The Texan's Contested Claim (Silhouette Desire #1844)

To Garrett Miller, timing was everything, both in business and in life.And the timing on his trip to Austin, Texas, couldn't be more perfect.His number one goal in making the trip was to reunite his stepmother with Ali Moran, the daughter she'd given up for adoption thirty years prior. If that failed, he intended to persuade--or coerce, if necessary--Ali to give him the missing portion of the deed she held, which would enable his stepmother and her new husband to fulfill the requirements to claim a ranch they had been given.As fate would have it, he also needed to locate property for an expansion he was planning for his company. Since Austin was quickly establishing itself as the Silicon Valley of the Southwest, it seemed the natural choice and gave him the perfect excuse to make the trip.The kick was, he had to accomplish it all without anyone discovering he was in Austin.Scowling, he punched in the code for the electronic gate of Vista Bed and Breakfast, given to his secretary when she booked his reservation. If he'd known success would make him so damn popular with the media, he would've remained a geek for the rest of his life and never started Future Concepts. Who would've thought the public would care about a businessman's every move?Or that success would make him a target for some crazy who wanted him dead?He shoved the disturbing thought from his mind as he drove through the open gates. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, he reminded himself, Garrett Miller was currently attending a technology seminar in Switzerland, a lie his public relations department had fed the media at his request. All Garrett had to do was keep his presence in Austin under wraps, and his stalker would follow the bait to Switzerland and hopefully fall right into the trap being set for him there.Pulling up in front of the two-story home, he parked the rental car he'd picked up at the airport, then leaned across the seat to peer up at the house. He studied the structure a long moment, thinking of the woman inside, as well as his chances of gaining her cooperation. He'd given himself a month to find a way to convince her to reunite with his stepmother, though he doubted it would take anywhere near that long. Everyone had a price--or a weakness. It was just a matter of discovering Ali's.He smiled smugly as he climbed from the car. He didn't doubt for a minute he'd succeed. Knowledge was power and, thanks to the P.I. he'd hired and the research he'd done on his own, he knew all there was to know about Ali Moran.And she knew virtually nothing about him.Perched high on a ladder, Ali stretched to snag the last ornament from the Christmas tree's uppermost branch. In spite of the cheery fire burning in the fireplace and her favorite Norah Jones CD playing on the stereo, she couldn't have worked up a smile if she had wanted to. January 1 was usually her favorite day of the year--sleeping late after celebrating the New Year with her friends, eating a huge bowl of black-eyed peas for good luck, making a list of resolutions she wouldn't keep. Best of all, January 1 marked the first day of her annual four-week vacation.But there would be no vacation for Ali this year.Grimacing, she tucked the ornament into the box and started down the ladder. It was her own fault, she told herself. She'd let greed get the best of her.And who wouldn't? she asked herself in frustration. When a zillionaire calls you up and offers you four times the going rate to reserve your entire bedand-breakfast for a month, it's kind of hard to say no. Cooking and cleaning for one guest, rather than the five her B&B was designed to accommodate, and getting paid four times the money for her trouble? Only a fool would turn down a deal as sweet as that."So quit your whining," she lectured, as she stooped to place the box of ornaments in a storage crate. The money she would earn far outweighed whatever sacrificMoreland, Peggy is the author of 'The Texan's Contested Claim (Silhouette Desire #1844)', published 2008 under ISBN 9780373768448 and ISBN 0373768443.