Windswept Read Online Free Page A

home. He didn’t like the idea of a stranger being there when he wasn’t, even with his household staff present. He liked even less sharing his space with said stranger. The house--to be exact, his office there--had become a welcome retreat, a place where he could think and plan without interruptions, without pressure, without . . . distractions.
    If she came, she’d be a distraction, all right. A big one, both to his work efficiency and, to be honest, to his libido, if her parting look were any example.
    What about the job she would be doing? Would he have the time to supervise her? Would he need to? Could he trust her to do the work alone? He didn’t know. After all, Edgar would have been right there with her all the time. Could he trust her with his family history?
    Could he trust her, period?
    He’d trusted a woman before, and look what it got him--a kick in the face.
    He also distinctly remembered the words of his grandfather during their last visit together. “You’re the protector of the family now, Davis,” the old man had stated. “I know you’re not the oldest of the cousins, but you’re the one with the most sense. The one I could always count on in a pinch. That’s why I’m leaving our real heritage, the papers, to you. They tell our story. As for the rest of the family, some of them bear watching, and some need a helping hand from time to time.”
    The task of protecting the family was his true inheritance, he realized and shook his head. It was not going to be easy. Some members of the extended group were fractious at best, bellicose at worst. Some required frequent attention, others were perfectly happy to maintain contact through annual Christmas cards. But making sure they were all safe was his job now—and not an unknown responsibility, thanks to his own father’s early death. “All right, Granddaddy,” he murmured to himself, “I’ll do my best.”
    As for the Windswept papers . . . He looked at the work stacked on his desk, then at his crowded calendar. Pending deals demanded his immediate attention. He needed to go to Washington and New York soon. He really didn’t have the time to bother with the family history now. Or with the good professor. The papers would keep. They’d sat there for all those years; they could continue to sit. It wasn’t like they were going anywhere.
    He’d let her know his decision tomorrow; he owed her at least a quick resolution of the question. She’d appeared to have a professional approach to the situation; surely she’d understand. With a small, vague feeling of missing some vital point, he put her card in the folder, closed it and added it to the stack to take home. Then he rolled up his sleeves, picked up the first set of files on his left and dug in.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Two
     
    “Davis, I want to know what you did with the Windswept papers.”
    The harsh, angry voice coming from the doorway spun Davis around in his chair and he half rose before he recognized his intruder. Lloyd Walker, his cousin.
    “I’m sorry,” his usually unflappable executive assistant said from behind Lloyd. “I couldn’t stop him.”
    “It’s all right, Peggy.” He sighed and felt his mouth flatten. He’d managed to avoid Lloyd at the funeral and afterward, but he knew he couldn’t do it forever. Something must be important to have brought him all the way here from Louisiana.
    Davis looked at his watch; he’d only managed to get in two hours of work. He hoped he could get rid of Lloyd quickly. “Come on in,” he said.
    He looked his cousin over as the man stopped in the doorway to glare, a tactic Lloyd had learned from his father. The stance and the expression were meant to be imposing or menacing, and Thomas Walker had the bulk to make them so, but Lloyd simply could not carry it off. He came across more as a seething teakettle than a powerful steam engine.
    He didn’t look good for someone only two years older than Davis. Lloyd was beginning to put