The Family Way by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

were dark and fathomless. „Let’s just say I didn’t marry the right woman.“
    Pru’s mouth fell open in shock. „You were supposed to marry a certain woman?“ she asked weakly.
    „It was three years ago, Pru. I’ve already told you. She’s dead now.“
    „The fiancée you mentioned the other night at dinner?“ Pru asked tightly.
    „That’s right. Her father was my father’s best friend and a partner in many of his deals. Laura was supposed to inherit a fair-sized chunk of McCord Enterprises. Shortly before he died, her father asked my father to look after Laura. My parents thought of her as the daughter they never had. Laura’s mother disappeared years ago after a divorce, so when her dad died the McCords became her family. As it happened, everyone thought Laura and I made a good couple.“
    „Including you and Laura?“ Her breath felt trapped in her chest, Pru thought. Consciously she tried to release the tension that had gripped her.
    „Yes,“ McCord said. „Including Laura and me. She was a beautiful blond angel. Everyone loved her.
    And she said she loved me.“
    „Oh.“ Pru couldn’t think of anything to say to that.
    „Yes, oh.“
    „Well?“ Pru finally prompted. „What happened?“
    McCord looked into his coffee. „I changed my mind about the engagement. I decided I didn’t want to marry her. When I told her, she went into a rage. She was almost hysterical. I didn’t dare leave her alone that night until she’d calmed down somewhat. I didn’t leave her apartment until nearly two in the morning when she finally settled down long enough to throw me out. I left. But almost as soon as I was gone she jumped into a car and went tearing off into the night. The police said she must have been going nearly a hundred miles an hour when she lost control on the freeway.“
    „Oh, my God,“ Pru breathed.
    McCord’s eyes hardened. „She died three hours later at the hospital. My family was garnered around the bedside. It was a very dramatic scene, I assure you. Laura regained consciousness long enough to inform everyone present exactly why she had been roaring along a Los Angeles freeway at close to a hundred miles an hour at two-thirty in the morning.“
    „She blamed you?“ Pru asked, shocked.

    McCord nodded. „You might say I was condemned by a dying woman’s words. It was a tough act to follow, believe me.“ He didn’t say anything else.
    „How awful. What a terrible mess. But didn’t your family understand that, while it was a tragedy, it was hardly your fault?“
    „No. There were…“ He paused, clearly searching for the right word. „Extenuating circumstances, I guess you could say.“
    „What extenuating circumstances?“
    „They don’t matter anymore, Pru. It was all over three years ago. The final conclusion was that I really should have married Laura. I had led her on and allowed her to believe she would be my wife. When I cold-bloodedly bowed out of the arrangement, she was distraught. Laura had a very delicate temperament.“
    McCord had obviously decided he’d said enough on the subject. Pru knew him better than to press for more information at that point. In fact, she was surprised at the amount he’d given her. In the past fifteen minutes she’d learned more about McCord’s past and his family than she’d learned in the previous six months. „So the net result was that your father decided your brother was a more worthy son and made him CEO of the company?“
    „Something like that. It sounds simple enough now, doesn’t it? At the time it seemed damned messy.“
    „Have you seen much of your parents or your brother and his wife during the past three years?“
    „Two years ago I spent Christmas Day with them. It was an awkward occasion for all concerned, to put it mildly. I didn’t try to duplicate the experience.“
    „But now you’ve decided to introduce me to the family?“ Pru asked uneasily.
    „It won’t be pleasant, but no one’s going to attack