An Improper Affair. Anna DePalo

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      When they’d both been teenagers in Clayburn, he’d been the scion of the richest family in town and she’d been the daughter of the local sexpot and living in a run-down house in the cheapest part of town. Sure, her mother had had an affair with Ryan’s father, but only because the senior Sperling liked his women brassy and trashy.

      Her world and Ryan’s couldn’t have been more different—growing up, the only times she’d see him was when she’d occasionally spot him around town. He’d attended exclusive private schools, while she’d been a student at the local high school.

      And though he’d had a reputation for hell-raising, his rebelliousness hadn’t prevented him from getting into Harvard. She, in contrast, had worked her way through two years of community college to earn a degree in small-business administration and management.

      The same will to succeed, however, now made her pick up the phone sitting on the counter. She needed to put her mind at rest, or try to.

      When Webb’s secretary picked up, she said, “I’d like to speak with Mr. Sperling, please.”

      “Who shall I say is calling?”

      “Tell him it’s Kelly Hartley of Distressed Success.”

      “Please hold while I see if he’s available,” the secretary intoned.

      After she’d endured an anxious wait of several minutes, Webb came on the line.

      She’d been afraid he wouldn’t be in since it was already Friday afternoon and her recollection from her days in Clayburn was that Webb liked his golf game.

      “Kelly, what can I do for you, sugar?” Webb said heartily.

      She hated being called sugar, but it appeared to be Webb’s favorite endearment.

      “Thank you for taking my call,” she began.

      “There’s no need to be so formal, sugar. After all, we’re old friends, aren’t we? Next time, you just tell my secretary that it’s Kelly calling.”

      Ignoring the invitation, she went on, “I thought I’d check to see where matters stood as far as putting through orders for Distressed Success’s designs.”

      Webb sighed. “You have to be patient, sugar. I’ve passed along your information to the right people.”

      “Yes, but—”

      “You could say we have a sort of committee system around here for bringing in a new vendor,” Webb said jocularly. “Lots of hoops to jump through.”

      She’d heard the speech before, but it had already been weeks since she’d heard from any of his people. “I know, but it’s been a while since—”

      “Listen, sugar, there’s a meeting I need to get to. Say hello to your mama for me, you hear?”

      Webb ended the call before she could argue any further.

      Kelly bet his meeting was an appointment on the golf course.

      “What’s wrong?” Erica asked, walking back into the room.

      “I called Webb Sperling to check on things, and got nowhere,” she replied. “He told me to be patient, etcetera, etcetera.”

      “Still thinking about your run-in with Ryan Sperling?”

      “Among other things.”

      Erica shook her head. “Don’t let a man shake you up. Trust me, it isn’t worth it—” she stopped and grinned “—particularly when you aren’t even sleeping with him.”

      An image of her and Ryan making love flashed through Kelly’s mind, sending a shiver of awareness shooting through her.

      Appalled, she tried to banish the image.

      She was sick, sick, to even be thinking of Ryan that way after he’d basically accused her of being a skank and made it clear what he thought of her business.

      The guy was obviously a jerk with tons of baggage—baggage she didn’t need. She already had enough luggage herself to ground a 747.

      Erica waved a hand in front of her face. “Earth to Kelly. Come in, Kelly.”

      “Sorry,” she responded, focusing on Erica again.

      “Was it something I said?” Erica joked. “You know—” Erica looked at her shrewdly “—Ryan may be a jerk, but there’s no denying he’s a wealthy, good-looking jerk.”

      “Really?” she asked, injecting her voice with a healthy note of skepticism.

      “Mmm-hmm.”

      “Hey, you’re a married mother of two.”

      “And not dead.”

      “What would Greg say?” she pressed.

      Greg, Erica’s husband, was a hulking firefighter.

      “Actually,” Kelly added, her tone turning thoughtful, “the image of Greg pounding Ryan to a pulp holds some appeal.” Until now she hadn’t known she possessed a bloodthirsty streak.

      “I think it would be an even fight,” Erica responded. “Ryan Sperling looked like no pushover.”

      And that’s what she was afraid of, she thought, pushing aside her unease once again.

      She forced herself to switch gears. “Good news. How could I have forgotten to mention it when you walked in? I’ve been officially hired for the decorating job at the lodge.”

      Erica clapped her hands. “Fantastic!”

      Kelly nodded. “I met with Meri again yesterday, briefly toured the rooms of the house that need decorating and signed a contract.”

      She and Erica had been discussing the lodge ever since the caretaker for the mysterious home—a woman named Meri—had walked into Distressed Success, taken a look around and talked to them about decorating some empty bedrooms.

      Meri, a good-looking woman with an incisive mind, had been short on details about the lodge. It wasn’t until Kelly had met with her on Erica’s day off yesterday that she’d gotten any real particulars about the house—luxurious even by Tahoe standards—about which speculation had been rife among the locals during the nearly twelve months it had taken to build it.

      “For some reason the lodge is now being transformed into a restorative place for cancer patients and survivors,” she said to Erica.

      Erica raised her eyebrows. “The plot thickens.”

      “Officially,” she went on, “Distressed Success has been hired by the Hunter Palmer Foundation, which got the original building permits. The home has never been fully furnished, and now that it’s going to be a restorative place, they need to complete the decor ASAP.”

      Erica cocked her head. “Why aren’t they going with the СКАЧАТЬ