Reflected Pleasures

“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.”