Wildest Hearts by Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online Page A

diseases, clues to ways to feed an evergrowing population, answers to questions about the fundamental nature of life. Long ago Oliver had determined to be a part of the adventure that awaited scientists who were committed to uncovering those secrets.
     
    Oliver had lived on campus at the university since his sophomore year. He had moved out of the big house on Mercer Island not only because he wanted to be close to the school's libraries, labs, and greenhouses, but because that was the year his father, Edward, had chosen to marry a woman half his age.
     
    Oliver had disliked Sybil on sight. She had been twenty-eight and at the peak of her beauty. He had taken one look at her and been certain she had married his fifty-seven-year-old father because of the Rain family fortune.
     
    But Oliver had also realized with the intuition that was to serve him well in the business world that there was no point trying to convince his father that he'd been married for his money.
     
    Edward had always been a distant, remote figure at best. He had been far more dedicated to making money than he had been to his wife and children. Oliver and his much younger sisters, Heather and Valerie, had learned their lessons in family love and unity from their mother. Mary Rain's death in a car accident two years before Oliver had graduated from high school had devastated all three of her children.
     
    In his more optimistic moments, Oliver had told himself the alliance between Sybil and his father just might work. If Sybil was willing to play the role of a loving mother to Heather and Valerie in exchange for the social and financial status she had achieved by marrying Edward, Oliver was willing to keep his opinions to himself.
     
    Heather and Valerie, at the tender ages of ten and twelve, had accepted Sybil with surprising ease. A year later when the twins, Nathan and Richard, were born, Heather and Valerie had good-naturedly accepted their baby brothers, too. No one could replace Mary Rain, but the household appeared to be functioning smoothly.
     
    On that fateful afternoon Oliver had driven on impulse to the big house on Mercer Island to pay a surprise visit to his sisters and baby brothers. He had parked the car in the long drive and let himself into a side door with his key.
     
    He had known something was wrong as soon as he stepped into the too-silent house. There was no sign of the housekeeper, his sisters, or anyone else, but he had sensed that the house was not empty.
     
    Oliver's first thought was that there was a burglar in the mansion. He raced silently up the stairs to check the bedrooms. After finding the twins safely asleep in their own room, he went on down the hall.
     
    He discovered Sybil in the luxurious master bedroom. She was in bed and she was not alone. The naked man who lay entwined with her in the pale blue satin sheets was as startled to see Oliver as Oliver was to see him.
     
    “Shit.” The man rolled out of bed and grabbed his clothes. “What the hell is this? Hey, I'm out of here, man. She never said anything about you. Told me her old man was a geriatric case, I swear it.”
     
    Sybil clutched the sheet. “Oh, God. Oliver.”
     
    Without a word Oliver turned and walked out of the door and down the stairs. He went into the living room and stood at the window. He spent a long time staring out at Lake Washington. By the time Sybil came warily into the room, he had made his decision.
     
    “Look, Oliver,” Sybil began nervously, “your father and I have an understanding.”
     
    “Some understanding.”
     
    “The relationship between Edward and myself is none of your business.”
     
    “You don't think so?” Oliver challenged softly. “What about the kids?”
     
    “Don't you think I care about the children? I gave Edward two sons, didn't I?”
     
    “Did you?”
     
    Her eyes widened in horror. “For God's sake, don't you dare imply Nathan and Richard aren't Edward's children. I swear they