Lady Love

“In all fairness to him,” Merlyn replied, “he couldn’t have expected to find me wandering the halls. I was going to make myself a cup of hot chocolate, but after all this excitement, I’m so exhausted I think I’ll be able to sleep without it.”

“You’ll love it here when the rains stop,” Lila promised. “I’ve lived on the lake for four years now, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s so peaceful. And when the weather begins to get warm, as it will be soon, there will be sailboats dotting the lake.”

“I’ve seen the lake from the road many times,” Merlyn murmured, not wanting to mention her friend Dick’s enormous house, which was right on the lake. “It provides drinking water for Atlanta and the metro area, as well as being a marvelous recreational facility. Isn’t that right?”

Lila smiled. “My, you seem quite familiar with the area already. Sleep well, my dear.”

“You, too.”

Merlyn shot one last glance down the hall before she went into her room and quickly closed the door. Talk about flies in the ointment! Cameron Thorpe was going to be trouble, and she had a feeling that his lady friends were going to foul things up, too. All her confidence in being able to maintain her new identity was draining away. She’d have to be on her guard every minute, or she’d blow her cover. It looked as if this job wasn’t going to be the plum she’d first expected it to be.

Well, she thought with a sigh, as she climbed into bed and pulled up the covers, perhaps things will improve tomorrow.

***

They didn’t. The next morning, which dawned clear and warm, Cameron Thorpe was sitting at the breakfast table on the patio with his mother when Merlyn walked in. The look he gave her would have stopped traffic.

His dark eyes—they were almost black at close range, deep-set under a jutting brow—ran up and down Merlyn’s slender figure. She was dressed in faded blue jeans and a flaming orange pullover T-shirt that read “Kiss me, I’m a frog!” Her long black hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes were a pale, sparkling green. She wasn’t beautiful like her late mother, but she had delicate features and a perfect figure, and normally she dressed with a flair that set her apart. Today, however, she’d deliberately worn her most outlandish T-shirt, hoping to get a rise out of Mr. Conservative. And she did. Immediately.

“Do you normally dress like that?” Cameron asked.

“Why, yes, when I’m not going naked,” she replied with a careless smile. She stared at him. He was wearing a dark business suit with a dark tie and a white shirt. She’d have bet that he had a closet full of them, all alike.

“More eggs, Cameron?” Lila asked quickly as Merlyn sat down and helped herself to toast and coffee.

“No, thanks,” he said, and his eyes never left Merlyn. His face was broad and hard, his nose was formidable, and he had a jaw as square as the way he dressed.

“Sizing me up?” Merlyn asked “I wear size ten slacks and a medium T-shirt. And there’s nothing underneath,” she whispered, leaning forward.

He came as close to a flush as she’d ever seen a man come, and his black eyes glittered at her. “I don’t find your attitude amusing,” he said curtly. “And I won’t have my daughter subjected to remarks like that.”

“Amanda isn’t downstairs yet,” Merlyn told him, “and you’re hardly a child.” She studied him. “Mrs. Thorpe said you were a banker.”

“Yes,” he said, sounding as if he found speaking to her distasteful.

“How exciting,” she murmured, stifling a yawn.

“Where did you take your degree?” he asked out of the blue.

“The University of Georgia.”

“Did you specialize?” he persisted, as he sipped his coffee.

“Not really,” she returned. “I enjoy ancient history as well as other periods.”

“What qualifies you to be a research assistant?” he chided. “Do you have references?”

“Are you the reincarnation of the Spanish Inquisition?” she shot back. “Really, Mr. Thorpe, my qualifications satisfied your mother.”

“They certainly did,” Lila seconded. She frowned. “Cameron, I’ve never known you to be so rude to a guest!”

“We’ve never had a guest like this,” he said, glancing up and down Merlyn’s figure.

“How sad for you.” Merlyn smiled. “But, at long last, here I am!”

“I’ve got to make a phone call,” he muttered, glaring at Merlyn as he got to his feet. “Five more minutes of Jane Eyre there, and I’ll be searching for a blunt instrument.”

“How kinky,” Merlyn said, grinning. “Usually men are wildly excited when they get to that point. Are you by any chance trying to seduce me over the scrambled eggs?”

His mother had already turned away with a napkin over her mouth.

“If I were eighty with terminal acne, I wouldn’t be so desperate,” he replied.

“You’ll be heartbroken when you realize what you’re passing up,” Merlyn called after him.

The hall door slammed behind him, and Lila made strangled sounds in her napkin.

“Poor Cameron,” Lila said finally. “He’s so domineering with women.”

“Not this one,” Merlyn informed her smugly. “I’m a free spirit. Basically, I hate men.”

“Is there a reason?”

Merlyn smiled. “Yes. A fiancé who turned out to be Dracula. I broke the engagement, and now I’m trying to get myself back together.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” Merlyn said. “I was ready to settle down. I’m twenty-six, after all. I wouldn’t mind a husband and children. But it’s going to take some time to forget what happened.”

“You’re still young, my dear,” Lila said with a smile.

“So I am,” Merlyn agreed. Then she changed the subject. “Where are we going to work? Inside?” she asked, casting a wary eye toward the house.

“That wouldn’t be intelligent, would it?” Lila laughed. “I can see you now, hurling things at Cameron!”

“Only a few sticks of furniture,” Merlyn protested. She sighed. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Thorpe, I’ll get used to him. After all, I got used to asparagus and squash casserole.”

Lila laughed merrily. “Call me Lila, not Mrs. Thorpe. And, yes, I think you’ll get used to my son, and he to you, in time. It will do him good to learn that not every woman thinks he’s the final authority.” She got to her feet. “Since it’s so warm, we’ll hash out some preliminaries here on the patio,” she added. “I’ll get my legal pad, and you can fetch those history books I watched you lug up the staircase yesterday.”

“I’ll get them right now,” Merlyn said.

Minutes later she came back downstairs with an armload of books, fortunately without running into the lord of the manor.

“Amanda’s late this morning,” Merlyn remarked as she seated herself at the little white table.

“Yes, but not unusually so,” Lila said with a smile. She sat down across from Merlyn. “With school out for spring holidays, she doesn’t get up until eleven.” She sighed, and the smile faded. “Poor child, she’s so lonely. Cameron has very little time.…”

“He could make time, if he wanted to,” Merlyn said quietly. “My own childhood was lonely. My mother died when I was about Amanda’s age, and my father missed her terribly. Instead of turning to me, he turned to his work. It wasn’t until I was well into my teens that he suddenly discovered he was a parent. We’ve grown closer, but there was quite a gulf between us during those first few years without Mama.”

“I’m afraid that Cameron’s work is his whole life,” Lila said. She stared at her slender, elegant hand on the table. “His late wife was not the kind of person he needed. Marcia was wildly exciting, I suppose, but not at all domestic. She hated children. If Cameron hadn’t threatened to toss her to the press, she’d have had an abortion. She left him just after Amanda was born. She was killed several years later in an automobile accident. A tragic affair, all around.”

“Did Amanda know her at all?” Merlyn asked.

“No. Marcia considered Amanda a liability, not an asset. She’s not the most beautiful child in the world, despite her sweet nature and kind heart. Although I doubt Marcia would have wanted her anyway. She just didn’t have any maternal instinct at all.”

“How sad,” Merlyn said quietly. “And it’s even sadder that her father gives her so little of himself. He’ll regret that one day.”

“He probably will. But he doesn’t listen to advice, my dear.”

“I noticed,” Merlyn replied dryly.

“Keep right on ruffling him, Merlyn,” the older woman said. “Maybe it will help.”

“Oh, that doesn’t take much effort—ruffling him,” she assured her colleague. “I have a feeling my very existence is enough to do the trick.”

***

They were hard at work, discussing possibilities for fictional characters during the reign of Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor line, when Amanda came downstairs. Lila was right, Merlyn thought. The little girl favored her father, and she was nobody’s idea of beautiful. God bless her, she was gangly and thin and nervous, and those huge eyes swallowed her face. Probably when she grew up, she’d surprise everybody by being a beauty, though. Often it was the ugly ducklings who made the most beautiful swans—simply by taking advantage of what they had and making the most of it.

“Good morning,” Merlyn said brightly, and smiled.

Amanda smiled, too. It was hard not to, when their visitor had such a contagiously sunny disposition.

“Good morning, Miss Merlyn,” she said. “Good morning, Grandmama.”

“Have you had breakfast?” Lila asked the child.

“No, ma’am,” Amanda murmured. She sat down on the glider, her hands folded on her skirt, her long hair in neat pigtails, her blouse spotless.

“Why not?” Lila prodded.

“I didn’t like to ask Mrs. Simms to fix it just for me,” Amanda said shyly.

“Nonsense,” Lila said. “Tilly doesn’t mind. And, Amanda, it isn’t as if we don’t pay her. Now go and ask for what you want.”

“But I’m not hungry,” the child insisted.

Lila sighed heavily. “Oh, Amanda, you’re just skin and bones.”

“She certainly is,” Cameron boomed, joining them. His dark, unsmiling eyes studied his daughter’s thinness. “Get in the house and eat,” he said curtly.

“Yes, Father,” Amanda said in a subdued tone. She got up without raising her eyes and went back into the house.

“My, what a way you have with children, Mr. Thorpe,” Merlyn said sweetly. “All the diplomacy of a rocket launcher, in fact!”

“Shut up,” he told her coldly, his dark eyes daring her to make another statement.

She got to her feet “Look here,” she said, “you may order Amanda around, but I’m a big girl. I’m here to work, not to…”

“Then why don’t you work, Miss Forrest, and leave my daughter’s upbringing to me?” he asked coolly.

“Mr. Thorpe…!” she persisted.

“Your duties include research, I believe, Miss Forrest, not child psychology?” Cameron went on, not giving his mother a chance to interfere.

Merlyn’s green eyes glittered at him. “My father used to be just like you,” she said angrily. “All work, all ice. I grew up on the mercy of neighbors. I wonder how you’re going to feel when Amanda is old enough to leave home, and if she’ll say the same things to you that I said to my father?”

He gave her one last glare before he turned and went back into the house, slamming the door behind him.

“Oh, my,” Lila murmured.

“Sorry,” Merlyn grumbled as she sat back down. “He makes me so mad! I did have a lot of terrible things to say to my father at one time. We’re good friends now, but we weren’t always. He and your son would get along just fine.”

“Yes, well, I’m sorry about all this,” Lila said. “He isn’t the most relaxing person to work around, even if he is my son.”

“I had no right to say those things to him,” Merlyn said after a minute, cooler now. “I’ll apologize, if you like.”

“And make him even more smug than he already is?” Lila exclaimed. “You will not!”

Merlyn laughed. “All right, then.”

Amanda came back minutes later, looking puzzled yet happy. “Daddy sat with me while I had breakfast,” she said. “He hasn’t done that in a long time. He even talked to me.”

Merlyn and Lila exchanged shocked, faintly amused glances before they got back to work.

Chapter Three

Lila scribbled on a yellow legal pad and Amanda played quietly with a doll, while Merlyn dug into several volumes of information on the Tudors. But her mind was wandering, tugged away unwillingly by the conversation she’d had with Cameron earlier.

My, my, wouldn’t Cameron Thorpe’s eyes bulge if he could see her as she really was? She pursed her lips and fantasized about coming down the staircase of her father’s town house in her white Bill Blass original with her blue fox boa draped lovingly over her bare shoulders, her hair in a high coiffure with a diamond tiara, and her mother’s diamond necklace and earrings gracing her milky complexion.…

She shook herself. Why destroy his illusions? Let him think what he liked.

“You said the history of the English Kings had always fascinated you. Why?” Lila asked, interrupting Merlyn’s mental wanderings.

She almost told the older woman the truth—that her own family history could be traced back to the time of the Plantagenets and Tudors. But that would be giving away far too much.

“Actually, I had a cousin who was British,” she said. Well, it was the truth.

“One you had a crush on?” Lila pursued.

Merlyn pursed her lips and smiled, thinking about that cousin—Richard the Lion-Hearted—and the dashing picture he made in fact and fiction. “You might say that,” she agreed.

“You must tell me all about him one day.” Lila sighed as she studied her notes. “This is going to be quite a feat when I really get started. I’ve only just roughed out the main characters. Merlyn, I’m fascinated by Uncle Jasper.”

“The one who was responsible for Henry VII’s accession to the throne?” Merlyn laughed delightedly. “I’m finding great material on him. During the War of the Roses, he took his brother’s widow, Margaret Beaumont, to his own castle at Pembroke and provided for her while she gave birth to his nephew Henry, who was to become Henry VII—father of Henry VIII. Jasper lost his fortune in the War of the Roses, conducted something of a commando campaign against the Yorks and eventually rescued Henry Tudor from them. Henry, you see, was the last surviving male of the Lancastrian line. Their great enemies were the Yorks. Those were the two factions that fought the War of the Roses.

“But to get back to Jasper, he and Henry spent quite a while imprisoned in Brittany until the death of Edward IV, whose sons were captured by Richard III—remember him? Anyway, a faction arose to support Henry’s bid for the throne, with the help of some political maneuvering by his mother, Margaret Beaumont. Uncle Jasper helped to raise an army, which marched finally into battle against Richard III. Richard was killed after a valiant defense, and Henry married Edward IV’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, uniting the Lancasters and Yorks and ending the War of the Roses.”

Lila caught her breath. “You do have it down pat, don’t you?”

“Not nearly as well as I’d like to,” Merlyn confessed. “There are a lot of questions about Jasper that I haven’t found answers to yet. But he seems to have lived to a ripe old age and regained his fortunes.”

Lila pursed her lips and frowned. She tapped her pencil on the legal pad. “What a fascinating man. Do you suppose…” Her eyes cut sideways.

“Why not?” Merlyn grinned. “A fictional character patterned after him would be a natural. And the period is fascinating, as you’ll see when we get further into it. I’m getting so caught up in it that I actually feel as if I can experience it in my mind.”

“You should try writing,” Lila told her. “I feel the same way about my fictional people and the periods they inhabit. This is the first time I’ve dabbled in this particular period of English history, but I’m delighted that we discovered each other.”

“So am I,” came the fervent reply. “I’m enjoying it more than I can tell you.”

“I’m very glad.”

“I’ve been a fan of yours for years,” Merlyn told the older woman. “I do so enjoy the love scenes,” she confessed sheepishly.

Lila laughed. “And I still do them blindfolded, because they embarrass me so!” she confessed.

“I’ll bet they don’t embarrass Miss Forrest,” came a deep, unpleasant voice from the walkway between the rose garden and the patio.

Merlyn looked up with arched eyebrows. “Is that wishful thinking?” she asked conversationally, “because you’d like to do one with me? Well, Mr. Rochester, you’re not bad-looking at all, but, honestly, I did come up here to work,” she told him with a sly smile.

His eyes got darker. He was wearing a green pullover knit designer shirt with tan slacks, and despite his size he looked trim and elegant. “Are you ever serious?”

“When I balance my bank statement. It’s enough to make me grim,” she lied.

“Did you want something, dear?” Lila asked before the conversation had a chance to deteriorate even more.

Reluctantly, he shifted his gaze to his mother. “Delle and Charlotte are on their way up. I thought you’d like to know before they walked in. They can only stay overnight. Delle has to fly to France in the morning to join her brother in Nice for a few days.”

“Lovely place, Nice,” Merlyn sighed. “Blue skies, white beaches…”

“How would you know?” Cameron scoffed.

Oops, she thought, smiling to conceal her lapse. “You don’t believe that I might spend holidays there?” she asked innocently.

“I do not,” he said bluntly, and his stare told her that he didn’t think she could afford a bus ticket to Atlanta, much less a plane ticket to France.

She shrugged. “Well, then, I won’t bore you with tales of summers in my father’s villa there.”

He ignored her. “I’ve asked Tilly to go to extra pains for dinner this evening,” he continued. “And we’ll dress. Charlotte and Delle are used to proper attire at dinner.” He gave Merlyn a hard look. “They’re from Charleston. Old money.”

Merlyn let her jaw drop to show that she was suitably impressed.

“I would appreciate it, Miss Forrest,” he added, “if you could manage to control your rather unusual sense of humor during the visit. The Radners are rather special to me.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, sir, I know my place,” Merlyn assured him.

He looked as if he’d never smiled. Poor man, she thought, probably he never had. She wondered what he was like in bed. He probably was less adventurous than Merlyn, and Merlyn was a virgin. She grinned at the thought of Cameron without clothes.

“When I said dress,” he added, “I meant formal dress.”

“I have this neat sweat shirt with lace on it.…” Merlyn began.

“But, Cameron,” Lila was protesting, “Merlyn shouldn’t be expected to…”

“Oh, really, I have plans for the evening,” Merlyn assured them, with a smile for her dark adversary. “In any case, since I came without my Bill Blass originals, it’s probably for the best. Don’t worry, I won’t be around to embarrass you in front of the Radners. I like staying out late at night. Until the wee hours.”

“Not here,” he told her. “You’ll be in by midnight, Miss Forrest. House rules. I don’t intend having my routine interrupted by you.”

She glared up at him hotly. “I will stay out as late as I like, Mr. Thorpe,” she returned. “These are not Victorian times, and you are most certainly not my master. As for dressing up for dinner…”

“Merlyn, you are most welcome to sit down to my table naked, if you like,” Lila interrupted.

“What a marvelous thought!” Merlyn laughed, rising to the occasion. She grinned at Cameron, who was getting madder by the minute. “You’re turning purple,” she added.

He drew in a slow breath, and his black eyes made threats. “Keep pushing,” he said quietly, “and see what happens.”

Her eyes widened. “I can hardly wait!”

With a harsh sigh, he turned on his heel and stalked off.

Lila grinned. “What a repressed boy I raised,” she murmured. “I had such plans for Cam, but his father stole him away from me in his formative years. Being dragged around the world and ridiculed at every turn has left its mark on him, I’m afraid.” She stared after him wistfully. “His father hurt him, belittled him. He wanted Cam to be strong and shrewd—well, he’s that. But my husband managed to take almost all the tenderness out of him. And what he left behind, Marcia destroyed with her cruelty.” She shook her head. “Cam’s had a hard life. But if he marries Delle, it can only get worse.”

“Is she that bad?” Merlyn asked, momentarily sympathetic.

“Oh, my dear,” Lila sighed, shaking her head mournfully. “I had such high hopes that he’d settle down one day—he’s nearing forty, you know. But I had hoped for a daughter-in-law who would be…” She glanced warily at Amanda, who was lost in her doll and its expensive accessories. “…different from Delle.”

“Different, how?” Merlyn asked, fascinated.

“You’ll see, I’m afraid,” came the weary reply.

***

The remark turned out to be prophetic. Merlyn had already decided that the best thing for her to do would be to go into Gainesville for the rest of the day while the Radners were in residence. She’d had enough of Cameron Thorpe’s disapproving glare for one day, and Lila had already told her it would be impossible to get any more work done with the guests around. The older woman had sighed wistfully when Merlyn made her decision known, and muttered that she’d like to go, too.

Merlyn walked out into the hall in her tasseled Mexican poncho with a green long-sleeved cotton blouse and white slacks, and stopped dead when she got her first look at Delle Radner.

Thin and dainty, with Shirley Temple blonde hair and over-mascaraed blue eyes, Cameron’s girlfriend was dressed as if she’d just been to a cocktail party or was headed for one. Her dress was a black street-length silk Charmeuse, obviously a designer model, with lavish floral lace inserts at the neckline and cuffs. Against her delicate fairness, it was devastating, and she had to know it. Her accessories were equally flawless, black snakeskin sling-back pumps and a matching purse. She was speaking to Cameron in low, girlish tones, and her full red lips were pouting up at him. Cameron, in a black dinner jacket, was looking irritated. And devastating. He would have graced the most chic establishment. Even Merlyn couldn’t help feeling a ripple of pleasure at the picture he made.

She jerked herself back to reality. This man was trouble, and she wanted no part of him. Besides, she wasn’t here to cozy up to Cameron the Cold. She was little more than an employee. The thought made her giggle, and she hid her mouth behind her elegantly kept hand.

The giggle drew unwanted attention. She felt two hostile pairs of eyes on her and made the most of her inbred composure. “Well, hi there,” she said breathily, entering the living room with a toss of her long, exquisite hair. “You must be Delle,” she told the blonde. “I’ve just heard so much about you!” She held out her hand, and Delle took it with a patronizing smile as her blue eyes assessed Merlyn’s apparel.

“You are…?” Delle asked politely.

“Merlyn Forrest,” Cameron supplied coldly. “She’s helping my mother with a new book.”

“Oh, are you a writer?” Delle’s eyebrows went up.

“No. I have a degree in history,” Merlyn replied.

Delle blinked. “I thought only men got those,” she said with a tittering little laugh.

“Oddly enough, women do, too,” Merlyn replied. She glanced at Cameron with a twitch of her lips. “Although some of them leave the halls of academia to work for striking dark men.…”

“Were you going somewhere, Miss Forrest?” Cameron asked with venom in every word.

“Why, yes,” she told him. “Into Gainesville to pick up men.”

Lila walked in on that last mischievous statement and chuckled. “May I go, too?” she asked.