Marrying The Boss (2 page)

"We're not doing any harm." His
lips thinned.
"Are you always this sharp with strangers?" He was still
watching her with a frowning expectation she didn’t know how to
answer.

"
Or is it just me?" The disconcerting
directness in his perusal sent tiny shivers rippling up her
spine.

"
You did startle me." She firmed her chin.
"I wouldn’t want…" She halted in shock. Gooseflesh feathered across
her skin as a stark realization sliced through her.

Eric had
been tall and powerful, almost
overbearingly possessive. She knew he’d had her followed by a
private detective after she threw him out. He couldn't bear the
thought that she no longer wanted him. The memory of his angry,
abusive outbursts and his assertions she would never leave him
ruffled her senses.

If she hadn't left the States when she
did…she bit down hard on her lower lip, tasting blood.
Stop thinking about
him right now!

Now wasn’t the time to lose her composure.
Not in front of a complete stranger.

"
Are you all right?" The man questioned
brusquely when she didn’t continue. "You look as if you’ve just
seen a ghost. Look, I am sorry. We didn’t mean to throw a scare
into you."

"
I...oh, no. Really, I’m fine." Kate
wrenched her attention back to the present.

"
If you say so." He nodded, his narrowed
look saying he didn’t believe her. "You don't look fine." The frown
in his eyes was now one of unwilling concern.

"
I didn't ask for your opinion." Kate
wished he would go away.

He was
just too gorgeous, with dark hair
falling across his forehead. His unshaven chin gave him the rakish
look of a pirate. A lean, angular face and a strong mouth hinted at
a passionate nature.

He stood a full head and
shoulders taller than her, well over six feet and with his broad
shoulders blocking out the sun, his wide shadow moved over
her
like a
smothering blanket. The tantalizing scent of his musky masculinity
drifted through her senses. Everything about him pushed her to
escape.

Suddenly h
is hand moved again, hard
fingers brushing her cheek and she jumped. "You missed a
bit."

Give me a break!
Kate clenched her
teeth, staring at the glob of sunscreen he'd wiped off her
skin.

"Thanks." Heat washed through her face as
he smeared the incriminating evidence away on his tanned
forearm.

Her
tongue seemed welded to the roof of
her mouth.
Serves you right for daydreaming about pirates!

"
I’m sorry if you feel we’re in the way."
Again he didn’t sound sorry at all. "We'll leave you in
peace."

Kate shook her head,
innate good manners
nudging her conscience. "No, I should really be going. I have
chores to do."

"You certainly are stubborn."
H
is face
softened and her heart flipped inside her chest.

Kate felt trapped by conflicting
emotions. The closeness of the man
’s vital presence hemmed her in, trapping
her against the stone wall at her back with nowhere to hide. "I’m
sorry; I didn't sleep well last night. Jet-lag."

"
Well, I am sorry about the dog leaping on
you like that. Lobo gets excited around strangers," he apologized,
as he moved back.

His strong shadow slipped away from her
face. She was forced to squint against the abrupt return of the
bright sunlight.

"Shall we start again?" He
slanted his head
. "You must be Kate Martin. The real estate agent phoned me
last night to say she’d rented the place out."

He thrust out one lean, long
fingered hand.
"I’m Spencer Stelanos, your next door neighbor and
landlord. And this is my son, Jamie. We decided to come over and
check it out, make sure everything’s in order. We didn’t expect to
find you’d already moved in. You work fast."

He paused, his frown deepening.
Again as if he was expecting her to make some comment.
Why would he think
that?
The
estate agent had dealt with everything. After a short hesitation
she slowly extended her hand.

"
Yes, I’m Kate Martin." She nodded, her
slender hand becoming engulfed in the strength of his broad palm.
"And I travel light, so unpacking wasn’t much of a
problem."

She wasn't about to share that she had left
everything but the essentials back in Chicago. A clean break with
the past.

She became aware of his long fingers
curling slowly around her wrist, his grip cool, firm and dry. The
hard contact propelled a fresh charge of awareness racing through
her flesh. Kate jerked her fingers away, quickly sliding her palm
down the seam of her shorts, trying to erase the electric contact.
This was someone she needed to keep well clear of in future. She
hoped she wouldn’t need to call on his services as her landlord any
time soon.

She didn’t know what to make of him. His
olive skin, dark hair and surname were all intensely Greek. But his
deep voice held more than a hint of an attractive accent she
managed to identify as Australian from movies she'd
seen.

It was an unusual combination to
find in such a rural setting. There was something about him, an
unspoken air of total authority that said he
wouldn
’t be a
man to cross lightly.

But a good man to take charge in a crisis,
she concluded reluctantly.

His well-worn jeans and black sleeveless
T-shirt gave no hint of whom or what he was. A broad gold wedding
band glinted on his left hand as he raked long fingers through his
unruly hair, pushing it back off his forehead. Seeming to sense her
continuing state of unease, he stepped back beside the dog and his
son.

Kate was grateful for the space to breathe.
She guessed he was in his mid-thirties, despite his unruly hair and
unshaven chin giving him a more youthful attractive look.

"
So, you’re planning on playing Jane to
this jungle?" Spencer turned to frown at the rambling expanse of
the garden. "Sorry about the mess it’s in. I only purchased the
place a couple of months ago. The last owner left to take up a
teaching post in Saudi Arabia. I haven’t found time to have the
garden attended to yet. That’s why I decided to make the rental
price so reasonable. Hoping to attract someone with green fingers.
Are you up for it?"

H
is frowning look assessed and dismissed
her slender body, her too pale, Chicago winter skin. Kate knew
she'd lost weight. Skipping meals had become a habit. So another
man was judging her and finding her wanting!

The renewed flame of anger
boiled
through her. "It'll be good therapy," she
countered.

His dark brows rose as his intense blue
gaze returned to her face, measuring each of her features as if he
was trying to work her out. "Therapy? What for?"

Don
’t answer that!
"Forget it, bad choice of word."
Kate lifted one shoulder.

"
I see." He folded his arms across his
broad chest. "If there’s going to be any future problems I need to
know now because—"

"
That’s all right. I will manage," Kate
interposed quickly. "I won’t give you any trouble. In fact, you'll
hardly know I'm here."

Jamie crowded against his father’s side,
throwing one arm around his lean waist. "I can help. Auntie Ellie
used to let me play in her garden. And sometimes we even made
chocolate chip cookies. I love them."

Kate glanced down at the copper haired
child. "Who was Ellie?"

She couldn’t help wondering about the
boy’s mother. His younger features were softer, more undefined, but
they did possess the beginnings of the same lean masculine symmetry
as his father’s; with an added dash of faint freckles over the
bridge of his nose to go with the red hair. And that hard, cynical
gleam was absent from the child’s wide eyes.

Without thinking, Kate ran her
forefing
er over the
freckles she knew sprinkled her own nose. She was aware her short
crop of copper curls would shine brightly in the hot sunshine just
like the boy’s. The physical kinship they shared squeezed her
heart.

"
Before she moved away the previous owner,
Ellie Calder, indulged my son beyond permission," Spencer growled,
bending to catch the boy close to his chest in a swift hug. "Ellie
could do no wrong in his eyes."

"
Auntie Ellie always let me eat lots of ice
cream. I love Hokey Pokey the best." Jamie’s dark eyes sparkled
with hope. "When can I come over?"

"
Oh, I’m not sure..." Kate blinked in
unconscious denial.

The innocent request caught her
unprepared. She hadn’t planned on entertaining, especially
masculine company, however small and tempting. After her break from
Eric, the solitude of her own company had become essential to her
peace of mind. Her social graces were decidedly rusty, but it was a
comfortable situation she didn’t intend to change at any time in
the future.

"
I think we need to have a long talk about
Ellie’s arrangements." Spencer put his son down. "They were too
lax. She was Jamie’s kindergarten teacher and I’m afraid Ellie
encouraged him because she didn’t have any kids of her own. She was
a determinedly single woman."

He made it sound like sort of crime. Kate
felt his frowning gaze shift over her again, assessing, probing
against her secrets. Was he looking for some kind of sign in her,
some statement of her particular circumstances? Some confession he
could use against her in the future? Her heart thudded.

"
Well, perhaps, we could come to some
arrangement." Kate took a shaky breath, trying to push aside her
rapidly growing unease. "I mean, once I’ve managed to get settled
in. I doubt I’ll have a lot of spare time for visitors."

"
Oh, okay." Jamie’s bright look of hope
faded and his small face fell.

Kate’s stomach began to churn with guilt.
"We’ll have to see."

She wanted to let him down
gently. She wouldn
’t make the boy any promises she couldn’t keep. "I may be
too busy to have company over. I have to take care of this garden.
Can I get back to you?"

"
I can help." Jamie pushed a stone around
with the toe of his sandal. "I'm really strong."

"
Yes, I can see that." Kate nodded slowly.
"We will talk about this another time, Jamie. I
promise."

"
I’ll talk to him." Spencer waved her
protests aside. "I’m afraid my son just loves people, certainly
anyone feminine. I won’t allow him to bother you."

Oh, help
. Kate closed her eyes on a mental
groan.

So much for trying to do the
right thing.
Put that way, she now felt mean spirited. That wasn’t what
she intended. But how could she explain her position?

She looked up uncertainly at Spencer. "I
really do like children. It’s just that..." she sighed, shaking her
head, unable to continue.

It wasn't any
of her concern. It
wouldn’t be right; the little boy already had a mother.

Three pairs of dark eyes—she included the
panting dog sitting at her feet—studied her expression with various
degrees of expectation. The sense of being trapped, of not being in
control, rose again.

She pushed her hands into the hip pockets
of her denim cut-offs. "Perhaps we could discuss this at a later
date."

"
Of course." Spencer’s hard blue gaze
studied the renewed flush coloring her cheeks. "As I said, we
didn’t mean to intrude."

His taut expression closed,
becoming remote. He seemed to have settled whatever was on his
mind. His narrow look said that he
’d been expecting Kate to refuse his son’s
innocent request.

Why on earth would he think that?

He lifted his wide
shoulders.
"We’ll get out of your way then."

"
I...you didn’t disturb me." Kate's nerves
tightened. "I was just thinking."

"
What about?" Jamie leaned around his
father to look up at her.

Kate looked down into his bright eyes.
They were so honest and direct, and innocent. She breathed deeply,
feeling her unease settling in the base of her throat, rupturing
her ability to think straight. She couldn’t afford to be swayed by
his sweet attraction, by thoughts of what she would now never
have.

A home, a family—
children
—of her own.

Without appearing rude, it would be better
if she maintained distance between her, this man and his child. It
would be safer that way.

Her troubled gaze slipped to the gold band
on Spencer Stelanos’ left hand. The fact he was married only added
to her determination. She had no intention of ever traveling down
that dreadful path again.