Page 1 of Overnight Inheritance

One

Mae Dunstan—or Mae Rutherford, as everyone at the party was calling her—stood at the soaring doors to the patio of her aunt Sarah’s house in the Hamptons and sighed. Behind her was a glittering party in her honor, filled with the rich, the famous, and the beautiful, and all Mae wanted to do was escape.

In front of her was the velvety night sky and the promise of a few minutes of priceless solitude.

Before she could think better of it, or be called back, she stepped over the threshold. Each step into the backyard brought a decrease in noise and light, and, enveloped by the warm summer air, her entire body relaxed a little.

Since arriving in the US three weeks ago, her life had been a whirlwind, with people pulling her in all directions. Of course, it had been bound to happen once people found out she was a lost heir to a billion-dollar fortune, and now everyone seemed to want a piece of her, whether details, due to their morbid curiosity, or money. The fortune hunters were the worst. Men who were attempting to charm their way into her bank account by way of her DMs and then her bed.

She stepped farther into the manicured garden decorated with fairy lights and took a breath. It didn’t help much. She’d barely been able to breathe since arriving from Australia. No, before then. Since her brother Heath had told her that the father they’d been hiding from for her entire life was dead and that they were now both billionaires. She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t a mistake and someone would arrive soon to make them hand the money back. At least then her life would return to normal—the elementary school teaching job that she’d had to take leave from, the lifestyle of a small Australian town—instead of the circus it had become.

A patch of darkness along the tall, thick hedge that separated her aunt Sarah’s house from the closest neighbor beckoned her with promises of peace, so she headed for its sanctuary. Once encased in the shroud of darkness, she wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at the stars that shone in the moonless sky. The angles of the constellations were different to those she’d grown up with in the southern hemisphere, but being able to see a sky full of twinkling stars was one of the few familiar things she still had.

“Party a bust, is it?”

She jumped several inches off the ground and swung around. No one was there, but leaves were rustling on the other side of the hedge.

She peered through but the foliage was too thick to see much. “Are you seriously lurking out in the bushes?”

“I could ask you the same question.” The deep voice sounded amused.

She casually shrugged a shoulder, then realized he couldn’t see the action. “I just needed to get some air.”

“You’re a fair distance from the party. I, however, am strolling along a pathway in my own yard. So tell me—” he lowered his voice “—why are you hiding from what sounds like an impressive event?”

This man was a stranger, and she was hardly going to spill the secrets of her heart to someone she couldn’t even see. Even though part of her wanted to. The only person she really knew in the entire country was her brother, and Heath was wrapped up in his new fiancée, Freya. If she told him she wanted to talk, then of course he’d be there for her, but he’d spent his whole life looking out for her, working with their mother to keep them all safe, and now that he’d found happiness with Freya, Mae couldn’t bear to taint that with her doubts and fears.

“I am enjoying the party. I’m just taking a moment to admire the night sky right now.”

“Liar,” he said softly.

Mae frowned at the hedge that separated them. “You don’t know me.”

“True.” There was a pause and she heard the clink of ice cubes in a glass. “Which proves my point. You’re talking to someone you’ve never met and can’t even see instead of being inside at that party you say you’re enjoying.”

Annoyingly, he was right. “You’re not there either.”

“Wasn’t invited,” he said wryly. “Besides, I only arrived about half an hour ago.”

“Arrived?” Despite herself, her curiosity was piqued. Since she’d landed on American soil, almost every conversation had been about her. It was a relief to talk about someone else, especially someone not connected to her situation.

“From New York. I have an apartment there where I live most of the time. I’m here for the weekend.” The ice cubes clinked again. “Now you know my secrets, tell me why you’re out here instead of in there with the who’s who of the Hamptons’ social scene back in the house.”

She closed her eyes for a long moment. Maybe she should. It would be a relief to say it aloud, and didn’t people say that it was easier to tell your truths to a stranger...?

“I don’t fit in,” she said in a rush. “These people, I don’t understand them.” Mortified, she covered her mouth with a hand, but he didn’t reply, so she dropped her hand so she could clarify. “Don’t get me wrong, they all seem lovely, but I can’t seem to connect with anyone.”

“Ah, there’s your problem. A party in the Hamptons isn’t a place where you make soul-deep connections. Everyone has their guard up. Did you meet anyone famous?”

“Several.” She’d been stunned into either silence or babbling several times when she’d been introduced to people she recognized from movie screens or music videos.

“Part of their mind was on whether you had a phone and were going to sell photos of them, or repeat something they said to the gossip columns, so they had their guard up. And if you met someone rich, they were waiting for the pitch.”

“The pitch?” she said, drawing the word out as if that would make its meaning clear.

“How you were going to ask them for money.” His tone was neutral, matter of fact. “Maybe an investment, or a donation to charity, or straight up handout.”

Her mother had always told them that money didn’t buy happiness. Sure, having enough for the rent and food was vital for everyone, but after that, money made things worse instead of better. “That’s an awful way to live.”

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