Читать книгу Trading Places - Ruth Dale Jean - Страница 9

Nothing ventured, nothing gained; or,

my greatest creation is me

By the time I was twelve years old, I was five foot four and measured 25-22-23. I guess you could say I became something of an overnight sensation in Hog Jaw, Arkansas….

That Book About This Body,

Sharlayne Kenyon

TABITHA JOINED Alice and Jed for dinner at the big hand-carved Spanish table in the formal dining room. This might have thrown a lesser woman into a rage, but Alice was more grateful than anything else. As cute and sexy as this man was, better not to take chances, even in the guise of a wild-and-crazy adventuress.

A maid served the meal: an enormous salad, broiled chicken and assorted veggies. Dessert was an incredibly light lemon mousse. Watching Jed devour the food, she began to wonder if he would starve to death before this job was over.

Meals were planned with Sharlayne in mind: heavy on fruits and veggies, light on meat and carbs. But with Sharlayne out of the picture, Jed could use a little consideration.

At the conclusion of the meal, she leaned forward with a deliberately inviting smile. “Would you care to join me for coffee in the living room?” she asked Jed.

He hesitated, then nodded in his usual brusque manner. “Good idea. I need to report on the results of my security check, anyway.”

As if the pleasure of her company wasn’t nearly enough.

Tabitha looked spitefully pleased. “I believe I’d like to sit in on this, too, Sharlayne. I’m naturally interested in anything that pertains to your safety.”

“Naturally.” Alice gestured to the maid, who indicated with a nod that she understood.

In the living room, Alice took a seat on the overstuffed red sofa; Jed chose a chair opposite, while Tabitha hovered near the heavily carved fireplace, her eyes narrowed and watchful.

“Tell us, Mr. Kelby,” Tabitha said as the maid poured coffee from a silver pot, “is Sharlayne safe here?”

Jed waited until the coffee had been served and the maid departed before answering. Then he said, “Ms. Kenyon is safe only if there’s no threat. There is no security system.”

Alice gasped. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish. There’s no alarm system, the entry gate doesn’t lock, the fence has a number of breaks and none of the windows can be properly secured. There are enough vines and shrubberies around the windows, even on the second floor, that a child could reach them.”

Tabitha and Alice eyed each other in confusion. Alice said, “I don’t understand.”

Jed gave her a long, level look. “Were you told there was a full-fledged security system here when you bought the place?”

“Well, no, but…I just assumed, I guess.” Or the real Sharlayne had assumed. Or maybe she knew the truth and didn’t consider it important. “This place had stood empty for several years and there were a lot of repairs before we—before I could move in.”

Tabitha set her cup on the mantel. “And you were in a hurry and pushed the refurbishment through,” she said. She added to Jed, “Would it be very expensive to install what we need?”

“Yes.” There was no softening of the word; Jed simply announced his opinion.

Alice felt a cold chill down her spine. “Of course, there’s no real threat,” she ventured. “Just a media circus to be kept at bay…maybe an occasional groupie. I don’t see that this presents a major problem, do you, Tabby?”

“Let me think about it.” Tabitha retrieved her cup. “My instinct is that it will be all right for at least a while—perhaps as long as Mr. Kelby is in residence. Speaking of which…” She was obviously trying for a pleasant expression. “Which room will Mr. Kelby occupy?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“I have, and I have a suggestion,” Tabitha said. “In light of these new findings, I feel strongly that he should sleep as close to your suite as possible. Perhaps the room across the hall from you?” She added for Jed’s benefit, “That room is quite pleasant, actually…of reasonable size and not too feminine.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. I agree I should be close, though. The lack of security leaves me concerned if not alarmed.”

“Maybe while you’re here, you could prepare a security plan for us,” Tabitha suggested.

“Good idea.” He finished his coffee and rose. “If you’ll direct me, I’ll pull my stuff inside now.”

“Up the stairs.” Tabitha pointed. “Turn left. Your room is the first door on the right.”

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Alice seethed until he’d had plenty of time to get out of earshot. Then she snarled at Tabitha, “What the heck are you up to?”

“Me? Not a thing.” Feline malevolence colored her voice.

“Don’t give me that. Why did you suggest that room?”

“Because the man makes you nervous and I like seeing you nervous,” Tabitha hissed. “Installing you in her place is probably the stupidest idea Sharlayne ever had. If I’ve got to be a party to it, there should be something in it for me, too, even if it’s only watching you squirm.”

Alice looked at her with pity. “Tabitha, that’s mean. Even for you, that’s mean.”

Tabitha caught her breath, her cheeks flushing. “How dare you speak to me that way!” She uttered the words in a hoarse undertone. “If she heard you, you’d be in a ton of—”

“I’m sorry,” Jed said from the doorway. “Am I interrupting anything?” He stood there with a long canvas bag over his shoulder and a newspaper in his hand.

Had he overheard anything he shouldn’t have? A glance at Tabitha revealed that she, too, was concerned about that possibility. His expression was closed and unreadable and giving nothing away.

“You’re not interrupting a thing,” Alice said with false carelessness. “What can I do for you, Jed?”

“You can explain this item in the newspaper.” He shook out a copy of the U.S. Eye, already turned to the page he wanted, and read: “‘We hear that the scrumptious Sharlayne Kenyon is holed up in her new Beverly Hills digs with a bad case of laryngitis. Fortunately for her, she’s also holed up with a new main squeeze, a mystery man with the physique of a…”’ Here Jed’s voice dripped with scorn. “‘Of a’…well, let that go. Either of you care to explain this item?”

Alice turned to Tabitha, incapable of making any plausible explanation. Fortunately, Tabitha was equal to the task.

“That’s what we call a planted item,” she said calmly. “We want to keep people away from Sharlayne. That will help us do it. If she’s sick and being attended by a new boyfriend, no one will expect to see her out and about. This sort of thing is done all the time.”

Jed’s taut expression didn’t relax. “Lying’s a way of life, huh? Do me a favor and leave me out of any future flights of fancy.” He pivoted, disgust in every line of his body, and stalked out of the room.

ALICE DIDN’T SEE Jed again that night before retiring to her suite. Restless, she prowled through the beautiful rooms, turning the television on and off a half-dozen times. For a while, she sat on her balcony, which overlooked the glistening swimming pool below, and wondered why she felt as edgy as a criminal anticipating the long arm of the law.

Finally, she decided that what she needed was a snack. In Sharlayne’s small refrigerator behind the wet bar, she found soda, bottled water, three candy bars—bad Sharlayne!—and a small bunch of shriveled green grapes.

She threw the grapes and the candy bars away. What she wanted was…

Yogurt, she decided. Surely there must be some in the kitchen.

If she could find the kitchen.

It took a while, since she really didn’t know the huge house all that well. At last she recognized the hall that led to the “working” areas: kitchen, laundry room, pantries and so forth. Poised with her hand on what she felt confident was the kitchen door, she realized belatedly that there was light spilling underneath. Pushing open the door, she stopped short.

And stared.

Jed stood in front of the huge industrial refrigerator, his back to her. His bare back: he wore nothing but a pair of jeans. No shoes, no shirt, no kiddin’. The sleek lines of his well-muscled back caused her eyes to widen even more.

At her soft gasp, he turned to face her.

She said, “Oh, it’s you. You scared me.”

“Sorry.” He closed the refrigerator door without taking anything out. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to my room.”

“Didn’t you come here looking for something to eat? Don’t leave until you’ve found what you want.” She moved farther into the room.

He said, “Bad idea.”

“No, really, it’s all right. I’m looking for a carton of yogurt myself.” She brushed past him to open the refrigerator.

“It’s not all right,” he said. “I’ll go.”

“I say it’s all right and I’m in charge here.” She darted him an annoyed glance but couldn’t help adding, “Why isn’t it all right?”

“Because you’re nearly naked, Ms. Kenyon. I’m here to protect your person and your reputation, not compromise either. Or both.”

Caught flatfooted, she glanced down at herself.

She was wearing a diaphanous shorty nightgown and matching negligee, if you could call it that, since it left nearly nothing to the imagination. She’d put it on hours ago because it was the most modest thing in the drawer.

But even as mortification heated her cheeks, she reminded herself that Alice Wynn had no reason to be embarrassed by anything Sharlayne Kenyon might do. Watching him over her shoulder, she said, “Don’t be a prude, Jed—and don’t call me Ms. Kenyon. My n-name is Sharlayne.”

He didn’t appear to notice her stutter. “I know your name, Ms. Kenyon.” He cocked his head and gazed at her, fists planted on his hips just above the low-slung waist band of his jeans. “It occurs to me that this is as good a time as any to get a couple of things straight.”

“Do tell?” she purred.

“There’s a rule at my agency, which I intend to honor.”

“Rules are often made to be broken.” By Sharlayne, not by Alice, who always followed the rules. Maybe it was time to change that.

“Not this one. It goes, Thou shalt not get involved with thy client. You’re my client. That’s it. You can’t be my friend or my…anything of a personal nature. It’s not that I want to seem unfriendly, but…” He was stumbling around, not nearly as decisive as he’d been earlier.

“That’s ridiculous.” Alice laughed lightly. “We can’t live across the hall from each other day after day and not be…something.” She put all kinds of subtext in that last word.

He was squirming, really uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “Yeah,” he insisted doggedly, “we can. We will. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“I won’t.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that, and with Sharlayne’s familiar petulance. She softened her refusal with a smile. “We’re both hungry. Stay and have a snack with me.”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Look, here’s the chicken we had for dinner tonight. Have a sandwich.”

“I don’t think that’s a good—”

“Jed,” she teased, “you’re supposed to be guarding me. You can’t spend the next month running out of the room every time I walk into it. Am I that scary?”

His face was stone. “You think you scare me?”

She shrugged, the negligee sliding artfully off one shoulder. “Something’s scaring you. I’m the only other person in the room.”

“Give me that chicken.” He took it from her hands. “You’ve totally misunderstood my position—deliberately, maybe. Whatever. If you want to run around half-naked, that’s your business. I’m just here to do a job.”

“I see.” She looked around, located a bread box and pulled out a home baked loaf. “You really are a prude, Jed. I’m covered. Hey, in the old days Greta Garbo used to wander through her garden totally nude.”

He paused, a carving knife poised over the chicken. “Great who?”

She laughed incredulously. “Not a big movie fan, I see.”

“Only of gratuitous violence and car chases.” He sliced easily and precisely through the tender chicken. “Like some of this?”

“I shouldn’t.” But she did. Suddenly, the thought of yogurt was not very appealing.

“Suit yourself.”

How annoying. He could at least try to convince her. She slammed the refrigerator closed. “I find my appetite’s suddenly gone,” she announced. “I’m off to bed. See you tomorrow, Jed.”

He mumbled something around the sandwich.

“We work out at nine.”

“Work out?”

“Shar—I’ve got a minigym and I expect you to work out with me. Whatever else happens, I don’t want it said that anyone in my employ went to pot while doing it.”

Like there was a chance of him doing that. With a last, lingering look at his beautifully muscled chest, she headed back upstairs, wondering who had gotten the best of that exchange.

JED CHEWED methodically on a chunk of chicken and watched the bewitching Ms. Kenyon sweep through the doorway in her sexy nightwear. Talk about a handful! Any man who’d get mixed up with her would have to have a death wish.

Regardless of that, she apparently found plenty of takers. Frowning, he slapped more chicken on a thick piece of bread, slathered on the mustard, topped that with cheese and another slice of bread and sat down on a stool to eat it.

She was both the same as and different from what he’d expected.

He’d expected beautiful and she was, but he’d never expected her to look so young. Even allowing for retouched photographs, she still appeared at least ten years younger in person. Maybe she’d had a face-lift, he thought; maybe she’d found the fountain of youth.

He’d expected her to be charming and she was that, too, but he hadn’t expected the vulnerability he sensed beneath the surface. One minute she seemed supremely confident and the next almost…bewildered by the situation in which she found herself.

He’d expected her to be flirtatious, but not with him. He was the hired help, after all. Didn’t she realize that if he was distracted by her attractions, he wouldn’t be able to keep his mind on business? Maybe she was the kind of woman who had to flirt with every man she met.

Which wasn’t the kind of woman who’d interest him under any circumstances.

Famished, he finished the second sandwich in a few bites. Rabbit food didn’t do it for him. He could starve on what he’d had for dinner.

On her, however, it looked good. She was both slender and curvy, strong and supple and sexy—real sexy. Obviously, she worked at it, and she expected him to work, too.

Okay, he would. He’d jog with her, swim with her, play tennis with her, eat crummy little meals with her, fetch and carry and do whatever she wanted him to do with her…except embark on any kind of personal relationship. Samantha Spade was watching. He didn’t intend to screw up this assignment.

Let Ms. Kenyon give him her best shot. He was ready.

Or would be, as soon as he took a cold shower.

ALICE QUICKLY REALIZED that this was a wonderful life indeed.

Every morning for the next several days, a maid delivered coffee and orange juice and whole wheat toast on a tray. At nine she met Jed at the gym for a hard, fast workout, the same one she’d devised for Sharlayne. Lunch on the terrace usually included Tabitha, unfortunately, but was otherwise enjoyable. In the afternoon, Alice swam, and when she swam Jed swam. He looked even better in a swimsuit than he did in the gym in shorts and T-shirt.

Intermixed with this in coming weeks would be appointments. But instead of her going out, everyone would come to her: masseuse, hairdresser, nail technician—name it and someone would be there in a flash to polish or paint.

This was easy! She could do this.

Sharlayne, Alice decided, was little more than a canvas upon which professionals worked their magic. The basic canvas was good, but what those magicians achieved was true art.

This existence was pure luxury, but nearing the end of the first week, Alice was already wondering if life in a gilded case was life at all.

Rolling over on a canvas lounge next to the pool, she opened one eye. Jed sat on a nearby chair, writing on a clipboard balanced on one bare golden thigh. In repose, his face reminded her of a statue of a Greek god. In repose was the only way she’d seen it since their kitchen encounter.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Without looking up, he said, “Working on the specifications for a new security system.”

“Oh.” Bor-ring. “Would you mind rubbing a little more sunscreen on my shoulders? I feel like I’m burning.”

He didn’t move. “You could get out of the sun.”

“Too much trouble.” She wiggled deeper into her lounge. “Please? Pretty please with sugar on it?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say.”

He rose, towering over her, and she closed her eyes. “The sunscreen’s right there.”

“I see it.” A moment’s silence and then his hands settled over the curve of her shoulders.

She groaned. “That feels great,” she murmured, reveling in the firm manipulations of his hands on her bare skin. “Ummm…don’t miss anything. I don’t want to get burned.”

“Seems unlikely.” He withdrew his touch and her eyes snapped open. “If anyone gets burned,” he muttered, “it’ll be me.” He squeezed a glob of sunscreen onto his hand and slapped it on his upper body.

Then he grinned.

She was certain she’d never seen a smile on his face before. Surely she’d remember it, for it carried more sheer star power than she was ready to handle. Lips parted, she watched him turn back to the clipboard.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I need to make a few calls to fill in the blanks on this.” He waved the clipboard. “If you need me, just sing out. Otherwise, I’ll see you at dinner.”

He moved outside her field of vision with the stride of a lion. He looked so good, so self-contained and in control, that it made her short of breath. Pushing up, she scooted around to plant her feet securely on the redwood deck.

Light reflected off the glittering emerald pool nearly blinded her. Letting her head fall back, she closed her eyes. She was playing with dynamite and she knew it.

Sure, it was fun to flirt with such an attractive and uptight specimen of male pulchritude, especially knowing that whatever she did would be on Sharlayne’s head and not her own…so to speak. It kind of freed up the old libido.