Trevor Hamilton took in the unexpected sight before him. She was tall and quite capable-looking. Certainly looked up to the task of riding herd over the ungainly Martha, while staring down Cicero even on his most demanding days. She was doing a pretty damn good job of staring him down, and he knew that to be a challenge. When he wanted it to be, anyway. He wondered where Lionel had found her. Despite her quite capable demeanor, she didn’t look nearly stressed out enough to be on his regular payroll.
“Lionel Hamilton is my uncle,” he told her. “My great uncle, that is. His younger brother, Aloysius, was my grandfather. He passed on when I was little, so Lionel was sort of my substitute grandpa.”
If his family cred did him any justice in her eyes, it was hard to tell from her steady regard. She was attractive, in an unconventional way, he decided. She had a head of thick, very unruly russet curls that tumbled over her shoulders and down her back and made a man want to bury his hands fist-deep. Her cheekbones were sharp, probably more so due to the set of her jaw at the moment. Her eyes, so far as he could tell, were a nondescript hazel, and yet easily held his own in a way that, admittedly, intrigued him. Her mouth…now there’s where he got tripped up just a little. It was wide, with a deep bottom lip that begged to be nipped at while being kissed. He’d bet big money they were as soft as they were lush.
Her lips were so diverting, in fact, that it took him an extra moment to take in the rest of her. She wasn’t slender, but not heavy either. Sturdy was the word that came to mind. And curvy. Strong shoulders and legs were offset by breasts that would more than fill a man’s hands, and the kind of hips that would likely draw attention when she walked away.
And he should know. He’d had a lot of experience watching women walk away. Most often per his request.
Being decent, relatively attractive, and ridiculously wealthy should have been the trifecta of good fortune where meeting women were concerned. But he hadn’t found that to be the case, so much. The ridiculous wealth attracted all sorts, as did the good looks, which made it hard to tell if any of them were there for the decent person part.
Which made the irony of this particular night all the more perverse. Because, in truth, he was behaving quite indecently at the moment. He despised golddiggers, and yet here he was, stealing from the Hamilton family trove. Or hoping to, anyway.
He’d been waiting a long time to get back into this house, but Lionel was always here, or some brown-nosing assistant who worked for him. This was the first time in five years his uncle had given the entire staff off for the holidays and had left town himself, to boot. Trevor had jumped on the opportunity, despite the chaos it had caused in his own life. Thanks to their somewhat shared grapevine, he’d even known about the hired sitter, and had planned to get what he’d come for and be gone before she’d arrived. Then the storm had delayed his flight to Virginia, and he’d had to rely on luck to get up the mountain before she did.
Apparently luck wasn’t going to be on his side. But he was here now, and he wasn’t leaving empty-handed.
“I’m guessing you haven’t worked for Lionel before,” he said, nodding at the small notebook in her hands that she’d clearly been referencing as she’d snooped about. “Anything I can help you find? I make a pretty good tour guide. I’ll even throw in a few colorful family stories, if you’d like. We’ve had more than our fair share.”
“Why are you here?” was her only response.
He didn’t mind the bluntness. “I was going to surprise Lionel with a holiday visit, but apparently the surprise is on me.” Which was true enough, just not in the way she’d interpret it. He lifted a hand to stall her response. “I already called. I know he’s in Japan.” He smiled, walked closer. “Must be tough taking on a live-in assignment during the holidays.” He lifted his hands in the universal gesture of peace. “Since I’m here, I’d be more than happy to take on the sitter duties. I was planning on staying, anyway.” Not for two weeks, he mentally added, but if he could get her out of here, he’d have free reign to dig to his heart’s content, then he could always find someone else to come finish up the pet-and house-sitting jobs. It didn’t really matter what Lionel would think about coming home to find a new sitter with his beloved pets. If Trevor took what he’d come for, his great uncle would have a lot more on his mind than a replacement sitter.
“There’s a storm raging outside,” she said, “in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I didn’t mean you needed to leave this exact instant, just that—”
“I do the job I’m paid for, Mr. Hamilton.”
“Oh, I’d pay you your full fee. It’s not your fault I showed up.”
Her scowl didn’t go away as he’d hoped. For most people, money solved everything. He was admittedly a little intrigued when it didn’t seem to be an immediate attraction for her.
“I start a job, I finish a job. Unless Mr. Hamilton—Lionel Hamilton—requests that I hand the sitting duties over to you, then I’m here for the duration.”
He wished he didn’t admire her integrity, as it would make things a lot easier, but he did. “Fair enough. For now.” He allowed his smile to spread when she arched a brow. “I’ll have to figure out the time difference between here and Japan, and check his schedule before I bother my uncle, but we’ll get it all sorted out. Unless you have a pre-planned time to communicate?”
She regarded him silently for a moment, then shook her head. “But I have contact information, so I certainly could, if I chose to,” she added, clearly still wary of his presence.
Smart woman.
He stepped back and turned, sweeping his hand out in front of him. “Why don’t we go downstairs? I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry, and I’m sure the beasts are ready for their supper.”
A stricken look flashed across her face as she darted a quick glance at her watch. “It’s not—wait a minute.” She looked back up, slightly accusatory. “It’s almost ten o’clock at night. They don’t get fed until the morning.”
“Treats then,” he said, completely unrepentant. It was nice to know she could be rattled, at least a little. And that she did, truly, seem to take her job seriously. He waved her forward. “Come on. The dogs might be on a strict dietary regimen, but that doesn’t mean you and I can’t raid the fridge.”
She consulted her notebook again, but he wasn’t sure she was really looking at anything meaningful, given he was pretty sure she was lost anyway.
He stepped forward to take a peek and she all but slapped the book shut in his face. “Fine,” she said. “But you’re on your own in the kitchen.”
“Not much of a cook?”
She stepped around him. “I’m a great cook. But I’m not your cook.” She walked away.
Stalked might have been a more accurate term, he thought, grinning as he watched her staunch retreat. He’d been right, he noticed. Quite a nice swing on that back porch of hers.
“Right, then down the steps, then left,” he told her, when he caught up to her at the end of the hall in time to see her pondering which direction to take next.
“I can find my way,” she told him sharply, then seemed to realize she was being overly tense about the situation, and relented slightly. “But thank you for the assistance.” She started down the short hall, but paused at the top of the steps and looked back at him. “I’m going to settle the animals in for the night, then get my things and settle in as well. We can figure out how to handle…everything else in the morning.”
She turned to go, but he put a hand gently on her arm. “I know my visit isn’t in your little notebook, but I’m sure we can figure out how to stay under the same roof without all the tension. It’s a big house. It shouldn’t be too hard to stay out of each other’s way. If we want to, that is.”
Her gaze darted from his hand on her arm to his face. “Meaning what, exactly?”
He couldn’t help it. He smiled. He hadn’t meant that to sound as suggestive as it had. In fact, he wasn’t sure why he’d tacked that little part on. It was to his advantage to have her want to steer as far clear of him as she could during his, hopefully very brief, stay. In fact, as soon as she tucked herself in, he planned to resume his hunt. If his luck changed, he’d be gone as soon as the sun came up and he could get off the mountain.
He lifted his hand, palm out. “Just that we’re both here, we both have a right to be here, so we might as well make the best of it. Most people find me a relatively decent sort of chap, charming, even. So I just thought—”
“I’m here to take care of the animals’ needs, not—”
“I wasn’t asking for that. In any capacity.”
Pink bloomed on her cheeks then, and she ducked her chin. “I’m…I apologize. You’re right, it was silly to think—my mistake.”
“No worries,” he said, tilting his head just slightly as he continued to regard her. The sitter was turning out to be quite the puzzle. He already had one mystery to solve, however. No time to take on another.
When she didn’t turn to leave, he gestured to the stairs. “Ladies first.”
She jerked her gaze away, as if unaware she’d been staring. The pink still in her cheeks, she started down in front of him, then abruptly stopped on the next landing. She almost plowed into him when she suddenly swung around. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t know you were so close.”
It’s your hair, he could have told her. He’d had to curl his hands into his palms to keep from reaching out to touch it. Even now he found himself wondering what scent of shampoo she used. “What?” He cleared his throat. “What’s the problem?”
“No—no problem. But, can I see some identification? No insult, it’s just—”
“No, no,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. He smiled. “Lionel was smart to hire you. I’ll be glad to put in a good word for the thorough job you’re doing.” Not that Lionel would have any interest in his great nephew’s opinion, but she didn’t have to know that. “Make up for scaring ten years off your life up there in the hallway.”
“That’s all right,” she said, peering at the driver’s license he flashed at her. “Chapel Hill?” she said, looking up.
He nodded. “Went to college in North Carolina and stayed there. Go Tarheels.” He got the tiniest flicker of a smile from her then.
“You’re speaking to a Hokie, here, so don’t expect any enthusiasm on that score from me.”
He made the sign of the cross with two of his fingers. “An ACC rival. However will we survive under one roof?”
“As long as that roof isn’t the one covering Cassell Coliseum, you—and your Tarheels—are probably safe.”
The stubborn had been replaced by smug. It was a damn cute smug, too. He really had no business noticing. “Very amusing. It won’t be so funny when your boys are at the Dean Dome this weekend.”
Her smile went from smug to downright insouciant. “Big talk. Care to make a wager on that, Mr. Hamilton?”
He smiled, pleasantly surprised by the sudden shift to what could be described—almost—as easy banter between them. Amazing what college rivalries could do to lower defenses. Or at least distract them for a short time. “A betting woman, huh? And it’s Trevor. Please.”
“Okay, Trevor Please, I’ll wager twenty and spot you the spread.”
“Very generous. Why don’t we go double or nothing? Seeing as you’re so sure and all.”
“I’m a loyal alumni, but I’m also a new business owner, so—”
“Say no more. I understand the fiscal fears there.” She smiled, but her eyes said she didn’t believe for one second he understood what it was like to lose sleep, sweat bullets, and yank out your hair over the start-up of a new company. He was a Hamilton, after all. They had piles of money just lying around. Which, was not altogether untrue. He’d just never once happened to touch his own pile, that was all. But why bother explaining?
“I’ll tell you what,” he offered. “Skip the monetary bet. We can wager food.”
Her eyebrow edged up until it was lost beneath the cascade of curls. “Food?”
“You said you were a great cook. I win, and you’re my cook. For one meal. Your pick which one.”
“And, if I were to agree to this bet, and win, which I probably will, what would I get out of the deal?”
He gave her a mock affronted look. “I’ll have you know the chicken Marsala I personally prepared for my last dinner party is still talked about in certain circles.”
“As long as those circling weren’t standing in the emergency room at the time, then I suppose I can agree to that. Except, how do you propose one of us collects on this bet? FedEx the ingredients?”
“Still trying to get rid of me?” He pushed open the doors to the kitchen, where they were both enthusiastically greeted by Martha, Jack, and Cicero.
“Welcome! Right this way!”
It wasn’t until she moved past him as she crouched down to scratch Jack’s head that he finally got a whiff of those softly scented curls, and he realized…“I don’t know your name.”
She stood but misjudged her footing, and he had to make a quick grab for her arms to keep her from stumbling backwards and falling over Martha. Which had the added benefit of bringing her flush into his personal space. They were, indeed, hazel, he thought, looking into her startled eyes, leaning toward green when her pupils dilated, as they were now. He discovered he was in no hurry to let her go.
“Emma,” she managed, the word hardly more than a whisper. “Lafferty.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Emma Lafferty.” He smiled. “So, what are you going to cook for me?”