Duty Or Desire. Brenda Jackson

       Two

      Myra looked up from reading the morning paper and sipping her herbal tea. She tipped her head to stare at her cell phone. It was ringing and she didn’t recognize the ringtone. Granted, she hadn’t assigned a specific sound to everyone who called her. Only those that mattered. She was about to ignore the call and then remembered it might be Sheriff Higgins.

      She had run into Miss Bonnie and Ciara at the grocery store two days ago and had been so glad to see them. Ciara’s chubby arms had automatically reached for her and she’d been happy to hold her. That had been the first time she’d seen Miss Bonnie since that day a week ago when the sheriff had turned down her employment as a nanny.

      According to Miss Bonnie, the position hadn’t been filled and she felt the sheriff would come to his senses soon enough and realize Myra was the best candidate.

      Deciding to appease her curiosity, she clicked on the phone. “Hello.”

      “Gosh, Myra, you had me worried there for a minute.”

      “Wallace? Why are you calling me from another number? One that I don’t recognize?”

      Wallace Blue had been her father’s protégé. The man Elias Hollister had groomed for years to replace him at the company whenever that time came. At least her father had the good sense not to make Baron his successor, recognizing at an early age that her brother lacked the skills, knowledge and compassion to ever head a company the size, depth and magnitude of Hollister Enterprises.

      Her father thought his only son’s lack of character stemmed from Baron having been raised by his mother, who’d been Elias’s first wife. He thought Charlene had raised her son to be just as callous, calculating and cruel as she was. Myra hadn’t known just how true those allegations were until her involvement with Rick Stovers.

      She should not have been surprised that Baron’s behavior would get worse after her parents died unexpectedly. The first thing Baron had done was go after Wallace, who’d been in place to head the company. Rumor had it that Baron, along with his devious mother, had gotten to the stockholders after obtaining damaging information on their pasts. Baron and Charlene had threatened to expose the information if the stockholders didn’t vote Wallace out and put Baron in as Myra’s father’s replacement.

      “It’s a burner phone and I wanted to check to make sure you’re okay,” Wallace was saying. “Your brother is more devious than ever and I think he might have put a tracker on my regular phone. He’s desperate to find you.”

      Myra could believe that because in two months, when she turned twenty-five, the entire company became hers and there was nothing Baron or the stockholders could do about it. It was Baron’s intention that she not show up at that meeting where she would take control of the company, appoint Wallace as the CEO and show Baron the door. How he planned to stop her was anyone’s guess, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

      “I can’t understand why you’re still working there,” she said.

      “Because while I’m here I can make sure Hollister Enterprises stays profitable until it’s time for you to take over. Otherwise, Baron will bankrupt it. All Baron’s friends are working here and they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”

      Myra believed Wallace. Her father had said often enough that Baron had no business sense and as far as Myra was concerned the men he hung out with, mostly frat brothers, were just as bad. “Well, let Baron continue to look for me. I think this is the last place he’ll think to look. According to Cleo, he thinks I’m somewhere in Spain, which is why Charlene tried to have my passport revoked so I couldn’t return to the States.”

      “Don’t put anything past her, Myra. Over the years she’s been known to have bed partners in some pretty high places.”

      Myra could believe that. Baron even bragged about his mother’s past lovers and how she could get some of them to do just about anything for her. Baron and Charlene disliked Wallace because they saw him as taking Baron’s place in Elias’s life. Baron and Wallace were nearly the same age, and yet as different as day and night. Wallace, whose father had been Elias’s best friend since childhood, always carried himself with professionalism and honesty.

      “So, what’s going on with you?” Wallace asked her, breaking into her thoughts.

      She shrugged, not surprised he’d asked. She considered him the big brother Baron had never been. “Not much. Paula needs to turn this house back into an Airbnb for the holidays, so I’ll be moving out in a week.”

      “And going where?”

      “Not sure. There’s a woman I’ve met who relocated from Savannah,” she said, thinking about Bella Westmoreland. “She owns a private B and B. I plan to talk to her about moving into one of the rooms there for two months. Just till Christmas. I told you why I’m avoiding hotels.”

      “Yes, because Baron could trace your whereabouts if you don’t,” Wallace said. “I just hate you’re on the run like this. If your father was alive, he—”

      “But Dad isn’t alive, Wallace, and we need to carry out his wishes like he would want us to do. I’m fine, just a little inconvenienced.”

      She and Wallace knew the truth. She was being inconvenienced a whole lot. It was never her desire to get tied to the family’s business. Her father had always respected her decision. But she’d known, because he’d told her, that if anything happened to him and her mother simultaneously, the company would become hers. He’d instructed her to make sure Wallace was CEO so he could run things. And that was what she intended to do. Her twenty-fifth birthday couldn’t get here soon enough. Now, if she could only stay hidden from Baron until then.

      “You still working on your thesis?” Wallace asked her.

      She moved back to the table to sit down. “Yes, but not as much as I should.” Then, because she wanted to share her disappointment with someone, she said, “I interviewed for a nanny position last week.”

      “That’s great. How’s that working out for you?”

      Knowing Wallace figured she’d gotten the job, she said, “I wasn’t hired. The guy thought I was too young.”

      “Too young?”

      “Yes. I think he was looking for an older, matronly woman.”

      “Too bad, it’s his loss. You’re good with kids and would have been a great nanny.”

      She believed that, too. At that moment her doorbell rang. “Thanks. I have to go. Someone is at the door.”

      “Okay. Make sure you check to see who it is before opening it, Myra.”

      “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” She clicked off the phone and headed for the door.