An Indecent Marriage by Doreen Owens Malek Page B

buyout offer, I might add,” he concluded.
    “Offer?” Jessica said bitterly. “Do I have any choice about selling?”
    “No. Mr. Chabrol now owns fifty-one percent of the stock.”
    “So let’s call it what it is,” she stated. “A takeover.”
    The lawyer glanced nervously at Jack, who was receiving her comments impassively.
    “Where do I sign?” Jessica asked. “I want to get this over with now.”
    Ransom looked at her for a second, then said, “I’ll be just a minute.” He went out of the room to dictate a letter of intent to his secretary. Jack, still silent, moved next to Jessica, studying her face.
    “I suppose you’re happy,” she said to him. “You have what you want.”
    “That’s right.”
    “And we’ll have nothing. You must be so pleased.”
    “I am.” He put his hands in his pockets and leaned against Ransom’s desk, crossing one ankle over the other. “What will you do?”
    “Do you care?” she fired back at him.
    “Tell me.”
    His tone was so intent that, without further consideration, she did.
    “I’m going to put the house up for sale, but as you know it’s in disrepair and heavily mortgaged. Jean wants to go to art school next fall. She already has interviews lined up. It’s very expensive, but she’s so talented. How can I tell her there’s no money to finance her education? She has such plans and hopes for the future. I don’t want her to be disappointed the way...” She stopped short, aware that she was revealing too much.
    “The way you were?” Jack finished softly. “How were you disappointed, Jesse?”
    Jessica raised her eyes to meet his, stymied. She looked away.
    “What if I were to tell you that there’s a way for you to keep the house, get it back into shape and send Jean to school? You can even hang on to a job for your father. When he recovers he can draw a generous salary, more than sufficient to cover his needs. What would you say?”
    Jessica stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “How?” she whispered.
    “You can marry me.”

 
    Chapter 6
     
    “Marry you,” Jessica repeated stupidly.
    “That’s what I said.”
    “You’re offering me a deal?”
    “If that’s the way you want to look at it.” His dark eyes were fixed on her features, but unreadable.
    “I’m not sure I understand the terms,” she said warily.
    “Then let me spell them out for you,” he replied, straightening and folding his arms on his chest. She hardly dared to breathe, waiting for what he would say next.
    “Right now, you’re completely at my mercy. When we sign those papers I will own everything but the house, which is worth almost nothing anyway. You will have no money to live, to provide for your father’s recovery, to pay for Jean’s education. I can, if I choose, announce an estate liquidation sale in the local press, post signs on your door, and do any number of other unpleasant things to indicate that you are cleaned out, flat broke.”
    “That’s clear enough,” Jessica murmured stiffly when he paused.
    “On the other hand,” he went on equably, “if you marry me, I will conceal the true ownership of the mill and allow everyone to believe that your father is still in control. Only Ransom will know the truth, and he is ethically bound to keep quiet about it. Your father can, as I said, draw a salary and pretend that things are still the same. In fact they will be substantially improved, since my cash outlay will revitalize the business and my competition will be eliminated. I will repair the house, pay your father’s expenses and finance Jean’s education. No one will know about this transaction. The Portman name will be saved.”
    “That’s blackmail,” she whispered, horrified at his bland, matter-of-fact recital.
    “Call it what you like.”
    “You’ll ruin my father publicly if I don’t go along with this?”
    “I guarantee it,” he answered flatly. “And leave the three of you paupers.”
    “What’s in it for you?” she