Million-Dollar Makeover

by Cheryl St. John

He’d told her that before. She glanced up, hoping to see the truth in his expression. He found her beautiful now, and yes, she had changed her appearance, but she was the same girl she’d been in high school—or even a month ago. He hadn’t given her a second glance then. How much of the attraction was her transformation and how much was money?

  “I did the interview Thursday,” she told him.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Good. Bernadine came. I haven’t been followed since. I wasn’t even followed here tonight.”

  “So you think you have until next Thursday free and clear?”

  She nodded. “Seems they’re keeping their word.”

  “You can make arrangements with your customers and spend some time at the cabin, then.”

  “I think I will.”

  Riley changed the topic, filling her in on the identities of several of the partygoers. They ended the dance and he introduced her to his acquaintances. But underneath it all simmered the rising tension of what they’d planned for afterward. The night ahead never left Lisa’s mind and she doubted from the looks he gave her that it left Riley’s, either.

  “Miss Lisa Jane,” a man said jovially from beside her.

  Lisa turned to discover portly Mayor Brookhurst. She’d met him face-to-face the day she’d claimed the deed.

  “Hello, Mayor.”

  “You’re the belle of the ball tonight,” he told her. “May I have a dance?”

  She glanced uncomfortably at Riley but said, “Certainly.”

  The mayor wasn’t nearly as smooth a dancer as Riley. She didn’t like suspecting that part of his reason in asking her had been to get close, but her dress was little more than tissue paper between her skin and the mayor’s suit. It had been sensual with Riley as her dance partner. With the mayor it felt obscene.

  After the song ended she excused herself as quickly as possible and sought out Bernadine, who was visiting with another woman.

  “Lisa, this is Olivia Chester,” the lawyer said. “She’s our local ob-gyn.”

  Lisa greeted the pretty Native American woman she guessed to be in her forties.

  “I’ve followed all the excitement about the gold mine,” Olivia told her. Then she grinned and said, “Kind of hard not to.”

  Caleb approached Lisa then. “I have someone I want you to meet.”

  She excused herself and joined him. He led her to a small group. A young man and woman turned at his approach.

  “Lisa, this is my son and his new wife, Justin and my adopted daughter, Katie.”

  “Lisa and I have met, of course,” Katie told Caleb and greeted Lisa warmly. “Lisa has come into the library often.”

  “Nice to meet you, Lisa.” Justin was tall and broad shouldered like Riley, his hair the same gleaming obsidian and his eyes held a similar intensity. The resemblance between the two half brothers was amazing. “I would have been able to recognize you without the introduction,” she said.

  “Both my sons are handsome devils, aren’t they?” Caleb said proudly.

  “That they are,” Katie agreed, wrapping her arm around Justin’s waist and smiling up at him.

  Lisa imagined that Caleb had once been as tall and virile-looking as his sons, too, because he was still a handsome man.

  “Where is Riley, anyway?” Katie asked. “I never see much of him anymore.” She spotted him, caught his eye and gestured for Riley to join them.

  Lisa sensed Riley’s unease as soon as he approached and stood with the group. She’d heard the pain in his voice when he’d spoken of this newly discovered brother. It had been plain that he still had a ways to go in accepting the situation.

  Caleb behaved as though things couldn’t have been more normal, however. “What a treat to have you all together. Adele and I are planning a family shindig soon. You’re invited, Lisa. We’d love to have you join us.”

  “Well, thank you,” she said uncomfortably. “I’ll have to see if I can make it.”

  “Of course you can make it. You’ll be there.”

  Lisa exchanged a look with Katie, who simply smiled as though she was used to the older man’s overbearing manner.

  “Excuse us now,” Riley said. “I want to introduce Lisa to Phil.”

  Lisa met his friend and financial advisor, Phil Wagner, and while the two men stood talking, she slipped away and headed toward the back of the house.

  Meeting all those strangers and trying to remember names and keep smiling was exhausting. The “family room,” as Adele had called it, was an immense room with Oriental rugs, a pool table, fireplace, sofa and love seats.

  At Lisa’s entry, Derek—Adele’s enormous white poodle—roused from his resting place on the floor, sniffed the air hesitantly, then came forward to greet her with a lick.

  “Hey, boy. How are you doing?” The white poodle wore a red bandanna around his neck and, as Riley had so adeptly described, his fur was cut into ridiculous pom-poms. Quite undignified for such a mannerly and handsome animal but not his fault, as she still maintained. Derek’s fur was so thick, she had to bury her fingers in it to scratch him.

  “Smart of you to find a quiet place to hide out. Wouldn’t mind joining you, actually. You’re smelling my dogs, aren’t you? Wonder what they’d make of you.”

  She eased down onto the sofa and slipped off her shoes. Derek sat at her knees and seemed to enjoy her company and a lengthy head scratch by closing his eyes.

  Sometime later the dog eased onto the sofa beside her, and they were enjoying the quiet time together when Riley found her. “There you are. Mother said I’d find you here.”

  “Derek and I are hanging out.”

  Riley glanced at the dog that barely seemed to notice his arrival. “What do you see in him, anyway?”

  “He’s affectionate. And intelligent. He’s back here away from the crazies, isn’t he? Don’t give me your respect theory again. Respect is a two-way street. I doubt he thinks much of you either.”

  Derek opened eyes to slits to look at Riley at that moment, as though assessing the man.

  Riley perched on Lisa’s other side.

  “So, Derek, what do you think of Riley?” she asked. “Would you trust him with your best rawhide strip? He could turn it into a steak for you. He has a way with investing.” The dog tilted his head in keen interest as she spoke.

  Riley chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her. She lifted her face to meet him. A sigh escaped her.

  “You’re a nut, you know that?” he said, gazing at her fondly.

  “Be that as it may, I think you should give Derek a chance before it’s too late for the two of you.”

  “How’s it going to be too late?”

  “Don’t want him to hear this, but ogdays on’tday ivelay ongerlay anthay ifteenfay or osay earsyay.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “You don’t understand pig latin?”

  “Sorry, I had a French tutor.”

  She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Dogs don’t live longer than fifteen or so years. Your bonding is going to have to happen now.”

  She sat back and he studied her eyes with amusement flickering in his. “There’s no one else I would do this for, you know that, don’t you?”

  She shrugged mischievously.

  He turned and faced the dog. “So, Derek. May I call you Derek? It’s come to my attention that I haven’t given you a fair chance. I’d like to correct that. Can we be friends?”

  The dog merely looked at him. Lisa had stopped scratching his head, and the animal looked expectantly from Lisa back to Riley.

  Riley extended a hand.

  Derek licked it.

  Riley rubbed Derek’s head.

  “There, isn’t that better?” Lisa raised up and kissed Riley’s cheek.

  He turned his face and reached his left arm around her back to bring her closer. Their lips met in a warm, melding crush of eager anticipation. His kiss had the same narcotic effect as the first time. She could easily become a Riley junk
ie.

  A kiss wasn’t enough. Two kisses weren’t enough. She pressed her palm against the crisp starched front of his shirt and felt his warm flesh and hard muscle beneath. More. She wanted more.

  She felt something warm and damp but completely out of place and realized Derek was licking her bare toes. “I think it’s time to go.”

  Riley helped her to her feet and paused to address the dog. “Excuse us now. I’m not sharing her for the rest of the night.”

  She smiled and gave the dog a last affectionate pat.

  Riley took her hand and they fled out the back door.

  As they’d planned, Riley used one of his father’s plain sedans and left first. Lisa waited fifteen tense minutes before following.

  Surprisingly no one followed her. The reporters had been good for their word. Her heart pounded in a silly girlish flutter every time she imagined Riley at her house. Riley in her bed. But she calmed her giddiness and forced herself to think rationally. This was a temporary diversion. She was allowing him to think he was pulling one over on her. But no matter what, she would not let him know her feelings and she would not let her feelings get out of control.

  She parked in her driveway and got out of her Blazer. At the back fence, the dogs whined. She walked toward the back, unlocked the gate and entered the yard.

  She let the boys free from their run, and they ran in circles around her, pausing to sniff her feet and skirt and hands, keenly aware of the other dog scent.

  “Be on your best behavior, boys. We have a guest.”

  She unlocked the back door and pushed it open. The light she’d left on over the sink partially illuminated the room.

  “Riley?” she called.

  “In here.”

  A light came on in the living room.

  “I waited to turn on a lamp.” His footsteps sounded in the hallway.

  The dogs turned in that direction, and Piper let out an ear-piercing bark followed by a volley of others.

  “Piper. Hush,” she told him. “It’s okay.” Lisa hurried to meet Riley in the kitchen entryway, where she stood in front of him and turned to the dogs. Riley held a bottle of wine.

  “Joey, Piper, you remember Riley. You met him once before.” She took Riley’s arm and leaned into him to show her pets the man was a friend.

  Tail wagging, Joey came forward and sniffed Riley’s trouser legs, then his crotch.

  Riley took a wary step back.

  “Sorry,” Lisa said without embarrassment. One couldn’t spend much time around dogs without becoming immune to their natures.

  Riley extended a hand and Joey sniffed it, then allowed the man to pet his head and scratch behind his ears.

  Piper, on the other hand, remained several feet away and growled low in his throat.

  Lisa spent another five minutes coaxing the dark golden retriever to relax his guard and accept Riley, but the dog remained agitated.

  Finally she ordered the animal to lie down on the kitchen rug and she got two glasses from the cupboard.

  “Sorry they’re not fancy,” she said, indicating the tall, thin glasses with faded irises on the sides. She glanced at the bottle. “I don’t have a corkscrew.”

  “I calculated for that.” Reaching into the pocket of his suit coat, he pulled one out. “Brought one from the house.”

  “That’s probably Piper’s problem. He sensed you were carrying a weapon.”

  He cocked a brow to give her a skeptical look, then opened the wine and poured the glasses half-full. “What shall we drink to?”

  Lisa blinked and studied him in the dim light. “I don’t know.”

  He held up his glass and she did the same. “To second chances.”

  What he meant by that, she wasn’t sure. He might have meant any number of things. His father and his half brother came to mind. He could be teasing her about Derek. Or he might be talking sex and toasting their second time together. Her stomach dipped at that possibility.

  In the next second, the burning look in his blue eyes made her think that’s exactly what he was talking about.

  She sipped the wine.

  He watched and did the same.

  Riley took her glass and set both on the red Formica table. Without another word he pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless.

  Lisa met every brush of his lips and thrust of his tongue eagerly. She wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled herself closer.

  Riley used his fingertips on the bare skin of her back to create shivers and raise her level of excitement. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

  “You wanted me to let you wonder.”

  “I’ve figured it out. You couldn’t be wearing one with this dress.”

  She’d let Gwen talk her into the thong this time, too. Lisa still had a surprise or two left.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “When?”

  She reached up and loosened the knot in his tie until she could edge it away from his collar and off over his head. “Soon.”

  He took off his suit coat and she unbuttoned his shirt.

  He wore the familiar white T-shirt, and she tugged it from the waistband of his trousers. He crossed his arms and yanked it off over his head.

  Lisa pressed languid kisses against his chest.

  “Where’s your room?”

  “Upstairs.”

  He picked up their glasses. “Lead the way.”

  Chapter Ten

  She left the light on over the sink as well as the lamp he’d turned on in the living room and led the way up the shadowed staircase. She’d climbed these stairs hundreds of times, maybe thousands. Never with a man.

  Well, no man except Wendell Carlton, the aged handyman her grandmother had occasionally hired to fix things. Wendell didn’t count. Riley wasn’t here to fix a leak or caulk a tub. Her knees got weak at the thought of him in her room.

  After entering her bedroom, she turned on the painted-glass lamp on her dresser, knowing it would just barely illuminate.

  Riley glanced at the antique furniture, the old-fashioned metal bed frame with its chenille spread and folded quilt. Her pillowcases were delicately embroidered and edged with crocheted lace. She knew how different her home was from his, how much their tastes contrasted. This was who she was, and him knowing it made her uncomfortably vulnerable.

  He set the glasses on her painted night table and eyed her vintage bed. “Is that frame sturdy?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  He grinned.

  She turned so he could unzip her dress. He lowered the zipper and she stepped out of the garment, draping it over the cedar chest. She took a fortifying breath and turned back to see his reaction.

  Riley was looking at her as if he couldn’t drag his gaze away. Finally he spoke. “Wow.”

  She picked up her glass and let her gaze seduce him. “You’re overdressed.”

  He sat on her bed to remove his shoes and socks, then stood and stepped out of his trousers. Still wearing a pair of snug-fitting gray boxer-briefs, he took his own glass and downed the liquid in one swallow. “Want more? I can go get the bottle.”

  She shook her head no, sipped her wine slowly, then set her glass aside and eased onto the bed. “Maybe later.”

  Riley kept a rein on his hunger. She knew exactly what she was doing. This woman strove to drive him crazy. She was a seductress in every way. If she’d told him she was a virgin, he probably wouldn’t have believed her. But he’d learned firsthand. The thought still tied him in knots. And she wouldn’t talk about it.

  Something primitively male and possessive and old-fashioned puffed up inside him at the prideful knowledge that he was the only man who’d ever made love to her.

  Just looking at Lisa now made his chest swell, and feelings he’d never known overcame him. The emotions weren’t anything he wanted to acknowledge. They weren’t anything he knew or understood.

  She eased the covers back and stretched out on the be
d.

  But they were sensations that had begun to control him.

  She was an anomaly, a siren and an innocent in one fabulous package.

  She consumed his thoughts.

  “Like the thong?” she asked.

  “Love it.”

  “Now that you’ve seen it, I really want to toss it.”

  He laughed. “Go right ahead.”

  He loved her.

  She eased the scrap of satin down her hips and legs and gave it a fling.

  He lost a slat in the rickety footbridge between his brain centers, and his thoughts swung by a precarious thread. Not part of the plan, his head told him.

  Doesn’t matter, his body responded.

  You’re in perilous territory here. That word shouldn’t have been in your mental vocabulary.

  Just a slip. I didn’t mean it. And I certainly didn’t say it.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

  “Just appreciating the view.”

  She propped her head on one hand. “Well, share the experience, then.”

  Riley stripped off his briefs and climbed onto the bed, not caring how small the mattress was or that the metal headboard creaked with his weight. All he wanted was to be close to Lisa.

  A low growl thwarted his next move, however, and he raised his head to find the dark golden retriever right beside the bed, his ears back and his demeanor threatening.

  Lisa rolled to the side of the bed and stood. “Piper, no. I told you Riley is a friend.” She padded across the room and pointed out into the hallway. “Go.”

  The dog looked from his mistress to the man threatening his home, obviously confused.

  “Piper. Go,” she commanded.

  The dog padded out and she closed the door, then returned to lie beside Riley.

  A touch of amusement tilted the corners of her mouth, but her eyes were still filled with sultry passion. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Dogs are usually such good judges of character.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to share your affections.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ear and asked, “You think I feel affection for you?”

  Taking her in his arms, he outlined her lips with a finger, kissed the corner of her mouth and studied her features. “No, I just hope you do.”