much she needs you. She’s being stubborn is all. She’s got it in her head she needs to be independent.”
He rather thought he was the problem. He would bet if someone else had offered to help her for free, she would have been all over that deal. As he’d never done anything she could have found offensive, this had to be about his family. It had to be about his aunt or maybe even Wes. Was she carrying a torch for the boy she’d rejected? Or guilt because she’d rejected him in the first place?
He wanted to tell himself it was a mystery he didn’t need to solve, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave it alone.
“I’m around if she changes her mind.” He reached and got his earbuds. “Even if she only wants to talk. I’ll send her some resources. Come on, Shep. This run isn’t going to finish itself.”
He took off, jogging slowly, but his mind was back on that house and the woman inside it.
* * *
***
Not even the air-conditioning and breeze of the fan in Quaid Havery’s elegantly appointed office could cool down the fire Celeste felt licking along her every nerve ending. “What do you mean Irene left the house to her niece? Which niece are we talking about, because it better be someone from out of town. Some long-lost niece no one in the Guidry family talked about? One who never chased after my son and clawed his heart out? It better be that niece.”
Angela was seated beside her, and her daughter shook her head. “Quaid didn’t have anything to do with who Irene Guidry left the house to. You don’t have to breathe fire his way.”
The man who’d been the family lawyer since he’d taken over for his father four years before actually looked intimidated, and that wasn’t an expression she normally saw on the thirty-two-year-old’s face. “I absolutely didn’t tell Ms. Guidry who to leave her house to. I merely served my function and wrote the will.”
And that was where he’d made his mistake. “You wrote the will and knew Seraphina Guidry would inherit that house.”
“Yes, I did.” Quaid straightened up and seemed to shake off his surprise. “When one writes a will, one tends to need the names of the people inheriting, Mrs. Beaumont. Like when my father wrote your husband’s will and put your name there on the list.”
She felt her eyes narrow because she knew what he was poking at. “Yes, it’s lucky for me that you put off that appointment with my husband before he could change the will and leave everything to Calvin. Is that what you’re trying to say? Don’t you try to intimidate me, Quaid Havery. Angela and Calvin both know what happened.”
Angie leaned over, looking the lawyer in the eye. “We’re happy Dad didn’t rewrite his will. Cal didn’t want that responsibility, and he certainly didn’t like the way my father treated us like we were back in the eighteenth century and everything should be held by the eldest son. My mother can handle the Beaumont holdings and has done so brilliantly. Don’t think you can split us up over that. There are many other ways to go about sowing dissension among the Beaumonts.”
Sometimes her daughter could be obnoxious. “Angela.”
She shrugged. “Well, you make me go to church, and we’re all supposed to be honest. It would be way easier to sway me to his side if he offered me some carbs.”
Quaid sighed and sat back. “I wasn’t trying to sway anyone. I was merely pointing out that writing wills is my job. Irene Guidry paid for my services and I wrote her will. It was not my place to tell her who to leave her property to.”
“It is your place to watch out for this family’s best interests.” She was well aware of the ice in her words. She used the voice she spoke to badly behaving board members with. “The Beaumont family makes up a large part of your business.”
“Yes, and I’m the only lawyer in town,” Quaid countered.
He was underestimating her will in this. “Business can be conducted over the telephone these days. I assure you there are plenty of lawyers in New Orleans who would be thrilled to represent my interests. My daughter’s fiancé is a lawyer.”
Angela raised a hand in a vain attempt to call her off. “Momma, Austin is a prosecutor. He doesn’t do business law.”
“Well, Quaid here does everything. I’m sure Austin can, too.” She