by Linda Conrad
Not bad, if she did say so herself.
All the training on writing thank-you notes that her mother’s housekeeper had given her when she was a child had finally come to good use. At the time, her mother had complained it was useless information for a Davis-Ross to have and berated both Merri and the housekeeper. Their kind simply did not need to dirty their hands with such mundane occupations.
Even for the meager few semesters Merri had spent in college, her mother had insisted that she live in a penthouse apartment near campus and not dirty her hands in a dorm with other students. Of course, Mother claimed it had to be that way for safety. Threats of kidnaping were always a worry.
So Merri had allowed the bodyguards to follow her to classes. But she’d tried hard…and failed…to avoid having a full staff of house servants there. In the end, she felt so distant from the rest of the university kids that it was too much and she’d quit college altogether.
During her modeling career, on the other hand, she’d been determined to have a regular life. But with all the paparazzi hounding her every move, it had been impossible. She’d finally understood that the only way to escape from all the trappings of wealth was to become someone else.
Merri was having to find out about a lot of mundane occupations for the first time now. She was living on her own in a wonderful cottage and actually working at a real job. Thrilled at every newly mastered daily task, she cursed her “kind” every time some simple chore turned into a challenge.
Slipping off the ugly, squat heels, Merri curled her legs up under her body. Ty’s huge desk chair was much more comfortable than that old computer chair where she would do most of her work. She sighed and thought about buying a new seat cushion for herself…and a hot plate to boil water for tea in the office.
It looked like maybe she was going to get the hang of this new life after all.
The door opened, startling her. She blinked at the interruption, then quickly straightened up when she realized it was Ty coming back, carrying a huge paper sack.
“Good afternoon, Merri. How’d your day go?”
“Uh, just fine, sir.” She used her toes to feel around, trying to find her shoes so she could stand and move out of his chair. But she’d apparently kicked the darn things way under his desk.
He scowled down at her and set the sack on his desk. “None of that ‘sir’ stuff. It’s Ty, remember? Come give me a hand with this food.”
“Food?”
“Lunch. Jewel sent it over with instructions that both you and I take a proper break and eat every bite.”
Darn those shoes. “That was very nice of your aunt. But I’m really not hungry. I don’t usually eat lunch.” When she’d been at the top of her game in the modeling biz, she’d rarely allowed herself to eat anything at all. Old habits didn’t just disappear with a new life.
“Maybe you should start. You look as if a strong breeze could knock you right over. It’s fine to have beautiful eyes and all, but you need good food and exercise to stay healthy.”
She stopped fidgeting and forgot about her shoes. “You think I have beautiful eyes?”
She’d worked hard to find a way to play down all her features. But she had chosen not to change her eye color with contacts so as not to irritate her eyes. They had a tendency toward allergies.
These damn thick glasses should be doing the disguise trick. “You can’t.”
“I can’t?” He laughed and put a hand on his hip. “No one has ever told you before that you have pretty eyes? You must have lived a very secluded life…or else all the men around you must’ve been blind.”
Shut up! The man was one gorgeous hunk when he smiled. She resisted the urge to rip off the glasses and bat her eyelashes at him.
It suddenly hit her that she wasn’t the only one to think of flirting. Tyson Steele was coming on to her—in his own backward way.
But he couldn’t. That was the very thing she’d been trying to avoid. On top of the fact that he was her boss, he was also one of the filthy rich and appeared periodically in regional magazine spreads. If even a hint of her presence in this town got out, or if she was photographed and it leaked to the national press, her wonderful new life here would be finished.
No. That he was interested in her was flattering. And she was most definitely interested in him. But she simply could not allow herself to get that close.
She gave up and ducked under his desk to find the damn shoes.
“What’s going on down there?”
“Nothing. I was just…” She captured her shoes and twisted around to back out of the desk’s cubbyhole. But instead of being able to escape with a little grace, she found herself face-to-face with her new boss.
“Oh…” Merri gulped and tried a weak smile, but he was so close that she could barely breathe. “My shoes. I was trying to find my shoes.”
“You lost your shoes under my desk? Do you always disrobe when you work?” He reached up and absently pushed a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. Then pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned. “Uh…”
Ohmigod. His touch had sent shivers down her back, but they were forced to compete with the sweat that was beginning to pool at the base of her spine.
This was not working at all the way she’d hoped. “Excuse me. But will you let me out, please?”
“Sorry. Sure.” He stood and held out a hand to help her up. “Your clothes got kind of dusty down there. I guess the cleanup crew hasn’t mopped under that desk for a while. I suppose I should reprimand them.”
She stretched her legs and brushed at her jacket. “It’s my own fault for taking off my shoes. And I’ll speak to the crew, you needn’t worry about it. My duties will include being office manager since there is no one else.” Bending to slip on her shoes, she felt his hand brush against the back of her leg.
The shock of him touching her again caused her to stand up without giving a thought to how close behind her he must be. She heard a crack as the top of her head connected with the bottom of his chin, and the blow knocked them both off balance.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and twisted his body so he went down with her on top. Luckily his backside landed right in his own chair. Unluckily, she was sprawled out on his lap.
“Uff. Sorry,” she said with a gasp.
Not half as sorry as he was, Ty mused. “It’s my own fault for trying to help. I just thought I’d give you a hand dusting off. As usual, no good deed goes unpunished.”
She turned in his lap and made a face. “That’s a terrible cliché, and not true at all. It was an accident.”
Mercy. But he was being punished—every time she shifted against his groin. The non-sexy assistant had suddenly become a hot siren in his lap. And in a second, she was going to realize what it was doing to him.
Ty fitted his hands around her waist and lifted her to her feet in as smooth a move as he could manage. “Shoes all in place now?”
He waited to let go until he was sure she was steady. Then he backed off as fast as possible. He might need a little training in manners, but he certainly knew better than to be accused of sexual harassment.
“Um. Everything’s fine.” She straightened her jacket.
But it was too late for him. He’d already felt the truth of what lay underneath that drab black business suit.
She was thin all right. Thin and curvy. Rounded bottom and tiny waist. It made him wonder about the rest.
Ty had a feeling that from now on his attention was going to be focused exactly where she apparently didn’t want it. He’d wondered all along what she would look like in something besides those heavy clothes.
It was no longer an idle thought. Now he would make it his mission to keep her around long enough to find out.
Three
Ty sat back and watched Merri pick at her potato salad. He didn’t know whether she normally ate next to nothing or if she was still embarrassed over the fiasco with the shoes. He knew he might never get “over” it.
“They’re done.” She pointed to a stack of envelopes all sealed and stamped and ready to post. “The copies are there in that folder, waiting for your approval before we put them in the mail. I signed the letters with the title of ‘Assistant for Development,’ if that’s okay with you.”
“You finished them all?” That was more work for one morning than any of the other assistants had managed in two weeks time. Dang. Sexy and competent, too. Whew!
He opened the manilla folder and flipped through the letters. “Very nice. You said something about each person’s individual gift. The letters aren’t all the same.”
“Each of those people spent their own individual time and money to help your children. The least we can do is send them a unique thank-you.”
She stood and soberly began to pick up the remnants of their lunch. “Actually, I was thinking that you should consider having a reception to honor all the donors. People like it when they’re shown public appreciation.”
“Good idea.” But couldn’t you just smile once? “This is the first year that we’ve had enough response to our fund-raising efforts to warrant spending money on appreciation.”
Merri gave him one quick shake of her head. “Wrong way around. You have to spend money to make money.”
“Well, I know that’s true in business, but I didn’t believe…”
The outside office door opened and the flash of sunlight signaled that someone was on the way in. Ty quit speaking and stood to greet whomever it was.
Jewel walked across the threshold with her usual jaunty stride. A young fifty-five, and slim and petite, this afternoon she’d changed into a knit turquoise dress with a print blouse and scarf. He supposed it wasn’t at all fashionable, but to him she always looked beautiful.
She was the mother of his heart, and had been since his own mother had left him in her care for one last time those many years ago. Jewel was a classic—and at the moment she appeared to be annoyed.
“Jewel,” he said as he went to her side to kiss her cheek. “I didn’t know you planned to visit the office. You haven’t come all the way down here for your food containers? I told you I’d…”
Jewel narrowed her eyes and gave his chest a weak nudge. “Don’t be silly. I don’t care about those…” She moved to the desk and picked up a half-eaten ham sandwich. “Someone didn’t finish their lunch.”
Turning to Merri, Jewel’s whole face softened. “Weren’t you hungry? Or would you care for something else?”
Ty was amazed to see Merri’s face soften, too. He was beginning to believe the woman didn’t know how to let go and really smile. Hmm. Maybe it was just him that couldn’t make her give up a smile.
“Oh, no, Mrs. Adams. The sandwich and salad were wonderful. I wasn’t very hungry, that’s all.”
“You probably waited too late to eat. That’s my nephew’s fault.” Jewel turned back to Ty. “I won’t have this, Tyson. You will see to it that Merri eats at regular hours. She’s too thin as it is.”
He turned to Merri, rolled his eyes and grinned as if to say, “See? Someone else agrees with me.”
“If you don’t care about your containers, why have you come in to town, Jewel?” He thought he would change the subject and give Merri a break from his aunt’s scrutiny, knowing how uncomfortable that position could be.
“I’m attending a garden club meeting this evening, but we’ve had to call an emergency board meeting first.”
“An emergency…at your garden club?” Merri asked.
Ty chuckled. “That club does a lot more than just work on gardens. They’re the backbone of this community. Without the money they’ve raised for local charities, we wouldn’t have been able to take care of the Nuevo Dias Children’s Home for all those years before the Foundation got off the ground.”
“That’s the problem,” Jewel began, in explanation to Merri’s surprised look. “We usually have two big fund-raisers during the year. One in early February, that we call our Spring In the Air drive, and the other in early October that’s our Fall Spectacular.
“The fall fund-raiser is the easiest,” she continued. “We always have a bazaar then, including a festival with children’s rides. People are thinking about Christmas presents by that time, and we make things to sell all year long. We’ve done that fund-raiser so many times that everyone knows their jobs by now.”
She’d gotten Merri’s full attention. Talking about fund-raising was a lot safer than talking about her model thin figure—or having Tyson Steele roll his eyes at her.
Jewel took a breath and turned back to Ty. “It’s the spring drive that gives us fits every year. We’ve tried different things to raise money. Some have worked better than others. Last year’s pancake breakfast and plant sale, for instance, was a disaster when it rained.”
“I tried to warn you,” Ty said with a frown. He turned back to Merri and winked. “That wasn’t my favorite idea.”
“Well, I wonder if…” Merri began.
“We were going to have a casino night this year,” Jewel interrupted. “But the one woman who knew how to pull it off has gone to Dallas in a family emergency. Her daughter is seven months pregnant and the doctor confined her to bed for the duration. The mother went to care for her two grandchildren while the daughter rests.
“Which leaves the garden club in a mess,” Jewel ended with a scowl.
Jewel looked so frustrated that Merri opened her mouth without thinking. “Have you tried a mother-daughter luncheon and modeling show in the past?” What was the matter with her? That was the last thing she should’ve suggested. She simply had to learn to keep her mouth shut.
Shaking her head, Jewel looked thoughtful. “No… We didn’t have anyone that would know how to run such a thing.”
“Well…” Merri never should’ve mentioned modeling.
“We can organize a luncheon. That’s not a problem,” Jewel said, studying her. “Merri, have you ever put this kind of thing together? Or have you perhaps attended one of those modeling luncheons while your were living in L.A.? I understand they’re quite popular in big cities.”
“Did you?” Ty cocked his head and asked Merri.
“Well, yes, but…” She hesitated, not wishing to lie to them. But not wanting to step into something she’d been trying to avoid, either.
Unfortunately, she waited too long to finish. Just like she hadn’t waited long enough before suggesting it.
Ty jumped in. “Great. Merri has so far proven to me that she’s a fantastic administrator, Jewel. She seems to be a ‘take the bull by the horns’ kind of person. I’m sure she can whip this whole modeling deal into shape in time to save the fund-raiser.”
At his words of praise, Merri could feel the sting of embarrassment riding up her neck. “Thanks. But I…”
“If you’re worried about your job here, don’t,” Ty broke in. “You can spend mornings in the Foundation office while you learn the ropes. And your afternoons can be spent working on the luncheon. That way, you’ll get to meet and work with a bunch of the women volunteers, who are also some of our biggest contributors.”
“It’s not that,” Merri hedged, hoping she would think of something else—fast. “I don’t know enough people in the town to choose models.”
Ty casually shrugged a shoulder. “I understand you probably don’t know the first thing about modeling. But if you’ve been to a few of these shows, I’m sure you can take care of the behind-the-scenes stuff. I saw a show in a movie once. Someone had to get stores to donate the clothes and then coordinate the outfits with the words and the music. I’m positive you could do that.
“And Jewel and her friends can help you locate the women with daughters to be the models,” he said with a grin.
Merri bit down on her ton
gue to keep the smart remarks to herself. She’d wanted people to think she was capable, hadn’t she?
So maybe she’d done her job a little too well.
“I suppose I could help,” she mumbled at last. She knew every last detail about how to pull off a show. It was how to keep her ego out of the way and stay in the background that was really bothering her.
That and how to maintain a professional distance from the dangerous man that she suddenly wanted more than anything to impress.
Merri carried her teacup into her tiny new living room. Setting it down on the antique side table she’d found yesterday in that cute Main Street shop, she relaxed back into the floral print overstuffed chair and sighed with pleasure.
Her mother would be mortified if she ever caught her doing such things—having such things in her home. Hmm. Perhaps “mortified” was the wrong word to use about a woman who only cared about superficial things. Mother was not one to be humiliated by anything. No indeed.
Arlene Davis-Ross looked more like Merri’s sister than her mother. Though she had good genes and took care of herself, her big secret was that she’d also had more plastic surgery than any human being should be allowed. And it was highly unlikely that Arlene would even notice what Merri was doing if she was standing right in her living room.
Merri didn’t seem to matter one way or the other in either of her parents’ lives as long as she kept up their idea of appearances. But she’d always hungered for a life that mattered to someone.
There had been a time, many years ago, when Merri had wished for a mother who would care. She’d seen other girls at boarding school whose mothers were like that. They sent birthday cards and rushed to pick up their daughters from school on holiday breaks.
Merri’s mother always seemed to be irritated when her daughter arrived at one of the family homes for school vacations and someone had to be found to look after her. Eventually, Merri gave up her empty dreams of a family who cared. That was when she’d set out to find reality. She knew it had to be out there somewhere.
Maybe it was right here in Stanville, Texas. She had finally found a spot where the flashbulbs didn’t explode in her face at every turn. More, it was a place where people found satisfaction in having a simple cup of tea and in helping others who were less fortunate than themselves.
