Suspicion by Christiane Heggan Read Free Book Online

drink. He had met Megan at the company’s fiftieth anniversary party, an event that had been attended by some of the most famous people on the East Coast.
      Last May, two months into his divorce and eager for a little action, he had gone to the Four Seasons bash for only one reason-to get laid-preferably by someone sexy, free spirited and totally devoid of intelligence. He’d had it with brainy females.
      As his well-practiced eye scanned the room, he had spotted, and immediately recognized, Megan Hollbrook, Abigail’s twenty-seven-year-old daughter. And the only heir to the huge Hollbrook fortune.
      She stood in a corner of the room, a rather plain, slender girl with shy brown eyes, ash-blond hair shaped in a chin length bob, and a strong, square jaw that made her look more like her late father than her attractive mother. Not
      exactly what he would call a raving beauty, but with that kind of money, who cared about looks?
      Sipping his drink, he took in the expensive designer gown, the huge emerald drops dangling from her ears and the matching choker encircling the aristocratic neck. What would it be like, he wondered, to marry into such wealth? To have unlimited funds. Every wish fulfilled. Twenty one years ago, when his mother had married Douglas Fairchild, he had come close to finding out. But the old man had hated him on sight. Other than allowing him to live in his house and eat his food, Douglas had never done one damn thing for him.
      "There won’t be any free ride where you’re concerned, boy." Douglas had told him the day after the wedding. "You want pocket money, you’ve got to earn it."
      That from a man who had inherited everything he owned-the law firm, the Potomac mansion, even the house in Bermuda.
      Well, maybe he wouldn’t have to grovel to Douglas anymore. Maybe he had found a bigger fish…
      Drink in hand, Eric approached the heiress and introduced himself. Five minutes later, they were on the dance floor, chatting like two old friends. Sensing that candor was a quality a woman like Megan Hollbrook would appreciate, he told her about his recent divorce, improvising a little as he went.
      "My ex- wife was always very career-oriented." he said as they moved slowly to the music. "And I was more of a family man. The marriage began to go sour when she went to work for my stepfather. You may know him. Douglas Fairchild? Anyway." he continued as Megan shook her head, "when Kate told me she wanted a divorce, I didn’t fight her." He allowed his voice to drop.
      "I suppose I should have, for my little girl’s sake, but I just didn’t have it in me anymore, so I agreed."
      Megan’s gentle eyes filled with genuine sorrow. "I’m sorry," she said in her well-bred, finishing-school voice. "It must be difficult for you, being separated from your daughter."
      All of a sudden, those millions Eric had thought out of reach no longer seemed so inaccessible. Unlike her mother, Megan Hollbrook had a tender heart. With a little ingenuity, he might be able to make that work in his favor.
      "It still is. Do you know that this is the first social affair I’ve attended since my divorce? I almost didn’t come." Tightening his hold around her waist, he gave her his killer smile. "Now I’m glad I did."
      The blush on Megan’s cheeks and the look of sheer pleasure in her eyes as she looked up told him that the old Logan charm had worked its magic once again.
      Making her fall in love with him in the days that followed was easier than he’d thought. For all her millions, Megan Hollbrook was remarkably unsophisticated when it came to men. Except for a couple of boyfriends in college, she had never had a serious relationship.
      Winning her mother’s trust, however, was another matter. Abigail Hollbrook, who had headed her two hundred-million-dollar company with an iron hand since her husband’s death nineteen years ago, was not a woman one could fool with sweet talk