Something Borrowed (Borrowed Brides 3)

"No, he didn't," Lee corrected her. "He died in his office of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. And we have people who will testify to having heard the shot and seen your husband's body."

"Are you planning to smear the senator's good name and blackmail me with that information, as well?"

"I don't intend to blackmail you at all, Mrs. Millen. I'm here to find the man who is blackmailing you, have him arrested, and locate your granddaughter."

"Don't call her that!"

"Why not?" Lee asked. "Lily Catherine is your granddaughter."

"That child is a half-breed Indian." Cassandra replied derisively. "And no kin of mine."

"Lily Catherine may bear David Alexander's last name, but she is not his child. Tristan Darrow is her father and your daughter was her mother," Lee pointed out. "That makes you her grandmother whether you choose to accept it or not."

"I choose not to accept it," Mrs. Millen said. "I choose not to recognize that illegitimate spawn as part of my family."

"I'm relieved to hear it," Lee answered. "Because I think an innocent child deserves better than to have an embittered, narrow-minded old woman for a grandmother."

"I am not old."

Lee thought it telling that the only insult Mrs. Millen reacted to was the reference to her age. "Then you refuse to claim Lily Catherine? Refuse to recognize her?"

"Of course I do. And what business is it of yours anyway? Why do you want to know?"

Lee smiled. "I'm asking on behalf of David Alexander and his wife, Tessa Roarke Alexander. They wish to adopt Lily Catherine as their own."

"Whyever would they want to do that?" Cassandra Millen couldn't contain her curiosity. "Why does he want the child now? She won't inherit any of my money."

"David Alexander isn't interested in your money. He's only interested in the welfare of the child that legally b

ears his name."

"If he's so interested, why didn't he marry my daughter when the senator th…"

"Threatened to ruin him?" Lee smiled at Mrs. Millen once again. "David didn't think he should be forced to pay for another man's sins. He didn't love your daughter. He barely knew her. And unlike you and the senator, David and Tessa don't care about Lily Catherine's origins. They only care about her welfare. David hates the idea that a child with his name will one day grow up to think her father abandoned her. He and Tessa feel Lily Catherine shouldn't be made to suffer for her parents' sins any more than David should have had to pay for Darrow's. They want her, and they'll give her a good home and a loving family." Lee paused, trying to gauge Cassandra Millen's reaction. Her face remained impassive. He couldn't tell if his appeal had made any impression at all.

"I don't know where she is," Cassandra lied.

"I think you do," Lee countered. "The senator paid his secretary, James Sarrazin, to provide a home for Lily. But Sarrazin got greedy and demanded more money than the senator was willing to pay. I think the senator stopped paying and Sarrazin threatened to reveal what he knew about the whole affair between Tristan Darrow and Caroline and how your husband had used his power and influence to defame David Alexander, to ruin his political aspirations and his Washington practice—and all because David Alexander refused to marry Caroline to prevent a scandal."

"But Caroline named her child Lily Catherine Alexander anyway. We had the name recorded. As far as the law is concerned, it's her legal name."

"But there was no marriage."

"The marriage didn't matter. Caroline knew she was dying. She begged us to record the last name as Alexander. The only thing that mattered was that her child not be branded a bastard." Cassandra began to cry. "Caroline wanted to name her little girl Lily Cassandra after me, but I refused. She named her Lily Catherine instead. The senator didn't want to put Alexander down. He was afraid someone would find out that he had paid to have a marriage license between David and Caroline forged and legally recorded, so the birth would be legitimate."

"There is a forged marriage certificate?" Lee hadn't known that. "Who did it?"

"I don't know. Mr. Sarrazin hired someone to do it."

"Who has it?"

"My husband did have it, but it disappeared from his safe," Mrs. Millen told him. "Sarrazin took it. He used it to blackmail the senator for money, and when my husband died, Sarrazin used it to blackmail me."

"And you have no idea who forged the marriage document?"

"No. Only that Mr. Sarrazin had known the man for years. He said they worked together on occasion," Cassandra admitted.

"Thank you." Lee grabbed his hat.