would the others be? She had to—somehow—gain them a little time.
She hazarded her best hopeful smile. “I guess … I guess you’re our landlord now, Mr. Sutcliffe. We could start paying you rent.” Even though she had no idea how they could scrounge together enough money for that.
For half a second, something that looked a bit like a smile lifted his lips just a touch. “You say that as if it’s a novel idea. Were you paying my aunt rent?”
“We were working for Tillie. And we all contributed our share. We were kind of like a … sort of like a commune.”
“A … commune? I see,” he said, and it was obvious he didn’t like what he saw.
“We could continue to be useful, running the chapel,” she offered. “We make people happy. In a way, we make their dreams come true, and it pays a little.”
If anything, Parker looked even more concerned. As if she’d just suggested that they take up raising rats. “I’m not a big believer in dreams, and I’m not interested in getting involved in the marriage business,” he said. “But despite how things appear, I’m not totally heartless, either. I’ll think things over tonight. Then tomorrow we’ll start looking for somewhere for you to go so that you’re not all homeless.”
And just like that he turned to go. But she was still holding on to his sleeve. Daisy heard a tiny rip as he stepped away, and she let go, her hand flying to her mouth in horror. “I’m really sorry about that. I could … get it fixed for you.”
“You’re quite a resourceful woman, aren’t you?”
That didn’t sound like a true compliment, but then, Daisy had experienced more than her share of criticism in her lifetime. She’d had men turn their backs on her more than once. Men she should have been able to trust and depend on. She lifted her chin and stared straight into his eyes.
“You have absolutely no idea, Mr. Sutcliffe.”
“I don’t,” he agreed. “I don’t know a thing about you. But I know all I need to know.”
And clearly he didn’t like what he knew.
She opened her mouth.
“Tomorrow, Daisy.” He cut her off, which was just as well since she didn’t know what she would have said. Possibly something that would have made the situation worse, if that was possible.
As he walked away, Daisy couldn’t help thinking that most women would probably get all excited at the prospect of a visit from a man who looked like Parker Sutcliffe. Under other circumstances she might have joined their ranks and at least enjoyed looking at him. But these were not other circumstances. Her next meeting with Parker was going to turn her life upside-down even more than this one had.
She had better start preparing for their next meeting. Had she really handed the man—make that the obviously rich man—a homemade bottle of bubbles and a bubble wand? And gotten frosting on what had to be an incredibly expensive suit?
Daisy groaned. She had. And then, despite her precarious situation, she couldn’t help smiling just a little remembering how horrified Parker had looked holding that bottle.
“The man probably never blew a bubble in his life,” she muttered. “I could certainly teach him a thing or two about having fun.”
Immediately she blanched. She’d be better off trying to think of ways to convince him that he’d be better off letting all of them stay here. Despite what she’d said, she could tell that he wouldn’t be moved by her neighbors’ opinions that Tillie would surely not have meant things to turn out this way.
What would Tillie do? she thought.
But all of the ideas that came to her were too preposterous … or illegal.
Maybe a miracle would happen, and a great idea about how to outwit Parker Sutcliffe would come to her in her dreams. Or maybe she’d just end up having a nightmare, one with a gorgeous but cruel villain … one who didn’t like bubbles.
“Still, I need a plan. A fast plan,” Daisy whispered. One that would help her save her family.
CHAPTER TWO
PARKER had called his secretary to tell her that he might be in Las Vegas an extra few days, and now Fran, who had worked for his family for years, was lecturing him.
“You know, you could simply hire someone to take care of that Mathilda situation.”
He knew … even though his late aunt wasn’t the only or even the main reason he was here.
Sutcliffe’s is failing. I have to stop it. The thought slipped in. No surprise. The words had practically become his mantra. Still, he did need to take care of his aunt’s belongings. Something was very wrong here, and it wasn’t just the luscious and bold Daisy.
“No, it’s up to me,” he said, “because clearly someone else took care of Mathilda’s situation years ago or I would have known that I had an aunt before she passed away.”
“Parker, I’m sure that your parents had good reasons,” she began.
“I’m sure they did.” And he had a good idea what those reasons had been. “But they’re both gone now, and I don’t intend to leave here without getting what I came for. I don’t like surprises, I didn’t like this surprise and I intend to make sure there aren’t any more. By the time I leave Las Vegas, I plan to know all there is to know about Aunt Mathilda including why the family didn’t acknowledge her existence, and I’m going to sort the situation out myself. If I hire someone, important personal information may be missed. Or if there’s anything incriminating—which I assume there is—it may become public knowledge and I don’t want to risk having anything floating around out there that would be bad for Sutcliffe Industries.” That was all that was needed to push the company off its fragile golden pedestal.
He also didn’t want to think about the fact that Daisy might know things about his aunt that he didn’t know. The wrong information in the wrong hands …
He frowned. There was something undeniably intriguing and enticing about Daisy, but that only made her doubly dangerous. He didn’t want to be intrigued or enticed. His life had been devoted to his business, the one thing that had never let him down until now, and that was how he liked things. All he had to do was contain the trouble with Sutcliffe’s. Then his world could return to its uneventful but satisfying path.
“You know,” Fran began, breaking into Parker’s thoughts. “Jarrod thinks this trip is a sham and that you’ve simply escaped to Vegas because he and the rest of the board have started picking out potential wives for you.”
Well, there it was. Leave it to Fran to get right to the heart of things. Too bad she couldn’t see his scowl through the phone lines, because she was definitely partly right. Jarrod, his cousin, had recommended an administrative assistant candidate to him last week who was clearly Boston royalty and knew nothing at all about the job.
“Jarrod may think that the board knows what’s best for me and Sutcliffe’s,” Parker said. “But he and the rest of the board are way off base. Marriage isn’t a good idea.”
“Oh,
