Undercover Christmas
“You look familiar,” Felicia said, eyeing her suspiciously.
The truth seemed the best approach. “I believe you trade at the boutique I’m part owner of in Bozeman.” She looked at Chase to see if he registered any shock to hear she owned a boutique. Chase didn’t look up; he sat turning the thin stem of his wineglass in his strong fingers, showing no sign that he was paying the least bit of attention to any of this.
Felicia’s gaze narrowed. “Yes, I remember now. But when I saw you last week you weren’t pregnant.”
Marni laughed. It sounded hollow even to her ears. “You probably have me confused with my sister. We look a lot alike.” Boy, was that putting it mildly.
Felicia didn’t appear convinced, but lost interest as Hilda served dinner a beef roast the size of Montana, followed by huge bowls of mashed potatoes, brown gravy, fresh green beans, another of hot homemade dinner rolls and butter.
Marni felt famished, having not taken time all day to eat. She ladled gravy over her beef and potatoes, buttered a hot roll and slathered butter on her green beans. Her love of food was one of the reasons she’d never had Elise’s slim model-like figure.
Hilda brought Vanessa broiled chicken, cottage cheese and crudit#233;s, and Felicia a plate of what looked like Chinese food. Lilly seemed to be the only Calloway woman who didn’t ask for a special-order meal. She took a spoonful of everything that was passed to her then hardly touched the food she’d put on her plate. But she polished off the remaining wine at her end of the table, ignoring Vanessa’s reprimanding looks. Marni declined wine when Hilda came around to fill her glass, needing all her wits about her. It wasn’t until later that she realized pregnant women weren’t supposed to drink alcohol and she was a pregnant woman, by all appearances.
Everyone ate in silence, not that Marni minded. She concentrated on the food, rather than the strange family dynamics. The roast was excellent, not in the least overcooked. Halfway through her meal, she glanced up to see Chase staring at her, his expression unreadable. But she noticed he hadn’t touched his food any more than Lilly had.
“I enjoy a woman who likes to eat,” Jabe said, smiling at Marni.
“This is delicious,” she said, a little embarrassed by her appetite.
“You’re eating for two,” he said. “It’s healthy to eat even if you’re not expecting.”
Vanessa mumbled something under her breath and pushed away her diet plate in what could only be described as disgust. The room grew painfully quiet.
Marni finished her roast beef, thinking about El and the baby. At least she knew her sister wasn’t going hungry or not following doctor’s orders. By now, Mary Margaret McCumber would have Elise at the family farm. If anyone could get El to do as she was told, it was Mother, Marni thought with a smile.
The door to the dining room swung open and a man in western attire rushed in, apologizing for being late as he took the chair next to Lilly.
“Hayes,” Lilly said, lifting her wineglass to him in a less than sober salute. “We were so worried about you.” She didn’t sound as if she meant it in the least.
Clean-shaven, Hayes Calloway also had his father’s blue eyes, a little lighter version of Chase’s hair color and a softer, gentler, more handsome face than his brother Dayton.
Hayes seemed to eye his wife warily before brushing a kiss across her pallid cheek. Then he spotted Marni and looked startled to see that they had a guest Marni got the impression the Calloways didn’t have many dinner guests.
“Hayes, this is Elise McCumber,” Jabe said. “She’s a…friend of Chase’s.”
Hayes stumbled to his feet, his eyes widening in surprise. “Hello.”
“Why are you so late?” Jabe demanded.
He looked past Marni to his father. “The roads are covered in ice and the visibility was so bad I hit a deer on the way home.”
“Are you all right?” Vanessa cried, although he obviously was fine.
“What about the damage to the truck?” Jabe asked.
“The truck?” Hayes asked, anger flickering in his gaze as he sat down and began to dish up his plate. “The truck is repairable.”
“The truck is the least of our worries,” Vanessa cut in, sending a look at Jabe.
He grumbled but returned his attention to his meal.
Marni watched Chase pick at the food he’d put on his plate. He looked as uncomfortable as she felt. She caught both Hayes and Dayton stealing curious glances at her. But then, why wouldn’t they be? They had to wonder who she was, what she was doing at their dinner table, seven months pregnant, and why she was sitting next to Jabe as if part of the family.
What was she doing here? More and more she felt she was on a fool’s errand. What possible good would it do to talk to Chase after he’d already denied even knowing her. And now it sounded as if the roads were probably getting worse by the minute. But she had to give it one last try with Chase. For El’s sake.
“I hate to eat and run,” Marni said pointedly to Jabe.
He nodded, letting her know he remembered his promise, but then said, “We couldn’t possibly let you leave with the storm as bad as Hayes says it is. Not in your fragile state.”
Fragile state indeed. “You don’t understand. I have to work tomorrow.”
Jabe shook his head. “By now the road out of here will be impassable.”
“He’s right,” Hayes said. “It’s much too dangerous. Especially in your…condition.”
Marni started to argue that she’d driven icy roads all her life, having been born and raised a Montanan, but to her astonishment it was Chase instead of Jabe who cut her off.
“It’s settled,” Chase said, slamming down his wineglass. “You’ll stay the night and leave first thing in the morning after the roads are plowed and sanded.”
Marni groaned inwardly, but knew there was no point in arguing. She’d leave in the morning. After she’d finished her business with Chase. What was one night in a haunted house with people who hated her, anyway?
In the deathly silence that followed, Vanessa signaled for Hilda, who hurriedly cleared the dinner dishes and brought in a bottle of champagne on ice and a huge cake with one large pink candle and Congratulations! scripted across the white icing in bright pink.
Marni stared at the cake. She had a strong feeling it wasn’t for her and Chase. In fact, she suspected she’d put a damper on a family celebration by showing up when she did.
Vanessa irritably motioned Hilda away the moment the housekeeper had poured the champagne and lit the candle. “We have something to celebrate tonight,” Vanessa announced. Her smile looked strained as she glanced almost warily at Jabe.
Jabe appeared surprised. And maybe a little worried.
“Felicia and Dayton have an announcement,” she said and took her seat again.
Dayton got to his feet. “Felicia saw her doctor today and it’s a girl,” he announced without preamble.
If Marni thought the news would be met with cheers, applause or even halfhearted congratulations from the rest of the family, she was mistaken.
Lilly let out a startled cry, spilling her wine, then rushed from the room. Hayes looked to Marni as if he felt he should say something on behalf of his wife, then hurried out after her. Following their departure, a hush fell over the room. It was Chase who broke it.
“Let me be the first to congratulate you.” He raised his glass in a toast. “Dayton. Felicia. To the firstborn grandchild of Jabe T. Calloway. A girl.” His gaze shifted to his father. “Jabe finally has what he wanted, a grandchild.” A tension Marni couldn’t comprehend danced in the air like Saint Elmo’s fire.
Jabe got slowly to his feet. He picked up his glass and raised it. Marni started to raise hers, then realized the rest of the family hadn’t touched their champagne.
“To my first grandchild,” Jabe said, his voice cracking with emotion. Or anger. Marni couldn’t tell which.
He looked over at Marni. Her glass seemed filled with lead as she lifted it and he touched the rim of his glass to hers with a tinkling sound that echoed through the room. “To my first grandchild,” he repeated.
Marni lifted the glass to her lips. No one else in the room had moved. She took a sip of the champagne, realizing that everyone was staring at her. She quickly put the glass down.
“What’s going on here?” Dayton demanded sourly.
Jabe looked at Chase.
Marni thought she could have heard a snowflake drop in the room.
“We may have double reason to celebrate,” Jabe said to Dayton. “I may have been blessed with not one grandchild, but two. It seems Elise is also carrying my grandchild. It appears it will be my first grandchild.” He shifted his gaze to Chase. “Chase’s child.”
Felicia gasped. Dayton let out an oath. Vanessa looked across the great expanse of table at Marni, hatred in her eyes.
But it was Chase’s reaction that worried Marni the most. He got up, hopped over to his crutches and left the room without a word.
Chapter Three
Jabe excused himself and went after his son, leaving Marni alone in the dining room with what was left of the family and their dagger-throwing glares. The silence in the room was stirling. But it didn’t last long. An argument between Chase and his father ensued outside the dining-room door.
“How dare you make such an announcement without even discussing it with me first,” Chase bellowed.
“Keep your voice down,” Jabe warned him. “You can’t just pretend you don’t know her.”
“I don’t know her!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Jabe said. “She told me in no uncertain terms how you feel about me. You must have made her…acquaintance. No one outside the family could paint such an unattractive—or accurate—picture.”
“This is all your fault, you and your damned ego,” Chase said. “I told you not to change your will. I warned you not to do this. Now look what you’ve done.”
“I offered you a chance to run my business, you turned it down.”
“You aren’t going to lay this on me! I wouldn’t be surprised if you were behind this.”
“What are you talking about?” Jabe demanded.
“That woman. I wouldn’t be surprised if you put her up to this. You just don’t give up, do you?”
“That’s ridiculous,” Jabe snapped. “You owe it to yourself to find out if she really is carrying your child.”
“And I’m telling you I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
“If you talk to her, you’ll find she’s very convincing,” Jabe said.
“Well, she’s going to have a damned hard time convincing me. I happen to remember the women I sleep with.”
“How can you be so sure?” Jabe asked, sounding almost reasonable. “Think of all the other things you haven’t been able to remember since the accident”
“Believe me, I’d remember her,” Chase shot back. It sounded as if he’d started to leave, his crutches clopping across the floor.
“She doesn’t seem the type to lie about something like this.”
Chase’s hobbling stopped. “What type is that, Jabe? A woman like my mother?”
Marni shot a look at Vanessa. She’d paled visibly.
“I won’t have my first grandchild be a bastard,” Jabe boomed, his voice an iron glove of authority.
“It was good enough for your first son,” Chase retorted just before a door slammed and silence filled the dining room again.
Marni felt her head swim. Chase was Jabe’s firstborn son, wasn’t he?
“I’m sorry, dear,” Vanessa said to Dayton as he got to his feet again.
“Leave it to Chase to throw cold water on any family celebration, and Father to be…Father.” He gave Marni a mocking bow, and snagging a bottle of wine Lilly had missed, headed out through the kitchen with Felicia trailing along behind him.
Chase certainly knew how to empty a room, Marni thought, then noticed with regret that she’d been left alone with Vanessa. And Vanessa looked as if she might start a food fight if given any provocation. What kind of family had El gotten herself involved with? What had Marni gotten herself into?
Jabe returned to the room, looking tired. “I apologize for…” He couldn’t seem to find a word for what had happened. Neither could Marni. “But I assure you, I am a man of my word, Elise. You will have a chance to speak with my son before you leave. In the meantime—” He turned to Vanessa. “See that Elise gets a room and anything else she needs for the night.” With that he turned and left.
After a long sigh, Vanessa rang for the housekeeper and instructed her to prepare a room for their guest. The way she said “guest” made it sound like “ax murderer.
Marni noticed that the candle had burned down on the untouched cake. It flickered, barely alive, in a pool of wax. Vanessa snuffed it out with the serving knife in one swift swat and stabbed the knife into the heart of the cake with a good deal of what appeared to be pent-up aggression.
Her hostess sat for a moment surveying the empty room before she looked again at Marni. She opened her mouth seemingly to speak and closed it, as though she’d thought better of it. Instead, she cut herself a thick slice of roast beef, stuck it and a half inch of butter into one of the rolls and took a healthy bite. As she chewed, she scrutinized her houseguest as if deciding how best to dispose of her. It seemed Jabe dictated she be nice to Marni. But if looks could kill…
Marni stared down into her empty plate, considered having another slice of roast beef herself, vetoed the idea and sat thinking about the conversation she’d just overheard. She didn’t care about any of the particulars except one. Chase was sticking to his story that he didn’t know her. He didn’t even want to believe it was because of his temporary memory loss. The problem was: No man forgot Elise McCumber.
“You must be tired,” Vanessa said after she’d polished off the last bite. “I’ll show you to your room.” As they got up, she instructed Hilda to save her a piece of cake. A every large one. Marni got the impression Vanessa had just fallen off her diet
“I’ll leave it in your sitting room,” Hilda said conspir-atorially.
Vanessa shot Marni a look, daring her to say a word.
Not likely. As they entered the foyer, Vanessa glanced toward the library. “If you’ll excuse me for just a moment,” she said. Not waiting for a reply, she strode down the hall through the open doorway, closing the door firmly behind her.
Marni grimaced as she imagined the choice words Vanessa must be sharing with her beloved husband at his moment, then turned her thoughts to her own precarious situation.
Snowed in. Miles from everything. Seven months pregnant. Or so it seemed. Forced to spend the night in this huge, old—quite possibly haunted—house. With people who definitely hated her. Pretending to be her beguiling sister. All because of a man who swore he’d never seen her before—nor it seemed—her identical twin. How had she talked herself into this?
She hadn’t even had a chance to really speak to Chase. And she couldn’t for the life of her understand the strange reactions of these people. Why had Vanessa been so happy about Dayton’s child but so upset by Chase’s? Was it just because this baby was conceived out of wedlock? Or did it have something to do with the argument she’d heard outside the dining-room door about Jabe’s firstborn being a bastard?
And why hadn’t Elise told her any of this? Maybe Elise hadn’t known, Marni realized. She groaned. It seemed clearer and clearer that Elise didn’t know much about Chase Calloway. But how much could you learn in only four days?
Marni turned at the soft sound of footsteps directly behind her. Lilly stumbled around the corner, the wine in her glass sloshing onto the floor as she came to a lurching stop at the sight of Marni.
She smiled as she tried to rub the wine into the hardwood floor with her shoe, then staggered over to Marni, leaning toward her confidentially. “It isn’t going to work, you know.” Her words slurred. “You think I’m a fool? You think I don’t know what you’re really after? Pretending you’re carrying Chase’s baby. You don’t fool me.”
“Lilly, do you want to sit down?” Before you fall down? Marni looked around for a chair. There were none.
Lilly didn’t answer. She glanced down the hallway toward the library and dropped her voice. “You don’t really want him. It’s the money. You’re after the baby money.”
Baby money? “Lilly, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marni said softly, not sure why they were almost whispering, but feeling a little seasick just watching Lilly sway back and forth. She motioned toward the stairs. “Perhaps if we sit down—”
“The first grandchild,” Lilly said, following Marni to the stairs. She plopped down hard on the first step, spilling more of her wine onto her dress. It looked like blood against the pale pink of the fabric.
Marni sat down beside her. “What difference does it make if I’m having Jabe’s first grandchild or the fifth?” she asked.
“Like you don’t know,” Lilly said with a smirk. “He told you about the change in Jabe’s will. He probably told you everything.”
Right, like Chase had told Elise anything. “What does the change in Jabe’s will have to do with the first grandchild?” she asked again.
Lilly straightened. “Jabe wants someone he can leave his…empire to. Chase turned it down. So Jabe changed his will to leave a fortune to his first grandchild,” she said, bitterness buoying her in a way not even strong, black coffee could have. “The other two sons end up with almost nothing.”
“Why would he do that?” Marni exclaimed, realizing now exactly what she’d witnessed at dinner. Jabe Calloway had pitted his sons against one another, a baby race, and Elise had unwittingly become a part of it and was now it appeared, the leading contender. No wonder Dayton and Felicia had been so upset.
“It should be my money,” Lilly said. She drained her glass and set it on the step beside her. Her gaze bobbed up to sear Marni with a hateful look. “Not yours”
Marni heard the library door open and the sound of Vanessa’s voice drift toward them.
“I assure you I knew nothing about this will.” Marni said quietly, but she could tell Lilly wasn’t listening, her attention drawn to the library instead.
“I had the first grandchild,” Lilly whispered as she stumbled to her feet. “But Vanessa killed it.”
“What?” Marni cried, jumping to her feet Surely Lilly was too drunk to know what she was saying.
But Marni felt a chill as she witnessed the fear she saw in the woman’s eyes as Lilly lurched around the side of the staircase at the sound of Vanessa’s high heels thumping across the hardwood floor toward them. Marni started to follow Lilly, afraid the woman would hurt herself in the state she was in, but Lilly motioned for her not to. The pleading in her wide-eyed gaze stopped Marni. What was she so afraid of? Vanessa? Or Vanessa catching her this inebriated?
Marni watched in surprise as Lilly touched the wall behind her and a narrow door silently slid open. Lilly slipped into what appeared to be a passageway and disappeared, the door sliding shut behind her with only a whisper.
“Are you ready?” Vanessa demanded.
Marni jumped as she swung around to find Vanessa glaring at her. The conversation in the library must not have gone well.
“Is something wrong?” Vanessa asked, her gaze narrowing as it settled on the empty glass resting on the bottom stair where Lilly had left it.
“You just startled me,” Marni said quickly.
Vanessa nodded suspiciously. Then she picked up the empty wineglass with obvious annoyance, and placed it on the marble-topped table to the left of the stairs. “Hilda should have your room ready.” Without giving Marni a backward glance, Vanessa started up the stairs.
Marni followed her up the wide circular staircase, realizing that the longer she was in this house, the more questions she had about Chase and his family. She shook her head, confused but too smart to ask Vanessa anything.
As she climbed the stairs, Marni found herself looking over her shoulder. You’re getting a little paranoid. Yeah? Well, who wouldn’t be in this house? She tried to laugh off the feeling that she was being watched. Spied on. That someone definitely didn’t want her here. She almost laughed at the thought. No one wanted her here and it wasn’t as though they’d made a secret of it.
As Vanessa led her toward the third floor, Marni glanced back again, thinking about Chase Calloway. She had so many questions, but only one that really mattered. Could it be possible he was the man Elise thought he was and this was just a misunderstanding because of his memory loss? Then why, her skeptical side questioned, is he so adamant that El couldn’t be carrying his child?
Marni had almost reached the top of the stairs when suddenly her right foot slipped. She grasped for the railing but wasn’t close enough to reach it. She felt herself teeter and start to fall backward. Two strong hands grabbed her.
“Are you all right?” Hayes cried as he steadied her.
It took Marni a moment to assure herself she wasn’t at that moment cartwheeling to the bottom of the long, curved staircase. She looked up, wondering where Hayes had come from so suddenly, and realized he’d been waiting in a small alcove on the stairs. As odd as that seemed, Marni was thankful he’d been there. It also explained that paranoid feeling that someone was watching her. She almost laughed in relief.
“Thank you. I must have slipped.” Marni spotted the cause of her near accident—a colorful silk scarf on the stairs—about the same time as Hayes and his mother did.
Vanessa”s hand went to her throat, her look one of shock. “Did I drop that? I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.” She stepped back down the stairs to pluck up the scarf. “How careless of me.”
“Mother,” Hayes said, the reprimand clear in his voice. “She could have been killed and the baby—” He stopped, distress in his expression
“It mustn’t happen again,” Hayes said to his mother.
Vanessa looked as if he’d slapped her. “It was an accident.” Her voice sounded close to tears.
A chill wrapped its icy fingers around Marni’s throat as she watched Vanessa retie the scarf around her neck. It mustn’t happen again?
“Go find your wife,” Vanessa said to Hayes. “She needs you.”
Hayes glared for a moment at his mother, a silent accusation in his eyes that even Marni couldn’t miss before he turned and left.
Vanessa led the way to what Marni guessed was the guest bedroom. What had Hayes meant by “It mustn’t happen again"? Had there been other falls down the stairs? Marni wondered as she stepped through the doorway Vanessa now held open for her. Is that how Lilly had lost her baby? Or had he meant another baby mustn’t die in this house? Whatever, it gave Marni a chill not even the fire in the small rock fireplace in the corner could throw off.
The bedroom was spacious and not quite as masculine as the library was, even with the king-size log bed, matching log furniture and antler-based lamps.
The covers had been turned down on the bed and the flannel sheets looked inviting. So did the huge claw-foot tub she glimpsed in the bathroom.
Marni glanced a little apprehensively at the adjoining bedroom door, however.
Vanessa must have noticed. “The room next door is Chase’s.”
Whose idea was that? Marni asked herself.
“It locks from either side,” Vanessa said.
“Thank you,” Marni said, still curious about the woman’s antagonism toward her. That had been an accident on the stairs, hadn’t it?
Marni noticed a light blue striped shirt and a black velour robe had been left for her on the bed. Both garments were obviously male. Vanessa frowned when she saw them and Marni wondered whose they were.
“There are candles beside the bed. When it storms, the power often goes out. If there is anything else you need…” Her voice trailed off, then, “Breakfast is at eight.”