional advice repeatedly. Hed cautioned Henry about drafting such a capricious and potentially injurious will, but Henry Shaw always had to have things his own way, and the money had been too good for Max to let his client find another lawyer. “I believe that was his intent, yes, he answered truthfully, perhaps because he felt a little guilty for his part in it.

“Why didnt he just say so in the will?

“Henry wanted his will drafted that way for two reasons. First, he didnt think youd concede to father a child for property or money. Second, I informed him that if you contested a condition stipulating you impregnate a woman, you might possibly win on the grounds of a conflict of morals. Henry didnt seem to think there was a judge around who would believe you have any morals when it comes to women, but contesting the will would defeat the purpose. Max paused and watched Nicks jaws tighten. He was pleased to see a reaction, however slight. Maybe the man wasnt completely void of human emotion. “There is always a chance you might get a judge who would declare the condition void.

“Why Delaney? Why not another woman?

“He was under the impression that you and Delaney had a clandestine past together, Max said. “And he thought if he forbade you to touch Delaney, youd feel compelled to defy him, as I take it you have in the past.

Anger tightened Nicks throat. There had been no clandestine past between himself and Delaney. “Clandestine made it sound like Romeo and freakin Juliet. As far as the other, that whole forbidden theory, what Max said might have been true once, but Henry had overplayed his hand. Nick wasnt a kid anymore, drawn to the things he couldnt have. He didnt do things just to defy the old man, and he wasnt drawn to the porcelain doll who always got his hands slapped for him.

“Thank you, he said as he stood. “I know you didnt have to tell me anything.

“Youre right. I didnt.