to his old friend—her own attorney from back in L.A.
To keep Mr. Jarvis from asking too many questions, she’d made up a story about who she was with her attorney and had vowed to keep her mouth shut and stick to the story. Part of her story was that she was a shy, quiet woman who would be happy living and working in this small town.
Actually, that wasn’t too far from the truth. Despite what the tabloids wrote about her. She was shy and had been desperate to live in this small town. Her parents had sheltered her and, no matter where in the world they were living at the time, they surrounded her with bodyguards.
Merri had hated every minute of it. The last couple of years, since she’d been out of college and had worked on a few modeling jobs in Paris, were also not indicative of the person she really was deep inside—or who she wanted to be. She wasn’t the person they wrote about in all those tabloid articles.
The reporters had taken the place of most of the bodyguards, and they were much more difficult to deal with. So…she would get Tyson Steele’s damn coffee and run his errands if that’s what it took to stay hidden in her brand-new world.
Drawing on all her old drama classes, Merri straightened the tight bun of mousey brown hair on the top of her head and headed back to her new boss’s office with a mug full of dark sludge that would have to pass as coffee.
She had to play the part exactly right if she was going to turn this new life into her own.
“Thanks,” he said absently when she placed the mug on the corner of his desk. “Sit.” He waved her toward one of the vacant metal fold-up chairs next to his desk.
Damned man couldn’t even bother to ask? Merri backed up and sat down as ordered, waiting for him to finish his phone conversation. As she sat, she took the pose of supposedly inspecting her unpolished fingernails. But she was surreptitiously studying her new boss from behind her thick, fake glasses.
And he was definitely the picture of masculinity, she could see that quite clearly. Tight, well-worn jeans, sleeves rolled halfway up muscular arms and intelligent but slightly dangerous blue eyes. Whew. A smidgen of heat budded deep in her gut, but she tried to ignore it.
She’d been in his office many times without him over the last two days, learning the surroundings of her new job and getting accustomed to the names on the Foundation’s many donor files. That part of her job would be easy enough.
But his attorney had also asked for her special help “civilizing” Tyson Steele. She hadn’t originally thought that would be a big part of her job—Steele was a well-known billionaire after all. However, Mr. Jarvis was convinced that his client needed some major polish.
He’d said that since Merri came from sophisticated L.A. and seemed professional, perhaps she could encourage Ty to drop some of his Texas cowboy image. Apparently, Merri would never entirely be rid of her damned boarding school background—no matter how hard she’d tried to disguise herself.
She had reluctantly agreed to Mr. Jarvis’s suggestion, thinking her new boss must be some kind of ogre. But now all of a sudden Tyson Steele was here in the flesh. And instead of trying to think of how to change him, his presence made her feel too warm and the room suddenly felt too closed-in to breathe.
He hung up the phone and reached for the coffee mug. “Mmm. Steaming and strong.” He took a swig and made a face. “Yeah, just like always. Strong enough to stand by itself and hot enough to melt the plastic off the cup. Those are the only good things about the coffee here.”
“Maybe you should enter the twenty-first century and buy a decent coffeemaker?” Damn. She’d managed to make a smart remark after all. Keep your mouth shut, Merri.
Tyson Steele narrowed his eyes at her, but he made no comment. He set the mug back down on the desk and picked up a stack of papers. “Now then, Miss…” Hesitating over her name, he glanced up and pinned her with another hard glare.
Oh, man. She didn’t like her body noticing what he did to the atmosphere in the room. What was up with that? She’d thought that it had been steamy in here before he turned those piercing blue eyes her way.
“Davis,” she supplied quickly to fill up the dangerous silence. “But please call me Merri, Mr. Steele.” Feeling the sweat beginning to form at her temples, she ran a hand over her hair and tried to breathe quietly through her nose.
Merri didn’t want to give her true self away. If she either told him to shove it—or did what her body wanted and flirted with him—he might figure out her charade.
And if he caught her in the lie, she had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate a second to pick up the phone and give her whereabouts over to the tabloids. A shiver ran down her spine at just the thought of having to face those horrible paparazzi bastards right now. Then not only would her own new life be ruined, but she would never be able to help Steele’s orphans or his foundation at all.
“Merri, then,” he said casually. “And you can call me Ty. Most everyone does. Except maybe my aunt Jewel, who always uses Tyson…unless she’s mad enough to call me by my full name, Tyson Adams Steele. That’s when I know it’s time to disappear.”
His face relaxed into a wide grin and Merri felt her whole body jump in response. Sonofa… She’d been hit on and propositioned by some of the wealthiest and most beautiful men in the universe. And she hadn’t been interested or tempted by any of them.
So why was it that gruff Tyson Steele had been just a rather interesting man—right up until he laid that smile on her?
She’d been doing a credible job of ignoring his long, lean body encased in jeans and beat-up work boots. But there was no way to ignore that grin. It ran electric currents along her skin and shot hot, wet bullets of sensitivity down her spine.
“Your aunt is Jewel Adams?” Merri managed to sound steady and more in charge of her senses than she felt. “She’s my new landlady.”
Ty cocked his head and studied her for the first time. “You rented that old broken-down cottage on Jackson Street from Jewel? She was my mother’s sister and she raised me after my parents were killed.”
“You’re an orphan?” Her heart had taken a little detour all of a sudden.
“I don’t think of it that way anymore,” he growled. “You may have noticed that I’m all grown up now.” His face held a scowl but his eyes were laughing at her. Oh, man.
He had to know the effect he was having on her. With eyes that startling periwinkle blue color, women just had to fall all over themselves to get him to pay attention—even if his outward clothing left something to be desired.
It wouldn’t be possible for him not to know what that sexy look could do—was doing—to her. She had to find some steady ground here. Her whole future in this town depended on it.
“The house might be old but it’s not really broken-down,” Merri told him with a croaky voice. “Someone has recently remodeled the inside. It’s quite cozy.” There. Didn’t she sound just like she was in charge of the situation and in control of her own bodily responses?
“Jewel painted it and refinished the wood floors,” he agreed. “But the roof still leaks, the plumbing is shaky and the electric needs a total overhaul. I was going to help her out with the heavy work, but I haven’t had time.”
“Oh. I’m sure it will be fine. It’s all I could afford until I can save up some money from this job,” she lied. Money was not a problem. But she wanted desperately to make her own way for once, and make it in a small and completely plain way at that.
“I’ve already put in a few personal touches,” she added. “It’s beginning to feel like home.” Well, maybe not exactly like any of her parents’ many homes. Thirty-room mansions didn’t usually qualify as cozy. And not one of them had ever felt like her home.
But Merri was determined to start a new life without any of the pretensions of all that wealth. She was ready for a home to call her own and