Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles)

by Lee, Kimball

  He slipped into his jeans which were soaking wet and glared at her. Matilda was beautiful and exotic and she had seduced him when he was still in high school. He was fifteen years old the first time she slithered into his bed and she was twenty-three. Five years had passed and they still sought each other out time and again and each time the sex was more out of control. There was no love lost between them, they both wanted the same thing, sex with a hard unrelenting edge.

  “Don’t give me that evil look, you’re the one who climbed in the shower with me. Next time finish undressing first,” she said and laughed.

  “As I recall you pulled me into the shower the minute I walked through the door. I really am through with all this, thanks for the education. I’m going to Hadley’s party now, so forget about trying to distract me. I just got back to town a few hours ago and my mother will raise holy hell if I don’t make an appearance soon. Besides, you know I would never disappoint my little sister by screwing up her Debutante Ball,” Atticus buttoned his jeans and stood above her as she lay naked with her dark hair fanned out around her. He was twenty years old, six feet five and wickedly muscled from his strict military workouts. Just the sight of him, so controlled on the surface and so decadently wild beneath his thin veneer, made Matilda want to say fuck it to her dreams of political power and run away with him.

  “My fiancé is coming with me,” she said, stubbing out the cigarette, “think how much fun it would be to sneak off and fuck behind a potted plant. Or maybe in the kitchen while all the chefs and waiters are trying to concentrate on their work,” she stood up and pressed her naked body against him before he could walk out the door. His body responded even though he was sick of her games. Matilda liked to push the envelope with sex and the idea of tarnishing his shining Naval Academy reputation made Atticus her favorite playmate. “Come to my wedding next month, Atticus. Show up looking handsome in your uniform, it will be a moment in history. Jordan’s going to be president of the United States when the next election comes around and I’ll be the youngest first lady in history. It sucks really, I wanted to be the first woman president but that blow-hard holy-roller bitch beat me to it. Anyway, I don’t care about that, I can control Jordan like a puppet. By the time he’s elected four years from now I’ll be thirty-two years old and running this country. I want you with me lover, admit it, no one makes you scream in bed the way I do.”

  “You’re getting crazier by the day, Matilda,” he said, and he leaned down to kiss her succulent mouth and ran his hand up the inside of her thigh. She steadied herself against the door as he used his fingers just as she’d taught him to do so well. “Atticus,” she breathed and began to quiver under his touch. He broke away from her suddenly and walked down the hallway as she stood panting and begging him to come back and finish what he started. He waited for the elevator and looked back at her and laughed, “Hadley’s turning eighteen and she’s counting on her big brother to show up for her special night. See you there, or better yet, let’s steer clear of each other.”

  “You’re such a bastard, Atticus,” Matilda screamed as the elevator doors opened and he disappeared inside.

  “Yeah, so I’ve heard,” he said.

  Atticus stepped out of the elevator and walked across the lobby of the W hotel. A pretty young woman was handing the keys of her Jaguar convertible to the valet. Her body language was confident as hell until she looked up into a pair of sapphire-blue eyes. She blushed and her hand flew up to her thick blonde hair, twirling it nervously. He was amazing looking, she thought, peeking up at him through thick black lashes. Incredibly tall and muscled and… gorgeous.

  “Too bad you’re just checking in,” he said, and she felt a geyser erupt down low in her belly at the sound of his voice. “I’m going to a party and you’re all dressed up, you should come with me…”

  “Ashley,” she said and he liked it that her voice was soft and breathy.

  “Unless you’re busy of course, but I think you’d enjoy yourself,” he said, and she snatched the keys back from the valet and he smiled again as he settled his long body into her car and they drove away together.

  “Were are we going?” she asked glancing at his splendid profile as they cruised through downtown San Diego.

  “The Hotel Del Coronado, my family has a group of rooms there for the weekend. I’ll need to shower and shave and then dress up in my tux.”

  “Wow, I love the Del, it’s so romantic. Are you sure I’m dressed okay? I mean if you’re wearing a tux and all,” she said, checking herself in the rearview mirror.

  “You look great, and we’ll have some time to get acquainted before the party starts,” he said and placed his hand over hers on the gear shift.

  *

  In a suite at the Del Coronado, Hadley stood in front of the full length mirror and studied her reflection. The dress she was wearing was the most glorious confection she could have ever have imagined. Skyler had given it to her from a closet that was bursting at the seams with drop dead gorgeous designer clothes. It was a feather light blush-pink floor length gown with a sheer top and tissue thin layers of chiffon that hung from the fitted waist. Intricately applied beads were stitched to the bodice and formed a pattern that hid her breasts. The back plunged dangerously low and she knew her dad would have a fit when he saw her in it. She didn’t care, her dad would forgive her anything, she was his little girl and he was her hero.

  “That dress is off the charts fabulous and you look like an angel who fell to earth and decided to become a sex goddess,” Ava said. She was lounging on a sofa in the suite where Hadley and her closest friends were dressing for the party. “Is it Roberto Cavalli? God bless Skyler and all the designers who let her keep the dresses she models, and thanks to whoever provided this champagne to underage girls,” she said holding the champagne flute up in a toast.

  “Yeah thanks a lot, two whole bottles to share between the four of us; that’s not much of a party,” Mia said, she refilled her glass and watched Hadley as she admired the dress. Hadley and Skyler grated on Mia’s nerves sometimes even though they were her best friends. Ava was easier to get along with, she was always game for whatever wild adventure Mia could dream up, and she liked to drink so she went along with most anything as long as liquor was involved. Skyler and Hadley had the whole good girl virgin act going on plus they made serious money modeling, so even though they seemed to be so sweet and innocent Mia believed it had to be an act. Actually, Hadley didn’t have the astronomical modeling career that Skyler did, even though Mia had to admit that Hadley was way more beautiful. That was because Charlotte wanted Hadley to have a real career and besides, Hadley wanted to be an actor not a model. She was going to NYU in the fall to study drama but she was dying to go straight to L.A. and start auditioning for parts in movies. Again, Charlotte wasn’t having it, her precious little girl had to have a college education first. Mia had told Hadley to tell her mother to stick it where the sun don’t shine and to go ahead and live her own damn life now that she was eighteen.

  “So when’s that’s hot brother of yours getting here, he is taking time off from his quest to fuck every girl in America to be at your debut isn’t he?” Mia asked Hadley.

  “Why do you have to say things like that Mia? Of course Atticus is coming and he’s your brother too. I hate it when you say things about him and girls, it’s vulgar and you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hadley said and she looked to Ava to intervene.

  “She’s right Mia,” Ava said and she smiled inwardly at Mia’s impossible love/hate obsession with Atticus, “it seems like you spend a lot of time thinking about Atticus and his sex life. I wonder what that could possibly mean. My guess is that it pisses you off that he won’t give you the time of day, or that you’re having some seriously perverted fantasies about your half-brother.”

  “Shut the fuck up Ava. Beau is the only man for me, why do you think I decided to go to UCLA? He likes to have me close to him and I’m not talking about just in the classroom,�
�� Mia said and rolled her eyes in complete disgust when Vivi Kipling came into the room and she, Hadley, and Skyler started discussing boys like a bunch of love-struck preteens.

  “Keller is here and oh my God he’s almost too hot,” Vivi told Hadley, “why didn’t you tell me you have a gorgeous cousin with a killer body and the coolest James Bond accent?”

  “Because you never asked and I thought you were an Atticus groupie. Keller is great and he has an accent because, hello, he’s British like my dad. He’s living here now and he’s a pre-med student at USC. I really want Skyler to spend some time with Keller tonight, seriously he’s the nicest guy in the world. Plus he has like a dozen of your magazine covers pinned to the walls in his dorm room, Skyler.”

  “So who’s your escort Hadley? Jack, Holden, or Cuatro? I predict there will be blood between those three tonight depending on who you decide to lavish your precious attention on,” Mia said, her voice dripping with contempt.

  “You’re so full of it Mia, my brother is my escort. Would you stay away from the bar tonight, please? I’m sure you’ll manage to bribe the bartender, but you’re only nineteen and you could get someone in big trouble for serving you alcohol. Not only that, it would really be nice if you don’t go off on one of your crazy rants and ruin my party,” Hadley said, and all the girls looked at Mia with the full knowledge that she would do anything to make herself the center of attention.

  “Atticus is your escort tonight?” Skyler asked quietly, sweeping her pale blonde hair up and away from her angelic face, “you’re so lucky.”

  “Come on girls we’re all waiting for the birthday girl!” Charlotte said, she swept into the room and took Hadley’s face gently in her hands. “My baby girl, you look absolutely, heartbreakingly beautiful. You really are a vision of loveliness, sweetie.”

  “Oh Mom, don’t cry, you’re the one who looks like a beautiful eighteen year old,” Hadley said and Charlotte wiped her tears away and told her that compliments would get her nowhere, then she hugged her daughter tight.

  “You really do look great Charlotte,” Ava said, “I’ll spare you the embarrassment of telling you what all the hot guys at school think about you. Never mind, I’ll tell you! They all say Hadley’s mom is definitely a MILF!”

  “A what?” Charlotte asked.

  “Oh Ava shut up please. Did everyone come Mom, where’s Atticus?” Hadley asked and opened the door just a crack to take a peek at her guests.

  “He’s right outside in the hallway,” Charlotte said, checking her hair and dress in the mirror. “We’re just waiting for you and all these beautiful girls. Prepare yourself for Atticus, he sounds like a drill sergeant lecturing Jack and all the other young men to keep their hands off his baby sister.”

  “Ugh, he needs to lighten up, Mom. I swear no one will ask me to dance if he’s going threaten every guy who approaches me. Tell him to back off, okay? I know he means well but damn, I’m a grown woman!” Hadley said and gave her mother a pleading look.

  “Hadley, he’s always going to be protective of you. I think he’s more nervous than you are, and just like a man he knows what guys are thinking when they look at his divinely beautiful baby sister. Come on we need to get going, your friends are waiting. So is your daddy and granddaddy and Bly and everyone else who can’t wait to wish you a happy birthday. Hurry up, let’s get this party started!”

  END

  LEGALHEIRS 3

  Hearts on Fire…

  Chapter One

  Charlotte chose not to fly on Bly’s jet with everyone else, and only Charlie had stayed behind with her. Now he sat next to her, his fingers flying deftly over the screen of his iPhone, intent on playing whatever game he was obsessed with before the flight attendant made him turn it off. Charlotte was settled into the first class cabin of a commercial jet on her way to New Orleans, her father and Evangeline would meet her and her youngest son at the airport, and from New Orleans the four of them would drive to the McCall House. An entire summer at the beach stretched ahead, and it would be a flurry of activity as friends and family came and went to celebrate Hadley’s graduation from high school and acceptance to NYU. Atticus and Holden had gone ahead of the others to open the house for visitors, and Hadley and Skyler had just flown in from a photo shoot in New York. Upper most in Charlotte’s mind was that Hadley was getting serious media buzz over an independent film she had appeared in.

  Hadley had talked Finn into letting her take a small role in the movie, and Charlotte was helpless against the two of them when they were on a mission. It was what Hadley wanted most in the world, to be an actor, but their agreement was that she would graduate from college before she pursued her chosen career. Finn had defied Charlotte, and insisted that it would do no harm to let their daughter act in one inconsequential film before she left for college. Spencer Beck was the director, and his son, Milo, had been the one to bring Hadley’s modeling pictures to his attention. Of course, who could have guessed that the obscure little movie would win top honors at the Cannes Film Festival? It had been released two weeks earlier, coincidently on Hadley’s birthday, and critics were betting that newcomer Hadley Hale would receive a best supporting actress nomination for her very first role as an actor.

  Charlotte had limited Hadley’s modeling career from day one, not wanting her daughter thrust into the public eye as she had been when she appeared on the cover of American Jock. She had allowed her to appear in a few photo shoots with Skyler, who’d worked steadily as model all her life, but it hadn’t appealed to Hadley, it wasn’t the same as acting. Atticus as well, was offered modeling jobs, but he had no interest in fame what so ever. Even as children, Atticus and Hadley had drawn attention with their looks, and Charlotte, Finn, and Bly had done their best to keep them out of the spotlight. Then the call came from Spencer Beck, he insisted that Hadley was exactly as he had envisioned the teenage girl in his movie. Hadley wanted the part more than anything she ever imagined, and Finn had given in and said yes. It had always been that way, Finn couldn’t refuse anything to the children.

  Bly was just as bad, between the two of them, Bly and Finn, Charlotte sometimes felt like she was butting her head against a pair of brick walls to see that her children lived somewhat normal lives. When Atticus turned sixteen Bly had handed him the keys to a brand new Camaro with an engine that sounded like a jet aircraft about to take off. Charlotte cried so hard over the thought of her little boy driving too fast, and maybe drinking and driving, or God knows what else, that Atticus had given the keys back to Bly, and instead he drove Finn’s old Range Rover.

  The bed and breakfast in Pass Christian had been closed two years before when Atticus had gone off to Annapolis to the Naval Academy. The house and grounds were now used simply as a year round family vacation spot and retreat where Atticus, Hadley, Charlie, and their friends could congregate. Bly had gone so far as to buy the estates on either side of the McCall House to insure complete privacy when the family visited. Both newly purchased properties boasted lovely antebellum homes on several beach front acres, and Bly deeded one house to Atticus, and the other to Holden and Mia. There was now an eleven acre family compound with Charlotte’s ancestral home at its center.

  “Why do I have to turn my phone off?” Charlie asked, rolling his eyes and shoving the phone into the pocket of his jeans. “It’s completely unfair, I was all the way to the last level of my game.” Charlotte leaned over and kissed the top of his head, she was astonished that he had grown several inches in the last year. He would be twelve by the time the new school year started, and he was tall and handsome, with a will of iron and a rebellious streak a mile wide. Her little ‘dividend baby’ as she referred to him, was a carbon copy of his father.

  “I know,” she said, smiling into his astonishingly beautiful eyes. “You’re so mistreated, my darling Charlie, it’s an awful shame.”

  “Right, Mom. You think you’re so funny,” he said, rolling his eyes yet again before he tucked a pillow under his head and turned towar
d the window to sleep.

  The pilot’s voice sounded over the jet’s intercom announcing that they had reached their cruising altitude, and a flight attendant handed Charlotte a glass of champagne. Charlotte smiled and thanked the young woman, but mostly she smiled to herself. She remembered another flight when she had been summoned to first class, and handed a glass of champagne, and kissed by an utterly irresistible man….

  *

  Thirteen years before…

  “I suppose it all started with my bad decision,” Finn said, looking at Charlotte with equal amounts of hurt and longing. “The first sin was mine. When you asked me to choose between our love and my job, I shouldn’t have hesitated. If I’d made the right choice, then you would never have been susceptible to Bly when he showed up in your life. Or maybe I should’ve been man enough to leave you alone after Hong Kong and let you have a fairytale life with Alexander Bly. But of course it was utterly impossible for me stay away from you, just as it is for Bly, so who’s at fault here anyway? The truth is, we all are, Charlotte. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever loved in my life, but even if it is my fault, I’m still mad at you. I’m fucking furious that you ran to him and that he dared to touch you, that he put his hands on you, my wife…. You are without question, my wife, not his.”

  “Finn, I don’t love him, I know that now. Before I thought that I….”

  “THAT YOU WHAT? THAT YOU FUCKING LOVED HIM? THAT YOU FUCKING LOVED BOTH OF US?” he yelled with such ferocity that Charlotte jumped. She was sitting in the middle of their big bed watching Finn as he struggled to pull a clean shirt on over the cast on his arm. She wanted to help him, to run her hands lovingly over the fresh wounds that covered his deeply muscled chest and back, to feel his resolve melt at her touch. She couldn’t remember Finn ever raising his voice to her before, and the sound of fury and anguish froze her heart and made her sick with disgust for herself. “For someone so God-damned smart, Charlotte, that was a stupid assumption. You were never in love with Bly, I knew that or I wouldn’t have come back for you all those years ago. If there’s one thing I never doubted, it was that you and I are parts of the same being. Just the two of us, I guess it’s why I let it go on for so long. I put up with Bly and his fucking obsession with you because I knew you were mine down deep in your heart and soul where it matters. I still believe that, so you don’t have to try and convince me that it’s true. The problem is I don’t think I can live with what you’ve done, that you ran to him, and gave your body to him so readily. Whether it’s my fault, your fault, or the devil’s fault, doesn’t matter, it happened and now it’s done. I’m just a man, my love, and everything in me is hurting right now. My ego and my heart, and I don’t think I can overcome it, I don’t know if we can ever get it back to good.”