was an idiot. A lust-bitten idiot.
She walked into the kitchen and saw an envelope with her name on the counter. Inside was her money, for both this week and last.
“You won’t forget this time.”
Lani nearly leaped out of her skin at the unexpected, silky voice.
He stood in the doorway, filling it with his tall, dangerous-looking presence. She wasn’t afraid of him. She didn’t know why really, except that she knew all his dark beauty covered pain, not meanness. His gaze, as always, was inscrutable and measured, and every nerve inside Lani went shy. “I won’t forget, thank you.”
“You should charge more.”
“I get by.”
“You’re worth far more.” Colin said this sincerely, even as he remained against the doorway, cool and collected. Distant.
It didn’t matter. She knew that was a defense, and she of all people understood defenses. But he’d noticed what a good job she’d done, and while it shouldn’t mean so much, it did. Oh, it did. She smiled.
He stared at her, not returning the smile—she’d never seen him smile—his eyes for once readable. In them she saw confusion, which in turn confused her because he was always so sure of himself.
Apparently he didn’t like the feeling, because he grabbed his keys, said a quick good-bye and vanished.
Lani watched him go, wondering at the flash of vulnerability she’d seen.
SHE DIDN’T SEE HIM again all month, though he always left money for her services. Twice he left her notes, complimenting her on her work.
She saved them and wondered how long it would be before he allowed them to run into one another again. Wondered also if he felt the connection between them, and if it unnerved him as much as it did her.
1
COLIN WOULDN’T HAVE SAID desperation was a personality trait of his, but he felt the cold fingers of it now. Frustrated, he stared at the calculated mess in his office. The building was deserted except for him. Even the downtown streets beyond the darkened windows were quiet on this late-summer evening.
His favorite time to work.
If he could, he’d work all night. Every night. Whatever it took to finish this project, he would do it, it was that important.
But he had to go home, had to ward off trouble.
It wasn’t often he felt so helpless, and he hated that. There was only one thing to do—fight it.
Fight them.
The them in this case wasn’t some terrorist threat or even a horrific viral infection, but something far worse.
It was his mother and her two meddling sisters.
The three of them had come together in their mutual campaign to ruin his life.
They wanted him married and they wanted him married yesterday, and to further this mission, they had sent woman after woman to him. They’d created parties, blind dates, “surprise” visitors, chance meetings, anything and everything to drive him insane.
He had no idea what the latest plan of attack was, but they’d been too quiet since the last one, when they’d sicced Ms. Mary Martin, the town librarian and closet nymphomaniac, on him. She had made his life a living hell for a month, smiling wickedly every time she ran into him, which had been disturbingly often. When she had goosed him in his office elevator one night, practically stripping him before he managed to separate himself from her, he had drawn the line.
No more interference by his family.
They had to be stopped.
LANI’S CAR barely made it, but that was little surprise. The poor clunker had been threatening to go all year and since she’d just recently put her cleaning business into the black for the first time, transportation had taken a low priority to other things, such as eating.
Carmen glanced at her with a raised eyebrow when the car lunged and jerked.
“Hey, it got us here,” Lani told her worker as she shut it off. Barely.
Carmen read her lips, looking not so much grateful as doubtful. The woman was sixty years old and deaf. She also had a bit of an attitude and didn’t do windows—not exactly perfect maid material.
But Lani was so short-staffed that she, too, was out in the field cleaning today. Not that she minded since this was his house.
In fact, for a glimpse of his rugged, athletic body she’d clean every toilet in the house. With his dark, thick hair, even darker, fathomless eyes and full, sexy mouth, Colin West was truly the stuff secret fantasies were made of.
Sometimes she pretended that he noticed her for something other than the weekly maid. That he wondered how he could have employed her for a full year and not seen her mind-shattering beauty, her sharp wit. But in the end that was a cruel fantasy because he was perfect and she was…well…not.
Still she never stopped wishing, because someday she was going to take her great-aunt Jennie’s advice—she was going to stop living life so carefully and purposely, she was going to jump up and take a risk and not worry about getting hurt.
Carmen sighed theatrically at the delay while Lani daydreamed. Lani knew she was going to have to stop hiring people just because she felt sorry or responsible for them. But it was a difficult habit to break. Besides, Carmen could be sweet.
The older woman stared at the huge house they were to clean and shook her head sharply, glaring at Lani. She huffed with indignation, which made Lani laugh. Okay, not sweet exactly. But she was company, which was nice.
It’s going to be a scorcher of a day, Lani thought as she tugged and yanked at the heavy bucket in her trunk, panting a little under the weight of it. The mountain air was supposed to make a person strong, but Lani had lived here all her life and she was still on the puny side of petite.
Sierra Summit was located at the base of the Los Angeles Crest Mountains above the sprawling Los Angeles area, but still the July hot spell penetrated the altitude.
Lani swiped at her sticky forehead and hefted the bucket higher while Carmen watched, probably relieved she hadn’t been asked to carry anything. The bucket was filled with sponges and cleaners and Lani wrinkled her nose when the strong aroma of pine and lime caught in her throat.
She had nothing against cleaning—it was her livelihood. But if Colin wasn’t going to sweep her off her feet, which she had to admit was highly unlikely, then she might as well be back in her small but cozy office in town, working on her very-behind bookkeeping.
A sponge bounced from her bucket to the ground. Lani nearly killed herself in the juggling act she had to perform just to get it back in.
Carmen simply watched.
“Hey, don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Silence met this dry statement, and Lani found herself yearning for someone, anyone, to speak to.
The
