Reining In The Billionaire

The woman’s overt interest wasn’t something Mason was comfortable with—he preferred women more natural than Liza—but rubbing EvaMarie the wrong way was worth encouraging it. Besides, he and his brother were gonna need contacts. Liza’s expensive jewelry spoke to money, her confident demeanor to upper class breeding. “I’m new to the area.” He glanced across the table so he could see EvaMarie’s face. “Or rather, returning after a long absence.”

“Oh? And what brings you here?” So far she had completely ignored EvaMarie beside her, but now she cast a quick glance down. “Surely not little EvaMarie Homebody.”

Okay, this wasn’t as fun. Mason narrowed his gaze but kept his smile in place. For some reason, it was perfectly acceptable for him to pick on EvaMarie—after all, Mason justified that he had a reason for his little barbs—but this woman’s comment seemed uncalled for.

“The area’s rich in racing history,” he explained. “My brother and I are setting up our own stables.”

“Oh, there’s two of you?”

No substance, all flirt. Mason was getting bored. “Lovely to meet you, but if you’ll excuse us, we were discussing business.”

“Business?” She threw a sideways glance at EvaMarie, who looked a little surprised herself. “Well, that makes more sense.”

Liza giggled, leaning forward in such a way to give Mason a good look into her not-so-modest cleavage. He couldn’t help but compare the in-your-face sexuality and lack of subtlety in a woman he had just met with the image of soft womanhood sitting beside her. EvaMarie was smartly dressed, and yes, he detected a hint of cleavage, but she hadn’t flashed it in his face in order to get what she wanted. Of course, that thought reminded him of just how much of her cleavage he’d seen...and how much he’d like to see it again. Sort of a compare-and-contrast thing. He remembered her as eager to learn anything he’d been willing to teach her—did she still need a teacher?

Mason quickly reined himself in. There was no point in going there, since he had no plans to revisit that old territory. No matter how tempting it might be. Besides, EvaMarie was looking stoic again. Maybe he should relent—a little.

He stood, then pulled a business card out of his inner jacket pocket. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Liza,” he said, handing the card over. “I hope I’ll get to see you again soon.”

Liza grinned, then reached into the clutch at her side for a pen, wrote on the card and handed it back. “So do I,” she said, then flounced back to a table across the floor where several other women were waiting.

EvaMarie had turned to watch her go, then groaned as she caught sight of the other women seated at Liza’s table, all of whom were craning their necks to get a good look. “Well, I hope you’re ready to announce your presence, because it’s gonna be all over town in about two hours.”

“That’s the plan,” Mason murmured. A glance at the card revealed Liza’s cell phone number. With a grin because he knew how much it would annoy EvaMarie, he slipped the card back into his pocket. “Now, where were we?”

The pained look that slipped over her face as she opened her mouth, probably to start from the beginning, made him feel like a jerk. So he broke in before she could speak.

“Let me see what I can do,” he said. Not a concrete answer, but he needed time to think. And a few more days of worry wouldn’t hurt her.

* * *

Dang it!

How come Mason Harrington had to show up every time she looked like a dusty mess? Here she was desperately trying to pack like a madwoman with only five days to move, and he was interrupting with his loud, insistent knocking.

She seriously considered leaving him there on the doorstep, especially since it was raining. Her nerves were strained from the physical labor, emotional stress and learning everything she needed to navigate while losing their home, but a lifetime of training had her opening the door.

But she only forced herself to produce a strained smile. After all, she was exhausted.

“Mason, what can I do for you?”

His lazy smile was way too tempting. “That’s not very welcoming.”

It wasn’t meant to be. And she refused to be lured in by his teasing—a long time ago it had been a surefire way to shake her out of a bad mood. Instead of saying what she thought, she simply focused on keeping her smile in place. But she didn’t move.

He didn’t own the place yet.

“Come on, EvaMarie. Let me in,” he added, a playful pleading look to his grin. “I have an offer that will make it worth your while.”

She hesitated, then stepped back, because continuing to keep him out was bad manners. That was the only reason. Not that she should care, but a lifetime of parental admonishments kept her in check.

Mason took a good look around the high-ceilinged foyer with its slim crystal chandelier, then walked farther down to peek into a few other rooms on either side.

“Wow. You’ve made progress.” His voice echoed in the now empty spaces.

That’s because I’m working my tail off. But again, that was impolite to say, so she held her tongue. She didn’t bite it, because she had enough pain right now. Though she’d taken on a large amount of the physical work around the estate, it had not prepared her for all the lifting, dragging and pulling of packing up her childhood home. Her muscles cried out every night for a soak in her mother’s deep tub, but even that didn’t relieve the now constant ache in her arms, thighs and back. Definitely hard on her back but great for weight loss.

He glanced down the hallway toward the back of the house. “Is your father here?”

She shook her head. “Why? Worried?”

“Nope.” Again with the cute grin, which was making her suspicious. Why was he being so nice? “Just didn’t figure it was good for him to get all riled up.”

For some reason, she felt the need to defend her parent, even though Mason was right. “He hardly ever does anymore. Not like he used to. He had a heart episode about six years back that forcibly taught him the consequences of not controlling his temper.” She gave him a saccharine smile. “I guess you’re just special.” Or inspired a special kind of hatred maybe.

“Always have been,” he said. If he’d caught the insult, he let it roll off him.

His nonchalant handling of everything she said made her even angrier. Luckily, she was used to holding her emotions deep inside.

“Actually, I finished moving them to an assisted living facility yesterday.”

Mason’s raised eyebrow prompted her to explain. “I chose to put them there because at least I’ll know there’s someone to look out for them. Even though I feel that someone should be me.” The place had cost a small fortune, but she was hoping being out from under the crippling mortgage payments would help. Now, what did she do about herself? Well, she hadn’t figured that out yet.

Hopefully she’d find something soon, or she might just break down in a panic attack. She hadn’t been kidding when she said the first and last month’s rental deposits put most places out of her range. The fact that she didn’t even have friends she could call on to let her sleep on their couch made her feel lost and alone.

“Do you work?” Mason asked.

The change in conversation came from out of the blue. “What?”

“A job. Do you have one?”

His tone implied she didn’t even know what one was. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him about the new career she was building. He would probably think she was crazy or arrogant to believe she could make a living off her unique voice.

“Taking care of my parents and this place was my job,” she answered, even though most people didn’t view it that way. Mason probably wouldn’t either, even though it had been damn harder than a lot of things she could have done. And asking one of the families they knew in the area for a job would have meant exposing her parents’ failure to their world. She’d chosen not to go against their wishes.

True to form, Mason asked, “How’d that work out for you?”

“I did the best I could,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Think you could do better with a better boss and actual resources?”

Now she was really confused. “What?”

He turned away, once again inspecting the rooms. “My brother and I have plans—big plans. To establish our stables is a simple matter of quality stock, training and talent.” He turned back, giving her a glimpse of his passion for this project. Guess buying this estate wasn’t only about revenge.

“Establishing a reputation—that’s a whole different story,” he said, his gaze narrowing, “and we don’t have the breeding to back it up.”

She knew all too well how hard it was to keep and make contacts within society here—after all, her father had kept his illness a secret in order to protect his own social reputation. It took two things to break into the inner circle around here: breeding and money. Preferably both. But they’d accept just the money if someone was filthy rich.

“We can fast-track it—after all, money makes a big first impression.”

A surreal feeling swept through EvaMarie. Honestly, she couldn’t imagine she was talking to the same boy who’d held her so long ago. Sure, he’d talked horses and racing. She’d known he’d wanted to own his own stables one day—but money had never come up. Then.

They’d both been naïve to think it hadn’t mattered.

“Which means we will be turning this into a showplace,” Mason said, sweeping his hand to indicate the room.

“What does that have to do with me?”

He cocked his head to the side, a lock of his thick hair falling over his forehead. “You’ve lived here all your life?”

She nodded, afraid to speak. His sudden attention made her feel like a wild animal being lowered into a trap.

“I bet you know this place better than anyone.”

“The house and the land,” she said, feeling a pang of sadness she forced herself to ignore.

“So you could come to work for me. Help with the renovations. Prepare for the launch. I’ll even give you more time to move everything.”

Her heart started to pound as she studied him. “Why?” Revenge? Everything in her was saying to run. Why else could he possibly want this?

“I need a housekeeper. I’m assuming you need a job,” Mason said with a nonchalant shrug. “You need time to figure this all out. That’s what you were asking for, right?”

Regardless, working with him every day? Watching him take over her only home and never being able to show her true emotions for fear he would use them as a weapon against her? The last few encounters had been experience enough. No, thank you.

She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You don’t?” He stepped closer. “Seems to me you’re about to be out of a home, income... What’s the matter? Afraid your friends will find out you have to get your hands dirty for money?”

That was the least of her worries. Her parents had feared that—yes—but not her.

He moved even closer, giving her a quick whiff of a spicy aftershave. Why was he doing that? Suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

“I’ll give you a job and a place to live. Sounds a whole lot better than the alternative, don’t you think? And in return I get someone who can make this renovation move even faster.”

Looking into his bright blue eyes, she wasn’t so sure she agreed. There had to be a catch in there somewhere...but she truly wasn’t in a position to turn him down.

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