of selections.
“It’s…not a good idea.”
Did she suspect he had the hots for her? Did he look that horny? “Why isn’t it a good idea?”
“Because it’s not done.” That prim tone of hers again.
He couldn’t leave it alone. “Women and men drink together all the time.”
She turned now, and leaned back against the granite surface she’d been cleaning. “I’m your butler.”
“About that…” Now into his third beer, he was feeling a little buzzed, if he didn’t mind admitting it. Which he did not. The recent late nights and business headaches, not to mention the talk about Felipe with his mother that afternoon all made a slight drunk quite well-deserved, as a matter of fact. “I find myself somewhat disappointed you’re not married to the chauffeur.”
That sweet, rosy little mouth of hers twitched. “Well…”
God, she was beautiful. And beneath those boring clothes he’d bet she had a smokin’ body. He shouldn’t be thinking like that, Christ, he knew it, but truth was truth, especially after three potent brews. “What are you almost smiling about? I need to know everything,” he told her.
That made an intoxicated kind of sense. Maybe he’d been so quickly taken with her because of his fatigue and the brand new situation in which an attractive, enigmatic blonde with a sexy accent said “I’m at your service.” A little bit longer in her company and all the novelty would wear off and he’d get his head screwed on straight.
Instead of the smaller one inconveniently focused on screwing her.
“I might not be married to a chauffeur,” she said now, “but I am a chauffeur’s daughter.”
He paused in lifting his beer to his mouth, now more intrigued. “Yeah?”
“He retired last year, and lives in a tiny cottage in Costa Rica—his dream—but I spent a lot of time in his quarters over the garage of a posh estate just outside London.”
“Holy Sabrina, Batman. Did you fall in love with the son of the family?”
Her lips twitched again. “No, there were only three daughters. And none took a particular shine to me. I spent the school year in Michigan with my maternal grandparents, but holidays and summers mostly with my dad.”
“So how did you end up here?”
Her head tilted, the light catching her bright hair. “Mr. Douglas really didn’t share much with you.”
“I admit that having a butler came as a surprise,” Joaquin said. “That doesn’t mean Patrick didn’t tell me, however. It’s been a busy period at work, and I’ve been buried in details of a business deal for months. It’s possible I missed it.”
“Salient facts, then.” Sara clasped her hands at her waist, her expression composed and her posture proud. “I’m a graduate of the first all-female class of the Continental Butler Academy. One of my classmates works nearby, and she happened to learn of a need…so I applied and was hired.”
“To do what exactly?” He winced. “That sounded insulting, but I really don’t know anything about this butler thing.”
“No, I understand. Butler is an old-fashioned word that today describes a person trained in the necessary skills to professionally run a modern household. I know how to set a formal table and serve formal meals and the like, but I’ve also been taught how to act as a personal assistant, a valet, and an estate manager.”
He nodded toward his plate. “You cook too.”
“A happy accident.” She smiled.
It was a butler-y facial expression, he decided, the way her lips curved, polite but reserved. What would she look like if she full-on smiled? Laughed? “Well, I appreciate it,” he said.
Once again she inclined her head. “The real work these last months has been getting the house and grounds into shape. The structure was mostly a shell, the interior unpainted, and the rugs, furniture, and appliances stacked up in the garage but not yet installed.”
He glanced around. There didn’t seem to be a single thing out of place, from the big screen TV over the fireplace to the sand dollars and sea glass on the shelves. “It looks great. I can’t believe you accomplished all this in so short a time.”
She shrugged, but her gaze roamed the area, and there was a satisfied glow about her. “I had help. And I’m told I can be quite imperious when I must be…in a nice way.”
He couldn’t hide his grin. With the little half-accent and that arresting face, he could see workmen stumbling all over themselves to get a job done to her standards. “Oh, yeah, imperious is probably the answer.”
Her golden brown brows came together.