a huge German shepherd bounded into the room, ran up to Parker and gazed up at him, cocking his head.
“Romeo?” Parker asked.
“He was a groom’s dog, but the bride didn’t want him even though Romeo did his best to woo her,” Daisy said. “He’s one of the reasons we can’t relocate just anywhere.”
“He’s rather large,” John offered. “Too large.”
“Don’t say anything bad about my Romeo!” Nola said, and she looked as if she might cry. Daisy shot John a look, and he quickly apologized to Nola and patted Romeo’s head.
“The thing is, we are a team,” Daisy said, fiercely. “We go together. Everywhere.”
And they had most likely been coached by Daisy to say all those things, to try to make him feel guilty. Daisy had her game on, all right.
“It’s very nice that you’re a team,” Parker said, feeling a reluctant hint of admiration for Daisy’s devotion to her aging friends. “But it’s not really my concern.”
“Mr. Sutcliffe,” Daisy said, moving forward, and now all of that luscious flesh and intensity was much closer to him. His chest felt a bit tight.
Irrelevant, he told himself. He’d made some mistakes with women before, but getting any more involved with Daisy than he already was would be a much bigger mistake than he’d ever made … for so many reasons. Besides, she didn’t exactly like him. And that wasn’t going to change. He was still selling the building. In the end, she would have to leave her home.
Parker looked down into her unhappy brown eyes. He knew that his own were cold. He’d been told that before.
Daisy blew out a frustrated breath. Then she turned and whispered something in John’s ear. Together the three elderly people and the dog wandered back into the other part of the house. “They can’t go just anywhere,” she said, fiercely. “Between them they don’t have enough money to survive.”
“You’re the money-maker?”
“I work two part-time jobs, and between them and the chapel, we make enough to keep us from starving, but that wouldn’t be true if we moved somewhere else. Besides, this place gives their lives meaning.”
Parker looked around at the wedding chapel, a study in cotton-candy pink and white.
“A wedding chapel doesn’t fit your image, does it?” she asked.
He wasn’t going to lie. “It’s definitely outside my realm of experience. My father built Sutcliffe Industries brick by brick, banking on a name, a reputation and a fortune that goes back generations. All my energies go toward making the business a success. And while we started out in the beverage industry and have our fingers in many pies, at the heart of the business is the subsidiary that provides luxury accommodations for people who happen to like their entertainment sanitized and their lives shielded from anything …”
“Common?” Daisy gestured to the slightly gaudy chapel.
“I’m not judging you, Daisy. I’m merely saying that I’m not planning on changing my line of work. Right now I’m on the cusp of an expansion into new territory, and that’s the only business I’m interested in. Still, I’ll do this much. I’ll give you a little time. Two weeks. That should give you enough breathing room to find a new home and make some new plans.”
She looked at him as if she had just found out that he was really a vampire intent on drinking her blood. He’d never had a woman look at him with that much distaste.
It shouldn’t have mattered.
It did, but that still didn’t change things. He’d learned at a young age how dangerous it was simply to follow one’s emotions and impulses. He wasn’t doing it. Not ever again.
“Two weeks rent-free,” he reiterated. “And I’ll get someone—a professional—to help you relocate.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I thought you might have a change of heart. They’re fragile.”
“I see that they’re fragile,” he told her. “I don’t intend to harm them.”
Despite his desire to remain uninvolved, he couldn’t help being moved by the sadness in her voice and her concern for her friends. He felt an unfamiliar urge to make a promise that he couldn’t possibly keep, to tell her that her world wouldn’t change. But he knew all too well how damaging lies could be. He resisted the urge to touch her.
“This is the only home they’ve known for years,” Daisy said. “They fit here. They don’t fit just anywhere. They’re not interchangeable parts that you can plug into any old socket.”
She was reproaching him. He couldn’t blame her, not when she was clearly in pain. Still, he wasn’t going to defend himself, either. That had never been his way.
“We’ll find a suitable place. Or two,” he said. “In a month it will be just like home to all of you. Better than this place.”
She stared at him with those big accusing eyes and he felt as if a part of him he didn’t even recognize had been seared. But he knew better than to let regret or … or feelings enter into this. That path offered nothing but disaster.
“I’ll help you, Daisy,” he reiterated. “Because you can’t stay here. I’ll be leaving soon, and when I go, this building will be empty and it will be sold.”
Daisy stood there and stared at him as if she were taking a beating, not moving, not talking, just … letting his words rain down on her. But at last she gave a brief nod. “You didn’t come to Las Vegas for us. You came because Tillie died and her property passed to you. You’ll want to see what she left you,” she whispered. “I’ll take you there now. I’m afraid there’s not much in the way of personal treasure.”
For some reason he was reluctant to follow Daisy, even though this was one of the main reasons why he was here. After all, this building was her home even if she had no legal right to be here. Still, he couldn’t allow himself to be sentimental. He needed to put Daisy on his checklist the way he put all his tasks on lists. In order of priority. Right now, finding her and the others a new home was high on the list of things he needed to check off. Discovering all he could about his aunt was up there, too. He wasn’t really looking forward to either of those, but at least tending to Daisy and her situation and digging into his aunt’s past was a respite from the board trying to entice him with every debutante in Boston. Right?
He gazed down at Daisy. Had he been staring at her for long? She was blushing prettily, that delicious rose color heating her cheeks, her chest and dipping beneath the bodice of her dress …
“Parker?”
He jerked to attention. Caught. “Sorry. My mind was wandering.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“I was thinking about real estate,” he lied. “The agent … I’ll send one here tomorrow. You should compose a list of requirements … anything an agent should know about your needs.”
“Such as how many bedrooms?”
“Yes. Such
