Sinfully Sexy (10 page)
Authors: Linda Francis Lee
Tags: #Romance, #Sex in the workplace, #Fiction
"There's nothing to tell," she stated defensively.
He considered her for a second, then asked the question that had been
on his mind. "Do you have one?"
"What?"
"A family."
"Of course I do! I have a father." She hesitated, worrying her lip.
"He's great. Really, a wonderful man. We're close, just like you and
Ben. He loves me a lot."
He wasn't sure whom she was trying to convince, him or herself.
"Congratulations," he said. "I'd like to meet him."
She stared at him in surprise, then said, "We aren't dating, Trey. We
don't even know each other. So
stop nosing around and asking questions. We are working together on a
single project. That's it. And
I intend to keep it that way."
He could read people easily, and Sterling knew that she didn't want to
talk about her family, while at the same time she looked at the bond he
shared with his brother with something he could only call yearning.
She turned, her ponytail bouncing, but he wasn't about to let her get
away that easily. He caught her
arm, stopping her.
"Chloe?"
She eyed him cautiously.
"I really am impressed with the effort you've put into
The Catch
," he said.
Then, as if he could do nothing else, he leaned down and kissed her.
She didn't pull away, and after a second she seemed to melt just a bit,
leaning into him as the kiss grew deeper.
He cupped her face, tilting her to him. What he had intended to be a
simple kiss left him wanting to take. "
Pillage
and conquer
," she had said. And he wanted that. He wanted her to
press against him in a long, slow burn.
A second later, realizing where they were, he pulled back. Her eyes
were hooded with desire, molten
and blue, until finally she blinked.
"Well," she managed on a shaky breath. "I wonder what you do when
someone not only impresses you, but actually comes up with a solution
to a problem. You must have some kind of Awards Night there at Prescott
Media."
Surprise made him laugh out loud, and several people turned to look at
them. Chloe took the advantage
to break free, then hurry away, yet again disappearing, this time into
the ladies' locker room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Final stretch
Chloe Sinclair
Station Manager
Award-winning KTEXTV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Volunteer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: I'm sure
We really don't. You wouldn't believe the prices of any place worth
using. But I was thinking that we could use your house for the Roses.
Kate's house really isn't an option for the
Catch
, though perhaps
the guest cottage in her backyard could work.
Chloe
To: Chloe Sinclair
     Julia Boudreaux
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Housing
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Father
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Chloe Sinclair
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Reality check
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
door of her house. Though it was still hard to think of the place as
hers even after her grandmother had willed it to her. Chloe still
missed her grandmother every day. She missed the woman's wisdom and
kindness, even if that kindness was wrapped up in strict, unrelenting
dictates.
When Chloe was growing up, her grandmother had told her to be happy and
not to think about her own mother dying so young. Oddly, being happy
was a habit now. It was easy to be happy, easier than letting life get
to her. At least that had been the case until she ran into Trey Tanner.
"Dad! I'm home."
She didn't get a response, not that she really expected one. Despite
the six months he had been living
with her, he still wasn't used to being called Dad. Though it was
harder to call her father Richard.
She realized that most grown women who hadn't known their father until
they were twenty-seven probably wouldn't dream of calling the man Dad.
But that was just it. For as long as Chloe could remember, she had done
just that. Dreamed of finding her father again, dreamed of coming home
and calling out
Dad!
But this wasn't a dream. The fact was, more than twenty years ago he
had left her and her beautifully vibrant mother, changing everything.
After he left, Chloe had relentlessly questioned her mother about where
he was. She had never answered until finally one day, in a fit of
loving frustration, she said, "
Sweetie,
he's gone. That's all there is to it
." Her mother died shortly
after that.
It had been the state who came to get her, putting her with a foster
family until they found the grandmother she hadn't known existed.
Regina Sinclair might not have spoken to her daughter in years, but she
had taken her granddaughter in without reservation, and loved her and
guided her from the
second she walked through the door.
Chloe had never seen her father againâuntil six months ago. Not until
he'd had a heart attack and
hadn't had any other family to help him. It was the hospital who
called, surprising her when they said, "
Your father has had a heart attack.
"
She had never understood why he had left or why the state hadn't taken
her to her father. Because he hadn't wanted her? Had the state asked
and he said no? When she had asked her grandmother, the only response
Chloe had gotten was "
Who knows the
mind of a man? All that matters is that he left. But it's his loss,
Chloe love. Remember that. He's the one who missed out on watching you
grow up to be a lovely, sensible girl.
"
Chloe set her purse on the small kitchen desk. The house was on a
beautiful stretch of Meadowlark Drive, right across the street from the
seventeenth fairway of the El Paso Country Club. Decades ago, when her
grandmother moved to the area, it had been a mix of farmland and small
adobes used to house laborers. Time had gentrified this part of town,
until her grandmother's neighbors were people like Julia's parents, who
built sprawling mansions. Even Kate's house, on the other side of
Julia's but not as large, had a guest cottage, a swimming pool, and
lots of land. Regina Sinclair's property had been a tiny gem surrounded
by much larger jewels.
The first thing Chloe had done after she inherited the property was to
spend every penny she could
drum up to update the place. The kitchen was her favorite. The warm
terra-cotta color she had painted the walls. The Mexican tiles she had
used as trim. And the stenciling she had added herself to accent the
curved Spanish archways leading into the den and dining room.
She savored the space for a moment before she forced herself to go in
search of her father to talk to
him about
The Catch
and the
need for the house.
She found him in the den. At fifty-eight, Richard Maybry was still a
handsome man. When she came home in the evenings, he always smiled and
asked about her day. She loved how they talked, and she knew he was
truly interested in what she had to say. He was no trouble at all, and
while she was an
adult and didn't need to be living with a parent, she enjoyed having
him there. She could tell he enjoyed being there with her. But she
still hadn't figured out how to break through the polite distance that
stood between them. They both were kind, caring, but always polite, as
if they didn't know how to begin to
be a real family after so much time had passed.
He never failed to ask what he could do to help. Paint the house. Fix
the plumbing. "
Something,
anything to help
," he once
said with exasperation showing through. But how could she let him after
he'd had a heart attack? What kind of a daughter would she be if she
loaded him up with chores, letting him do work, when what he needed to
do was make sure he regained his health?
Surely he understood that. They were family. She was all he had. Or was
she?
He called some woman every night and smiled and cooed like a schoolboy.
Did he have a girlfriend? Some gray-haired matron? If he did, he wasn't
telling Chloe about it.
"Hi, Dad," she said.
He sat in an overstuffed chair in front of the television. He craned
his neck to look at her, smiled, and stood. "Hi, princess."
Princess. Despite her age, the endearment made her smile.
"How was your day?" he asked.
"Great. Really busy. Remember the new project I was telling you about?"
"Remind me."
He followed her back into the kitchen, listening to her tell him about
The Catch and His Dozen Texas Roses
.
She made a pot of tea, and she felt an amazing love burst in her as
they sat at the table together after so many years of being apart.
In time, as they truly got to know each other, she was sure they would
forge a bond and be just as close as she had told Trey Tanner they
already were.
Before she had a chance to tell him more about
The Catch
, he said, "I thought I'd
try out that mower
of yours."
There he went again.
"Dad, you don't need to do that."
"That's debatable. But that's not the point. I want to do it." He stood
and took his cup
to
the sink,
this time looking more determined
to
get
outside and work.
"Dad, no, you're a guest," she blurted out as the only excuse she could
think of. She had read that men frequently felt vulnerable after a
heart attack. The last thing she wanted to do was add to any underlying
fears by saying that she thought him fragile.
He stopped in his tracks, then turned back. Suddenly he looked older.
"Dad," she gasped. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes. I'm perfectly fine." He sighed. "I think I'll go lie down
for a bit."
"Should I call your doctor?"
"No. I'm just tired." He headed in the opposite direction, then stopped
again. "By the way, I'm going
out later tonightâ"
"Butâ"
"Chloe, really. I'm fine. I've promised a friend that I'd take her out
to dinner."
"A friend?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Well, urn, where are you going?" Her brain scrambled to find an
opening. To start finding out
about him, about his friends . . . about where he had been for the last
twenty years.
"I'm taking her to the Central."
"Lucky woman."
He smiled then, a glitter lightening his gray eyes. "No, lucky me."
Chloe blinked, then blushed. Was he implying he was going out to get
lucky? Should a man who'd had
a heart attack be thinking about sex, much less having it?
She started to say something, then snapped her mouth shut. How could
she possibly broach something like that with a man she didn't know all
that well?
When she didn't respond, he said he was going to rest, then get ready.
Reminding herself that her dad had said friend, not sex kitten, she
told herself she couldn't worry about it. It wasn't until she was
changing in her room that she remembered she hadn't told him about
needing the house. But she could do that before he left.
She pulled off her skirt and blouse, kicked off her sensible shoes. She
pulled on shorts and a plain blue T-shirt. There really were chores
that needed to be done, and she threw herself into doing them with the
relish of a woman who loved hard work. She needed to vacuum and dust.
She polished and waxed, each movement more determined. In the kitchen,
she scrubbed and straightened. Next she would move on to the lawn and
bushes. After that, once everything was done, she'd work in her garden.
A treat. Her favorite part of the day.
But first...
She pushed up the metal door on the garage. A small smile pulled at her
lips when she saw the new mower she had purchased. While other women
were getting excited about high heels and pearls, Chloe loved the shiny
red, self-propelled mower. It had taken her a few tries before she got
the hang of the machine. She'd even run over a plant or two before
mastering the clutch. But once she had, the mower made yard work a
million times easier.
An hour later, as the bright West Texas sun finally gave out, she
closed the garage door. She returned inside with a feeling of
accomplishment. She also felt that she couldn't put off any longer
asking her
father if he would move out for a couple of weeks while they shot
The Catch
.
At the kitchen sink, she splashed her face with cool water; then
pressed a damp cloth to her neck. By
the time she returned to the den, he had showered and dressed in nice
slacks and a crisply ironed shirt.
"How does your old man look?" he asked.
The easy camaraderie had returned and she smiled. "You'll be the most
handsome fellow there."
He kissed her on the forehead, and tears of happiness pricked at the
backs of her eyes.
But when he pulled away, she remembered what she had to do.
"Dad, I have a favor to ask."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, just an issue with our bachelor show. We need two houses close
togetherâone for the bachelor,
and another for the contestants."
His head cocked. "And you need this house."
"Just for a couple of weeks," she added hurriedly.
"Princess, don't worry about meâ"
"You don't have to go far. Kate has offered you her guest cottage."
He got an uncomfortable look on his face. "She's your friend who's
married to the golfer, right?"
"Yes, butâ"
"Chloe, it's hard enough infringing on you. I couldn't do it to someone
I'm not related to at all."
"It won't be any infringement."
"Chloe, reallyâ"
"Okay, if that doesn't work, then Julia said you could stay at her
house in Ruidoso. There's no one there, except for the couple who lives
in the small cottage behind the house. They take care of everything
there, and Julia always has guests staying there. That's what it's for.
It's no imposition at all!"
"Ruidoso?"
He hadn't ruled it out. Good. "You said just the other day how hot it
was despite the fact that it was already October."
"I guess I could do that. It's nice of her to offer. But really, I
shouldn'tâ"
"Dad, please. Don't say anything about moving out. I want you here. And
just as soon as the show is over, I want you to come back."
He looked at her with something she was sure was love.
"Thank you, Chloe. You've given me more than I deserve."
He turned to leave, heading to the door.
She didn't know what happened to her, didn't know why after six months
of wanting to ask and holding
it back, this time she couldn't stop herself. "Dad? Why didn't you ever
find me before now?"
He got really uncomfortable. "Ah, princess. I don't have an easy answer
for that. But I am sorry that
I waited so long." He walked over to her, kissed her on the forehead.
"Can you forgive me?"
"Oh, Dad, of course I do."
"Good." He gave her a hug, then departed.
She realized he hadn't answered the question. But he had apologized. It
was a start. He might be leaving for the next two weeks, but he'd come
back. Surely. They would talk more then.
It amazed her to think that her life just might be on the verge of
falling into place. She was developing a relationship with her father.
And the last piece of
The Catch and
His Dozen Texas Roses
was fitting together. For now, that was
all that mattered.
He considered her for a second, then asked the question that had been
on his mind. "Do you have one?"
"What?"
"A family."
"Of course I do! I have a father." She hesitated, worrying her lip.
"He's great. Really, a wonderful man. We're close, just like you and
Ben. He loves me a lot."
He wasn't sure whom she was trying to convince, him or herself.
"Congratulations," he said. "I'd like to meet him."
She stared at him in surprise, then said, "We aren't dating, Trey. We
don't even know each other. So
stop nosing around and asking questions. We are working together on a
single project. That's it. And
I intend to keep it that way."
He could read people easily, and Sterling knew that she didn't want to
talk about her family, while at the same time she looked at the bond he
shared with his brother with something he could only call yearning.
She turned, her ponytail bouncing, but he wasn't about to let her get
away that easily. He caught her
arm, stopping her.
"Chloe?"
She eyed him cautiously.
"I really am impressed with the effort you've put into
The Catch
," he said.
Then, as if he could do nothing else, he leaned down and kissed her.
She didn't pull away, and after a second she seemed to melt just a bit,
leaning into him as the kiss grew deeper.
He cupped her face, tilting her to him. What he had intended to be a
simple kiss left him wanting to take. "
Pillage
and conquer
," she had said. And he wanted that. He wanted her to
press against him in a long, slow burn.
A second later, realizing where they were, he pulled back. Her eyes
were hooded with desire, molten
and blue, until finally she blinked.
"Well," she managed on a shaky breath. "I wonder what you do when
someone not only impresses you, but actually comes up with a solution
to a problem. You must have some kind of Awards Night there at Prescott
Media."
Surprise made him laugh out loud, and several people turned to look at
them. Chloe took the advantage
to break free, then hurry away, yet again disappearing, this time into
the ladies' locker room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Final stretch
Everything
is coming together better than I could have hoped. The only remaining
problem is the matter of housing for our bachelor and contestants.
We really can't afford to rent anything that will make a viable
"set" for the show. Though I wondered if there isn't something we could
do with our own homes that would solve the problem.
I hate to ask, but can either of you volunteer? Since all three of us
are neighbors, using our houses would be cheap and convenient.
Chloeis coming together better than I could have hoped. The only remaining
problem is the matter of housing for our bachelor and contestants.
We really can't afford to rent anything that will make a viable
"set" for the show. Though I wondered if there isn't something we could
do with our own homes that would solve the problem.
I hate to ask, but can either of you volunteer? Since all three of us
are neighbors, using our houses would be cheap and convenient.
Chloe Sinclair
Station Manager
Award-winning KTEXTV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Volunteer
What
do you have in mind, Chloe? House the
Roses
in one, and the
Catch
in one
of the others?
Are you sure we don't have the money to rent something else?
xo, jdo you have in mind, Chloe? House the
Roses
in one, and the
Catch
in one
of the others?
Are you sure we don't have the money to rent something else?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: I'm sure
We really don't. You wouldn't believe the prices of any place worth
using. But I was thinking that we could use your house for the Roses.
Kate's house really isn't an option for the
Catch
, though perhaps
the guest cottage in her backyard could work.
Chloe
To: Chloe Sinclair
     Julia Boudreaux
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Housing
I
hate to do this, but I really don't want the cameras around my house.
With Jesse working so
hard on his game, I don't want the distraction. Sorry!! But what about
your house for the
Catch
,
Chloe? You could stay with me and Jesse, and your father could stay in
the guest cottage.
Katherine C. Bloomhate to do this, but I really don't want the cameras around my house.
With Jesse working so
hard on his game, I don't want the distraction. Sorry!! But what about
your house for the
Catch
,
Chloe? You could stay with me and Jesse, and your father could stay in
the guest cottage.
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Father
That
is really great of you, Kate, but I hate to uproot my father so soon
after his heart attack.
Chloeis really great of you, Kate, but I hate to uproot my father so soon
after his heart attack.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Chloe Sinclair
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Reality check
Your
father had a heart attack six months ago, sugar. And it was a mild
episode, to boot. He's perfectly fine now. I say we use your house. And
if your father feels awkward staying in Kate's guest cottage, then he
can stay at my mountain house in Ruidoso during the taping. I'd love to
see someone staying up there. Plus, you don't have to worry that he'll
be alone. I pay the Normans a fortune to take care of the place.
They'll be there to take care of him.
father had a heart attack six months ago, sugar. And it was a mild
episode, to boot. He's perfectly fine now. I say we use your house. And
if your father feels awkward staying in Kate's guest cottage, then he
can stay at my mountain house in Ruidoso during the taping. I'd love to
see someone staying up there. Plus, you don't have to worry that he'll
be alone. I pay the Normans a fortune to take care of the place.
They'll be there to take care of him.
Now,
you can tell him, or I can. We need your house for the
Catch
if any of us are going to
have jobs when this is over.
xo, Juliayou can tell him, or I can. We need your house for the
Catch
if any of us are going to
have jobs when this is over.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEVEN
Chloe felt a thrill of pleasure when she pushed in through the backdoor of her house. Though it was still hard to think of the place as
hers even after her grandmother had willed it to her. Chloe still
missed her grandmother every day. She missed the woman's wisdom and
kindness, even if that kindness was wrapped up in strict, unrelenting
dictates.
When Chloe was growing up, her grandmother had told her to be happy and
not to think about her own mother dying so young. Oddly, being happy
was a habit now. It was easy to be happy, easier than letting life get
to her. At least that had been the case until she ran into Trey Tanner.
"Dad! I'm home."
She didn't get a response, not that she really expected one. Despite
the six months he had been living
with her, he still wasn't used to being called Dad. Though it was
harder to call her father Richard.
She realized that most grown women who hadn't known their father until
they were twenty-seven probably wouldn't dream of calling the man Dad.
But that was just it. For as long as Chloe could remember, she had done
just that. Dreamed of finding her father again, dreamed of coming home
and calling out
Dad!
But this wasn't a dream. The fact was, more than twenty years ago he
had left her and her beautifully vibrant mother, changing everything.
After he left, Chloe had relentlessly questioned her mother about where
he was. She had never answered until finally one day, in a fit of
loving frustration, she said, "
Sweetie,
he's gone. That's all there is to it
." Her mother died shortly
after that.
It had been the state who came to get her, putting her with a foster
family until they found the grandmother she hadn't known existed.
Regina Sinclair might not have spoken to her daughter in years, but she
had taken her granddaughter in without reservation, and loved her and
guided her from the
second she walked through the door.
Chloe had never seen her father againâuntil six months ago. Not until
he'd had a heart attack and
hadn't had any other family to help him. It was the hospital who
called, surprising her when they said, "
Your father has had a heart attack.
"
She had never understood why he had left or why the state hadn't taken
her to her father. Because he hadn't wanted her? Had the state asked
and he said no? When she had asked her grandmother, the only response
Chloe had gotten was "
Who knows the
mind of a man? All that matters is that he left. But it's his loss,
Chloe love. Remember that. He's the one who missed out on watching you
grow up to be a lovely, sensible girl.
"
Chloe set her purse on the small kitchen desk. The house was on a
beautiful stretch of Meadowlark Drive, right across the street from the
seventeenth fairway of the El Paso Country Club. Decades ago, when her
grandmother moved to the area, it had been a mix of farmland and small
adobes used to house laborers. Time had gentrified this part of town,
until her grandmother's neighbors were people like Julia's parents, who
built sprawling mansions. Even Kate's house, on the other side of
Julia's but not as large, had a guest cottage, a swimming pool, and
lots of land. Regina Sinclair's property had been a tiny gem surrounded
by much larger jewels.
The first thing Chloe had done after she inherited the property was to
spend every penny she could
drum up to update the place. The kitchen was her favorite. The warm
terra-cotta color she had painted the walls. The Mexican tiles she had
used as trim. And the stenciling she had added herself to accent the
curved Spanish archways leading into the den and dining room.
She savored the space for a moment before she forced herself to go in
search of her father to talk to
him about
The Catch
and the
need for the house.
She found him in the den. At fifty-eight, Richard Maybry was still a
handsome man. When she came home in the evenings, he always smiled and
asked about her day. She loved how they talked, and she knew he was
truly interested in what she had to say. He was no trouble at all, and
while she was an
adult and didn't need to be living with a parent, she enjoyed having
him there. She could tell he enjoyed being there with her. But she
still hadn't figured out how to break through the polite distance that
stood between them. They both were kind, caring, but always polite, as
if they didn't know how to begin to
be a real family after so much time had passed.
He never failed to ask what he could do to help. Paint the house. Fix
the plumbing. "
Something,
anything to help
," he once
said with exasperation showing through. But how could she let him after
he'd had a heart attack? What kind of a daughter would she be if she
loaded him up with chores, letting him do work, when what he needed to
do was make sure he regained his health?
Surely he understood that. They were family. She was all he had. Or was
she?
He called some woman every night and smiled and cooed like a schoolboy.
Did he have a girlfriend? Some gray-haired matron? If he did, he wasn't
telling Chloe about it.
"Hi, Dad," she said.
He sat in an overstuffed chair in front of the television. He craned
his neck to look at her, smiled, and stood. "Hi, princess."
Princess. Despite her age, the endearment made her smile.
"How was your day?" he asked.
"Great. Really busy. Remember the new project I was telling you about?"
"Remind me."
He followed her back into the kitchen, listening to her tell him about
The Catch and His Dozen Texas Roses
.
She made a pot of tea, and she felt an amazing love burst in her as
they sat at the table together after so many years of being apart.
In time, as they truly got to know each other, she was sure they would
forge a bond and be just as close as she had told Trey Tanner they
already were.
Before she had a chance to tell him more about
The Catch
, he said, "I thought I'd
try out that mower
of yours."
There he went again.
"Dad, you don't need to do that."
"That's debatable. But that's not the point. I want to do it." He stood
and took his cup
to
the sink,
this time looking more determined
to
get
outside and work.
"Dad, no, you're a guest," she blurted out as the only excuse she could
think of. She had read that men frequently felt vulnerable after a
heart attack. The last thing she wanted to do was add to any underlying
fears by saying that she thought him fragile.
He stopped in his tracks, then turned back. Suddenly he looked older.
"Dad," she gasped. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes. I'm perfectly fine." He sighed. "I think I'll go lie down
for a bit."
"Should I call your doctor?"
"No. I'm just tired." He headed in the opposite direction, then stopped
again. "By the way, I'm going
out later tonightâ"
"Butâ"
"Chloe, really. I'm fine. I've promised a friend that I'd take her out
to dinner."
"A friend?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Well, urn, where are you going?" Her brain scrambled to find an
opening. To start finding out
about him, about his friends . . . about where he had been for the last
twenty years.
"I'm taking her to the Central."
"Lucky woman."
He smiled then, a glitter lightening his gray eyes. "No, lucky me."
Chloe blinked, then blushed. Was he implying he was going out to get
lucky? Should a man who'd had
a heart attack be thinking about sex, much less having it?
She started to say something, then snapped her mouth shut. How could
she possibly broach something like that with a man she didn't know all
that well?
When she didn't respond, he said he was going to rest, then get ready.
Reminding herself that her dad had said friend, not sex kitten, she
told herself she couldn't worry about it. It wasn't until she was
changing in her room that she remembered she hadn't told him about
needing the house. But she could do that before he left.
She pulled off her skirt and blouse, kicked off her sensible shoes. She
pulled on shorts and a plain blue T-shirt. There really were chores
that needed to be done, and she threw herself into doing them with the
relish of a woman who loved hard work. She needed to vacuum and dust.
She polished and waxed, each movement more determined. In the kitchen,
she scrubbed and straightened. Next she would move on to the lawn and
bushes. After that, once everything was done, she'd work in her garden.
A treat. Her favorite part of the day.
But first...
She pushed up the metal door on the garage. A small smile pulled at her
lips when she saw the new mower she had purchased. While other women
were getting excited about high heels and pearls, Chloe loved the shiny
red, self-propelled mower. It had taken her a few tries before she got
the hang of the machine. She'd even run over a plant or two before
mastering the clutch. But once she had, the mower made yard work a
million times easier.
An hour later, as the bright West Texas sun finally gave out, she
closed the garage door. She returned inside with a feeling of
accomplishment. She also felt that she couldn't put off any longer
asking her
father if he would move out for a couple of weeks while they shot
The Catch
.
At the kitchen sink, she splashed her face with cool water; then
pressed a damp cloth to her neck. By
the time she returned to the den, he had showered and dressed in nice
slacks and a crisply ironed shirt.
"How does your old man look?" he asked.
The easy camaraderie had returned and she smiled. "You'll be the most
handsome fellow there."
He kissed her on the forehead, and tears of happiness pricked at the
backs of her eyes.
But when he pulled away, she remembered what she had to do.
"Dad, I have a favor to ask."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, just an issue with our bachelor show. We need two houses close
togetherâone for the bachelor,
and another for the contestants."
His head cocked. "And you need this house."
"Just for a couple of weeks," she added hurriedly.
"Princess, don't worry about meâ"
"You don't have to go far. Kate has offered you her guest cottage."
He got an uncomfortable look on his face. "She's your friend who's
married to the golfer, right?"
"Yes, butâ"
"Chloe, it's hard enough infringing on you. I couldn't do it to someone
I'm not related to at all."
"It won't be any infringement."
"Chloe, reallyâ"
"Okay, if that doesn't work, then Julia said you could stay at her
house in Ruidoso. There's no one there, except for the couple who lives
in the small cottage behind the house. They take care of everything
there, and Julia always has guests staying there. That's what it's for.
It's no imposition at all!"
"Ruidoso?"
He hadn't ruled it out. Good. "You said just the other day how hot it
was despite the fact that it was already October."
"I guess I could do that. It's nice of her to offer. But really, I
shouldn'tâ"
"Dad, please. Don't say anything about moving out. I want you here. And
just as soon as the show is over, I want you to come back."
He looked at her with something she was sure was love.
"Thank you, Chloe. You've given me more than I deserve."
He turned to leave, heading to the door.
She didn't know what happened to her, didn't know why after six months
of wanting to ask and holding
it back, this time she couldn't stop herself. "Dad? Why didn't you ever
find me before now?"
He got really uncomfortable. "Ah, princess. I don't have an easy answer
for that. But I am sorry that
I waited so long." He walked over to her, kissed her on the forehead.
"Can you forgive me?"
"Oh, Dad, of course I do."
"Good." He gave her a hug, then departed.
She realized he hadn't answered the question. But he had apologized. It
was a start. He might be leaving for the next two weeks, but he'd come
back. Surely. They would talk more then.
It amazed her to think that her life just might be on the verge of
falling into place. She was developing a relationship with her father.
And the last piece of
The Catch and
His Dozen Texas Roses
was fitting together. For now, that was
all that mattered.
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