heartless android to affect her in any way but with utter loathing. “You can’t be serious.”
“About not wanting to cause you stress?”
She choked out a derisive laugh. “Oh sure! That’ll happen. No, not about your oh-so-fake desire not to cause me undue stress, about suggesting I would consider staying under the same roof with you!” She shook her head vehemently. “Not one night, sir!” She lifted her chin, grim as death. “Let alone two whole weeks!”
He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets, looking princely even as his nostrils flared with offense. “Of course, it’s your decision.”
His seeming ease at her threat to walk out made her see red. “You have no compunctions about throwing people out of their homes?”
He slanted her a look that seemed to say, “Whose home?”
“Well, according to the agreement, I’m supposed to be able to stay here for two more weeks!”
“I didn’t ask you to leave, Mrs. Stuben.”
That was true enough. Flustered and furious, she crossed her arms and pointedly looked away. A quick, disturbing thought struck like a two-by-four to the back of the head, and she gasped. “So that’s your game?” She aimed an accusing finger at his chest. “You won’t make me leave, but you know I won’t stay.” She moved a step toward him, itching to slap his handsome face. “Brilliant strategy! You can take away a person’s home weeks early, and without violating any contracts, because you’re too detestable to be around!”
Though he didn’t immediately respond to her savaging, she detected a definite deepening of his tan.
He watched her for a long, tense moment, his expression closed. The only sign that he wasn’t a statue was the occasional flare of his nostrils.
With the drawn-out assault of his narrowed gaze, Elaine began to tremble.
“Well, then, Mrs. Stuben,” he said at last, his voice low and controlled. “Don’t let me keep you.”
CHAPTER TWO
THE woman who’d met Mitch at the door gaped at him, clearly not expecting his quiet invitation that she leave. Mitch was a little surprised, himself, since that wasn’t what he wanted. His whole plan, his reason for being there, depended on Elaine Stuben. She couldn’t move out. He wouldn’t allow it.
Those wide, green eyes blinked several times. He sensed she was struggling to hold back tears and cursed inwardly. He hated this. He hated being here. He was accustomed to cutting a check and having his lawyers deal with the human side of these transactions.
Long ago he’d insulated himself from the world’s wretched and disenfranchised, disciplined his emotions to resist the pull of liquid-eyed pleas. It was a lesson his parents taught him all too thoroughly throughout his formative years, sharing their meager, open-handed existence and witnessing their unapologetic mistakes. Since Mitchell inherited his parents genes, he knew he was genetically predisposed to be a sucker, a chump, a pushover to a sad story, so he’d spent his adult years hardening his heart against pleading and weeping.
Her lower lip began to tremble and he experienced an unwelcome twinge of compassion. Though he refused to act on it, he couldn’t extract his gaze from that quivering bit of anatomy. She bit down on it, then whirled away. Annoyed with himself for feeling anything, he watched as she escaped.
She ran from the foyer through a hallway which led into the bowels of the house. He was confused. He’d thought she would rush to her room to pack. In most mansions, bedrooms would be upstairs somewhere over the grand staircase. And this mansion’s staircase was grand, indeed. Massive and gilded, it curved down from a second-floor balcony, spilling regally into the foyer. Its rich, Oriental carpet runner was a striking counterpoint to the gleam of the parquet floor.
Possibly Mrs. Stuben’s plan was to run straight out a back door to a car, then disappear into greater Chicago. He decided he’d better follow. His game plan didn’t include filing a missing persons report on a headstrong female who plainly would prefer to be devoured by lions than spend one night under the same roof with him.
“Your preference be damned, lady,” he muttered, the sharp clip of his heels echoing around him as he strode after her.
It didn’t take long to realize she hadn’t run out the back. He heard female voices, one distressed. That would be Mrs. Green Eyes. The other female sounded concerned and somewhat older.
“But, Lainey, where will we go? My new floor furnace won’t be delivered before February third. That’s two weeks away. It’s too cold for us to stay there without heat.”
“A hotel, then,” the younger woman cried.
“What do we pay with?” There was a pause, and Mitch thought he heard a long, mournful sigh. “We lost my money, too, trying to save your…” The sentence dwindled away.
“Oh, Aunt Claire,” the younger voice began, “What are we going to do?”
Mitch had heard enough. Eavesdropping hadn’t been on his agenda, but it gave him the ammunition he needed to coerce little Mrs. Not One Night, Sir! into reconsidering an abrupt departure—no matter how detestable the concept might be for her. She had a great deal to gain if she stayed, and nothing to lose—only some face-to-face time with him. No doubt, in her mind, a distressing price to pay. But blast it, being around The Vulture was survivable.
He rounded the corner into an industrial-size kitchen with so much shiny stainless steel and white tile he felt as if he might go blind. The only non-white, non-stainless elements in the place were the woman and a couple of plates containing sandwiches and potato chips on the stainless countertop.
All that soot on Mrs. Stuben’s face didn’t mask the rosy hue of anger in her cheeks. The older woman’s complexion was ruddier than Mrs. Stuben’s, as though she spent much of her time outside. Her bright flannel shirt and flyaway hair gave her an interesting look, like a woman with zest for life. Mitch liked her immediately, then frowned at the thought. He didn’t plan to make friends out of these people. They would be useful, for a time. That was all.
The pair must have heard him, or the darkness of his suit against all that brightness caught their peripheral visions, for they turned in unison. Mrs. Stuben glared. The other woman stared, looking disconcerted. He could see the family resemblance in the two. The older woman, Mitch guessed to be around fifty. Maturity had ripened her frame by a few pounds, but she looked like a woman in good physical shape. Her nose was longer and thin enough to slice cheese. But she had the same wide-set, green eyes and generous lips as her niece, and was attractive in a scrubbed, no-nonsense way.
“Take any room in the place,” the young Mrs. Stuben ground out. “We’ll be gone as soon as we pack.”
Mitch succeeded in suppressing his aggravation, but just barely, and summoned a diplomatic facade. “Thank you.” This would take finesse. It was one business tactic he had little use for. Desperate people didn’t need to be finessed. They knew his offer would be the best of a bad situation. If they were to salvage anything, Mitchell Rath was the man to call. However, the reason he’d come to Chicago would require finesse, so he might as well get some practice.
“Don’t thank me,” she scoffed. “It’s your house, remember?”
He
