Free Legacy of Secrets by Elizabeth Adler

her side.
    “Oh, God,” he groaned, putting his arms around her. “You didn’t go back to the gazebo? You mustn’t, you’ll only hurt yourself more.”
    She shook her head, sobbing helplessly against his shoulder, all her hard-gained self-control gone. He glanced down at her straggling hair and tear-stained face, thinking of all the times he had dreamed of holding her. And only now, because of what had happened, was it possible. Fate, he thought angrily, was a funny thing. His dark eyes glittered with emotion and instinctively he tightened his grip.
    “It’s Wil,” Shannon gasped through her sobs. “He’s going away. To Australia for a year. He thinks maybe it’s better if we
postpone
our marriage.” She lifted her head, staring piteously at him through her swollen eyelids. “How could he? Wil. Of all people. J.K., did no one love me? Or my father? Was it always just our money?”
    She sat back against the wall, her long bare, mud-spattered legs sticking out in front of her, limp as a rag doll. “I’m sure that’s not true.” He took her hand and patted itcomfortingly. “I guess Wil was just too young to …” He tried desperately to think of a reason. “He was just too young to take on the responsibility of marriage right now. After what has happened.”
    Her hand was freezing and he rubbed it briskly. “Look, I’ve got this little farm out at Montauk. Why don’t you go there for a while. There’s no one to bother you—no reporters, no TV cameras. Take one of your girlfriends for company, you’ll need someone to talk to. It’s always been a kind of refuge for me and maybe it could be the same for you.”
    Shannon eyed him solemnly. She had never seen J.K. in this caring role before. He had always been so brisk and businesslike, the perfect executive machine. But now he had turned out to be a machine with a heart. “I never thought of you as a person needing a refuge,” she said, sniffing away her tears. “You always seem so controlled. So in charge of your life.”
    “Everyone needs an escape from something, even if it’s only the day-to-day grind. But I mean it, Shannon. The place is yours for as long as you want it. And I promise I won’t even come to visit unless you ask me.”
    Managing a half smile, she mopped her eyes and promised to think about it. He helped her up the stairs to her bedroom. “I didn’t let them touch your things,” he reassured her. He was still holding her hand, and she squeezed his gratefully. She closed the door behind her and he waited outside for a moment. He heard her soft footsteps on the carpet, and then the terrible sound of her sobs again as she flung herself onto the bed. He sighed as he turned away. Shannon Keeffe was going to find it tough to be an ordinary mortal, he thought.
    Going directly to Bob’s study, he picked up the phone and called the manager of Shannon’s bank. Explaining who he was, he instructed him to allow her whatever funds she needed over the next few months, up to $50,000. He personally would guarantee the amount. Then, sitting back in Bob’s old leather chair, now bearing a sticker proclaimingit to be in Lot 154, he thought wearily about his own future.
    W HEN S HANNON WOKE it was dark outside. The rain had stopped and there was no sound. She was still in her rain-damp skirt and jacket and she stood up and wriggled out of them, then climbed back into bed. She wrapped the blankets around her, remembering that this was her last night in this bed. Her last night in this house. In this life.
    Staring at the lighter square of blackness where the window was, she wondered whether to take up J.K.’s offer of the Montauk farm, but she knew it would only be a stopgap. She remembered her father saying to her all those years ago,
“You’ve got to go after whatever it is you want, little darlin’. And you’ve got to want it real bad.”
But right now she didn’t know what it was she wanted. She felt aimless, spineless,