A Taste of Merlot by Heather Heyford Page A

her king-sized comforter. The past twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster ride. She’d managed to fight back her tears while in the kitchen—barely. She swiped angrily at the water now pooling under her eyes.
    Blame it on her long-standing resentment of public scrutiny. The children in those old pictures were strangers now. Those little girls had grown up. They’d had new experiences that had molded them, just as surely as Maman’s abandonment and Papa’s exiling them had. Relationships. Education. Trying to figure out how to stake their unique claims in the world, like anyone else.
    But there was more to Meri’s flare-up than simple annoyance over her and her sisters’ lack of privacy. There were more recent events that haunted her. And since she’d never shared what had happened back at school with a single soul, not even her sisters, she had to face those demons alone.

Chapter 9
    M ark double-checked his stack of purchase orders before presenting them to Aunt Gloria for her signature. The whole time he was writing them out, he was thinking about more than Meri’s designs. He couldn’t get that long, lean body of hers out of his head. Except when he was thinking about her sea-glass eyes or her luminous skin.
    Unfortunately, the attraction seemed to be mutual. That was going to make working together even dicier, since he could never act on his feelings. First of all, there were still four months left in the year he’d vowed to stay single, following his annulment. Second, he kept hearing Gloria’s voice in his ear: It’s as easy to fall in love with a rich woman as it is a poor one. Made perfect sense. How was it he’d never heard it before he married Brandi? Meri Peterson clearly did not fall into the category of “rich woman.” If she was like most art students, she was probably in hock up to her neck for tuition and supplies. Raw metals and precious gemstones didn’t come cheap.
    He cringed. He sounded, even to himself, like some cold-blooded, holier-than-thou hot shot. Meri Peterson was intelligent. She’d look amazing in rags. And being middle class didn’t diminish her talent one iota.
    But the truth was, he’d taken a blind chance on love—or what he’d thought was love—before, and where had that landed him? Handing over his ass in an out-of-court settlement. It was only thanks to a sharp-eyed lawyer that Brandi hadn’t got her hands on his entire inheritance and his share in the stores.
    But if Meri found out that Mark was a member of the Harrington family, he’d be right back in the same boat. He’d learned his lesson. Once it was discovered you had money, you were a sitting duck.
    Luckily, Mark was a Harrington through his mother’s side. Having gotten the name Newman from his father, he could hide his connection to the Harrington fortune, at least for a while.
    He checked his watch. The workday was almost over, and he was determined to see his aunt before she left for the evening. He picked up his POs, strode down the hall, and rapped on her door.
    From within, Mark heard scurrying, accompanied by low voices. He bent an ear to the door. “Aunt Gloria?”
    Not again. Today wasn’t the first time he’d caught his aunt and her CFO fooling around during work hours. He blew out a breath, looked to the ceiling, and passed the next ten seconds rocking back and forth on his heels.
    The latch release clicked and the door swung open.
    â€œMark,” Dick greeted him tersely, straightening his tie with a triumphant glare. Then, cocky as an old rooster, he sauntered down the hall in the opposite direction from where Mark had come, back to his own coop.
    â€œYes?” asked Gloria, from behind her desk. Her cheeks were flushed and she was applying garnet lipstick, checking her reflection in Grandma’s old gold compact. Mark tried to see her face as critically as she did. Despite some