“I’m well aware of every room in the house,” she answered, a bit haughtily.
Donovan’s lips turned up slightly. “Of course. You’re the housekeeper.”
Paula hooted at that. “Anna, I can’t believe you’re playing housekeeper. She was always the poet in school,” she explained to Donovan.
He raised a brow. “A poet. And I have you washing windows?”
Anna frowned at Paula and raised her chin when she turned back to Donovan. “I happen to love washing windows.”
He grinned at that. “Well then, I’m happy to be providing you with an activity you love.”
For half a second, Anna thought about Dana and Kendra and half a dozen other socialites who would adore doing something they loved with Donovan. That activity certainly wouldn’t be washing windows. Heat filled her and she did her best to tamp it down.
“Thank you,” she told Donovan. “You know I appreciate the work.”
And that was all there was to say. He knew. She had all but begged for this job. So, Anna trotted off to get an extra chair. When Donovan started to get up to help her, she gave him a quelling look.
“It’s my day off. I get to call the shots.”
Apparently the man didn’t hear well. He followed her and was there beside her when she found an armchair and started to wrestle it down the hall. Immediately he took hold of the chair, stopping her momentum and bracing the weight against his body. “I’m the guest today, and I was taught that a hostess didn’t tell a guest no. That’s heavy. Give it to me.”
Anna started to argue, but only the width of the chair was between them. His large hand was braced near her own slender one. The comparison made her feel feminine, a sensation she wasn’t used to. His nearness made it difficult to breathe…or think…or know where to look without looking into his eyes or staring at his mouth. And arguing would prolong the discomfiting proximity. At least that was what she told herself.
In the end, she let him take the chair from her and walked beside him. Was this how it had been with his wife? she wondered and then was immediately appalled.
As soon as she was able, she slipped away to the kitchen to get their lunch.
“Oh, Linette is a dream,” Paula was declaring as Anna came in with the food. “You certainly know how to hire the best,” she told Donovan.
“Anna,” was all he said, and Nan nodded.
“Anna knows who’s the best at everything around here,” she agreed.
Donovan’s eyes turned brighter. “You should give tours.”
“I have,” Anna admitted.
“Sounds enjoyable.”
“Yes, but this pays better.”
She immediately regretted her comment, because she knew what would follow. She looked at her friends, but it was too late.
“Anna really wants a baby, and no one works harder than she does to achieve her goals,” Paula said.
Immediately a silence fell into the room. Anna knew that Donovan had been caught off guard. His eyes turned suddenly dark.
“Paula,” Anna said softly, but Donovan was already squaring those broad shoulders and turning toward Paula and Nan.
“And how about you? Are you like Anna? Have you lived in Lake Geneva all your life?”
“All,” Nan agreed.
“Most of it,” Paula countered. She looked a bit uncomfortable and when Anna looked at her, she mouthed an “I’m sorry.”
Anna nodded, but Donovan had gone on to his next question, asking Nan and Paula about their favorite places in the area. By the time the two of them got ready to leave, they had scribbled down a list of “must sees” for Donovan and pressed the pieces of paper into his hands.
“He’s gorgeous,” Nan said as Anna saw her out the door.
“He’s charming,” Paula agreed.
“Be careful,” they said together.
“I thought you liked him,” Anna said, wide-eyed.
“We do,” Nan said. “That’s the problem. What woman wouldn’t like him? And you’re sharing the same space with him. When he takes a shower don’t you just…imagine him?”
“Oh, yes,” Paula agreed. “That man is hot. How could you not imagine him naked?”
Anna suddenly felt a bit faint. She had tried her best not to think of Donovan that way. “Donovan is my employer,” she emphasized. “I clean his house. I wash his walls. He’s appeared in the society pages. He goes to parties at the local mansions.”
She stared at her friends.
“You’re right,” Nan said. “He makes it easy to forget that he’s got money and connections and that he gets invited to the best parties.”
She could almost forget, Anna thought when her friends had gone, if his upcoming evenings and days weren’t booked with events at the houses of people she would never socialize with in her lifetime.
When she turned to go back upstairs, Donovan was waiting at the bottom, his arms crossed as he leaned on the wall in a casual pose.
Anna took a deep breath.
“Your friends are very nice,” he told her.
She nodded.
“They’re worried about you,” he added.
Her gaze grew wary. “Sometimes they worry, but they forget I can take care of myself.”
“Nan told me to be nice to you.”
“What? When?” Anna frowned, her mouth open.
“When you went to get the food.”
“I’m sorry. They’ve both known me a long time, and they’re some of my closest friends, but they had no right to say something like that.”
He shook his head. “They did. They know how much you want a child. They know that we spend our nights alone in this house.”
“Mr. Barrett,” she stammered.
“Donovan,” he said. “We’ve moved beyond formalities. Call me Donovan.”
Anna swallowed nervously. “Donovan, don’t worry. I would never even consider that you would think of me that way. I—”
He pushed off the wall and stepped close to her. Pushing one finger beneath her chin, he bent and touched his lips to hers.
Her eyes fluttered shut. Her breath caught. She fought not to react, but his lips were so warm, his touch so compelling, she couldn’t help tipping her head and kissing him back.
“Let’s have honesty between us,” he said. “I do desire you and I have from the beginning, wrong though that may be.”
If she were totally honest she would say that she desired him, too, but that would leave her too vulnerable. She’d been that before, and she couldn’t do it again.
“Don’t,” she said.
He let her go. “I won’t. I just wanted you to be aware that your friends were right to be concerned. There’s something about you…something vibrant. You’re an incredibly desirable woman, Anna. I should hire someone else to be here at night.”
“That would be foolish. I trust you. And what would you tell the person they were being hired for?”
He smiled at that. “You’re right. There’s no need. I would never hurt you, and touching you would hurt you.”
She knew why. Because there could be no future between someone like him and someone like her.
“I shouldn’t have invited you to lunch with me and my friends. We’re not the same.”
He shook his head. “I liked them. They say what they mean. They wouldn’t let me get away with anything.”
“You’re right about that,” she said with a laugh. “Paula and Nan are direct.”
“And you?” he asked.
She stared up into his eyes. “I’m direct, too. You’re an amazingly attractive man, and I’ve wanted to know what kissing you would be like.”
His eyes darkened. His gaze honed in on her lips. “What was it like?”
Anna tried to keep breathing normally. She touched her lips. “It was something I enjoyed far too much.”
Donovan groaned.
She held up a hand. “But not only do you and I come from different social classes, we want different things. We coul
d never meet halfway and I wouldn’t do anything to risk my job here.” She didn’t repeat her desire to have a baby, but she didn’t have to.
“You want a man who’ll give you a child,” he agreed.
“I need a child, not a man,” she said.
Donovan brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Be careful what you wish for, Anna,” he said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m very careful,” she said, even though she wished she could be more careful with him.
He smiled then, faintly, and stepped away. “Go enjoy the rest of your day off. Maybe you should take an extra day off, too, since so much of this one is gone.”
“Thank you, but I’ll be back at work tomorrow.”
He turned to go and she noticed the pieces of paper sticking out of his pocket. Nan and Paula’s suggestions for things to do in Lake Geneva.
Anna held out her hand. “I’ll recycle those.”
He put his hand over his pocket. “No, I might try some of these. Maybe even today.”
Alone, she thought. He spent so much time alone, except…
“You have another party later today,” she reminded him.
He grimaced. “Yes, I remember. Would you like to go with me?”
She froze. Surely he was joking. He’d already offended a few people by hiring John after everyone had seen Kendra fire him. What would happen if he turned up at an affair with his housekeeper?
Probably nothing. The women would still fall all over him. It would be Anna who would feel completely uncomfortable.
“Thank you, but I can’t,” she said.
It seemed “I can’t” were two words she uttered a lot. I can’t find a good man. I can’t have a baby. I can’t spend any more time alone with Donovan Barrett.
And she wouldn’t, either. No more tea parties. No more responding to his touch. From now on she would be completely professional in every way.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHY had he done that? Donovan was still asking himself the next day as he listened to Anna’s footsteps in the hallway, watched her endangering herself by climbing on ladders to dust the tops of bookshelves and heard her singing a recent rock song as she tackled the grout in the bathroom.
He’d kissed her, and he could still feel the imprint of her warm lips on his own. His fingers itched to slide over her skin again, to gather her close.
“Insanity,” he muttered. He had gone to another party last night, an informal picnic on the grass with torches lighting the night and all the women wearing slinky sundresses.
They weren’t all like Dana and Kendra. In fact, most of the guests were fine people with intelligent minds. They obviously had come to this area because they loved the beauty of the scenery. One woman in particular had thanked him for hiring John the other day.
“The rest of us were too shocked to say anything,” she said. “We didn’t want to embarrass him further. We’re all well aware that the town of Lake Geneva would cease to function without the people who work in the shops and restaurants and who clean our houses and keep our gardens and make the town hum. We’d be lost without them. Most of us wouldn’t have successful businesses without their patronage, and they deserve our respect and fair working conditions as well as a decent wage, but we weren’t thinking about that the other night. You, on the other hand, actually did something about the situation. You offered John work and repaired his damaged ego.”
“I just reacted,” Donovan had told her. And if he’d been thinking at all that night, he had been thinking about Anna more so than John, but he couldn’t say that here. It would be unkind to her. It would bring her attention she didn’t want.
He’d continued his conversation with the woman who had been very beautiful with a lush body and gorgeous blond hair. But all night he kept thinking of serious gray eyes and a voice telling him that she needed a child, not a man. He remembered her walking down to the shore path to meet the man with the little boy…
The doorbell cut into Donovan’s thoughts. It rang once, twice, three times.
Anna was running the vacuum cleaner.
He started toward the door. The whirring of the vacuum stopped as the doorbell rang for the fourth time.
Donovan reached the hallway just as Anna swung the door open.
A boy stood on the threshold.
“Frank,” she said, and though Donovan couldn’t see Anna’s face he could hear the smile in her voice. “Is it that time already?”
“First of the month. Time to do your part to keep the news coming,” he joked with a big grin on his face.
Donovan fought to keep breathing. The boy was about twelve with flyaway longish brown hair, green eyes and an infectious smile. He waited politely for Anna’s response.
“Well, we definitely don’t want the news to stop coming,” she agreed. “Wait right here and I’ll be back.”
She turned and noticed Donovan standing there and the smile on her face froze.
“I—this is Frank,” she said, her voice sounding a bit weak. “Frank delivers the newspaper.”
Frank smiled more broadly. “Are you Mr. Barrett?”
Donovan struggled to fight the tightness in his chest. He fought not to think about the fact that Ben might have been much like this boy one day had he lived.
“Yes,” was all Donovan could manage.
“My mom told me that if I should ever see you I should tell you that she hopes you’re enjoying Lake Geneva.”
“That’s very nice of her, and…yes, I am, thank you,” Donovan said.
The boy chuckled and the sound of it shot right through Donovan’s soul. “Hey, don’t thank me. I’d never have thought to ask you somethin’ like that. Maybe I’d ask how fast your Jaguar can go. Have to obey Mom, though. She hears everything, and if she found out I’d met you and hadn’t remembered to ask…well…”
“She wouldn’t hit you?” Donovan asked.
The boys eyes grew wide with shock. “Mom? Hit me?” He laughed. “No, she’d just put on her disappointed face, probably give me a lecture about my manners. I’d end up feeling like a jerk.” He blew out a breath. “I hate feeling like that, so if you meet her, could you tell her that I remembered to ask?”
Donovan couldn’t keep from smiling even though the pain in his chest grew worse. What a great kid and how hard it was to keep breathing and smiling and just standing here when Ben’s memory and thoughts of all that Ben might have turned out to be were assaulting him. He managed a nod. “I’ll tell her your manners were great.”
Donovan’s voice wasn’t as steady as he would have liked. He felt Anna’s touch on his sleeve. Her eyes were dark with concern. Somewhere in there when he and Frank had been talking she had gone and got some money to pay the boy. She handed Frank a check along with a tip.
“Thanks, Anna. You’re the best. You never make me come back later.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Frank. You’re very dependable at your job,” she said.
The boy practically glowed. “Hey, if you see Mom…”
“I’ll repeat the compliment,” she promised with a smile.
The boy said his goodbyes, then turned and loped out to the end of the walk where his bike was waiting. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Barrett. See you, Anna.” He waved, and so, of course, Donovan waved back.
But as soon as the boy was out of sight, Donovan turned to go. He needed to be alone, to shut his eyes, to block out the memories and the ache of lost hopes.
“Donovan,” Anna said, and he felt her arm on his sleeve again.
He looked down at her. “Don’t worry. It’s fine,” he said. “I can’t go through my whole life never meeting boys who will remind me that my own son died before he reached that age.”
“But this time was unnecessary. I should have thought about the fact that Frank was coming by today and either met him at the street or at the very least warned you ahead of time so you could prepare yourself.”
As if he could ever do that. She must have been thinking t
he same thing because her eyes looked suddenly anguished. “Next month Frank and I will make other arrangements. I can mail the bill. It’s what most people do. I just—”
He knew what her hesitation was for. She didn’t pay the bill by mail because she liked Frank and it was a chance to talk to him.
“He’s a great kid,” Donovan said.
“Yes, he is.”
“Glad I met him,” he said, and he was glad in a way. But he was also sorry as well. “I have a few things to do,” he told her and he started to walk away, but…he knew she was worried. Donovan didn’t want that. And he didn’t want her to feel guilty in the least.
He turned back.
“Anna, I hope you have a child just as nice as Frank someday. Hell, what am I saying? You will. Any kid you raise will turn out well.” Somewhere he found a smile.
Somewhere she found one, too, although it was a sad one. Her lips…he wanted to touch her lips and turn her smile into one of gladness, but that would be unfair. He could never give her what she needed.
Donovan let her go, but hours later he was still thinking of Anna’s sad smile. He realized that for the first time in a long time, he had encountered a child and ended up spending the next few hours thinking about something other than Ben.
He listened for Anna and heard her humming to herself as she worked. She said she loved being a housekeeper. He knew she was loyal to her friends and inspired loyalty in others. Plus, she had brought homey touches to this huge building and was obviously wellliked by Frank, who was of an age when boys often didn’t want anything to do with adults.
In other words, Anna was perfect mother material. She longed for a child with all her heart, just as much as he shied away from the thought of ever having another.
Surely at least one of the two of them should have what they wanted. Maybe it was time to stop avoiding painful topics and ask a few important questions.
Anna was setting the table for Donovan that evening, trying once again to make a single table setting look somehow interesting rather than lonely. She moved the salt shaker out a bit farther, replaced the tall vase of flowers with a long low one that was less overwhelming. She was considering the effect and thinking about adding a couple of candles when the sound of footsteps made her look up.
The Maid and the Millionaire Page 6
