Hero In Disguise. Leona Karr

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      When Inga returned with Hans and his mopping equipment, she indicated that they were to follow her, and led the way into a spacious front hall. It was obvious that the house was a decorator’s dream, a fact that Inga didn’t hesitate to point out. “This house is filled with nice things. Very nice things.”

      “It is lovely,” Melissa agreed as she glimpsed beautifully furnished rooms opening off the main corridor. She felt as if she were someone viewing a showcase home, instead of someone who was about to be a resident in such luxurious surroundings.

      Holding tightly to the boys’ hands, she followed the housekeeper up a wide central staircase. A massive grandfather clock on the landing chimed the hour just as they passed it. Startled, both Eric and Richie missed the next step, stopped and stared at the clock in wonder.

      Melissa smiled at their wide, rounded eyes. Obviously the boys had never heard anything like the resonant Westminster chimes. They begged to wait and hear the clock again, but Melissa shook her head, promising that it would chime many more times while they were there.

      “Mr. David said to put you in the front bedrooms,” Inga said in a tone that indicated it wouldn’t have been her choice for the temporary houseguests.

      Nor mine, Melissa thought as they accompanied Inga down the hall to the front of the house. The size and fashionable decor of the two front bedrooms made ready for her and the boys was unbelievable. Her room alone had more living space than her small studio apartment, and the boys’ bedroom was only slightly smaller. Even Eric and Richie were subdued by surroundings that were completely alien to their experience. Both boys stayed close to Melissa as if she were some kind of life preserver, as they walked through the bedrooms and peeked into the large adjoining bathroom.

      “Very nice,” Melissa said, nodding her approval. She wasn’t about to show any uneasiness or awkwardness, but she knew that Inga was wondering why a temporary nanny was being given one of the best rooms in the house. Melissa couldn’t help but wonder the same thing. She would have been much more comfortable with accommodations in line with those of Inga and Hans.

      The housekeeper’s manners had softened when she realized the little boys weren’t going to turn into hooligans. “Mr. David said you are to use his mother’s sitting room for your work,” Inga told Melissa. “He didn’t say what kind of work.”

      “I’m a writer for a magazine, and I can set up my small computer anywhere. I really don’t need a special room.” She glanced around the bedroom and failed to see anything that might serve as a desk, but she wasn’t about to ask Inga or Hans to start moving in furniture. “Thank you, Mrs. Erickson, for your help—”

      “Inga,” she corrected.

      Melissa held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Inga. And I’m Melissa.”

      A softness touched the woman’s blue eyes. “Melissa. Pretty name. Mr. David says it is a nice thing you are doing, taking care of the children. You are a good lady.” Then she eyed Richie and Eric. “And they are good boys, ya?”

      “Yes, they are very good boys,” Melissa echoed, smiling at the obvious combination of question and warning in Inga’s tone.

      Just then, her husband came in with the small suitcases and Melissa’s computer. Hans Erickson was a broad-faced man with huge shoulders, thick arms and brown hair lightly highlighted with gray. He just nodded at Melissa when she thanked him for bringing up the luggage.

      “I’m sorry about the fountain,” she told him. “It was just an accident. Richie didn’t mean to break it.”

      “I know. He’s a good boy. I can tell that.” He smiled down at Richie. “Mr. David give you a bad time? You ask him about throwing a rock through the kitchen window, eh?” He winked at Melissa and then walked out of the room, chuckling.

      “Boys,” Inga said with undisguised fondness in her smile. “They never grow up.”

      Melissa laughed, suddenly feeling that Hans and Inga had given them a pardon for the fountain incident. Maybe David would have second thoughts about the whole thing, and they could start again on a harmonious footing.

      It took all of ten minutes to “settle in.” The beds in the boys’ room were twins. Eric seemed satisfied, but Richie ignored the beds and immediately scrambled up in the middle of Melissa’s queen size bed.

      “No jumping,” she warned him. From the sparkle in his eyes, she suspected the first time she turned her back, he’d get on his knees and bounce.

      Her stomach tightened. How could she keep them corralled in this fashion-plate house? There wasn’t anything in the two bedrooms that would keep the boys occupied and happy, and the few things she’d brought like crayons and coloring books wouldn’t last for very long.

      Somehow, in some way, she had to make the next few days a comforting and healing time for the boys.

      “No doubt about it, you’re the governor’s fair-haired boy,” Stella Day told David with a pleased smile as they lunched at Denver’s fashionable Cherry Creek Country Club. “We all know he’s schooling you for big things. If you keep focused, you’ve got a wonderful future ahead of you, David.”

      He was pleased with this optimistic projection from the governor’s executive assistant, but he knew he had a long way to go. “Right now, I’m just learning the ins and outs of government.”

      “Well, your father and mother are going to be very proud of you one of these elections when you run for Colorado’s attorney general.”

      David knew that his parents held high expectations of him. He was used to the pressure they’d put on him as he was growing up. As their only child, there was never any question about David following in their footsteps. His father had been a state senator until he retired, and his mother had been a political activist. It was clearly due to their influence that the governor was promoting David’s legal career, and they were expecting him to make his mark in politics.

      “It’s a little premature to think anything like that,” he answered evenly, and turned the conversation back to the business that had brought them together. David was used to these working lunches. In fact, he couldn’t remember very many meals when he wasn’t conducting some kind of business for the governor.

      Stella had an appointment waiting for her right after lunch, so she didn’t tarry. After she drove away in her car, David sat for a moment in his luxurious sedan, trying to make a decision about whether to drop by his house since he was so close, or head back to his office downtown.

      He hated to admit it, but he hadn’t been able to put the morning’s fiasco out of his mind. A nagging sense of guilt plagued him when he remembered Richie’s frightened face and Melissa’s eyes sparking fire.

      Better mend some fences, he decided as he drove out of the parking lot. Even though he’d probably be a little late for his afternoon appointments, he wanted to swing by the house for a few minutes and try to set things right. He didn’t want Melissa Chanley upset with him. Something about her steady, totally feminine, and yet uncompromising personality challenged him. Even dressed as she had been that morning in jeans and a simple white pullover, she could hold her own with any of the stylishly dressed women who had lunched at the club. She intrigued him, and he knew that if the boys didn’t accept him, it wasn’t likely that she would, either.

      He parked СКАЧАТЬ