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‘Earn? But how? By doing what?’ The words were barely out of her mouth when a sudden thought struck her and she shot to her feet. ‘Now look here, if you mean what I think you ’
He straightened to stare down at her, big and arrogant-looking as his eyes met hers with such coldness that she felt a sudden chill. ‘I doubt it. If I were you I would keep that very active imagination under control. My offer is quite straightforward; in return for agreeing to look after Jessica for the next five weeks until she goes back to school, I shall meet your expenses and provide you with board and lodging.’
‘I... I don’t know what to say. Why me? You don’t know anything about me!’
‘You’d be surprised at what I do know, Stephanie.’ He stared calmly back at her. ‘Stephanie Anne Jacobs, aged twenty-five, born in Manchester, occupation, when not travelling, schoolteacher.’
‘How did you find that out?’ There was no hiding her surprise, and she saw him smile with a faint cynicism.
‘It isn’t difficult with the right connections-and enough money, of course. However, none of that would make a scrap of difference to me if it weren’t for the fact that Jessica seems to have taken an immediate liking to you. It was “Stephanie this” and “Stephanie that” all last night, and again this morning. She’s been through a lot in the past few months, more than any child her age should have to cope with. She’s also very worried that you will suffer because of her, with losing your bag. This will solve everyone’s problems. All I need now is your answer—yes or no?’
‘But you can’t expect me to give it to you here and now.’
He smiled meaningfully, then felt in the pocket of his trousers, pulled out a thin sheet of paper, and laid it down on the table beside the money. ‘I appreciate that you must want to know more about me, in view of the fact that you’ll be staying in my house. I’ve written out a list of people who will provide references for me. Feel free to call any or all of them to check.’ He glanced at the heavy watch strapped to his broad wrist, then walked smoothly to the door.
‘Wait a moment! Is that it?’ She hurried after him, stopping just a few feet away.
‘I don’t think there’s anything left to say. I’ve told you what I’m prepared to offer you, and explained what you would be expected to do. Now it’s up to you. I shall expect to hear your decision by five o’clock this afternoon. The details of my hotel are on that paper.’
He opened the door, but she stopped him with a slim hand on his arm. ‘Why are you doing this for me?’
He shook his head, his face devoid of all expression. ‘I am not doing it for you. Jessica needs someone to take care of her through the holidays while I’m busy at work. I had someone lined up for the job, but unfortunately it fell through, leaving me with the problem of finding a replacement at short notice. She likes you and you seem well qualified for the position. There is nothing personal about my offer, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that there is.’ He smiled slowly, with a contempt that made her ache for some strange reason. ‘I would be the first to admit that women have their uses, but rest assured that your role will be purely that of caring for my daughter.’
Her hand slid from his arm and she stepped back, trying to control the shudder that ran through her at such a cynical assertion. What a strangely disturbing man he was, fire on the outside and ice straight through to the core!
She closed the door as he left and leant back against it as she caught her breath, but it was hard to shake off the disturbing sensations he’d left behind. She closed her eyes, hearing again the harshness in his voice as he’d spoken about Jessica’s mother, and she felt a sudden surge of compassion for the dead woman.
To give one’s heart to a man like Logan Ford would be an incredible act of folly that no woman should ever commit.
CHAPTER THREE
THE day crawled past until the hands on Stephanie’s watch touched four, and then the minutes flew.
For the hundredth time she picked up the phone to call Logan Ford and tell him that she couldn’t accept his offer than found herself putting it down again without making the call. The whole idea was crazy, totally unacceptable, so why did she find it so difficult to tell him that?
She got up and walked over to the window, watching the other guests splashing in the pool, hearing the faint sounds of their laughter carrying on the hot afternoon air. They were all enjoying themselves while here she was trying to find a solution to a problem that wouldn’t be solved. She had to find enough money to pay her bill here and buy her ticket back home to England, but how? Apart from Logan there was just no one she could turn to!
The loud knock at the door brought her spinning round and she hurried across the room, half expecting to find the tall red-haired man outside the door, but it wasn’t him.
‘Miss Jacobs?’ At her nod of agreement the man continued, a trace of discomfort on his face as he held an envelope out to her. ‘The manager has asked me to give you this, ma’am.’
‘What is it?’ She took it from him, studying the unmarked white envelope in confusion.
‘Your bill. It’s made up until today and we shall be grateful if you could arrange to pay it as soon as possible.’
‘My bill? But I’m not due to leave until the day after tomorrow. What is this all about?’
The man ran a finger round the collar of his spotless white shirt, his discomfort even more in evidence now. ‘I’m afraid there seems to have been a mix-up in the bookings. We shall have to ask you to vacate this room tomorrow by ten a.m. at the latest. I’m very sorry.’
‘So am I!’ She glared at the man, but he had already turned to hurry along the corridor. Stephanie closed the door then ripped the envelope open, staring down at the neatly totalled account with panic in her eyes. Now what was she going to do? She could only speculate on what had happened to alert the hotel management to her possible inability to pay, and in a way she could sympathise with their dilemma, but it didn’t help her situation one little bit! Between now and ten a.m. tomorrow she had to come up with just over two hundred dollars or suffer the consequences!
When the telephone suddenly rang she snatched it up, a trace of panic echoing in her voice. ‘Yes? Hello?’
‘Is there something wrong?’
She recognised the voice immediately, felt the roughness of its deep timbre rolling along every taut nerve. Deliberately she took a long, slow breath, trying to stave off her first impulse to throw herself on his mercy and beg for help—unconditional help, that was. Logan Ford wasn’t the sort of man who would be affected by any pleas for help.
‘You could say that. The manager of the hotel has just presented me with a bill for my stay, and informed me that unfortunately there has been a mix-up and that my room will have to be vacated by ten tomorrow morning.’
‘I see. That could pose rather a problem, couldn’t it? What do you intend to do?’ His voice was completely bland, so why did she have the sudden horrible suspicion that he knew rather more about what had happened than he was admitting to? Anger rose inside her and she pressed the receiver tightly to her ear, wishing that he were in the room so that she could see his face.
‘I don’t suppose you have any idea why they should have become worried that I might not be able to pay?’
‘Should I?’
‘That isn’t an answer! Look, Mr Ford, if you were behind this, then let me tell you that I—’
He cut her off, his voice hard and determined. ‘Let’s not make a song and dance out of this, Miss Jacobs. Does it really matter when they presented you with the bill? The situation would still be the same; you can’t pay it, can you?’
All the fight went out of her as quickly as it had arisen, and she sank down on the edge of the chair. ‘No. You know I can’t.’
‘Then what do you propose to do about it? Have you made your decision about whether you intend to take up my offer?’
‘I ...’ She swallowed hard to ease the knot of tension in her throat, wondering what to say. It seemed like the only way out of this mess, yet something made her hesitate about accepting his proposal. She searched her mind, trying to work out what it was that bothered her most, but could come up with nothing but a vague feeling that she might be courting even worse trouble than what she was already in. Logan Ford was a disturbing man; he disturbed her in ways that she didn’t want to think about. But there again, he’d assured her that it was his daughter she would be dealing with, not him. Was she simply being stupid to refuse this lifeline?
‘Well? I haven’t got all day to waste, Stephanie.’ There was rough impatience in his voice, and she started nervously, snapping back at him. ‘It isn’t that easy! Can’t you understand that?’
‘Frankly, no. I have made you a very generous offer. I can’t see what is so difficult about making up your mind what you intend to do.’
‘Why can’t you just lend me the money? I would pay you back; you have my word on that!’
He laughed softly, a low sound that made a frisson work down her spine, like a finger smoothing her skin. ‘I’m sure you would; however, I’m not in the business of making loans. You know what I’m offering, but if it isn’t acceptable to you then we had better call the whole deal off. Good luck, Stephanie; I think you’re going to need it.’
The line went dead. Stephanie stared at the receiver in shock, then slowly replaced it, gnawing on her lower lip. He hadn’t even given her a chance to explain her concerns! He was so damned ruthless that he couldn’t spare the time to listen. But now what was she going to do?
She sat worrying over it until the pangs of hunger growing in her stomach drove her from her room. She took the lift down and fed two of her precious dollar bills into the machine in the back hallway, grimacing as it disgorged a frosted can of drink and a packaged Danish pastry. It was a meagre meal, but the best she could do. ‘Beggars can’t be choosers’ was an old adage that was being proved very true.
She carried the food out to the terrace that overlooked the pool and sat down at one of the tables, leaning back against the hard metal chair with a weary sigh that echoed into the night. Peeling the wrapper off the pastry, she took a bite then had to force herself to chew the sticky confection. It seemed to lodge itself in her throat, held there by the huge knot of panic and tension. Popping the tab on the can, she took a long swallow of the icy liquid, then set the can down with a clatter. Who was she kidding? She knew exactly what she needed to do to get herself out of this mess, and she was just being stupid by not admitting it. It would probably stick in her throat even more than the pastry, but she was going to have to go to Logan Ford and hope that he would cut her a very large slice of humble pie.
The worse thing was the wretched man would probably enjoy watching her eat it!
The hotel lobby was bustling when she walked through the door. Stephanie waited her turn at the reception desk, then asked the girl behind the counter to ring through to Mr Ford’s room and tell him that she would like to speak to him.
‘I’m afraid that Mr Ford has just left for the evening, ma’am. Would you like to leave a message? I can see that he gets it as soon as he... Wait a minute; isn’t that him over there? He must have come back to get something.’
Stephanie’s heart had sunk at the news that he was out, and now it leapt back to life, beating painfully fast as she looked across to where the receptionist was pointing. Her eyes met his in one long look, and she felt her temper rise. He’d known she would come! Somehow, some way, he’d been expecting her, and the thought was galling!
She sucked in a deep breath, trying desperately to hang on to her temper, but when a voice spoke in her ear she swung round and glared at the tall man standing by her side.
‘Changed your mind, Stephanie?’
‘You know damned well that I have! I didn’t have any option, did I?’
Her voice had risen, and several people in the queue glanced curiously at them. Logan took her arm, his grasp harsh and uncompromising as he led her away from the desk into a secluded corner where they wouldn’t be overheard. ‘I don’t like scenes, understand? Whatever business we have has nothing to do with anyone but us. So keep your voice down if you hope to have me repeat the offer you so recently turned down.’
She would have given anything in the whole wide world to be able to tell him what he could do with his offer, but both of them knew she wasn’t in any position to do that. ‘If there were any other way that I could get the money I need, Mr Ford...’
‘You wouldn’t be here. And if I didn’t need someone to look after Jessica so desperately, then I would never have asked you. So I imagine that makes us even. Now all I need to know is when we can collect you tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow? Oh, but I didn’t expect that you would need me immediately! I imagined that you would want to finish your holiday first.’ There was no disguising her shock, and he smiled slowly, his dark eyes boring into her.
‘Jessica and I shall be returning home tomorrow morning. We’ve already spent the best part of a week here in Orlando and, frankly, I can’t spare any more time. What did you expect to happen, Stephanie? That I would pay your hotel bill and meet your expenses for the next few days without your having to do anything in return?’
She flushed. ‘No! I never expected that at all. I am willing to earn every penny, Mr Ford. I don’t want charity, especially not from you!’
His mouth thinned with displeasure as he took a step towards her. ‘Don’t you think your attitude is rather foolish, seeing as you are dependent on me for so much? I appreciate that you must find this situation you’re in galling in the extreme, but you must admit that you have been extremely fortunate. If I hadn’t made you this offer, then just imagine what might have happened.’
She could! She’d spent best part of the day going over the possibilities in her head, hour after hour. Finding herself broke and stranded in a foreign country was like a nightmare! She swallowed her pride, forcing the anger from her voice as she replied quietly, ‘I apologise. I suppose I must sound ungrateful. I do——’
‘Stephie!’ The delight in the child’s voice was apparent as she hurried across the foyer towards them. Stephanie turned towards the girl with a sigh of relief, only too glad of the interruption. What was it about Logan Ford that aroused her anger so easily? She wished she knew, because it was going to be an uncomfortable few weeks if she jumped every time he spoke. Somehow she was going to have to learn to ignore the effect he had on her, but it wouldn’t be easy. Logan Ford wasn’t the kind of man one could ignore!
‘Hello, Jessica. How are you?’
‘Fine, but what are you doing here? Daddy didn’t tell me that you were coming.’ There was curiosity on the child’s pale face, a sparkle of interest in her eyes, and Stephanie smiled warmly at her.
‘Maybe that’s because he didn’t know I was coming.’ She glanced up at Logan, watching the way his eyes narrowed at the barely veiled sarcasm in her voice. She sighed softly, realising that she was doing it again, declaring warfare when she was in no position to fight the battle.
‘Did you, Daddy?’ Jessica caught Logan’s hand, drawing his attention back to her. He smiled at once, his face softening as he looked down at his daughter. Stephanie felt her heart beat a shade or two faster at the unexpected tenderness she could see on his face. When he looked like that, his chiselled lips curled into a genuine smile, his eyes warm, he was devastatingly attractive, and everything female in her responded in a way that shocked her.
‘Did I what?’ he asked with mock-solemnity as he teased the child.
‘Know that Stephie was coming, of course!’ Jessica sighed noisily, letting go of his hand to stare up at him. ‘You know what I mean!’
‘Mmm. Let me just say that I had a good idea she might come, even if I wasn’t one hundred per cent certain.’ There was open derision on his face as he glanced over his daughter’s head, and Stephanie felt herself go cold as she realised that he had quite deliberately evened the score between them. Abruptly she turned away to stare across the empty foyer, wondering why she felt so hurt. This man meant nothing to her; he was a stranger who had offered her help more for his own reasons than hers. It shouldn’t have mattered what he thought about her, but she was honest enough to admit that it did.
Suddenly she couldn’t take any more of this verbal fencing. She turned to smile at Jessica, studiously avoiding Logan’s eyes. ‘You were about to go out when I arrived, and I don’t want to spoil your evening. Your father can explain everything to you, Jessica.’
‘Oh, but you can’t go yet! Can she, Daddy?’ Jessica’s voice held a note of pleading as she appealed to her father.
‘Of course not. Quite apart from anything else, Stephanie, there are a few things we need to discuss. If you haven’t had dinner yet, then perhaps you will join us?’
Dinner? On six dollars? He must know that she hadn’t, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing her admit it. ‘I’ve already eaten, thank you.’ It was a lie, but such a small one, and she salved her noisy conscience with thoughts of the pastry.
‘Then I’m sure you won’t mind sitting with us while we eat.’ He took Stephanie’s arm, leading her out of the hotel and putting her into the car before she had time to frame any further objections. Jessica scrambled into the back seat, chattering excitedly, blissfully unaware of the tension. Stephanie waited until Logan started the car and Jessica was engaged in playing with a doll she’d plucked from the door pocket before letting him know exactly what she thought of his high-handedness.
‘I said that I didn’t want to come with you. Just who do you think you are, commandeering me like this?’
He barely spared her a glance, his eyes focused on the traffic as they joined the expressway. ‘I am the man who is employing you now. I am paying good money for your company, and I intend to see that I get full value. If I want you to come with us, then you will come; otherwise we may as well terminate our agreement right now.’
‘You may be employing me to look after your daughter, but that doesn’t mean that you own me!’ Anger lent a fire to her blue eyes, added a tinge of colour to her cheeks, and she saw him smile as he glanced round at her.
‘What exactly is bothering you most, Stephanie? The fact that you can’t see another way out of this mess you’re in, or that I’m the one calling all the shots?’
‘I don’t know what you mean!’ She drew back against the door, suddenly wary of what he meant and the way he was watching her.
He shrugged lightly, his shoulder brushing hers, sending an instant surge of sensation flowing through her body. She caught her breath, fighting the strange feeling of weakness the light touch evoked, but there was no way she could control the shudder that ran through her when he answered in that deep, harsh voice, ‘Don’t you? I think you do, and that is why you are so angry. Would you prefer our relationship to have been based on different terms, rather than that of employer and employee?’
‘I... Why, that’s ridiculous!’ Colour swam up her cheeks as she stared at him in horror.
‘Why is it ridiculous? You spilled that drink over me yesterday, obviously for a reason. Why should it be so ridiculous to assume that you would prefer to be on more intimate terms with me than an employee would enjoy?’
‘It was an accident! Someone jogged my arm. I didn’t do it deliberately to... to...’ Her throat closed on the allegation, but he didn’t seem to suffer from her nervousness.
‘Pick me up? Is that what you’re finding so hard to say? Don’t be shy, Stephanie. This is an enlightened era. If a woman sees a man she wants, then there is no reason for her not to be the one to make the first approach.’ He turned the car into the car park of a brightly lit steak bar, cutting the engine. Jessica scrambled from the back and ran across to look at the fish swimming in the huge ornamental pool in the forecourt, leaving Stephanie and Logan suddenly alone. He leant towards her, his eyes holding hers in the dim light from the dashboard, his tone dropping to a note of intimacy that made her nerves tingle.
‘I noticed you watching me yesterday, Stephanie. Before you spilled that drink all over me. I’m not a vain man, but it isn’t the first time that a woman has made her interest known. Don’t be shy about admitting to it now. It’s better that we clear the air, once and for all.’
She couldn’t help the guilty blush that ran up her throat. She had been watching him yesterday, mesmerised by his whole appearance and that aura of power that surrounded him. He laughed deeply, catching her chin when she tried to turn her head away to avoid his knowing gaze. Tilting her face up to his, he stared her straight in the eyes. ‘I said yesterday that your face was almost too expressive, so don’t bother lying, honey. It isn’t worth the effort. All I want is to get things straight before we go any further. You are an attractive woman, Stephanie, extremely attractive, but I doubt if you need me to tell you that. I learned a long time ago that most women are very aware of the power they can wield over a man.’
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