She wagged her finger at him. “You probably gave her a heart attack. You have to be careful with Sara. She’s not like me. She’s a lady.”
He stopped and looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean? You’re a lady.”
His insistence warmed her heart. She hooked her arm through his. “You’re so nice. I just wish I wanted to go to bed with you.”
He cracked a lopsided smile. “Yeah, me too. But it would feel like I was making it with my sister. Damn shame.”
“Sure is,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s look at these books.”
He stiffened slightly. “Books. When did we get books?”
“My brilliant idea,” Delilah said. “Our patrons often have some down time whether they’re waiting for hair color to process or getting a smoothie here at the bar. A book can make the wait a little easier. Nice touch?”
“I guess,” he said.
She gently punched his arm. “It’s a great idea.” She nodded her head at the eye-catching display and meandered over to the
Dummy
books.
“What are you looking at?” he asked, standing beside her.
Fighting a slight embarrassment, she pointed at the books. “
Dummy
books. I’m thinking of reading one.”
“But you’re not dumb.”
“Bless you,” she said, surreptitiously picking up three different titles. “But you could fill libraries with what I don’t know.”
“When are you going to have time to read those?”
She shrugged. “At night. When I can’t sleep because Willy can’t.”
He shook his head. “I never thought I’d see the day. No more late night bar-hopping and table dancing for Delilah.”
Delilah made a moue with her lips. “Stop rubbing it in. This responsibility thing is very hard on me.”
“Well, if you ever need a safe, but wild night out,” Paul offered.
“I know I can count on you,” she said. “I always could. I better get back to Sara before Willy drives her crazy. Bye now.”
Delilah found Sara bouncing Willy on her hip as she walked from one side of the office to the other. “I’ll have to check with Ms. Montague to see if she can interview this afternoon.”
“If it’s Nanny Finders, the answer is yes, yes, yes,” Delilah said.
“Ah, Ms. Montague has just returned to the office. I’ll let you speak with her.” Sara punched a button. “Line one.”
Delilah scooted into her office and set an appointment for nanny prospect number 999. Okay, it was actually nanny prospect number 9, but it sure felt like 999. Bracing herself for another mismatch, she felt a spark of hope by the end of the interview. After Maria Leguzma left, Delilah danced around her office with Willy singing a song from
Mary Poppins
.
She poked her head out the door. “Sara, we found her! She’s the Spanish version of Mary Poppins without the umbrella. Thank God—” She broke off when she saw that Sara was gone and Guy Crandall was pulling the door to the suite closed behind him.
He walked toward her. “So this is Howard Bradford’s dirty little secret in the flesh.”
A man who learns your secrets can be your worst nightmare … or your dream come true.
—D
ELILAH’S
D
ICTUM
D
elilah hid the baby from him. Guy was such a sleaze-ball she didn’t want Willy breathing the same air.
“Little Willy. I guess the little knock-out mother got tired of taking care of him, huh?”
He moved toward her and Delilah scooted behind the desk. She wanted a barrier between them. A steel wall would be right in her comfort zone.
“You know, I wonder how the Huntingtons would react to Lilly’s newest little brother. You think it would change her chances of getting married to Robert?”
Delilah really hated him. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time than stick your nose in other people’s business?”
“Oh, I make it my business to know. Ever since Howard fired me a few years ago, I’ve been waiting for my opportunity to do business with him again. And Willy here has been my ticket,” he said with an oily smile as he reached out to touch Willy.
Delilah backed away. “Don’t touch the baby,” she said. Her expression must have revealed the loathing she felt for the man because he paused mid-motion and withdrew.
“I don’t want the baby. I just want my paycheck with interest.”
Delilah’s temper kicked up another degree. “You’re not contributing anything. How can I possibly pay you?”
“Because if you don’t, the news about Lilly Bradford’s illegitimate brother is going to be smeared all over the papers and the great Robert Huntington will dump her so fast every head will spin … and every tongue will wag. Her reputation will be ruined.”
“Reputation is overrated,” Delilah said with a shrug. “I don’t care as much about reputation as other people do.”
“Maybe not about yours, but you do about Lilly’s. Pay me my weekly salary plus the interest on what you withheld and my lips are sealed.”
Delilah ground her teeth. She hated this. If she paid him, when would it end? Besides, she’d written Guy out of the budget. How could she write him back in with Lilly’s accountants scrutinizing her every move? “This is blackmail.”
“Pays the bills,” he said. “Pay me and I’ll leave.”
Delilah put Willy into his infant seat and pulled out her personal checkbook. Her fingers cramped as she filled in the amount. “There,” she said, tearing out the check and handing it to him.
“You forgot interest,” he said.
“What interest?” she demanded, her impatience crackling through her.
“Interest for payment past due. Two hundred bucks,” he said.
“Two hundred,” she echoed. “You’re crazy. No one charges that kind of—”
“I do,” he said with a smile. “Pay up or I sing.”
Lord, she hated him. She knew it was one of the top ten sins to kill, but some people didn’t deserve to exist on this earth. She scribbled out another check and threw it at him.
“Thank you very much, Miss Delilah. I’m glad to see you’ve come around to my way of thinking.” He turned toward the door.
Never
, she thought. “You better watch your back.”
He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “Are you threatening me?”
“Just letting you know you’re dealing with a different kind of person than Howard or Lilly Bradford,” she said, ripping him apart with her eyes.
He wiggled his shoulders in discomfort. “White trash.”
“Something like that. If you push me too far, you’ll find out what I’m truly capable of.”
“Just keep writing those checks. Think of me as a confidentiality tax that never goes away,” he said with a slimy smile and left.
Delilah made a face and shuddered. He made her feel dirty, but the worse threat was that he could empty her bank account.
Delilah reworked her personal budget for the tenth time, popped another M&M and sighed deeply. This wasn’t looking good. Just when she’d gotten things straight on the nanny front, Guy Crandall had showed up to create a giant sucking sound.
She was oh, so tempted to put him back on payroll, but she was still determined to open the second location. So determined she had cut her own salary.
Big mistake. Ambition was going to be her downfall. What most people didn’t know was that Howard hadn’t really given her the condo. He’d put a hefty down payment on it, but Delilah was stuck with a mortgage payment like most of America. The mortgage payment had felt pretty reasonable until today. She popped another M&M. The situation was almost enough to make her start smoking again.
She squeezed the bridge of her nose and listened to the complete silence. It was a sound she hadn’t encountered very often lately. Willy was sleeping.
Wandering to his crib, she checked to make sure he was still breathing. He was. Her heart softened at the peaceful sight of him sleeping. Willy wasn’t worried about money. As long as he felt dry and safe, and his tummy was full, he was happy. She’d been terrified of screwing up his care and she still was, but the sight of him sleeping eased something inside her. She stared at him for a few more moments and drank in the rare, peaceful sensation.
She crept out of the room and stood in the hallway, looking at the condo that had never felt like home. Dread tugged at her. It could be worse, she supposed. She could find something safe with the money she would make from selling the condo. Not as luxurious, and it probably wouldn’t have a hot tub.
Delilah frowned. If only she hadn’t cut her own salary … If only Nicky had given Delilah some of the funds she was certain Willy’s mother had received from Howard for the care of his baby …
If onlys didn’t get a girl anywhere, she reminded herself. She needed a break, just a little one. Use that Jacuzzi while she could, sip on a champagne cocktail and eat the rest of that bag of M&Ms.
Benjamin tapped on Delilah’s door twice. Reluctant to wake Willy if he was sleeping, he used the key Delilah had given him. Walking deeper into the condo, he heard two sounds: pulsating water jets and feminine humming. He rounded the corner and spotted Delilah in the Jacuzzi with a half-empty champagne flute in one hand and a goblet full of M&Ms on the tile behind her. Her eyes were closed, her head leaning back on a prissy little pillow and her shoulders bare.
He suspected the rest of her was bare too.
He supposed the gentlemanly thing to do would be to back away and leave her alone. He wasn’t feeling gentlemanly. In fact, with each passing day, he was feeling more and more carnal where Delilah Montague was concerned. He caught sight of a rubber duck floating next to her and swallowed a wry chuckle. This definitely gave a new meaning to the term “lucky duck.”
He stepped into the bathroom and waited for her to realize she wasn’t alone. She continued to hum something, interspersed with unintelligible words that sounded like an angry country girl song. When she got to the end of it, she sighed. A few seconds passed and one eyelid popped open. The other lazily followed.
“Go away.”
Benjamin bit back a grin. “Good evening to you too. You’re looking quite fetching. How many of those have you had?” he asked, nodding toward her flute.
“Not as many as I’d like,” she said. “But I can’t get drunk while I have a baby in my care. I have to be responsible.” She said the word as if she found the taste of it despicable.
“A fate worse than death,” he said stepping closer to the tub and stealing a glance inside. The swirling waters concealed her naked body from him.
She shook her head. “No, but this isn’t what I visualized for myself. But enough about me. Tell me about your day, then you can leave.”
“I was offered two positions today. One in corporate law. One with a friend I grew up with.”
“Which are you going to take? Let me guess. The corporate position.”
“No, but I’m considering the position with my friend.” He chuckled. “My father will probably cut me out of his will.”
Her eyes widened. “Sounds serious.”
“He’ll eventually get over it. I need to do what I want to do.”
“No compromise, right?” she asked, popping a green M&M into her luscious, naughty mouth. “This is one of the differences between the wealthy and the rest of us. The wealthy don’t have to compromise. For the rest of us, compromise is a way of life.”
He glanced around the lush room. “You don’t look like you’re suffering to me.”
She threw him a dark look. “Give me a few days. I won’t be here forever,” she muttered.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “For example, you want steak for dinner tonight. You get steak. I want steak. I look at my budget and sometimes eat hamburger. Another example, you want a Jaguar, you get a new Jaguar. I want a BMW, I get a used one. If I can find a good deal.”
“It doesn’t look like you compromised on the condo furnishings.”
“Cash did that. Hired a decorator. It was a gift.” She took another sip of champagne. “Easy come, easy go. Know anyone who wants to buy a condo?”
He felt a jerk of surprise. “You’re really going to sell?”
“Nannies and babies aren’t cheap,” she said, biting her lip.
“You make a good salary at the spa, don’t you?” he asked, something not adding up.
“Good enough, but I have an unexpected expense that’s going to create a squeeze.”
“Willy.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s nothing you can do anything about. I’m ready to get out of the Jacuzzi, so you need to leave.”
“What if I don’t?”
“Then you’ll be sorry.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll get an eyeful of what you’re not getting,” she said and rose from the bubbling water.
Benjamin blinked. Her skin was rosy from the heat, her breasts plump with dusty pink tips. Her abdomen was gently rounded. Her hips curved in womanly invitation, the swirl of curls at the top of her thighs tempting him. Her shapely thighs made his mouth water.
“Told ya so,” she said as she downed the last sip of her cocktail, licked her lips, and picked up the goblet of M&Ms. Stepping out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and pressed it against the side of her body, heedless of her nudity. “Better leave or you’ll go blind,” she taunted as she walked past him into the hallway.
His body temperature soaring, Benjamin followed her with his eyes. He might turn into a pillar of salt, but what a way to go. “What an ass,” he couldn’t resist saying.
“Thank you,” she said and disappeared behind her bedroom door.
He stood there for a full moment, with his body at full arousal. Lord, the woman made him feel as if he’d never had sex. He shook his head then took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. With the bulk of his blood still lodged in his groin, he missed the turn for the front door and walked into the kitchen.
He swore at the mistake and spied a pile of papers on the table. Seeing the drawing of a pirate’s flag on one, he picked it up. A budget. Beside the initial G was the pirate’s flag. At the bottom of the sheet it was easy to see there was more month than money. He picked up a second paper and beside the initial G was the drawing of a snake with fangs.
What or who was G?
Curious, he headed back to her bedroom door and pushed it open. In the darkened room, he heard a sniff then another. His chest tightened at the sound. Was she crying?
“Delilah?”
She sniffed again. “I thought I told you to leave,” she said in an unsteady voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Go away.”
He moved toward her, his sight growing accustomed to the darkness. Her face turned away from him, she clutched the towel to her chest, leaving her remarkable rear end on display.
Benjamin tore his gaze from her backside. “Something’s wrong.”
“Nothing you would understand.”
“Is this related to your budget issues?”
She tensed. “I don’t want to talk about that with you.”
“What if I could help?”
“Not unless you know someone who would want to buy my condo?”
“And if I do?”
She sniffed and met his gaze in the dark. “That would be nice,” she whispered and something inside him melted.
“Do you remember the first night we met?” he asked.
She swallowed. “When you were drilling and I yelled at you through the wall?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No. The first time we met face-to-face.”
She paused and nodded.
“You changed the way you acted toward me the minute you found out I was your neighbor.”
“Not just any neighbor,” she said with an edge to her voice. “The neighbor who was keeping me from sleep.”
He nodded. “I don’t do that anymore. So why do you still wear a chip on your shoulder with me? Is it because I’m from a wealthy family and you’re not?”
“Not really,” she said.
“Then what is it?” he asked, stepping closer to her.
“I told you it’s because you and I are from different worlds.”
“And that’s it?” he asked, knowing it wasn’t.
“Part of it,” she said, lifting her chin. “Am I allowed not to like you?”
“Sure, you’re allowed. Just tell me why.”
Delilah felt frustrated, tempted and lonely all at once. His gaze challenged and soothed her. She craved the soothing sensation. Her fingers itched to feel his strength flow into her. Giving into the seductive temptation of Benjamin Huntington could cause a lot of problems. Or solve a few, such as her burning sense of deprivation. Once he had her, maybe he would leave her alone.
The notion pinched at her, but she pushed it aside. Once she had him, maybe she could dismiss him. She made a split decision based on need and gut instinct. She’d learned it sometimes took a surrender to get the ultimate win.