Читать книгу Reflected Pleasures - Linda Conrad - Страница 7

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.”

“That’s the problem,” Jewel began, in explanation to Merri’s surprised look. “We usually have two big fund-raisers during the year. One in early February, that we call our Spring In the Air drive, and the other in early October that’s our Fall Spectacular.

“The fall fund-raiser is the easiest,” she continued. “We always have a bazaar then, including a festival with children’s rides. People are thinking about Christmas presents by that time, and we make things to sell all year long. We’ve done that fund-raiser so many times that everyone knows their jobs by now.”

She’d gotten Merri’s full attention. Talking about fund-raising was a lot safer than talking about her model thin figure—or having Tyson Steele roll his eyes at her.

Jewel took a breath and turned back to Ty. “It’s the spring drive that gives us fits every year. We’ve tried different things to raise money. Some have worked better than others. Last year’s pancake breakfast and plant sale, for instance, was a disaster when it rained.”

“I tried to warn you,” Ty said with a frown. He turned back to Merri and winked. “That wasn’t my favorite idea.”

“Well, I wonder if…” Merri began.

“We were going to have a casino night this year,” Jewel interrupted. “But the one woman who knew how to pull it off has gone to Dallas in a family emergency. Her daughter is seven months pregnant and the doctor confined her to bed for the duration. The mother went to care for her two grandchildren while the daughter rests.

“Which leaves the garden club in a mess,” Jewel ended with a scowl.

Jewel looked so frustrated that Merri opened her mouth without thinking. “Have you tried a mother-daughter luncheon and modeling show in the past?” What was the matter with her? That was the last thing she should’ve suggested. She simply had to learn to keep her mouth shut.

Shaking her head, Jewel looked thoughtful. “No… We didn’t have anyone that would know how to run such a thing.”

“Well…” Merri never should’ve mentioned modeling.

“We can organize a luncheon. That’s not a problem,” Jewel said, studying her. “Merri, have you ever put this kind of thing together? Or have you perhaps attended one of those modeling luncheons while your were living in L.A.? I understand they’re quite popular in big cities.”

“Did you?” Ty cocked his head and asked Merri.

“Well, yes, but…” She hesitated, not wishing to lie to them. But not wanting to step into something she’d been trying to avoid, either.

Unfortunately, she waited too long to finish. Just like she hadn’t waited long enough before suggesting it.

Ty jumped in. “Great. Merri has so far proven to me that she’s a fantastic administrator, Jewel. She seems to be a ‘take the bull by the horns’ kind of person. I’m sure she can whip this whole modeling deal into shape in time to save the fund-raiser.”

At his words of praise, Merri could feel the sting of embarrassment riding up her neck. “Thanks. But I…”

“If you’re worried about your job here, don’t,” Ty broke in. “You can spend mornings in the Foundation office while you learn the ropes. And your afternoons can be spent working on the luncheon. That way, you’ll get to meet and work with a bunch of the women volunteers, who are also some of our biggest contributors.”

“It’s not that,” Merri hedged, hoping she would think of something else—fast. “I don’t know enough people in the town to choose models.”

Ty casually shrugged a shoulder. “I understand you probably don’t know the first thing about modeling. But if you’ve been to a few of these shows, I’m sure you can take care of the behind-the-scenes stuff. I saw a show in a movie once. Someone had to get stores to donate the clothes and then coordinate the outfits with the words and the music. I’m positive you could do that.

“And Jewel and her friends can help you locate the women with daughters to be the models,” he said with a grin.

Merri bit down on her tongue to keep the smart remarks to herself. She’d wanted people to think she was capable, hadn’t she?

So maybe she’d done her job a little too well.

“I suppose I could help,” she mumbled at last. She knew every last detail about how to pull off a show. It was how to keep her ego out of the way and stay in the background that was really bothering her.

That and how to maintain a professional distance from the dangerous man that she suddenly wanted more than anything to impress.

Merri carried her teacup into her tiny new living room. Setting it down on the antique side table she’d found yesterday in that cute Main Street shop, she relaxed back into the floral print overstuffed chair and sighed with pleasure.

Her mother would be mortified if she ever caught her doing such things—having such things in her home. Hmm. Perhaps “mortified” was the wrong word to use about a woman who only cared about superficial things. Mother was not one to be humiliated by anything. No indeed.

Arlene Davis-Ross looked more like Merri’s sister than her mother. Though she had good genes and took care of herself, her big secret was that she’d also had more plastic surgery than any human being should be allowed. And it was highly unlikely that Arlene would even notice what Merri was doing if she was standing right in her living room.

Merri didn’t seem to matter one way or the other in either of her parents’ lives as long as she kept up their idea of appearances. But she’d always hungered for a life that mattered to someone.

There had been a time, many years ago, when Merri had wished for a mother who would care. She’d seen other girls at boarding school whose mothers were like that. They sent birthday cards and rushed to pick up their daughters from school on holiday breaks.

Merri’s mother always seemed to be irritated when her daughter arrived at one of the family homes for school vacations and someone had to be found to look after her. Eventually, Merri gave up her empty dreams of a family who cared. That was when she’d set out to find reality. She knew it had to be out there somewhere.

Maybe it was right here in Stanville, Texas. She had finally found a spot where the flashbulbs didn’t explode in her face at every turn. More, it was a place where people found satisfaction in having a simple cup of tea and in helping others who were less fortunate than themselves.

She’d come up with this desperate plan to both get away from the ravages of the paparazzi and to step into life in a very real way. Leaving modeling was no hardship. She’d hated the life they’d expected her to maintain. And leaving the lifestyle of her parents had been a longtime dream.

This opportunity that her lawyer had uncovered, the chance to do something for the Lost Children Foundation, was going to be her break from that former vapid existence. It was her opportunity to do something real…be someone…with real thoughts and feelings.

This evening she’d met with Jewel’s garden club and agreed to help them give their modeling show and luncheon. Fortunately, Tally Washburn was more than willing to oversee the luncheon details. Now there was a real administrator—or maybe a commandant would be a better description.

And Ty’s aunt Jewel had browbeaten a couple of the women into rounding up suspects for the mother-daughter modeling positions. This whole fashion show idea was going to work out all right. They had six weeks to pull it off.

It was just her relationship to Ty that Merri was having trouble dealing with. When she’d first come to this town and rented the cottage, the only thing she’d wanted was to be alone.

Well, to do her job the best she could, and to be alone. Far away from the runways, nightspots and microphones. Far away from the phonies of the world.

So…as much as Merri hated lying to Ty and having to hide out, she was willing to do anything for her one chance at a new life. And that included ignoring the sensual sensations she’d felt whenever he looked in her direction.

Okay. Maybe she could do that. But how on earth was she going to teach him to become less brash and uncivilized as his attorney had suggested? That was one job that might be a lot tougher than even she could handle.

Relationships, any kind of real relationships, were out of her experience. But phony ones—now there was a place where she excelled.

She smiled to herself when she thought of her recently broken engagement. Poor Brad. The tabloids were no doubt having a field day at his expense…and hers.

At first, she’d been more than willing to let herself become his tabloid girlfriend in order to throw the paparazzi off the trail of his real relationship. Brad was a good guy and she’d never minded lying to reporters—until the paparazzi caught him with his boyfriend.

But lying was exactly her problem. Eventually, her whole life had become one big, pixiedust-filled lie. Nothing but fluff. When another model she’d thought of as a friend taunted that she wouldn’t recognize real human beings if she fell over them, Merri decided that it was time to get out of her old life and find a new one.

The phone rang and broke the silence that she’d been enjoying. She blinked and wondered if it was one of the women volunteers she’d met earlier. She’d deliberately left her cell phone behind in L.A. It was too easy to trace.

Maybe tomorrow she would go to the discount store and buy an answering machine so she could monitor her calls. Heaven forbid if a reporter found her phone number and dialed her up to check.

When she did answer, a familiar voice was on the other end. “Did you manage to eat dinner, or did the garden club keep you tied up all night?”

Tyson Steele. That low, masculine voice was impossible to forget. It ran shivers over her skin and set fire to a tiny bubble of warmth low in her groin that threatened to explode at any moment. But she hadn’t expected him to call.

“Don’t you say hello before you begin your conversations? You’re not my mother, just my boss.”

Oops, that sounded a little too smart-mouthed for something that Merri Davis would say. He was her boss and she needed to try to remember it. Maybe the low, sensual sound of his voice had pulled a plug in her mind and her brain had drained.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, before he could say another word. “But you took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting you to call after working hours.”

After a moment of silence, Ty cleared his throat and began again. “Hello, Miss Davis. Good evening. I understand from my aunt that you were late coming home from the garden club meeting. I was concerned that you might’ve had to miss your dinner.”

“No, Mr. Steele, I did not miss dinner. I fixed myself something when I got home.”

Another moment’s silence dragged along on the other end of the line. “Could we go back to Ty and Merri?” he finally asked. “I didn’t mean to sound so brusque, but my aunt was worried.”

“Your aunt?”

“All right. I was worried, too. I promised Jewel I’d see to your welfare, and I intend to keep that promise.”

She smiled, charmed by his concern, but glad he couldn’t see her to know it. “Don’t think you need to take me on as some kind of mission. I’m an adult.”