"Your grandfather left you sole heir, my dear," old Mr. Lampert quietly said.

"As if she didn't know," her aunt snapped. "He could have had the decency to leave us small portions at least, the dotty old coot."

"Mr. Leslie's wishes were quite plain," the lawyer replied, "and his mind was clear. He spoke to me only yesterday, reminding me of my duty to Isabella."

"For a tidy sum, I don't doubt, you'll see to her care," her uncle growled.

"My fees were paid long ago by Mr. Leslie. Isabella owes me nothing."

"Then we won't require your presence any longer, Lampert," Isabella's eldest cousin curtly said, his corpulent body quivering with rage. "Get out."

"Harold!" Isabella softly exclaimed, shocked at the discourtesy.

"Get out, Lampert, or I'll throw you out," her cousin barked, ignoring Isabella's outcry. He moved with ominous intent toward the frail, elderly man who after casting a distraught glance at Isabella scrambled from his chair and backed toward the door. Greatly outnumbered, physically threatened, he stammered, "Forgive me, Miss Leslie," and escaped the room.

"Wretched little man," her uncle muttered, walking to the desk and picking up the pages of the will in his beefy hand. Crumbling them into a ball, he tossed them into the fireplace flames. "So much for Uncle George's will." Turning to his wife, he held out his hand. "Give me the marriage license." As she unfastened her reticule, he nodded in the direction of the clergyman who had conferred last rites on George Leslie. "Keep the ceremony short, if you please. I've wasted enough time cooling my heels in this house, waiting for that old codger to die. Harold, get over here."

Isabella's heart had begun beating furiously as she listened to her uncle give orders, and the sly glances she was receiving from her relatives did nothing to soothe her fears. She knew how they felt about her, and while she'd not expected congratulations from them for her inheritance, she'd not considered them dangerous. "If you'll excuse me," she quietly said, wishing to remove herself from the ominous situation, "it's been a fatiguing week." She began walking toward the door.