A Bad Boy is Good to Find(71)

“What papers?” he croaked, arching his back at the intense sensation.

“The papers transferring the house and its contents to your name, of course!” Maisie screeched with impatience. “Are you drunk or something? Put Lizzie on.”

Con obediently handed the phone to Lizzie. Some distant part of his brain wondered what the fuss was about, but since his entire blood supply was pooling below his waist, he didn’t much care. He eased himself under the sheet and went down on Lizzie, licking her crimson softness and losing himself in her wet warmth—until she pushed him out by crossing her thighs.

He looked up, confused. Lizzie was listening to the garbled sound of Maisie’s voice, her mouth hanging open.

“We have to go back,” she said at last. “Right now.”





Chapter 25





“So let me get this straight.” Lizzie was almost delirious with exhaustion and happiness. She, Con, Danny, Maisie, and scattered crew members were gathered in the big living room back at the house at two in the morning. Mercifully Dino and his camera were absent, probably up in Gia’s room. “Thomas Milford was not his grandfather, but Marie Ancelet, his wife, is Con’s real grandmother and she’s the original heir to the property?”

“Yes.” Maisie, flushed with excitement and chocolate martinis, had Danny’s big tattooed arm wrapped around her shoulders. “She was a famous circus performer. Called herself La Zoringa. She traveled all over the U.S. and Europe with a bunch of wild animals she’d trained. Snakes, crocodiles, that kind of thing.”

“It’s in the blood, bro.” Danny grinned.

“She appeared at Radio City Music Hall in the 1950’s and went on The Ed Sullivan Show three times. She made a lot of money and she’s the one who put together the collection of classic cars we saw yesterday. She was famous for driving them from one engagement to another, and she liked to work on them herself.”

“See what I’m saying?” Danny raised an eyebrow at Con and Lizzie.

“She sounds like quite a lady,” said Raoul, sitting on the sofa in his Japanese robe. “I’d like to have met her.”

“From what I gather she was estranged from her family,” Maisie continued. “Eyewitness News dug up some old newspaper articles in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. They didn’t approve of having a female snake charmer for a daughter in the thirties and forties, but her two brothers died in World War II, so she inherited the house when her mother died in 1956.”

“Do they have any idea who our real grandfather is?” asked Con. “If it’s not Thomas Milford.”

Maisie shook her head. “Not that I’ve heard. She married Thomas Milford in 1958. He was a respectable local businessman. Apparently, she wanted to settle in and join local society and he was her ticket into that rather closed elite.”

“I guess he wasn’t enough of a ticket to ride in the bedroom.” Raoul winked.

“Or maybe she just had a hard time getting pregnant by him.” Maisie shoved a strand of sweaty blonde hair out of her face. “She was nearly forty by then, and he was even older.”

“So she had to find a hot young stud to breed with.” Raoul pursed his lips.

“Raoul, would you keep your licentious thoughts to yourself?” Maisie glared at him. “Anyway, she died of a stroke when her daughter, Katherine, was only seven. The girl was left all alone with Thomas Milford and tutored at home because the local schools weren’t the right sort of place for a proper young lady—”

“No wonder she ran off with a handsome bad boy at the earliest possible opportunity.” Raoul blew on his nails.

Maisie rolled her eyes. “Listen to this. It’s kind of bizarre, but Louisiana succession law dictates that property descends to children—not to the spouse of the deceased. Even if there’s no will.”

Lizzie’s jaw dropped. “So even if Milford was her father, it was Con’s mother’s property the minute her mother died?”

“Exactly. Which could explain why Thomas Milford never opened the letters. He pretended Katherine was dead. As long as she was “missing” he had a right to keep the property for her. But if anyone learned she was alive, or if she came back claiming her rights…”

“She never knew she had any rights.” Con stared at Maisie. “And he wanted to make sure she never found out.”

“And Eric Stapleton wanted to make sure you never found out,” said Lizzie. “He wanted to cheat you out of your inheritance the way Thomas Milford cheated your mother. The house has been legally yours since the day your mother died.”

Con shook his head and blew out some air.

Lizzie squeezed him around the waist with her arm. “It really is yours.”

“I guess so.” He shrugged. “Still doesn’t feel right, but I think my mom would have been glad to see me get it. I guess fate works in mysterious ways.”

“Fate? I’d like some credit here.” Lizzie put her hands on her hips. “I had to fight you every step of the way. I guess I just knew you were born to be lord of the manor.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m glad my grandma was a snake-charming car freak. That feels kind of natural somehow.” He flashed her a gator grin.

Maisie leaned forward. “So now the papers are all signed, sealed and delivered, there’s no further risk of Eric Stapleton getting his claws into the property, which he was dangerously close to owning. Eyewitness News is doing a thorough investigation into all his business dealings, and Leeza tells me they’ve already raked up a good deal of muck. He was trying to gain title to the cars by setting up some kind of dummy corporation.”

Con perked up. “So the cars are mine?”

Maisie nodded. “All yours to do what you like with. You could probably sell them and live off the proceeds for years.”

Lizzie felt Con stiffen, probably horrified at the blasphemous thought. She chuckled. “I won’t make you sell them,” she whispered in his ear.

“Danny should get half of them. I don’t care what the will says, this stuff is every bit as much his as mine.”

“I have everything I need, bro. Grandma Marie would have wanted you to have her cars.” Danny leaned down and grazed Maisie’s neck with his teeth, causing her face to turn bright pink. “Only one thing I want right now, and it tastes like chocolate.” Maisie melted like chocolate as he settled his mouth on hers for a hot and heavy kiss. After a solid minute of smooching with no regard for the gathered audience, Danny swept a limp and breathless Maisie up in his arms. “See y’all tomorrow morning for the wedding.”

The wedding! A surge of fear and excitement made Lizzie wonder if you could just explode with joy. They were going to do it for the cameras after all. Why not? Right now she wanted to share her happiness with everyone on the planet.

“I’m going to carry you up too, babe.” Con wrapped his arms around her.

“Maisie probably weighs about ninety-eight pounds soaking wet. I’m more of a challenge.” She raised an eyebrow at him.