Believe in Me: A Rosewood Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

probably why her husband, Eugene, extended his winters in Palm Beach through early June.
    Nonie belonged to Jordan’s father’s generation, and Jordan had always wondered whether she’d married Eugene Harrison because she’d been unable to catch the dashing RJ Radcliffe—the dashing and recklessly foolish RJ Radcliffe, she quickly amended. While Eugene might possess all the excitement of a pet rock, at least the Harrison fortune was intact, whereas their spendthrift father had been afflicted with horrendously poor judgment when it came to investments.
    Thank God for Margot and her perfect jawline and photogenic proportions. Her success as a fashion model had saved Rosewood, which had been in the family since the 1840s, from bankruptcy. Without her generosity and determination to preserve their heritage, they would have been left with no alternative but to sell the beautiful mansion and the horse farm.
    Of the multitude of Richard’s selfish acts during the last year of their marriage, Jordan was most ashamed by his dishonesty in refusing to help Margot with the debts. He had claimed that they needed to put aside money for their own three children. As it turned out, his pious excuse wasjust one in a long string of lies. The real reason he hadn’t wanted to lend Margot any money was that he’d siphoned a lot of his and Jordan’s savings to buy a fancy D.C. love nest for Cynthia Delaroux and himself.
    What Jordan hated most was her own sense of blame. She should have insisted to Richard that they chip in to pay off the debts her father had left. Instead, she’d been a pushover, a docile, smiling dupe.
    But no longer.
    Months had passed since the divorce, since she’d uprooted her children and moved back home. Thanks to her family and everyone else at Rosewood, Kate and Max were happily settled and far more secure than one could hope for children experiencing the breakup of their family and the absence of a father. Luckily, Olivia was too young to be anything other than a sunny toddler who adored everyone.
    Jordan’s relief once she knew her children weren’t going to be collateral damage in the wreck of the marriage had allowed her to regain her bearings and take stock of her own situation. She’d quickly realized that it was past time she proved that she, too, could contribute to keeping Rosewood afloat—not just by helping with the horses at the farm, but with her own outside work.
    Today represented day one of Jordan’s plan. She was dusting off the career as an interior designer that she’d set aside six years ago with the birth of Kate. She’d named her fledgling business Rosewood Designs and hoped to target the well-heeled of Warburg and the neighboring towns in Loudon County, offering decorating advice to those with more money than taste.
    Nonie fit the bill perfectly.
    With the death of Nicole, Jordan’s stepmother, Nonie had attained the rank of Warburg’s premier social hostess. As such, she wielded a terrific influence on the rest of Warburg’s “ladies.” If Jordan could get Nonie to hire her as a decorator, others would eagerly follow suit.
    In celebration of her rise to the pinnacle of Warburg society, Nonie had undertaken a renovation project of her guest cottage. In its final stages of completion, she was looking for an interior designer to decorate the cottage from top to bottom.
    As it happened in most small communities, the news had traveled via Warburg’s gossip grapevine. Lottie Mulhouse told Jordan about Nonie’s plans at the grocery store checkout line. Jordan had decided to grab the bull by the horns, or, as Margot might say, the dragon lady by the tail. She called Nonie and told her she was starting an interior design company. Might Nonie be interested in having her come over and take a look at the cottage?
    And now here she was, at the gate that marked the entrance to Overlea. As she drove slowly up the graded drive, the pale yellow stucco and white trim of the Italianate mansion