Sometimes, he said softly. Families just happen.
Coles hand was warm, strong. He didnt immediately let her go, and a strange feeling surged up her arm, pushing into her chest.
Time seemed to stop. She stood still and drank in his appearance. He was such a gorgeous, sexy man. His smoke-gray eyes were dark with emotion. She noticed once again that his shoulders were broad, arms toned, chest defined. He seemed to radiate a power that was more than just physical.
She fought another urge to go to him. It couldnt happennot this time.
* * *
The Missing Heir is part of the No.1 bestselling series from Mills & Boon® Desire Billionaires and Babies: Powerful menwrapped around their babies little fingers.
The Missing Heir
Barbara Dunlop
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Thirteen
Extract
Copyright
One
Cole Henderson propped himself against a workbench in Aviation 58s hangar at the Juneau, Alaska, airport and gazed at the front page of the Daily Bureau. He realized news of the Atlanta plane crash deaths should make him feel something. After all, Samuel Henderson had been his biological father. But he had no idea what he was supposed to feel.
A nearby door in the big building opened, letting in a swirl of frigid air and blowing snow. At ten oclock in the morning, it was still dark outside this far north.
His business partner, Luca Dodd, strode in, crossing the concrete floor alongside the sixty-passenger Komodor airplane that was down for maintenance.
You looking at it? Luca asked.
Im looking at it, said Cole.
Luca tugged off his leather gloves and removed his wool hat. What do you think?
I dont think anything. Cole folded the paper and tossed it on the bench behind him. Whats to think? The guys dead.
A drill buzzed on the far side of the hangar, and the air compressor started up, clattering in the background as two maintenance engineers worked on the engine of the Komodor.
He was your father, Luca pointed out.
I never met him. And he never even knew I existed.
Still...
Cole shrugged. His mother Laurens marriage to billionaire Samuel Henderson, whose family owned Atlanta-based Coast Eagle Airlines, had been short-lived and heartbreaking for her. Shed never hidden Coles heritage from him, but shed certainly warned him about the Henderson family.
Eight dead, said Luca, spinning the paper so the headline was right side up.
Sounds like it all went to hell in the final seconds. As a pilot, Cole empathized with in-air emergencies. He knew the pilots would have been fighting to safely land the airplane until the very end.
Early speculation is a combination of icing and wind shear. Thats freakishly rare for Atlanta.
We all know how bad that can go.
An Alaskan pilot might have helped, said Luca.
Cole didnt argue that point. Pilots in Alaska had more experience than most in icy conditions.
He glanced over his shoulder at the headline once again. On a human level, he felt enormous sympathy for those whod lost their lives, and his heart went out to their friends and family who had to go on without them. But for him personally, Samuel Henderson was nothing but a stranger whod devastated his mothers life thirty-two years ago.
By contrast, when his mother, Lauren, had passed away from cancer last year, Cole had mourned her deeply. He still missed her.
They put up a picture of the baby on the website, said Luca.
The article had mentioned that Samuel and his beautiful young wife, Coco, had a nine-month-old son, who, luckily, hadnt accompanied them on the trip. But Samuels aging mother and several company executives had been on board when the family jet had crashed into the Atlanta runway.
Cute kid, Luca added.
Cole didnt answer. He hadnt seen the picture, and he had no plans to look at it. He wasnt about to engage in the Henderson tragedy on any level.
Luca leaned forward, putting his face closer to Coles. You do get it, right?
Whats to get? Cole took a sideways step and started walking toward a hallway that led to the airlines offices. November might be Aviation 58s quietest month, but there was still plenty of work to do.
Luca walked beside him. The kid, Zachary, is the sole survivor of that entire family.
Im sure hell be well cared for. For the first time, Cole felt an emotional reaction. He wasnt proud, but it was resentment.
Immediately after their secret marriage in Vegas, Samuel had succumbed to his parents pressure to divorce Lauren. As a young woman, shed walked away, newly pregnant. With only a few thousand dollars to her name, shed boarded a plane for Alaska, terrified that the powerful family would find out about her baby and take him away from her.
Hidden in Alaska, shed scraped and saved when Cole was young. Then hed worked night and day to put himself through flight school and to build his own airline. Zachary, by contrast, would have an army of nannies and protectors to ensure he had everything a little boy could needfrom chauffeurs to private schools and ski vacations in Switzerland.
Hes all alone in the world. Luca interrupted Coles thoughts.
Hardly, Cole scoffed.
Youre his only living relative.
Im not his relative.
Youre his half brother.
Thats just an accident of genetics. There was nothing at all tying Cole to Zachary. Their lives were worlds apart.
Hes only nine months old.
Cole kept on walking across the cavernous hangar.
If the Hendersons are as bad as Lauren said they were... Lucas voice trailed off again, leaving the bangs and shouts of the maintenance crew to fill in the silence.
Cole picked up his pace. Those Hendersons are all dead.
Except for you and Zachary.
Im not a Henderson.
You looked at your drivers license lately?
Cole tugged the heavy hallway door open. You know what I mean.
I know exactly what you mean. The jackals in Atlanta might very well be circling an innocent baby, but youd rather walk away from all this.
I dont have to walk away from this. I was never involved in it to begin with.
Coles operations manager, Carol Runions, poked her head out of her office. One seventy-two has gone mechanical.
Cole glanced at his watch. Flight 172, a ninety-passenger commuter jet, was due to take off for Seattle in twenty minutes. Is maintenance on board? he asked Carol.
Theyre on their way out there now. You want me to prep Five Bravo Sierra?
Whats the problem? Luca asked her.
Indicator light for cabin pressure.
Probably a faulty switch, said Cole. But lets warm up Five Bravo Sierra.
You got it, said Carol, heading back into her office.
If we take the Citation, we can be there in four hours, said Luca.
Cole stared at his partner in confusion. There are ninety passengers on 172. The Citation seated nine.
I meant you and me.
Why would we go to Seattle? And why did Luca think it would take them four hours to get there?
Atlanta, said Luca.
Coles jaw went lax.
You gotta do it, said Luca.
No, he didnt. And Cole was done with talking about the Henderson family. Without answering, he turned to walk away, shaking his head as he went.
You gotta do it, Luca called after him. You know as well as I do, the jackals are already circling.
Not my problem, Cole called back.
The Atlanta Hendersons had gotten along perfectly well without him up to now. He had no doubt their is were dotted and ts crossed for every possible life or death contingency. They didnt need him, and he didnt want them.
* * *
Amber Welsley folded her hands on the top of the massive inlaid-maple table in the formal dining room of the Henderson family mansion. She was one of a dozen people riveted on Max Cutter at the tables head. Maxs suit was well cut, his gray hair neatly trimmed and his weathered expression was completely inscrutable as he drew a stack of papers from his leather briefcase.
From the finely upholstered chair next to hers, Ambers friend Destiny Frost leaned in close. Six lawyers in the same room. This is not going to end well.
Seven lawyers, Amber whispered back.
Destinys glance darted around. Whod I miss?
You. Youre a lawyer.
Yeah, but Im the good guy.
Amber couldnt help flexing a tiny smile. She appreciated the small break in the tension.
Max was about to read Samuel Hendersons last will and testament. The others gathered in the room had an enormous amount at stakeabout a billion dollars and control of Coast Eagle Airlines. But the only thing that mattered to Amber was Zachary. She hoped whatever arrangements Samuel and her stepsister, Coco, had made for the babys guardianship would allow Amber to stay a part of his life.
Amber was ten years older than Coco, and the two had never been close. But Amber had been instrumental in her stepsister meeting Samuel at a Coast Eagle corporate function two years ago, and Cocos pregnancy had brought them closer together for a short time. Since then, Amber had felt a special kinship with Zachary.
Across the wide table from her, vice president of operations Roth Calvin shifted in his seat. Since the day the companys president, Dryden Dunsmore, had been killed in the plane crash, the three vice presidents had been running the show. Now Samuels will would reveal who would get control of Coast Eagle.
Whoever it was would control Roth Calvins future. Much further down the corporate ladder, as assistant director of finance, Amber didnt much care who took over the helm of the company. Her day-to-day job as an accountant wasnt about to change.
My personal apologies for the delay in scheduling this reading, Max opened, his gaze going around the room. But there were several complexities to this case due to the number of deaths involved.
Ambers throat thickened. She quickly swallowed to combat the sensation. Poor Coco had only been twenty-one.
Ill start with Jackie Hendersons will, said Max. Ill follow that with her son, Samuels, which was written jointly with his wife, Coco. In addition, there is a small codicil, executed by Coco alone. I would caution you all to draw no conclusions until Ive finished reading all three.
Max straightened the papers. Aside from some small bequests to friends and long-time staff members, and a generous donation of ten million dollars to the Atlanta arts community, Jackie Henderson has left her estate to her son, Samuel, including her twenty-five percent ownership of Coast Eagle Airlines.
Nobody in the room reacted to Maxs statements, and they gave only a cursory glance to the list of bequests handed around. That Samuel was Mrs. Hendersons heir was completely expected. And though Mrs. Henderson had been an exacting and irritable old woman, she had long been a patron of the arts.