by Mari Carr
“You must do well, given your mode of transportation.”
“Company car.” He wasn’t sure why he was intent on keeping up pretenses. For some strange reason, he liked the way this tired, petite woman looked at him. She was talking to him as an equal, almost treating him as she would a new friend. Her eyes weren’t filled with dollar signs, trying to figure out how much he was really worth. Silently he laughed at himself. He’d spent nearly a decade amassing more wealth than he could ever spend, earning and demanding the respect of his peers, yet here he was down-playing his career successes so he could continue this simple, friendly conversation.
“How about you? What job keeps you tied to the middle of the country?”
“Oh, I have a terribly exciting job. I’m a special ed. teacher.”
“It may not be what you consider exciting, but I can’t imagine anything more worthwhile.”
At his compliment, she gave him the most genuine smile he’d ever received. “I happen to agree with you. I love my kids and my job.”
“Are you with a private facility?” He was shocked to find himself so interested in learning more about this fascinating young woman.
“Oh, heck no,” she said with a grin. “Public education all the way. I teach at a high school.”
“Ah,” he teased, “I see now how you can afford such a fancy vacation. Making the big bucks as a public servant. Is Valentine’s Day considered a national holiday for the school system?”
She giggled lightly before her smile turned to a grimace. “I saved up all my vacation days for this trip, and truth be told, I’ll be paying this ill-fated adventure off my credit card for many years to come.”
“Ill-fated?” He recalled that for all intents and purposes, she was homeless for the night.
“You couldn’t believe my last twenty-four hours.”
“Try me.”
“Where to begin?” Her laugh was strained. “Due to mechanical problems, my first flight was re-routed to Houston and delayed long enough that I missed my original connecting flight in Florida. My scheduled seven hours of travel time turned into twenty-one.”
“Ouch.” He thought guiltily of the ease of his trip here on his private jet.
“I broke my cell phone, my luggage is somewhere in Timbuktu, the sporty little convertible I reserved weeks ago was downgraded to an ancient mini-van that your chauffeur left in a ditch a half a mile down the road. My sunny paradise has turned into hurricane hell and I have nowhere to stay tonight as this so-called luxury resort lost my reservation. Please bear in mind that is just today’s run of bad luck and doesn’t include the fact that I am alone in this damned lover’s paradise because I caught my fiancé cheating on me on Christmas Eve and my plane fare was nonrefundable.” She spoke with a lightheartedness he couldn’t understand given her horrible experiences.
“Wow.” He wasn’t sure how to respond and was shocked further when she simply laughed at his reply.
“My sentiments exactly.”
“So.” He looked at her calmly sitting in the hotel bar and wondered at her poise. “What’s your plan?”
She seemed to consider his question before replying. “That’s actually what I was trying to work out when you came in. I thought I’d drink a little courage.” She lifted her drink to her lips again.
“Courage?”
“Well, I figure the liquor will serve two purposes. One, it will warm me up on the inside before I have to run back out into the freezing cold rain again. And two, hopefully it will get me drunk enough that it won’t bother me to sleep in my lousy rental car by the side of the road.”
“That’s your brilliant plan?”
“I don’t remember calling it brilliant. Simply a plan.” Her humor in the face of such a dreary and potentially dangerous night began grating on his nerves. “I only have to make it through the next few hours and then I’ll call the car rental place about towing me out of the ditch and I’ll catch the next flight out of here. Guess that will teach me for trying to live like the rich and famous for a few days.”
Rob sat silently for several minutes brooding over the fact he was one of the rich and famous she was referring to and feeling incredibly guilty as he pictured in his mind the luxurious penthouse suite awaiting him. One of the perks of owning the hotel.
“You can’t sleep in your car.”
“I don’t think that guy out there,” she pointed toward Pierre at the front desk, “would like it if I sacked out on the couch in the foyer. This place doesn’t exactly strike me as the type that would cater to vagrancy.”
“You’ll stay with me.” The words came without thought, but Rob found himself immediately warming up to the idea of spending more time with her.
“Oh, now hang on a minute.” She threw her hands up. “I appreciate the drink, but there’s no way—”
He didn’t let her finish her protests. “Hear me out,” he said quickly. “My company owns the penthouse of this hotel. It’s a two bedroom suite. You can have the other room for tonight. It even has its own bathroom. You can lock the door and pretend like it’s your own hotel room. There is simply no way I’m going to let you sleep on the side of a busy road in the middle of a storm.”
“There isn’t much traffic out there now with all the rain.”
“I’m serious. You’ve had a hell of a day and an unbelievably long string of bad luck. Why not give yourself a break?
“Well, I have to admit with my luck such as it is,” she added, “I’d probably get rear-ended by a tractor-trailer.”
“Exactly,” he answered. “My plan is better than yours and a hell of a lot safer.”
“That remains to be seen.” Rob considered the fact that she was seriously debating turning him down. He’d never had to beg a woman to share a room with him. Hell, most nights he was the one having hotel keys thrust at him. After all, he was Rob Madison, owner of this and a string of other luxury hotels all over the world. He had topped Fortune’s list of most eligible billionaires the last three years running.
He watched as she chewed on her lower lip, clearly nervous about his proposition and offered her what he hoped looked like a friendly grin. “If it makes you feel any better, you can ask that man at the front desk to call every hour to check and make sure I haven’t ravished you yet.”
Rising slowly, she nodded her agreement. “Well, okay, but just for tonight.”
Incredibly pleased with her response, he reached for her hand and she let him pull her forward a few feet before he suddenly stopping. “You know. I don’t even know your name.”
“Meg Williams”
“Short for Megan?”
She crinkled her nose. “No, actually it’s short for Margaret, but don’t you dare call me that.”
“Family name, Margaret?”
“My mother’s favorite book was Gone with the Wind and for some unknown reason she selected my name in honor of Margaret Mitchell, the author.”
“And I’m assuming from your tone that wouldn’t have been your choice?”
“For Pete’s sake! Of all the names associated with that book, she lands on Margaret? What’s wrong with Melanie or Katie Scarlett even?” Meg asked with a laugh. “Of course, it could have been worse, I suppose.”
“How so?”
“If I’d been a boy, she was going to name me Mitchell.”
Laughing, Rob took her hand again leading her to the elevator before she pulled him up short.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Looking around, Rob shrugged, wondering what he could have forgotten.
“Your name?”
“Ah, Rob.” He paused for only a moment before adding a little white lie. “Mason. Rob Mason.”
From the corner of his eye, he caught Pierre’s startled glance, but he ignored him and the guilt associated with his look.
Meg offered her hand in introduction. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rob Mason.”
Chapter Three
Meg tried to persuade
herself she wasn’t making a huge mistake trusting this virtual stranger as they rode the elevator up to his penthouse suite. Fact was if she weren’t so exhausted and completely out of options, nothing on earth would have convinced her to go to a hotel room with a strange man regardless of how nice he seemed.
She simply wasn’t the type of woman to do something so rash and potentially dangerous. She was practical, never-take-a-risk Meg and her friends constantly referred to her as the ‘reliable’ one. Taking this vacation alone was the most daring thing she’d ever done in her life. She felt her cheeks flush as she realized Rob was still holding her hand and had been doing so since they left the bar. His palm was large and warm and surprisingly comforting to her. He was a stranger and yet she felt an immediate connection to him.
“Once you get into the room, you can take a nice hot shower and get out of those damp clothes.”
Rather than comforting her, his words had the opposite effect and she felt a strange tingling sensation sweep through her body. Looking at Rob’s handsome face, she considered what it would be like to let him peel the wet clothes off her and take a hot shower with him. His muscular body and god-like face were certainly awakening parts of her libido she didn’t know she had and she certainly wouldn’t mind letting him wash her back.
What the hell was she thinking? He was a complete stranger and she’d never had a one night stand in her life. She was practical, rational, level-headed.
Fuck. I’m boring.
As he unlocked the room, Meg recalled the goddess she saw emerging from the limo with Rob earlier. “What about Lana?”
“What about her?” Rob seemed perplexed by her question.
“Won’t she mind me sleeping in the next room?”
“I don’t really think it’s any of her business one way or the other.”
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?” Meg silently berated herself for her too straight-forward nature.
Rob laughed at her question. “Good God, no. She’s my secretary. She has a room down on the first floor.”
Cursing herself for the sudden relief flooding her body, she followed him into the suite. Why it should please her that Lana wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity, she didn’t know. She wasn’t about to try to seduce Rob Mason. Of course, the weekend was all about romance and it wasn’t like she’d ever see him after they left here. Maybe she could break free from her own self-constraints a bit. Live a little. Fact was she suspected Rob would be terrific in bed. Smiling to herself at the thought, she followed him into the hotel.
“Holy mother.” Rob watched as Meg’s eyes flew open upon entering the room.
“Pardon me?”
“This hotel suite is bigger than my whole townhouse.” She was obviously awed by the room. “This place is amazing. Beautiful. Is that a real Grand piano?”
Rob nodded as he glanced around, surprised by her comments. Silently, he wondered if he’d become immune to his lavish lifestyle. The hotel suite—by his standards—was quite simple. He wondered what Meg would think of his castle in England. Grinning at the thought of showing it to her, he shook his head. What was he thinking? He was helping out a young woman down on her luck for one night. Or perhaps more than one night. He felt comfortable in her presence and wondered what it would take to convince her to spend the entire weekend with him. He was enjoying his anonymity and her company very much. She was friendly and sincere, with a terrific sense of humor given the fact she could actually joke about her horrible day. In his cut-throat world those traits were uncommon and—given the reaction his body was having to her—apparently incredibly sexy.
“So the company you work for really owns this suite?” Her question jerked him from his thoughts.
“Yes, they do. Part of the benefits package is that we can take advantage of this place.” The continued lie was beginning to taste bad on his lips. Why he didn’t want to end the charade yet, he couldn’t explain. Somehow, for just tonight, he liked the idea of being plain old Rob Mason, hard-working businessman. It felt good to shed Rob Madison, billionaire bachelor for awhile. He liked the idea of befriending a woman with his personality rather than his checkbook. Unfortunately, his body was making a different sort of demand in regards to Meg Williams and he had to make a quick adjustment of his trousers.
“It must cost a fortune. I was going to offer to split the room fee for the night, but even half of this,” Meg gestured at the splendid room, “is way out of my price range.”
“You aren’t paying a cent. As I said earlier, the company pays, not me. Makes no difference who stays here. Your bedroom is right up there.” He pointed to a door four steps up on its own landing. “Mine is over there. Each room has a private bath. Please feel free to take advantage of the kitchen in the morning. I’ll call down and make sure room service stocks it with something nice for breakfast.”
“Oh no,” she said. “You don’t have to do that. I won’t imposition you for more than tonight, I promise. I’ll pick up breakfast on my way back to the airport.”
“I owe you at least a breakfast given the careless way my driver—”
“Rob,” she interjected. “The car accident didn’t change the fact that this stupid hotel overbooked.”
Rob winced at her words, swallowing down the insult to his property. Fact was his hotel had screwed up her vacation. Damn that idiot Timothy.
“Nonetheless, you need a place to stay and I’m able to offer it. That fact is going a long way toward soothing my guilty conscience over the car incident so let’s leave it at that. Besides, look at what I’ve gained. The extra room would have been empty and I wouldn’t have had such lovely company tonight.”
Meg snorted at his compliment. “Oh yeah, I’m a raving beauty right now. Gotta thing for mud and frizzy hair, do you?” She ran her fingers through her tangled hair.
Rob grinned.
“I’m going to order room service. Have you eaten dinner?”
Meg looked longingly at her bedroom. “It will take awhile for them to prepare it. Why don’t you take a hot shower and I’ll knock when it arrives.”
“Well, that does sound good. I’m starving. Nothing to eat all day, but those damn little packages of peanuts they give you on the plane and I insist on picking up the tab for dinner since you won’t let me pay for the room.”
Rob shook his head at her stubbornness. “Meals are included with the use of the room. Company policy again.”
Meg threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine! Order me whatever you’re having. I’m clearly not winning any battles with you tonight. Maybe over dinner you can tell me how I can get a job with this unbelievably generous company you work for.”
“Ah, surrender.” Rob was pleased to see her starting to relax with him. “Finally. Go on and get that hot shower. There should be a bathrobe hanging on the door. I’ll dig through my luggage and see if I can find something comfortable for you to sleep in since your clothes are still damp. I’m sure I have a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that would work nicely. Then, I’ll order dinner.”
“Are you sure the kitchen is still open? It’s after two in the morning.”
“It’s open all night,” Rob replied easily. At least it was for him, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Alright then.” She dragged her carry-on bag with her. “I won’t be long.”
“Take your time,” Rob called out behind her, walking toward the phone to order dinner. He glanced at his own bedroom considering taking a shower himself. Only difference was his would definitely be cold.
Chapter Four
As Meg entered the bedroom, she couldn’t help but wonder what sort of company kept a penthouse like this available for their employees. Apparently she’d made a wrong turn in college choosing education over a business degree. She had no idea people lived like this. Studying the room, she felt overwhelmed once again by the decadence of it all. The room was elegance personified. The large king-sized bed was on a raised platform on one side of the room, complete with an honest-to-God ca
nopy. She’d always wanted a canopy bed as a child, but there was never the money for such frivolous things.
While her small family hadn’t lived in poverty, it may have been stretching things to say they were lower middle class. Her mother, Joanne, had gotten pregnant with her while still in high school. Needless to say, her father, a teenager himself, had refused to accept responsibility for her. Although Meg knew his name, she’d never made any attempt to contact him. He’d gone off to college, married, and now lived happily ever after with his legitimate family.
Meg’s grandfather had died before she was born, so Meg grew up in a house full of women. Her Grandma Linda was the glue that kept their little family of three together. She had worked as a secretary in an accounting firm and when her mother had graduated from high school, she went to work for the same firm. Together, they had scrimped and saved every penny they made so that when Meg graduated she could attend college.
Meg silently wished they were here to see this room. Grandma would have laughed to see her living, even for just one night, like a princess in a palace and her mom would have been trying to guess what every piece of furniture cost. Cancer claimed them both and not a day went by when she didn’t miss them dearly.
A soft knock on the door at her back jarred Meg from her recollections.
“Yes?”
“I found some clothes that may fit,” Rob replied.
Taking a calming breath, Meg opened the door. The longer she spent in Rob’s presence the more she wanted him. She’d never felt such an immediate or overwhelming attraction to a man.
He stood in the doorway with an easy-going, friendly grin. “You’re still dressed.”
Reaching for the clothing he offered, Meg silently cursed her trembling hand.
He’d obviously mistaken her distress for nerves instead of the pure hot streak of sexual energy that was pulsing through her body. “I know it doesn’t help to simply hear the words, but you can trust me. I won’t hurt you.”
