Page 21 of A Treasure Worth Seeking

“I’m sorry, Mother. I haven’t thought much about my hair lately,” Melanie apologized contritely. “Hello, Father.”

“Hello, Melanie. Has there been any word from Ken?”

“Not directly,” Melanie said mysteriously and grinned at Erin.

“What?” Mrs. Winslow demanded. “Was he found? Did he have all the money with him?”

“No, nothing like that,” Melanie said dispiritedly. Her effervescence of a moment ago had been completely dispelled. “Someone came to see him. Someone very important.” She gestured toward Erin, whom the couple hadn’t deigned to acknowledge, though both of them had seen her when they entered the room.

“Well?” was Mrs. Winslow’s only comment after she had given Erin a thorough inspection with her icy, colorless gray eyes.

“This is Ken’s sister, Miss Erin O’Shea.”

There was a heavy silence as Erin stood up politely to greet Melanie’s parents. They stared at her as if she had been anathematized.

Before she had time to speak, the silence was broken by Lance opening the front door. He really is exceedingly handsome, Erin thought when he came into sight. His hair was still damp from a recent shower; his jaw was almost shiny from having just been shaved smooth. Erin could smell the brisk spiciness of his cologne from where she stood across the room. It was poignantly familiar to her.

At one quick glance he seemed to perceive the situation. Shoving his hands into his pockets in a careless gesture, he sauntered into the room. “Hello, Mrs. Winslow, Mr. Winslow. What are you doing here?”

“I’d think that would be apparent, Barrett,” snapped Howard Winslow. “We haven’t heard a thing out of you for the last few days and I demand to be kept well informed.”

Lance’s hands came out of his pockets slowly and Erin saw that they were balled into tight fists. His body was tense with dislike. Only his face remained passive. When he spoke, she was surprised by the level tone. “In the first place, Mr. Winslow, it isn’t your place to ‘demand’ anything. It’s not your money that’s missing. It belongs to the federal government and the investors in your bank. Secondly, I told you I would keep you apprised of further developments. There have been none.”

“Why not?” Mrs. Winslow flared. “It shouldn’t be that difficult for you and your band of thugs to find one lone criminal.”

“If you’re referring to Mr. Lyman, let me point out to you that he hasn’t been charged with any crime yet. All we know is that he and a large amount of money happen to be missing at the same time. I’d choose my words carefully if I were you, Mrs. Winslow. You never know when they may come back to haunt you.”

Erin could have been knocked over by a feather when she heard what Lance said. Hadn’t he said almost the opposite to her last night? He was defending her brother to these spiteful people and she wanted to embrace him out of gratitude. His disdain for the Winslows was as strong as hers. As he looked over their heads at her, she could see it in the blue eyes.

His voice maintained a level pitch when he said, “I see that you have met Mr. Lyman’s sister.”

Mrs. Winslow snorted, but her husband showed a trifle more courtesy when he said, “We had just been introduced when you came in. Am I to understand that you are a blood relative of Ken’s? We were led to believe he had no family.” The statement was rife with suspicion.

Bloodlines would be important to these snobs, Erin thought, but she said calmly, “Yes, Mr. Winslow, I am Ken’s sister. He and I were adopted by different parents when I was an infant. When I learned of his existence several years ago, I began searching for him. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ken Lyman is my brother. I presented myself here yesterday to meet him.”

Her eyes involuntarily focused on Lance who was still looking at her. Could anyone else feel the current that seemed to vibrate between them? “I was aghast when I learned from Mr. Barrett what sort of trouble Ken was in.”

“I can’t say that I was aghast when I heard about his thiev—” Mrs. Winslow broke off and darted her eyes fearfully toward Lance. “I wasn’t surprised when he disappeared.” she amended, though with venom. “I never trusted him. Not since the day I first laid eyes on him.”

“Mother, please don’t talk about Ken like that. He’s your son-in-law.” Melanie’s voice was trembling and her bottom lip quivered. Erin resisted an urge to go to her and shield her from her vituperative parents.

“Through no fault of my own,” the woman lashed out. Her eyes narrowed on her daughter and she shook a beringed index finger at her. “I told you you’d rue the day you married him. And I was right. And you’ll go on regretting it for the rest of your life no matter what happens to him now.”

Mr. Winslow also faced his daughter. “It wasn’t only that he was too old for you. We didn’t know anything about his origins, who or what he was descended from. I think his recent actions h

ave proved our point.”

Erin couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could anyone display such blatant rudeness? Didn’t they realize how insulting to her their words were? She intended to tell them!

She took one belligerent step toward the couple and opened her mouth to scream her protests, but Lance stopped her.

Hurriedly he said, “If you don’t mind, will you please postpone this family discussion until some other time? We have business to conduct. And I’ll not tell you again not to come here. If Mrs. Lyman wants to see you, she can visit you at your residence.”

“Are you telling me to stay away from my own daughter’s home?” Howard Winslow was appalled at the effrontery.

“Yes. I don’t want it to look like a parade around here and scare off anyone who might be trying to contact Mrs. Lyman with information we could use.”

“Well I never—”

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