Early to Bed?. Cara Summers

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      At least no one had laughed. Once you’d been pegged as a failure, it was hard to change that image. But she was going to give it her best shot. Turning to Lucy, she said, “I’d like to see your menu in the morning.”

      “Really?”

      Lily smiled. “Really.”

      Lucy gave her a quick, hard hug. “I’m so glad you’ve come to help us out. If anyone can convince Tony to turn this place into a restaurant, you can.”

      “I’ll do my best,” Lily found herself promising.

      A soft buzz sounded, and Lucy glanced at the pager she pulled from her belt. “I have to get back to the desk. There are fresh sheets on the bed—and I keep the fridge and pantry stocked for Nick and his wife.” She began to back her way towards the door. “If there’s anything you need, just phone down to the desk.”

      Lily managed to keep the smile on her face until Lucy was gone. Then she sank down onto the nearest chair. She felt like a slug. Lucy was looking on her as a savior, and she was a traitor. It had been a mistake to get the girl’s hopes up. She should never have asked for the menu. It wouldn’t do to get personally involved with any of the Romanos. If she didn’t remember that, she was going to fail at what she’d come to do.

      Closing her eyes, she pictured herself back on that white sandy beach in Tahiti and drew in a deep breath. All she had to do was keep the right perspective. She was not here to take Henry’s Place away from the Romanos but to prove to her father and her stepbrother and stepmother that she was capable of taking her place in the company. If she didn’t remember that, she was going to backslide into being the family misfit again.

      With a sigh, Lily opened her eyes and moved toward the open door on the second level. She was tired. What she needed was a good night’s sleep. Then her perspective would come back to her. Everything would be as clear as it had been on that beach in Tahiti. But the moment she stepped into the bedroom, her eyes widened. This time, it wasn’t the view of the Manhattan skyline that drew her gaze. It was the huge bed, raised on a platform, that nearly filled the room. As she moved toward it, she was vaguely aware of a fireplace to her left, but she didn’t take her eyes off the iron-frame bed.

      It was definitely the kind to take a lover in. The thought had slipped into her mind the moment she’d run her hand over the smooth, satin coverlet. This time she couldn’t blame Dame Vera entirely for the direction her thoughts had taken. The older woman might have planted the seed, but Lily had to admit that the idea of a lover had taken root in fertile ground.

      It had been a long time since she’d had a man in her bed. For the past two years—ever since she’d broken her engagement with Giles Fortescue—she’d devoted herself entirely to making herself over—getting her MBA and apprenticing herself to a small but exclusive hotel chain in Europe. There hadn’t been time for a man. And before that, there’d been Giles. She hadn’t thought of him, hadn’t wanted to think of him, in a very long time.

      She could still picture him in her mind—the lean, tanned face, the blond, Viking good looks. He’d been thirty-three—ten years her senior. She’d been fresh out of college, twenty-five pounds heavier, and not used to the social whirl her stepmother had swept her into. Giles had taken her under his wing the moment she’d been introduced to him, and she’d fallen for him. He’d been so kind and attentive that she’d grown to believe that he’d fallen for her, too.

      Suddenly she realized that it didn’t hurt to think about Giles anymore. Slowly, she grinned. How ironic that the sight of a bed made for lovers would somehow set her free from the man her family had handpicked for her. Unfortunately, he’d also been a man who’d found her so fundamentally unattractive that for three months, he’d never attempted to do anything more than kiss her good night. When he had made love to her, the experience hadn’t exactly rocked her world. Nor had it rocked his.

      Afterward, he’d told her not to worry about it. He didn’t really think of her in that way. Oh, he’d wanted to marry her because if he married J. R. McNeil’s only daughter, then the merger between Fortescue International and McNeil Enterprises would rest on a foundation that would appease the boards of both companies.

      It was then that she realized that her father and her stepmother had arranged the whole “courtship.” By marching down the aisle, she and Giles would perform their duty to the new company. Then they could each go their separate ways. He, of course, would find other women to satisfy his needs. Meanwhile she would run his home and entertain for him while he worked to take his place at the helm of Fortescue-McNeil Inc. Of course, eventually, they would have to produce an heir.

      Shuddering at the thought, Lily climbed up and settled herself on the foot of the bed. For the first time in two years, she was able to think of Giles and not feel that horrible wave of inadequacy that had swamped her for so long. Perhaps, the success seminar in Tahiti really was working. Or maybe, it was the bed—a bed where two star-crossed lovers had found happiness together for twenty years. A bed that represented real love, real passion.

      Whatever it was, she felt relieved—no, she felt quite happy that Giles had never become her husband. She certainly couldn’t imagine rolling around on this bed with the very proper and very staid Giles Fortescue. The image flashed into her mind then—bright and vivid—she was lying on the bed, her body entwined with the tall man she’d just seen in that photograph.

      No. She frowned. That was not going to happen. She’d come here to do a job. And just because she’d finally freed herself of the black cloud that had been Giles Fortescue, that didn’t mean that she wanted to jump into bed with someone else—especially one of the Romanos. That would lead to disaster.

      She slid from the bed and walked quickly back into the main room to pick up her bag. She was going to stick strictly to business. And the first step was to take a shower, go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.

      Her past was not going to equal her future. She was going to get what she wanted.

      TONY STARED at the chunk of plaster that had loosened itself from around the light fixture and fallen smack onto the middle of his bed. Look on the bright side. That was his father’s credo, and Tony had adopted it as his own.

      He lifted the chunk off the mattress and tested its weight before he tossed it into the air and caught it. Well, the bright side was that he’d been playing poker at Sam’s when the pipes had given out in Dame Vera’s suite. Otherwise, about ten pounds of damp plaster would have landed right on his…No, he really didn’t want to dwell on where the chunk might have landed. But he figured that the straight he’d been dealt at Sam’s had not only won him fifty bucks, it had also saved his family jewels.

      Dame Vera had been right. His luck was definitely on the upswing. And it wasn’t just the card game that had convinced him. He’d had a close encounter with a crazy driver on the way home from Sam’s. The dark blue vehicle had come out of nowhere. He’d caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and raced for the curb just in time. The driver hadn’t stopped, and Tony hadn’t gotten a partial plate number to give to Drew, who was a cop.

      Just then, the overhead light dimmed and another chunk plummeted to the mattress.

      Tony sighed. Now, if his personal luck would just carry over to the problems at the hotel. Zach Murphy, who’d been patching the plumbing in the building for years, had predicted this particular scenario with the annoying regularity of a Greek chorus.

      “Ton, mark my words. If you don’t replace the pipes in that building, the whole eighth floor is going to fall on your СКАЧАТЬ