B. G. McCarthy - A Thief At Heart

by A Thief At Heart (lit)

  “Did she say that?”

  “Not exactly--”

  Riley smiled. “I don’t really mind cooking, you know, or cleaning up. It’s my job. And being bossed around by Mary is expected since she’s the boss.” She grabbed the pot she had just rinsed and dropped it on the drain board with a bang. “I told you this before: I know my place.” She stared into his dark eyes, willing him to understand, then hoped he would turn, walk out and leave her be.

  He didn’t move, just nodded, commiserating, something she didn’t want or need. “It must be weird for you. Getting drawn into personal stuff and suddenly having to make an about face and forget what you heard, make yourself invisible because they are the ones who sign your paycheck. I’ll bet you do need the time off that Mary mentioned.”

  “I’m happy with the arrangement here. And it’s rare that I get involved in personal matters regarding this family.” She thought of the previous night. “Of course since Blake died so recently some unexpected issues pop up. As for the time off, I plan to take it soon.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he teased.

  “About taking time off?” she sputtered.

  “No. The personal thing. I think you’ve been drawn into more than you’d like in this place.”

  “How would you know? Have you drawn a lot of servants into your personal world?”

  Robert smiled slowly. “If they were all as beautiful as you are, I couldn’t help myself.”

  She felt a weird little thrill travel up her spine at the compliment. “Believe what you want.”

  “What’s your opinion on this Monte Carlo thing? Is she always so impetuous?”

  “I think it would be good for Mary to spend a week or two in Monte Carlo with her friends. She can certainly afford it.”

  “But you’ll worry about her.”

  “She takes a million pills and has diabetes, but her friends are wonderful with her. And Belinda can be called upon to help, if need be. I’m sure she’ll want to go. The shopping there is first class.”

  Robert’s brow went up.

  “She’s young and impulsive at times, but she’s not clueless where Mary’s concerned. Belinda’s quite devoted to Mary.” She didn’t know why she was saying that. Especially after last night.

  She kept thinking about those pills that Belinda spilled on the bed. What had that been about?

  “Let me dry,” he said suddenly, taking a tea towel that she’d draped over her shoulder. His long, hard fingers brushed her neck. She willed herself not to shiver at that slight touch.

  His fingertips were quite calloused considering the elegantly turned-out man he was. They felt almost like those of a man who had done some hard work recently. That was possible, she supposed. Maybe he sailed, tugged a lot of ropes or rudders, or whatever sailors did. Maybe he played squash. Whatever he did with his free time, she was not going to think about it. Thinking about what he liked to do, who he was, just made her wonder what she was missing, made her wish things that she shouldn’t wish.

  Like how those hands would feel skimming her thigh, her waist...

  “There’s not much left to do here. Mary will wonder where you are,” Riley said softly. “Go back,” she ordered.

  “They booted me out for a while. Belinda wanted to talk to her about a necklace or something.”

  “Oh... then it’s nothing important.” She sagged in relief, her heart giving a guilty little kick. She didn’t want to see Mary upset about Belinda going through her things so she would just watch over Mary’s room like a hawk from now on. They’d work it out. It didn’t concern her... but she’d still watch over Mary’s room.

  Robert was right about Mary’s being impatient today. The old lady seemed to be a little off, acting slightly peculiar and crotchety, doing things that were not really like her. Like inviting strange men into the house, for one. Riley hoped she hadn’t had another of those mini strokes.

  “Is there something wrong?” Robert Murphy asked.

  “No. I’m sure that it’s nothing. I was wondering if there’s a full moon.” Maybe it wasn’t the moon at all, just him. He cast spells on people.

  “I noticed that Belinda seemed worried about something. She didn’t eat anything at lunch.”

  “She never eats.” Riley glanced up from her dishes. “You actually take the time to notice things like that? That a woman’s worried?”

  He grinned. “When I wasn’t shoveling in the food, I did. When did you form the opinion that all men are self-engrossed pigs, Riley?”

  “Jane. My name is just Jane.”

  “Whatever. So, Just Jane, are men pigs?”

  She found herself smiling. “I’ve known some very nice men in my time. It runs about one in five. Gentlemen to pigs.”

  He laughed. “Not very good odds.”

  Riley shrugged her shoulders. “No, not really.”

  “What was your father like?”

  She stiffened. “I didn’t know him.” That was out before she could bite it back.

  Rob rested his lean hip against the counter, threading a tea towel through his fingers. “Is your mother still alive?”

  “No. She died a long time ago.”

  “You’re quite young to have lost your mother. That must have been rough.”

  “I’m fine now.”

  “I take it you say that a lot. That everything’s fine.”

  Riley smiled. “It’s true and even if it isn’t, it makes me feel better. I’m very independent. Sometimes to a fault, Craig would say.”

  “Are you close to him? To Craig?”

  “Very.”

  “Do you see each other?”

  Riley raised a brow. “Do you mean: Are we lovers?”

  He nodded.

  “No. Never. Though I liked him when I was seventeen. I--I was on the rebound from someone else then.” She could have kicked herself for letting that out. She’d begun to babble because having him stand there so close was making her nervous. “Craig’s more like a brother to me. He listens to me. Tells me when I’m all wet. He’s insanely funny. Cute, but totally impractical. And he’s a lady killer. I could never be with a man like that. He sort of makes me think of you sometimes. But you’re richer.”

  Rob laughed. “That’s telling it like it is.”

  “Another of my many faults.”

  “You don’t have that many that I can see.” His dark eyes swept her from head to toe. Some men could make you feel naked with a look like that. Naked and self-conscious. Robert Murphy just made her glad she was female.

  She had to stop this. Telling him she had been with Craig on the rebound from Robin! Next she’d be telling him how he made her think of her first love and the man she’d imagined he could be, walking into her life again at the exact right moment. Grown up and changed. Knowing exactly what he wanted. An unstoppable force.

  Riley carefully rinsed the sink. He watched her the whole time. She’d never felt so aware of herself. She felt like she was magnified ten times, like he could see directly into her pores. Everything her body could possibly reveal, emotional or physical, was hanging out on display. It was very hard to feel this vulnerable with a man. She couldn’t even remember the last time.

  “It’s really hard for you to talk about yourself, isn’t it? Or is it just me? Maybe I make you feel uncomfortable.”

  “I’m sure everyone else opens up to you, Robert. You draw people to you with your looks and charm. You just have that way about you. Mary’s a perfect example of someone succumbing. It amazes me. But at least one of us is almost immune.”

  “Almost?” Rob laughed again, rubbing his temples. “You give me a raging--” He paused for a minute. “--headache, Jane. You really do. I know you think that I’m a lady killer. You called me a cad the other day.”

  She shrugged sheepishly. “I shouldn’t have called you a cad. I’m like that. Judgmental. I’m sorry for that.”

  “May I ask you one more thing before you brain me with that pot?”

  “Sh
oot.”

  “Is there a man in your life now?”

  “Didn’t you ask me that already?”

  “I don’t remember. It’s on my mind every time I see you. I haven’t been thinking straight the last few days.”

  “Rob, like I said before, I don’t have a man in my life. I sleep alone out of choice. When I find someone I want to sleep with, you’ll be the first to know. Deal?” Goodness, that came out rather wrong, she thought. Why did he have to make her feel so flustered?

  “I’m happy about that, Jane. That you’re not sleeping with anyone else.”

  She had just gone to hang the copper pot on the rack over the stove. The look in his eyes made her feel legless, unable to get a full breath into her lungs. He was behind her in one smooth step, taking the pot and hanging it for her.

  He stood there gazing down at her with those dark eyes. She saw the need there. It was a just physical thing for him, this attraction he had for her. She knew all about that--purely physical need--and she understood it completely. She told herself that she had to just let it slide or she’d get hurt. She didn’t like to be hurt.

  “Jane--” he said in the soft, deep voice of his. “The man you choose is going to count himself as one lucky dude.” The tone of his voice held a wistful edge.

  “I’ll tell him you said that when he comes along.”

  He nodded, hesitating. “I want you to know that I really... I really thought I might be interested in Belinda, that she might suit me. That was part of the reason I agreed to come over to Mary’s place, to get to know her better.”

  “I guessed that was the plan. You should keep at it. Mary likes you.”

  “I don’t think it’s working,” he said.

  Riley bit back a triumphant smile.

  “You can trust me, you know. I like Mary. And I’m not going to hurt anyone she loves.”

  “I don’t have to trust you just because you tell me so.”

  He picked up a small skillet. “I’ll be honest with you, Jane. I won’t say things to you that I can’t back up. Mary’s already had me checked out. Did she tell you that?” He gave her a long hard look.

  “What?” Riley sputtered. “I haven’t spoken to her alone yet today.”

  “Her lawyer contacted my office in Toronto last night. She told me about it this morning. There’s a fax in her purse. Ask her to show it to you. She’s not stupid and there’s no cause for you to worry that I’m some sort of dirty rotten scoundrel.”

  “Okay. I won’t worry about it any longer. Mary’s a smart old lady.”

  She moved away from him, refusing to be swayed by his rugged good looks, his self-depreciating humor or his smooth as brandy voice, or those wide, wide shoulders covered in smooth cotton.

  “Thanks for helping me with the dishes. I have some things to do,” Riley told him bluntly slamming a drawer shut. “If I don’t come down before you leave this afternoon--”

  “I’m not leaving this afternoon. Mary asked me to get my bags from the hotel. I’m going to stay here in the house for a few days.”

  Riley sighed in wretched defeat.

  He reached across the counter for a forgotten spatula. His lightly furred arm brushed hers. “You really don’t like me, do you? It’s as simple as that. Not as Mary’s friend. Not for Belinda’s future hubby. Not as your--”

  “I never said that I didn’t like you.”

  He polished the utensil with those gorgeous hands of his. “Then you do like me?”

  “What’s not to like? Even when you’re being a jerk there’s something charming about you. It’s ingrained, I’m sure. But I don’t know you. I just work for people like you.” That statement seemed to give him pause. “In the end my opinion doesn’t count. I think we’d both do well to remember that.”

  “That’s so antiquated.”

  “I’m an old-fashioned gal, Mr. Murphy. I’m also a margarine kind a girl living in a butter world and I’m well aware of it. I’ll never have a granny with sixty-million bucks or the pedigree to match.”

  “I wish things were different.”

  “Yeah, you want to slum it for a night or two? No, thanks.” Riley’s eyes rolled upwards into her sockets in scoffing disgust.

  He smiled. “If I slap you hard on the back they’ll stick that way forever,” he teased.

  His words made her breath catch in her throat. She bit her lip hard. “Do you always say that?”

  “Do you always roll your eyes?” he returned.

  “It’s a bad habit. My foster mother, Aggie, used to say that to me all the time. About having my eyes stick. Called me on it. Your saying that surprised me.”

  “It’s an old joke. I had a nanny who’d tell me just that. I guess I did some eye rolling, too. Do you only roll your eyes at the men who push your buttons?” he asked.

  “I’ve never thought about it.”

  “I kinda like pushing your buttons, Riley.”

  “A few men in my past have pushed my buttons, Robert. But only once or twice, then I get back at them.”

  He laughed again. Rattled, she thrust the last saucepan into the rinse water. “There’s coffee made. If you go back to the morning room, I’ll bring it to you. And the name is Jane.”

  Eight

  That evening Mary was imperious and unapologetic. She’d already had a fit about the bed sheets. The maid had changed her customary fine cotton to fine jersey knit ones that would keep her warmer at night. Her circulation was bad lately.

  “These stretchy sheets are cheap. I don’t like them.”

  Riley folded Mary’s cashmere shawl after she tossed it over a chair. “Oprah uses them.”

  “Bully for her. I’d like you to call your friend Craig Armstrong. Maybe he could show Robert some nice places to lease. It looks like he’ll be here in Vancouver for a while. It’s a very prestigious firm his family owns, by the way. Did I show you the fax I just got from Toronto?”

  “I believe you. He’s a paragon of virtue.”

  “If he did get interested in Belinda, she couldn’t do much better. Not that she’s impressing him very much. She’s been downright peculiar tonight, that girl. I’m going to go shake her silly. That is not the kind of man you let get away.”

  Riley tugged the jersey pillow cases off the plump down pillows and replaced them with smooth Egyptian cotton.

  “Are you trying to kill that pillow, or is something bothering you?” Mary asked.

  “Nothing’s bothering me. I didn’t sleep that well last night.”

  Mary finished wiping off the last of her foundation at the dressing table. “Did Todd show up after the gala?”

  “I don’t think so,” she muttered.

  She shook her white head. “Damn those grandchildren of mine.” The old lady stroked the side of her neck behind her ear, something she only did when she was agitated or getting one of her migraines. Riley hoped it wasn’t one of those.

  Riley spoke gently to the older woman. “Don’t worry, Mary. You won’t sleep well if you get upset. Belinda will come around, I’m sure. Mr. Murphy is a good catch.”

  “Yes, he is, isn’t he?” Mary looked at her triumphantly. A devious smile lit her withered face. “I plan to sleep like a log. I took a pill and it’s made me feel a bit woozier than normal. I did have fun playing bridge with Robert tonight, Jane.”

  “I’m glad. Is he good? At bridge, I mean?” Riley helped the old lady into her bed jacket, then carefully moved her from chair to the edge of the bed.

  Mary gave another impish grin. “He’s not really as good as he says he is. Robert overstated his talents, I think. He likes poker better and says he’ll teach us how. Mentioned strip poker, the scamp. I’m tempted to let him stay here indefinitely. I wish I could marry him myself.”

  Strip poker? Good Lord. Riley didn’t want to even go there. She wouldn’t put anything past him, not even lewd card games. “I’ll call Craig tonight about finding him a place.”

  “It’s too bad he and Belinda have no chemistry. Y
ou really don’t have to like each other that much in these merger marriages, though. Mine was like that. I’m sure Robbie understands all that.”

  “It’s Robbie now, is it?”

  “You know, Jane, the boy stares at you a lot. I’ve noticed the look in his eyes. You’re a beautiful woman. If Belinda doesn’t clue in and you want to have a fling with him--”

  “I don’t want a fling with him!”

  “I would be angry with you, Jane. Be discreet or you’ll find yourself unemployed.”

  Riley felt herself redden. “Mary, really. Did you take your other pills today? All of them? Something’s out of sync.”

  Mary lay back against the down pillows. “I think I will sleep now, Jane.”

  Riley frowned at her, yanking the rest of the covers over the vexing old woman. “Yes, please do,” she said. “Sleep late tomorrow.”

  ~ * ~

  Rob contacted Otis by cell. “You’re in the house,” Otis said. “I think that’s a new record for you. I’d love to have your part of this job, buddy,” Otis chuckled.

  “No, you wouldn’t. And I didn’t have to seduce anyone. I did it strictly with a load of bull and my prowess in card games. The old lady was smart enough to check me out. The information you guys faxed to Mary Connors was perfect.”

  “We do our best,” Otis chuckled. “She’ll never know it from the real thing. Have you got anything new to tell me?”

  “No. I may have more for tonight if I can get into the office again.”

  “Again? What does that mean?”

  Rob winced. “Nothing. It all depends on how quiet it is around here. I think everyone’s asleep by now,” Rob said.

  “Be careful. Take your time. Is the companion as pretty as she looked in that picture?”

  Rob took a deep breath. “She’s pretty enough. Prickly, too.”

  “Too bad. From what you can tell, is she on the up and up?”

  “Definitely. She’s so straight and steadfast a stiff wind couldn’t topple her.” Rob sighed, thinking about how close he’d come to blowing everything in the kitchen. He still couldn’t believe the crap that had been coming out of his mouth. His brain and his body parts still felt out of sync. Thinking about Riley made him crazy. Maybe it would be better if he came clean to Otis now...