Leanne Banks - Trouble in High Heels

“The activity will do me good,” he said. “Can’t have you thinking I’m a bum.”

“Of course not,” she said. “Anything wrong?”

He shrugged. “My stepmother is stalking me.”

She winced in sympathy. “Oh. Can you put her on ignore?”

“I did that. She filled up my entire voice mail with messages. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but she thinks I’m completely incompetent. She has no confidence in me or my judgment.”

Lori thought of Jackson and felt a bitter twist. “I can identify with that. I got the same thing from my father and-” She broke off. “Others.”

Geoffrey looked up in surprise from the mop he was pushing. “That’s bloody ridiculous,” he said. “Look at you. You’re perfectly capable of doing whatever you want. You have a good head on your shoulders and you can even-” He waved his hand. “You’ve become an excellent cleaner.”

Lori laughed. “Are you trying to flirt with me? Telling me I’m a great bathroom cleaner.”

“No flirting. I’m completely sincere.”

“Thank you.” She rubbed a spot on the mirror above the sink. “I’m not sure Maria would give me her stamp of approval yet.”

“Yes, well, she doesn’t seem to approve of much,” he said in a testy voice. “Looks down her nose at most everyone.”

“Oh, no,” Lori said. “I thought she was getting less hostile toward you.”

“Oh, no,” Geoffrey said, shaking his head. “She looks at me like I’m something off the bottom of her shoe.”

Lori frowned. “I wonder if I should talk to Virginia about it. Maria is entitled to her opinion, but she shouldn’t be permitted to act nasty.”

“No, I think you shouldn’t involve Virginia,” Geoffrey rushed to say. “She appears to have enough on her mind.”

“That’s true,” Lori said and turned to him. “So you and I have something in common. People think we’re incompetent.” She felt a trickle of irritation run down her back. “What gave these people the right to be so judgmental? For that matter, why should we care?”

Geoffrey met her gaze and nodded. “You’re right. Bloody hell with them.”

Bloody hell with him.Or them, Lori mentally corrected herself. Geoffrey’s phrase became her mantra. The more she thought about Jackson ’s response to her quasi-proposal, the more pissed off she became.

Sure, she’d surprised him, but he hadn’t said one positive word in response. Unless she counted his grudgingly muttered I’ll think about it.

She hadn’t met Jackson ’s gaze once during dinner. She would have felt more satisfied if she hadn’t sensed that he was ignoring her out of complete disinterest.

She heaped a helping of mashed potatoes onto her plate, feeling another rush of pique. “ Virginia, the meal is delicious.”

“Thank you.” Virginia beamed. “But Maria helped.”

Lori felt resistant to offering any compliments to Virginia ’s capable assistant. Was there anything the young woman couldn’t do? “Thank you both,” she said and turned her attention to Geoffrey sitting beside her. “You’re enjoying it, too, aren’t you?”

Geoffrey patted his stomach. “Yes, I am. Thank you, both of you. With a meal this good, I should sing for my supper, but I don’t want to hurt your ears.”

Lori laughed. “Perhaps you could play something on that old piano upstairs. Didn’t you say you could play?”

“I suppose I could,” he said, and Lori thought she saw him shoot a quick glance toward Maria. She suspected he feared her unceasing criticism.

“That sounds grand,” Virginia said. “Since the campers have left and we won’t have any for another couple of days, we can all take the time to enjoy it.”

“I need to do some evening chores with the horses,” Maria quickly said.

“I already mucked out the stalls,” Lori said cheerfully.

“Thank you, Lori.” Virginia nodded in approval. “Then it’s decided. We’ll take our desserts upstairs for an after-dinner concert.”

“That room is very dusty,” Maria said.

Everyone glanced at her, and she gave a forced shrug. “I would think it would be dusty,” she amended. “Since no one has used it in a while.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Lori said, rising. “I’ve become a dusting rock star in the past week. So if you’ll excuse me.”

“I’ll help,” Jackson said, also standing.

She glanced at him in surprise. “It’s not necessary. I can-”

“Two are better than one,” he said, his focused gaze on her making her stomach dip. “We can get the job done more quickly.”

“Okay,” she said and took her plate to the sink.

“I can get that,” Virginia said.

“It’ll be one less for you to do,” Lori said, sliding her arm around the older woman’s slim shoulders and dropping a quick kiss on her forehead. “This way I get my dessert faster.”

Virginia laughed and shook her head. “I’m so glad you came, Lori. You’ve brought a lot of joy with you.”

“Thank you,” she said, Virginia ’s words filling up a hollow place inside her. She took her dish to the kitchen, rinsed it and her flatware, and automatically reached for Jackson ’s when she sensed him behind her.

“Do my eyes deceive me? Are you turning into Suzy Homemaker?”

“Just trying to be helpful. Useful. I realize you may believe that’s a huge stretch for me, but-”

“I didn’t say that,” he said.

“No, but you thought it,” she said in her best couldn’t-care-less voice. She rinsed his plate, and his hand caught her wrist like a handcuff, stopping her midmovement.

He pulled her toward him, searching her face. “What is going on in that head of yours now?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” she said and forced a smile. “Just the regular stuff. Trying to be a better person. Exploring my options.” She tried to pull her hand loose, but he wouldn’t allow it.

“Options,” he prompted.

She nodded. “I have you to thank for that. You’ve told me there’s more than one way to solve problems, so I’m exploring all my options.”

He narrowed his eyes. “If you’re talking about the duke-”

“Lori, sweetheart,” Virginia said as she entered the room, “you don’t have to load the dishwasher.”

Lori seized the opportunity to remove her wrist from Jackson ’s clutch and immediately put his plate into the dishwasher. “I’m done. I’m sure Jackson will help with the rest. I’ll scoot upstairs and get the room ready for our little concert.”

She dashed out of the room without looking back, but she could feel Jackson ’s eyes boring a hole into her as she left.

Five minutes later, she’d dusted the room and pulled out a vacuum cleaner to use on the scarred wooden floor partially covered with an area rug. Maria hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d called the room dusty. Lori quickly took care of the floor, then used the vacuum attachments on the chairs.

A hand on her back startled her, and she whirled around to find Jackson looming over her. She put her hand to her chest, her heart racing. “A little warning would be nice. You scared me to death.”

“Do you need some help?” he asked, surprising her with the offer.

She blinked, then glanced around the room. “I don’t think so. It looks okay to me.”

He looked up at the light fixtures and ran his finger over a sideboard. “I’ll take care of the tall stuff.”

“Thanks,” she said, feeling something strange unfurl within her stomach. Maybe it was the mashed potatoes, she told herself and turned back to the chairs.

Stealing a glance at him and watching his broad shoulders stretch as he dusted the top of the sideboard, she felt an odd sense of expectancy, anticipation, as if something big was about to take place. It wasn’t rational, which meant she should probably dismiss it. It wasn’t as if Jackson had decided he was in love with her and couldn’t live without her.

She rolled her eyes at herself. That couldn’t be what she truly wanted. If it was, she was just pathetic. The truth was he probably expected to take her to bed. Lori’s emotions veered again, this time to indignation. “Bloody hell with him,” she murmured under her breath, determined to get her mind back on track.

“Excuse me?” he said, turning toward her, his eyebrows lifted in inquiry. “What did you say?”

Shrugging, she felt her cheeks heat. “Nothing,” she said and turned again to her task.

Two minutes later, Virginia and Maria stood in the doorway carrying trays of slices of pie and cups of coffee. Geoffrey stood behind them. “I offered to help, but they wouldn’t let me.”

“You’re providing the entertainment. That’s good enough,” Virginia said.

Geoffrey raked his hand through his hair. “Entertainment may be stretching it,” he muttered.

His nerves were obvious as he sat down on the piano bench and cracked his fingers. Feeling sorry for him, Lori squeezed his shoulder and tried to reassure him. “Relax, this isn’t an audition.”

Lori heard the clash of a spoon against fine china and glanced over her shoulder at Maria, who may as well have been shooting lasers through her. Lori lifted her shoulders. What was that woman’s problem?

Lori sat down in the only seat left, next to Jackson. All too aware of his closeness, she noticed the strength of his legs stretched out within sight of her, one of his large hands resting on his leg. During the ride they’d shared, she’d become intimately aware of Jackson ’s strength and the easy way he’d kept Rowdy under control.

She didn’t want to think about that now. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on the romantic show tune Geoffrey played. She was surprised at how well he played. He stroked the keys, producing and evoking heart-wrenching emotion. When he stopped, everyone in the room was silent.