by SUE FINEMAN
“Can you cook? Father’s cook quit.”
She nodded. “I can handle the cooking.”
“They stay and I’ll put you on the payroll. I’ve hired private nurses, but we’ll have to hire a housekeeper. He can’t keep a cook and housekeeper. Nobody wants to work for Walt Timmons. He’s a tyrant.”
“He always was,” said Megan. “We’ll work it out.”
Yes, they would, but it wouldn’t be a comfortable situation. She and her mother hadn’t been close since Megan moved away from Santa Barbara. Catherine was given a choice of staying with her father or going with her mother when they divorced, and she chose to stay with her father. Two years later, she left for boarding school, where she spent her high school years.
Catherine pulled a business card from her purse and wrote a number on the back. “This is the code to open the gate. Tony and I have to pick up the wallpaper and get to work. Are you staying here at the hospital?”
“Yes, I’ll stay with him today.”
“Then we’ll expect you for dinner.”
Catherine returned to her father’s room to tell him goodbye, but he looked around her for Megan. The only person he wanted with him was his ex-wife. It was touching and hurtful at the same time. If those two stubborn people had made up years ago, Catherine would have had a whole family instead of a grumpy father who was never home.
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Fawn drove to the hospital in Santa Barbara to visit Walt. Catherine wasn’t around, but the nurse stopped her from going into the room. “No visitors except family,” she said, pulling the door closed behind her.
“But he’ll want to see me.”
The nurse shook her head and motioned to a security guard. Fawn had no choice but to back away. Walt’s bitchy daughter was making sure she couldn’t get close. Damn her!
As she walked out to her car, her cell phone rang. “Fawn, this is Mitzi, with Henry Wallace Productions. I see you applied to be on The Bachelor. Are you still interested in being on a reality show?”
“That depends on the show.”
“We’re looking for women to star in a new show featuring a handsome bachelor looking for a woman to love.”
“Interesting.” Fawn asked, “Who’s the bachelor?”
“A handsome guy from an Italian family. The show will be filmed at the Andrews Estate near San Francisco.”
Why not? She’d always wanted to see the Andrews mansion, and there was no reason to stay in Santa Barbara now. She couldn’t get near Walt. “Sure, I’m interested.”
They set up a time to meet for an interview, and Fawn headed for LA. If the show didn’t work out, she could always come back to Santa Barbara and try to get past Walt’s guard dogs.
One of these days, she’d make Catherine Timmons sorry she’d thrown her out of that house.
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Tony sat on the floor and read the wallpapering instructions to Catherine. “This doesn’t sound too hard.”
They hung the wallpaper on the upper walls first. He stood on the ladder, and she slapped on the paste and handed the strips of wallpaper up to him.
“How come I have to do all the ladder work?”
“Because I look better with wallpaper paste smeared all over me.”
Tony chuckled and trimmed the top of the strip he’d been working on. “This looks good in here.”
“Of course it does,” she quipped. “I have excellent taste.”
“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one with the ego.”
“Not the only one.”
Was she flirting with him? “Smartass woman.”
“That’s Princess Smartass to you.”
Yep, she was definitely flirting. How in the hell was he supposed to behave himself with her coming on to him? “When I get finished with this…” He looked down. She had a smear of wallpaper paste on her cheek and another spot on her nose. It was in her hair, too. “…I’m going to dunk you in the pool.”
“Oh, yeah?” Her eyes sparkled.
“Yeah!” Three more strips and they’d be finished with the upper walls. Now that they knew what they were doing, the rest should go faster. They could finish it this evening.
He finished the last strip and stepped down off the ladder. “Hey, I like this. When I build my own house, will you come wallpaper it for me?”
She cocked her head. “Maybe, if you do all the ladder work.”
He tried to wipe the paste off her cheek, but it had dried. “Princess, you are a mess.”
“So are you.”
He looked down at the crusty paste on his T-shirt. “Only because you put too much goop on the first two strips.”
She took the brush and swiped it down the front of his shirt, so he threw her over his shoulder and carried her out to the pool and threw her in. The sound of her laughter filled the late afternoon air. He pulled off his shirt, toed off his shoes and socks, and jumped in after her.
Her wet T-shirt clung to her, and she stripped it off, leaving a lacy white bra. “Don’t gape, Donatelli. This covers more than my bathing suit top.”
“Does it?” Did she know the sheer fabric turned transparent in the water? No, probably not, and he wasn’t about to tell her.
He tossed her shirt to the lip of the pool and then grabbed Catherine’s foot and tossed a shoe over. The other one followed it. He touched her nose and rubbed the paste off her cheek. “Wouldn’t want to cover any of those freckles.”
Megan walked out toward the pool. “Angel dust, we used to call them. I’m starting dinner now.”
“You don’t have to cook tonight,” said Tony. “I was going to take you two out.”
“Nonsense. Stay in the pool and enjoy yourselves.” She put two big towels beside the ladder and walked back into the house.
“Nice lady.”
“I suppose.” Catherine stared after her. “I don’t see her very often.”
“Is that her fault?”
“No, it’s mine. Forget her. I’ll race you.”
“Honey, I’m wearing heavy jeans.”
Her eyes sparkled. “So take them off.” She stripped off her own jeans and tossed them out of the pool, so he did the same.
“What about your mom?”
“Megan. I haven’t called her Mom since I was twelve, and I don’t care what she thinks. We’re not naked.”
No, they weren’t, but they were close. If her mother wasn’t around, they would undoubtedly shuck off their underwear. He wasn’t shy by any means, but he didn’t want to get naked in front of anyone’s mother.
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After dinner, the two women worked on the wallpaper in the bedroom while Tony finished up the dressing area. The room was small, and the dark green wallpaper made it feel smaller, but it looked classy with the green granite countertops, new fixtures, and white trim.
When they finished, Catherine rolled up the leftover wallpaper while Tony cleaned the tools. Megan swept the floor so the carpet people could install the new carpet in the morning.
“I spoke with Walt’s doctor today,” Megan said. “He may never be able to climb stairs again, and he’ll need a wheelchair or a walker for at least two months and a cane after that. No golf. It won’t be the life he’s been living.”
“That’s what he gets for bring home strange women,” said Catherine. She probably should have called the police and pressed charges against Fawn, but if she had, it would have gotten into the newspaper, and Father would have been livid.
He should be livid at the woman who did this to him. Thank God for Megan. If she hadn’t agreed to stay, Catherine would have been stuck here forever.
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The new carpet was installed the next morning. Catherine had chosen a classy berber carpet for her father’s new bedroom, light tan with little slubs of dark green and white. She wanted something a wheelchair could glide over easily. It looked good with the dark green wallpaper and white trim. Father preferred wood floors with area rugs, but she didn’t want his wheelchair to get tangled in a rug.
>
After the carpet people left, Tony installed plantation shutters on the two bedroom windows. Catherine couldn’t believe he’d gotten all the work done so quickly. The room looked great. Father would have to look closely to find something to complain about in here.
As she ran the vacuum cleaner over the new carpet, Catherine tried to think of something else Tony could do, a reason to keep him around longer. If not for Megan’s presence in the house, Catherine might have seduced him, but that would complicate things on the show. If he agreed to do the show. Having sex with Tony and then watching him flirt with other women wouldn’t sit well, and they might not get the reactions they needed on camera if he knew she was watching.
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Megan was still at the hospital, so Tony made lasagna while Catherine made a salad for dinner. He’d finished the job he came here to do, and although he hated to leave Catherine, if he didn’t go soon, he’d end up in her bed. That was okay with him, but she wasn’t willing, at least not yet. If and when they made love, she’d have to want it as much as he did.
He had other things he could do before he returned to Cara’s estate. Nick had asked him to check out some of that land for the development company, and one of the parcels they’d bought was within a couple hours of Santa Barbara. Might as well check it out before he left.
Megan came home and they ate dinner in the breakfast room, which overlooked the pool and gardens. While they ate, Tony asked, “How did the Timmons Hotel empire begin?”
“It started right here in Santa Barbara,” said Megan. “Walt’s grandfather built a small hotel down on the waterfront. He and his family lived there until they built this house, or the core of this house.”
Tony cocked his head. “What happened to the hotel on the waterfront? Is it still there?”
“No, it’s gone. As soon as this house was completed, he turned it into a hotel. It did so well, he added the two wings and then built another hotel in Monterey and another one in San Francisco. The original San Francisco hotel burned down a few years later, but he rebuilt it.”
Catherine put her fork down. “Father sold the hotel business three years ago. I thought he’d keep it for me, but he apparently didn’t think I was capable of running a business.”
“You worked for him?” asked Tony.
She nodded. “For four years. I grew up thinking I’d be running a hotel somewhere. I didn’t know he was selling the business until it was done.”
Megan sipped her wine. “Do you like what you do now, Cathy?”
“Yes and no. I work long hours and some of the people really rub me the wrong way. They don’t know me as Catherine Timmons. At work, I’m Cat.”
Tony scooped another piece of lasagna from the dish. “Maybe he had a reason for selling.”
“Sure he did. He didn’t want me running the business.”
“But he gave you a job,” said Megan.
“Only because I insisted. The week after I graduated from college, I walked into his office and asked where he wanted me to start. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he put me to work as an assistant in Public Relations. Two years later, I took over Public Relations.”
She blotted her lips with her napkin. “I also acted as his hostess at business dinners and hotel openings. I thought things were going fine, until he sold the business. I didn’t even find out from him. The deal was announced on the national news before the employees were told. I was humiliated and angry, and I was gone before he got home. I haven’t been home a half-dozen times since then.”
The room settled into a silence so deep, Tony could hear himself swallowing the last bite of his lasagna. The old man made a big blunder. By not telling Catherine, he’d hurt her feelings and alienated her. Hearing about the sale on the news must have been like a slap in the face.
After several seconds of silence, Megan said, “Someday you’ll own this house. You could start your own hotel right here.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“Honey, nothing worthwhile is ever easy.”
Tony wondered if Walt realized he’d made Catherine feel like a failure, both as a daughter and as an employee. That was why this television show was so important to her. It wasn’t about building a career in television production. To restore her pride in herself, she needed to be successful at something.
He and Catherine cleaned up the dishes. Tony leaned in close and asked, “Do you still want me for your television show?”
“Yes, of course.”
“You don’t expect me to propose or express my undying love to the winner at the end of the show?”
“I expect you to do what feels right, Tony. If you find the woman of your dreams and decide to make it permanent, that’s fine, and if you want to walk away alone, that’s okay, too. It’s entirely up to you.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.
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After dinner, Catherine took about fifty pictures of Tony. Her father’s tux didn’t quite fit him, but it was good enough to get a few shots of him wearing formal clothes. They’d have one custom tailored for him to wear on the show.
In one shot, he sat at the baby grand in the living room. In another, he leaned over the pool table in the basement, cue stick in his hand. She shot him standing beside Father’s sculptures, in the kitchen, by the pool, and in the pool. It wasn’t necessary to pose him, because this guy instinctively knew what to do. Or maybe he’d been practicing in front of a mirror. His eyes sparkled, and his slightly lopsided smile showed his playful personality.
The shot she liked the best was of Tony in denim shorts and a red sleeveless shirt that hugged him like a second skin. Every ripple of hard muscle showed. Mitzi would drool when she saw these pictures.
Catherine loaded the pictures on her laptop and Tony sat beside her to help her pick out the best ones. His arm brushed hers and her breath caught. He gazed into her eyes and she couldn’t look away. His lips covered hers in a kiss so tender she wanted to take him upstairs and have her way with him, but she had to keep this on a professional level or she couldn’t use him on the show. “I think we have enough pictures, Tony.”
His brown eyes sparkled. “Will you show me pictures of the women on the show?”
She shook her head. “No peeking. You’ll meet them on the show, and how can you kiss me and then ask to see pictures of other women?”
His lips curled in a lopsided grin. “How can you kiss me and then put me on a television show to find another woman?”
He had a point.
Tony gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and left the room, leaving her alone and confused. Did he want her or didn’t he, because one more kiss, and she was his.
Catherine sighed deeply and emailed the shots of Tony to Mitzi. Then she printed out the information on the women Mitzi had chosen so far. She’d have to hide the pictures or he’d be snooping to see what the women looked like. Tony had an ornery streak, and he obviously loved women. If that side of his personality came out on the show, they had a winner.
Reading through the information Mitzi had sent her, she saw that the first three girls—Jenny, Chelsea, and Rachel—were the ones she’d chosen herself. They were all tall and slender and beautiful.
The next three were also beautiful. One was a light skinned black woman, very tall and absolutely stunning. And one was a California beach bunny with a deep tan and bleached blonde hair. She reminded Catherine of Fawn.
The next one was Fawn. After what that woman had done, Catherine didn’t want her in Cara’s home or in anyone else’s.
Seven women, seven beauties. Had Mitzi chosen only beautiful women?
The next girl, Lily, was tiny and dark, and the next was a Latina with short hair and a huge smile. Both were adorable and perfect for the show, but where were the average girls? Glancing at the last picture, a pretty blackjack dealer from Reno, Catherine sighed. This wouldn’t do at all. They needed average women with personality. Mitzi was turnin
g it into a beauty contest. Tony would love it, but without average girls, nice girls who weren’t poised and posed, the audience wouldn’t have anyone to root for.
They could save some of the beautiful girls for the fireman on the next show. Fawn was definitely out, and some may not pass the security screening. That meant they had four, maybe five for this show, and they needed at least thirteen to make it work.
If Catherine didn’t get back to work, Mitzi would choose all the wrong women and the show wouldn’t last a season.
Tony called, “Catherine, come watch a movie with me.”
She walked into the family room, where Tony had stretched out on the deep sectional and leaned back into the corner. He pulled her down between his legs and she leaned back into his solid chest.
He ran his hands down her arms and she murmured, “Mmm, this is nice.” More than nice. It was a setup for seduction. The warmth of his body wrapped around her and his big hands were so close to her breasts, she could almost feel them on her. Her body came to life and she felt places that had been dormant for months.
“Relax. I won’t bite.”
Her body tingled at the sound of his deep, sexy voice in her ear. She twisted to gaze into his eyes. “No bites?”
He groaned. “Honey, I’d like to do a whole lot more than bite, but if I start, I won’t want to stop.”
His erection pushed against her behind and she was tempted to rub her bottom against it, but if she did, they’d end up in bed together. An affair with this man could make it awkward for both of them on the show. As much as she wanted to feel his lips and those big, rough hands on her body, he wasn’t hers to have. She forced herself to scoot away.
He took her hand. “You’re killing my ego, Princess.”
“Your ego will get stroked enough on the show.” She stood and leaned down for a tender goodnight kiss, but she didn’t touch him anywhere else. “Goodnight, Tony.”
Catherine went up to bed, but it was a long time before she finally slept.
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During a visit to the hospital the next morning, Tony said, “Catherine, I need to inspect one of the parcels of property Nick bought for the development company. Why don’t you take the day off and come with me?”
