Reflected Pleasures
Linda Conrad

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Prologue

“Take it,” the old gypsy, Passionata Chagari, demanded. “The mirror is meant for no one else.”

She narrowed her eyes and watched as Tyson Steele glanced over his shoulder at the empty French Market square behind him. Passionata snickered as he looked for the cameras that would mean this was some kind of practical joke. She knew nothing but darkness would meet his gaze at this late hour.

The gypsy sensed Tyson setting his shoulders with determined skepticism. This young Steele heir had appeared tall and strong-willed as he’d swaggered to her corner. She was well aware that an hour ago he’d been at a meeting with his cousin, Nicholas Scoville, who’d claimed he had been given a gift of an antique book from a strange gypsy earlier in the evening at this very place.

She chuckled, knowing that pure curiosity was what had brought the young Texas native out into the quiet New Orleans night. This heir to the gypsy magic would not be so easily won over as was his cousin. But she knew her duty.

On her father’s deathbed, she had given her word.

“I’m not accepting anything from you until I know the scam,” Tyson Steele told her with a scowl.

“I want nothing. I bring your legacy.”

“Legacy? I’m not in the mood for games. What the hell are you talking about?”

The gypsy spread her lips in an enigmatic smile. “I know the reason for your somber mood, young man. You spent the better part of the day at your great-aunt Lucille’s funeral. And you have already been told that you were not mentioned in her will.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “I don’t need her money now. She gave me everything I needed years ago, when it mattered the most. I could never have repaid that debt in a thousand lifetimes.”

“This gift comes not from Lucille Steele,” Passionata told him sharply. “But it is because of her kindnesses that you have been so honored by the wise and powerful gypsy king who was also in her debt.”

“Excuse me?” Tyson backed up and put his hands in his pockets, trying fruitlessly to keep her from placing the golden mirror into his hands. “What king?”

“My father, Karl Chagari, king of the gypsies, master tinker and magician.” She lowered her voice and took the proper deferential tone. “He has at long last gone ahead to the ancestors…as has Lucille. But he charged me with settling his debts.”

Tyson eyed the antique mirror in her hands and she could hear him wondering to himself if it was stolen property. “Sorry about your father, ma’am. But uh… I don’t think so. Thanks anyway.

“I shouldn’t have come here,” he argued. “But my cousin Nick said something so ridiculous that I just had to see for myself.”

“It is magic, Tyson Steele,” the gypsy hissed. “And it is your legacy…designed just for you. It will take you to your heart’s desire.”

“The only thing I desire is someone to fill the vacant fund-raising assistant’s position at my charitable foundation,” Tyson muttered. “And it isn’t likely that a ‘magic’ hand mirror will be helping me with an applicant.”

Passionata knew that at the exclusive personnel office where Tyson Steele had met his cousin earlier this evening, the young heir hadn’t been able to find anyone who would agree to relocate to his remote town in deep south Texas. Tyson was frustrated. She’d planned it that way.

The gypsy shoved the mirror in his direction and concentrated her efforts on making him want a better look.

At last Tyson reached out and took the mirror from her hands, turned it over and inspected the back. Passionata saw his amazement when he spotted his name engraved in the gold-leaf scrollwork, adorning the sides and back.

“What the devil…?” he stammered.

“You see? It belongs to you, and you alone.”

Tyson flipped it over to inspect the mirror’s front side, and Passionata nearly laughed aloud.

“I don’t see my image,” he complained. “This isn’t a mirror. It’s simple glass. I don’t understand.”

“The true nature of that which you seek will be reflected in the depths of the glass when the time is right,” she said. “It’s made to reveal the truth, no more.”

Passionata took the easy opportunity to slip out of sight while Tyson Steele stared at the mirror and tried to comprehend what he held. When he finally glanced up with more questions, he was all alone.

“That’s just creepy,” he mumbled to himself. “So far, I haven’t managed to get any answers for my cousin. I haven’t been able to locate an assistant fund-raiser. And now I have to worry about some old gypsy’s magic mirror, too?”

Passionata nodded as she watched him in her crystal. “Just until you accept the gift of sight and use the magic, young Steele.”

One

Serve his coffee? Sheesh. Served her right.

Merri Davis clamped down on her smart mouth, turned around and stalked out of the office to go get her new boss his cup of coffee. Tyson Steele had only been back from his New Orleans trip for a couple of hours and already in the first few minutes of their acquaintance the two of them were testing each other.

He apparently wanted to see how far he could push her—she was a fund-raising assistant, not a gopher after all. And she wanted to find out if he was truly the macho chauvinist that he appeared to be. Well, duh. The coffee request put him right there in the proper category.

She’d initially been wary of Mr. Tyson Steele anyway, wondering if he would recognize her from the tabloids. But her model’s training had apparently worked a miracle in the disguise-makeup department. Good enough, so that he never really used those startling blue eyes to look at her twice.

She swallowed hard at her silent slip of the tongue about his eyes. Merri Davis was not interested in men’s eyes. Startling or otherwise. That was simply not her mission or her concern.

At least not since Merrill Davis-Ross, high-fashion and jet-setting model, had effectively become Merri Davis, quiet and plain-looking fund-raiser’s assistant.

Now she could only pray that the tabloid reporters, who normally snooped on her every move, would not be able to pick up the scent of where she had disappeared to this time.

So far, so good, she congratulated herself. This nowhere hick town in Texas should be the perfect hiding place. And the perfect place to find the simple life she had always dreamed of too.

But Merri cautioned herself to keep walking on eggshells around her new boss and to save any of her regular snappy comebacks. If she was going to maintain the charade, he would have to believe she was just the person she was now claiming to be.

Tyson’s attorney, Franklin Jarvis, might suspect the truth, or at least a version of the truth. But he’d gotten her this job as a favor to his old friend—her own attorney from back in L.A.

To keep Mr. Jarvis from asking too many questions, she’d made up a story about who she was with her attorney and had vowed to keep her mouth shut and stick to the story. Part of her story was that she was a shy, quiet woman who would be happy living and working in this small town.

Actually, that wasn’t too far from the truth. Despite what the tabloids wrote about her. She was shy and had been desperate to live in this small town. Her parents had sheltered her and, no matter where in the world they were living at the time, they surrounded her with bodyguards.

Merri had hated every minute of it. The last couple of years, since she’d been out of college and had worked on a few modeling jobs in Paris, were also not indicative of the person she really was deep inside—or who she wanted to be. She wasn’t the person they wrote about in all those tabloid articles.

The reporters had taken the place of most of the bodyguards, and they were much more difficult to deal with. So…she would get Tyson Steele’s damn coffee and run his errands if that’s what it took to stay hidden in her brand-new world.

Drawing on all her old drama classes, Merri straightened the tight bun of mousey brown hair on the top of her head and headed back to her new boss’s office with a mug full of dark sludge that would have to pass as coffee.

She had to play the part exactly right if she was going to turn this new life into her own.

“Thanks,” he said absently when she placed the mug on the corner of his desk. “Sit.” He waved her toward one of the vacant metal fold-up chairs next to his desk.

Damned man couldn’t even bother to ask? Merri backed up and sat down as ordered, waiting for him to finish his phone conversation. As she sat, she took the pose of supposedly inspecting her unpolished fingernails. But she was surreptitiously studying her new boss from behind her thick, fake glasses.

And he was definitely the picture of masculinity, she could see that quite clearly. Tight, well-worn jeans, sleeves rolled halfway up muscular arms and intelligent but slightly dangerous blue eyes. Whew. A smidgen of heat budded deep in her gut, but she tried to ignore it.

She’d been in his office many times without him over the last two days, learning the surroundings of her new job and getting accustomed to the names on the Foundation’s many donor files. That part of her job would be easy enough.

But his attorney had also asked for her special help “civilizing” Tyson Steele. She hadn’t originally thought that would be a big part of her job—Steele was a well-known billionaire after all. However, Mr. Jarvis was convinced that his client needed some major polish.

He’d said that since Merri came from sophisticated L.A. and seemed professional, perhaps she could encourage Ty to drop some of his Texas cowboy image. Apparently, Merri would never entirely be rid of her damned boarding school background—no matter how hard she’d tried to disguise herself.

She had reluctantly agreed to Mr. Jarvis’s suggestion, thinking her new boss must be some kind of ogre. But now all of a sudden Tyson Steele was here in the flesh. And instead of trying to think of how to change him, his presence made her feel too warm and the room suddenly felt too closed-in to breathe.

He hung up the phone and reached for the coffee mug. “Mmm. Steaming and strong.” He took a swig and made a face. “Yeah, just like always. Strong enough to stand by itself and hot enough to melt the plastic off the cup. Those are the only good things about the coffee here.”

“Maybe you should enter the twenty-first century and buy a decent coffeemaker?” Damn. She’d managed to make a smart remark after all. Keep your mouth shut, Merri.

Tyson Steele narrowed his eyes at her, but he made no comment. He set the mug back down on the desk and picked up a stack of papers. “Now then, Miss…” Hesitating over her name, he glanced up and pinned her with another hard glare.

Oh, man. She didn’t like her body noticing what he did to the atmosphere in the room. What was up with that? She’d thought that it had been steamy in here before he turned those piercing blue eyes her way.

“Davis,” she supplied quickly to fill up the dangerous silence. “But please call me Merri, Mr. Steele.” Feeling the sweat beginning to form at her temples, she ran a hand over her hair and tried to breathe quietly through her nose.

Merri didn’t want to give her true self away. If she either told him to shove it—or did what her body wanted and flirted with him—he might figure out her charade.

And if he caught her in the lie, she had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate a second to pick up the phone and give her whereabouts over to the tabloids. A shiver ran down her spine at just the thought of having to face those horrible paparazzi bastards right now. Then not only would her own new life be ruined, but she would never be able to help Steele’s orphans or his foundation at all.

“Merri, then,” he said casually. “And you can call me Ty. Most everyone does. Except maybe my aunt Jewel, who always uses Tyson…unless she’s mad enough to call me by my full name, Tyson Adams Steele. That’s when I know it’s time to disappear.”

His face relaxed into a wide grin and Merri felt her whole body jump in response. Sonofa… She’d been hit on and propositioned by some of the wealthiest and most beautiful men in the universe. And she hadn’t been interested or tempted by any of them.

So why was it that gruff Tyson Steele had been just a rather interesting man—right up until he laid that smile on her?

She’d been doing a credible job of ignoring his long, lean body encased in jeans and beat-up work boots. But there was no way to ignore that grin. It ran electric currents along her skin and shot hot, wet bullets of sensitivity down her spine.

“Your aunt is Jewel Adams?” Merri managed to sound steady and more in charge of her senses than she felt. “She’s my new landlady.”

Ty cocked his head and studied her for the first time. “You rented that old broken-down cottage on Jackson Street from Jewel? She was my mother’s sister and she raised me after my parents were killed.”

“You’re an orphan?” Her heart had taken a little detour all of a sudden.

“I don’t think of it that way anymore,” he growled. “You may have noticed that I’m all grown up now.” His face held a scowl but his eyes were laughing at her. Oh, man.

He had to know the effect he was having on her. With eyes that startling periwinkle blue color, women just had to fall all over themselves to get him to pay attention—even if his outward clothing left something to be desired.

It wouldn’t be possible for him not to know what that sexy look could do—was doing—to her. She had to find some steady ground here. Her whole future in this town depended on it.

“The house might be old but it’s not really broken-down,” Merri told him with a croaky voice. “Someone has recently remodeled the inside. It’s quite cozy.” There. Didn’t she sound just like she was in charge of the situation and in control of her own bodily responses?

“Jewel painted it and refinished the wood floors,” he agreed. “But the roof still leaks, the plumbing is shaky and the electric needs a total overhaul. I was going to help her out with the heavy work, but I haven’t had time.”

“Oh. I’m sure it will be fine. It’s all I could afford until I can save up some money from this job,” she lied. Money was not a problem. But she wanted desperately to make her own way for once, and make it in a small and completely plain way at that.

“I’ve already put in a few personal touches,” she added. “It’s beginning to feel like home.” Well, maybe not exactly like any of her parents’ many homes. Thirty-room mansions didn’t usually qualify as cozy. And not one of them had ever felt like her home.

But Merri was determined to start a new life without any of the pretensions of all that wealth. She was ready for a home to call her own and for honest contacts with real live human beings. She’d turned her back for good on fictional family life and plastic feelings.

So why did she have to be drooling over the one man who could end it all with just one phone call? Why was he so different?

Okay, so he was probably the most real man she’d ever come across in her whole life. There was not one single thing about Tyson Steele that was plastic or phony. But she simply had to remember that the man was her boss, and she had no business thinking about him in any other way.

“Yeah?” he said with a half smile. “Well, it won’t seem so homey when the rain starts falling into the kitchen or the septic tank backs up.” Ty stood and stepped away from his desk. “Tell you what. If you can honestly help take the responsibility of fund-raising off my shoulders, I’ll spend the extra time fixing up that old cottage.”

“You wouldn’t hire it done? I mean, you’d do it yourself…with real hammers and tools and stuff? Don’t you have other businesses to run?”

He really chuckled this time and moved to the credenza. “Yes, I’d do it with real tools and stuff. Most of my other ventures run quite well without me now. I have excellent help. I only need to check up on them occasionally. That’s why I’ve had the time to devote to getting this charitable foundation up and running.”

Hesitating, he picked up a stack of pre-opened letters before he continued. “Fixing up old properties for resale was the way I made my first million. And I still like to be pretty hands-on when it comes to residential real estate. It relaxes me. Besides, I promised my aunt I’d help.”

Ty frowned down at the letters in his hand. “But as good as I am with tools and stuff, I’m absolutely terrible at acknowledging donations.”

He looked up then, staring at her as if trying to judge her capabilities. “The Lost Children Foundation is one of the most important things in my life, Merri. I’ve made more money in real estate and oil than fifty people could spend over a lifetime, but it will all be a waste if I can’t make a difference in abused or exploited children’s lives.”

She saw the honesty shining in his eyes, and suddenly noticed something else that looked a lot like pain buried deep within them, too. And her heart skipped another beat.

“Your foundation has already saved children…made a difference,” she said softly. “Mr. Jarvis, your attorney, explained it all when he hired me. What you’ve done, all that you’ve built for children. It’s quite impressive.”

Ty continued to stare at her for a moment, then nodded once and shoved the thick stack of letters into her hands. “Yes, well… Frank Jarvis told me you had some experience in nonprofit development. I hope that means you know how to send out thank-you letters, because a few of these donation letters date from six months ago.”

“Donors don’t feel appreciated when their generosity isn’t acknowledged,” she said with a disdainful frown. “How did you manage to fall so far behind?”

The smile that spread across his face this time was a wry one. “You aren’t the first person I’ve hired to fill this position.”

He raised an eyebrow and sighed in a self-deprecating way. “You’re the fourth…no fifth…young woman who has agreed to be my assistant. I was hoping one of them would eventually work into the Director of Development position I’ve been wanting to create. And take the burden of the everyday administration off my shoulders.

“Unfortunately, none of them lasted more than a few weeks—as you can probably tell by the state of things around here.”

“But why didn’t they last? The pay is fair and these offices are really plush. What made them all quit so fast?”

He started to shrug a shoulder but stopped midway and scowled. “I thought it was because this town is so out of the way and…backward. I mean, the nearest fashion mall is a three-hour drive away.”

Running a hand through his hair, Ty looked as if he was frustrated and confused. “But the last woman left screaming something about never again being taken in by such a handsome ogre. I guess that means she thought I was something I’m not. Or maybe the job was more than she bargained for.

“I don’t know for sure,” he added, finishing his shrug. “But I have always tried to be completely honest with everyone, and I expect that in return.”

Ty turned to retrieve his cowboy hat from its hanger on the wall behind the door. “I have an appointment now with my attorney and a new donor. I’ll be back in a few hours to check up on you and see that you get a lunch break.”

Honest. He would have had to say something like that. “Take your time,” she gulped. “I have plenty to do and I’ll be fine.”

He walked out with a quick nod but his words had made Merri nervous. She had to lie to him, to everyone, if she wanted to keep her freedom and her hard-won reality.

Two

There was a lot more to the unusual assistant than her outward appearance. Ty felt it in his gut. As he drove his Jeep down the block toward his attorney’s office, he went over what was bothering him about Merri.

It had seemed miraculous that he’d come back from New Orleans, discouraged at not being able to locate a new assistant, only to find that his attorney, Frank, had hired one right out of the blue.

And what an assistant this one was. All the other women—and it had always been women—who’d accepted the position had been stunning beauties with little knowledge of charitable organizations.

He’d wondered about that each time. In the first place, why would any single woman want to relocate to tiny out-of-the-way Stanville, Texas, and dedicate her life to helping a children’s charity? It hadn’t made any sense, even though he’d always hoped they would stay.

But this woman was…different from the others. Merri was businesslike and professional-looking, with her black pantsuit and sensible, low-heeled pumps. And she seemed genuinely interested in living in this two-bit town.

Stanville was his home. He loved it here and was truly grateful that he could leave the big cities behind, except for short visits, and come back to settle in the one place that had always felt welcoming. Ty had enough money to live wherever he wanted. And he wanted to be here.

But he still couldn’t get his head around why a nice young woman would want to bury herself here.

His thoughts went back to his new assistant. Her skin was fair and creamy, and she looked like she should be a natural blonde. But instead of highlighting whatever she had been born with, the hair that she’d pulled up in a tiny bun on the top of her head was dull and the color of an unattractive wood table. Brown. Just brown.

He’d never met any woman that seemed so unconcerned with her appearance. She didn’t wear any makeup or jewelry, which shouldn’t have seemed so out of place, but on her it did. She was tall and her body appeared to be as skinny as a toothpick. Though it was hard to really judge what her body looked like under the heavy suit jacket and pants.

It was her eyes that had most captured his attention. Hidden behind inch-thick, black-rimmed glasses, those deep-set windows to her soul were an incredible shade of green. They sparked as she controlled her displeasure with him and the unfamiliar surroundings, and sizzled when she studied him from under her ultra-thick lashes.

Emeralds. Yes, perhaps those eyes could be called the color of emeralds. Expensive and exclusive.

In total, there was something off about the picture Merri Davis presented to the world. He couldn’t quite say what yet. But given enough time, he would figure it out.

Ty parked, went into the attorney’s office and was ushered immediately into Frank’s conference room. The new donor they were expecting was a rich farmer from the panhandle and hadn’t arrived at the office just yet. But Frank was waiting for Ty, sitting at the far end of a conference table that was big enough to seat twenty.

Frank stood and shook his hand. “Sorry about your great-aunt Lucille Steele, Ty. But she was rather advanced in age, wasn’t she?”

Ty nodded and took a seat. “Yeah. And she died peacefully in her sleep. We should all be so lucky to go that way.

“But I do wish I could’ve talked to her one last time,” Ty continued. “I had an interesting experience with a gypsy while I was there and I would’ve loved to ask Lucille what she knew of her. Now I guess I’ll never know.”

“Interesting? You want to talk about it?” Frank sat down in his chair again and leaned back.

“Not much to say. She was a strange old lady who gave my cousin a book and gave me a mirror…then she just disappeared. I don’t know her reasons, but it feels wrong.”

“You want me to have a private investigator do a little digging? Maybe try to find her?”

“I guess so. I can give you the very few things I know about her later. But it really doesn’t seem terribly urgent now that I’m home. At the moment, I want to talk about the new assistant for fund-raising you hired while I was gone.”

“Merri? I think she’s the answer to all your problems. We were really lucky to get her.”

“That’s just it, Frank. How did we get her? I hadn’t been able to get so much as a nibble on anyone who was qualified and would also be willing to relocate this far out in the sticks. I was about to give up.”

Frank smiled. “Between us, we have now come up with five different women to take that job. And none of the first four worked out due to circumstances beyond our control. I was talking to…”

“Just a minute. It sounds like you might know why the other assistants quit. Do you?”

“I have a good idea,” Frank admitted. “In a couple of the cases I managed to conduct cursory exit interviews and checked with outside sources.”

He studied Ty for a minute, then continued. “It seems that most, if not all, those women had marriage and not employment in mind when they agreed to take the job.”

“Marriage?” It suddenly hit him what Frank must mean. “You mean to me?”

“Well, your picture has been in several of the state-wide Texas magazines as an eligible bachelor. Think about it. You’re filthy rich. Single. Good-looking…in a rough-and-tumble sort of way. Why wouldn’t a woman want to take her best shot at that?”

It took Ty a minute to get enough of his powers of speech back to make it clear why not. “I never gave any of those women…or anyone else for that matter, the impression that I was looking for a wife. I’m not.”

He fought to bring his voice under his command. “I have no intention of getting married. Not now. Not ever.”

Frank raised his eyebrows. “Never? That sounds like a broken heart talking. You want to tell me the story?”

“No.” It had been ten years since he’d given a single thought to his old college flame, Diane, and to what a fiasco becoming engaged to her had been. And he didn’t want to think about it now, either.

Instead he shifted the conversation back to the original question he’d had when he walked in the door. “I want you to explain why and how we found Merri Davis…and I want you to assure me that she won’t be like all the others. I want to know absolutely that she intends to stay in Stanville and doesn’t have designs on me.”

“I think you can tell by looking at her that she isn’t like all the others,” Frank said with a smile. “She’s refined and all business. You would do well to take some lessons from her in how to behave around donors. I believe she’s got the sophistication and the congeniality you lack. Try to absorb some of it, will you?”

Yeah, maybe. But there was still something about her that didn’t sit right….

“Anyway,” Frank continued, “I had been telling my old friend Jason Taylor—you remember the Taylor family from here? He’s been my best friend since grade school, even though he’s a hotshot attorney out in L.A. now.”

“Yes, I know of him. His mother and Jewel were best friends when they were girls. But what does he have to do with…?”

“Jason and I still talk a couple times a month. I’ve been keeping him up on local goings-on. Over the last year or so, I’ve told him of our utter frustration at not being able to hire a responsible…and qualified…person for the fund-raising position.

“Then a few days ago, Jason called and said he had the perfect applicant for the job and she would be willing to start immediately. I waited until she actually arrived and settled in before I called you about her.”

“Yes, yes. I don’t mind that you hired her without consulting me first. That she’s right for the job and is prepared to stick with it is all I care about.” Ty shifted and rested one of his booted feet against the other knee. “So tell me her background.”

“Jason told me he’s known her family since he moved to L.A. They must’ve been neighbors or something. He says he’s known Merri since she was a kid, and that she is a very serious and sober young woman who has experience with fund-raising. She took nonprofit management courses in college and has decided she wants to have a career in development. Her main ambition is to help those less fortunate.”

“Does she come from money?” Ty knew the suit and the shoes she wore looked expensive, but she still seemed so wrong in those clothes that he’d imagined she must’ve bought them at a consignment shop.

“I don’t think so. I believe Jason would’ve mentioned it. What he did say was that she didn’t care about the money. All she needed for a salary was enough to get by—which, as you are well aware, is not all that much in Stanville.”

Ty nodded in agreement. “Right. So again, I have to ask, why would a single young woman be willing to give up her friends and her family in order to come to a backwater town with almost no social life to speak of?”

“Who knows?” Frank shrugged and grinned. “I got the impression that she didn’t have much of a social life back in L.A. Maybe our friendly town will be all the high life she needs or wants.”

Ty didn’t think so, but finding out her true motivation was fast becoming a challenge. It was what made him push her and test her this morning, he knew. But he tried not to think of his own true motivations.

The woman simply fascinated him, and he refused to consider how dangerous that might really be.

“I always liked your great-aunt Lucille,” Jewel told Ty as she wiped down her kitchen counters. “Ever since she gave you the money to go to college and then to buy your first piece of property, I thought she was special, even though she wasn’t blood kin to me. I’m sorry she’s gone. So, her funeral was well attended?”

Ty opened Jewel’s refrigerator door and stood absently inspecting the contents the same way he had ever since he’d been a five-year-old kid. “The funeral was huge. I never realized my father’s side of the family had so many relatives. I guess I’m just used to you being the only one on my mother’s side.”

He bent to check the bottom shelves. “It seems that Lucille had some strange friends. I ran into a weird gypsy who gave me what she said was a magic mirror.”

“What? Was it a joke?” Jewel walked over, reached around him and pulled out the milk carton. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

Beaming, he took the carton from her and popped it open. “I’m not sure about the joke. I thought so at first. I mean, the mirror looks like an antique, but it has my name engraved in the gold leaf. And the actual mirror is nothing but plain glass. Frank’s checking it out for…”

“Hold it, mister,” Jewel interrupted as she kicked the refrigerator door closed and handed him a glass. “You can drink straight out of the carton at your own house when I’m not around…if you must. But I taught you better manners than that.”

Ty grimaced and poured the milk into the glass. “You sound like Frank. He says I need polish. Hell, I’ve got more money than ninety-five percent of the world, why do I need polish, too?” He tried to hold back a grin as his aunt scowled. “Besides, there’s nothing fit to eat or drink at my ranch.”

“And whose fault is that? You’re an adult. Go to the grocery store.” Jewel went to the teakettle on the stove and poured herself a cup.

Man, he really loved Jewel. It would never occur to her to suggest that either one of them hire servants to do the work—no matter how much money he had in the bank.

Ty ignored her remark, just like he ignored having to shop for food. He’d been too busy to do anything lately, what with trying to get the Nuevo Dias Children’s Home and the Lost Children Foundation off the ground and also overseeing his oil and real estate businesses.

And then that last-minute trip to Lucille’s funeral had really thrown him for a loop. He hated to think what might actually be growing in his refrigerator.

“I met Merri Davis this morning,” he said with an effort to change the subject. “She’s hard at work in the Foundation office as we speak.”

“What did you think of her?” Jewel asked. “I thought she was just adorable.”

“Adorable?” With that severe bun, those thick glasses and sensible shoes? All he’d seen was a practical and shy woman whose ugly thick glasses had been hiding sexy green eyes. But he had enough sense to keep his mouth shut.

Jewel clucked her tongue at him anyway. “Merri Davis may not be a raving beauty, but she has other charms that make her very special. I swear, Tyson, you only seem to take notice of people’s outward appearance. Just like that horrible Diane person you were engaged to in college. I would’ve thought that experience had taught you a lesson.”

She shook her head. “You are not really that shallow. No one I love can be that superficial.”

He groaned and swiped his mouth with the back of his hand—which earned him another cluck from his aunt’s tongue, along with a paper towel.

“I thought you were happy when I asked Diane to marry me in college,” he said without challenging Jewel’s shallow remark. God. He hadn’t thought about that terrible lying witch, Diane, in years. And now he’d been faced with the disastrous memories twice in one day.

“No, I was glad for you when you seemed to be so happy for once.” Jewel walked over and put her hand on his arm. “I know the pain of losing your parents is always there, right behind that wicked smile of yours. I see it, son. Even if you won’t admit it.”

Now she was about to hit on something he absolutely refused to dwell on. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mom and Dad’s accident was a long time ago. There’s no pain left after twenty-five years. You did a good job of raising me. I’m a happy man.”

“All right. We won’t talk about it if you don’t want to.” She released his arm and sighed. “I do want you to find someone to love, though. But I didn’t believe that Diane was the one to make you really happy. And it turned out I was right. She was all frosting and no cake.”

Ty pitched the towel in the trash and set the glass down so he could wrap his arms around Jewel. “From now on, you tell me what you think, okay? I trust your judgment.” And he would’ve given just about anything not to have had his heart ripped out by Diane. “But I don’t imagine I’ll be finding love with anyone but you. I frankly just don’t have the time. I hardly have enough time to eat.”

Jewel turned in his arms. “Is that a hint? Are you hungry?”

He kissed her on the top of the head and released her. “Naw. I need to get back to the Foundation office. I promised I’d go back to check on Merri’s work and make sure she took a lunch break. I’m a little late.”

“Lunch? Tyson Adams Steele, it’s nearly two o’clock. You are not allowed to starve my new renter. Not when she’s paid me two months in advance.”

He chuckled at the stern look on his aunt’s face. “And that’s another thing. I thought we decided you wouldn’t rent out that old cottage I gave you until I had a chance to make sure it was habitable.”

“That’s your opinion, Tyson. I think it’s fine. The few things left to do can be done when you have the time. And there really wasn’t anywhere else for Merri to live in town. You know the nearest apartment complex is miles away in Edinburg.”

Jewel pointed to a kitchen chair. “Now sit a minute. I’ll make a few sandwiches and put some potato salad in containers. You take them back to the office so both you and Merri can have a decent break.”

She opened the refrigerator door. “You can nag at me about the cottage while I’m working if you must. But I’ll warn you that I won’t be too remorseful. I’ve told you I can hire someone to finish the restoration if you’re too busy.

“Merri needed a place to live and I needed to make some rent money to pay for the new appliances,” Jewel continued. “And on top of that, she’s a lovely person with terrific manners. You would do well to listen to Frank and take some pointers.”

Merri licked the flap on the last envelope and pressed it down to seal. She sat back in Ty’s chair and inspected her work.

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 clean-up 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.

“Did you get a start on those thank-you letters?” he asked, trying to put the lap dance out of his head for the moment. Anything would be better than standing here with his tongue hanging out while he stared at those magical eyes.

“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 tongue 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.

She’d come up with this desperate plan to both get away from the ravages of the paparazzi and to step into life in a very real way. Leaving modeling was no hardship. She’d hated the life they’d expected her to maintain. And leaving the lifestyle of her parents had been a longtime dream.

This opportunity that her lawyer had uncovered, the chance to do something for the Lost Children Foundation, was going to be her break from that former vapid existence. It was her opportunity to do something real…be someone…with real thoughts and feelings.

This evening she’d met with Jewel’s garden club and agreed to help them give their modeling show and luncheon. Fortunately, Tally Washburn was more than willing to oversee the luncheon details. Now there was a real administrator—or maybe a commandant would be a better description.

And Ty’s aunt Jewel had browbeaten a couple of the women into rounding up suspects for the mother-daughter modeling positions. This whole fashion show idea was going to work out all right. They had six weeks to pull it off.

It was just her relationship to Ty that Merri was having trouble dealing with. When she’d first come to this town and rented the cottage, the only thing she’d wanted was to be alone.

Well, to do her job the best she could, and to be alone. Far away from the runways, nightspots and microphones. Far away from the phonies of the world.

So…as much as Merri hated lying to Ty and having to hide out, she was willing to do anything for her one chance at a new life. And that included ignoring the sensual sensations she’d felt whenever he looked in her direction.

Okay. Maybe she could do that. But how on earth was she going to teach him to become less brash and uncivilized as his attorney had suggested? That was one job that might be a lot tougher than even she could handle.

Relationships, any kind of real relationships, were out of her experience. But phony ones—now there was a place where she excelled.

She smiled to herself when she thought of her recently broken engagement. Poor Brad. The tabloids were no doubt having a field day at his expense…and hers.

At first, she’d been more than willing to let herself become his tabloid girlfriend in order to throw the paparazzi off the trail of his real relationship. Brad was a good guy and she’d never minded lying to reporters—until the paparazzi caught him with his boyfriend.

But lying was exactly her problem. Eventually, her whole life had become one big, pixiedust-filled lie. Nothing but fluff. When another model she’d thought of as a friend taunted that she wouldn’t recognize real human beings if she fell over them, Merri decided that it was time to get out of her old life and find a new one.

The phone rang and broke the silence that she’d been enjoying. She blinked and wondered if it was one of the women volunteers she’d met earlier. She’d deliberately left her cell phone behind in L.A. It was too easy to trace.

Maybe tomorrow she would go to the discount store and buy an answering machine so she could monitor her calls. Heaven forbid if a reporter found her phone number and dialed her up to check.

When she did answer, a familiar voice was on the other end. “Did you manage to eat dinner, or did the garden club keep you tied up all night?”

Tyson Steele. That low, masculine voice was impossible to forget. It ran shivers over her skin and set fire to a tiny bubble of warmth low in her groin that threatened to explode at any moment. But she hadn’t expected him to call.

“Don’t you say hello before you begin your conversations? You’re not my mother, just my boss.”

Oops, that sounded a little too smart-mouthed for something that Merri Davis would say. He was her boss and she needed to try to remember it. Maybe the low, sensual sound of his voice had pulled a plug in her mind and her brain had drained.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, before he could say another word. “But you took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting you to call after working hours.”

After a moment of silence, Ty cleared his throat and began again. “Hello, Miss Davis. Good evening. I understand from my aunt that you were late coming home from the garden club meeting. I was concerned that you might’ve had to miss your dinner.”

“No, Mr. Steele, I did not miss dinner. I fixed myself something when I got home.”

Another moment’s silence dragged along on the other end of the line. “Could we go back to Ty and Merri?” he finally asked. “I didn’t mean to sound so brusque, but my aunt was worried.”

“Your aunt?”

“All right. I was worried, too. I promised Jewel I’d see to your welfare, and I intend to keep that promise.”

She smiled, charmed by his concern, but glad he couldn’t see her to know it. “Don’t think you need to take me on as some kind of mission. I’m an adult.”

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