Inherited: Expectant Cinderella

“Just us four.” She decided that it might be best not to mention the dog right now. Or … her pregnancy. “We just need a little time.”

“Four. There are four people living in this building,” he said, as if she hadn’t told him that already.

Daisy nodded. “I’m sorry you didn’t know before you got here. We didn’t try to hide it.” Although they had all known that the building didn’t belong to them and that this couldn’t last forever. They had been mailed a notice to leave and they just … hadn’t left. But she wasn’t sharing that with this man. He might have her cuffed and thrown into jail right now, and then where would the others be? She had to—somehow—gain them a little time.

She hazarded her best hopeful smile. “I guess … I guess you’re our landlord now, Mr. Sutcliffe. We could start paying you rent.” Even though she had no idea how they could scrounge together enough money for that.

For half a second, something that looked a bit like a smile lifted his lips just a touch. “You say that as if it’s a novel idea. Were you paying my aunt rent?”

“We were working for Tillie. And we all contributed our share. We were kind of like a … sort of like a commune.”

“A … commune? I see,” he said, and it was obvious he didn’t like what he saw.

“We could continue to be useful, running the chapel,” she offered. “We make people happy. In a way, we make their dreams come true, and it pays a little.”

If anything, Parker looked even more concerned. As if she’d just suggested that they take up raising rats. “I’m not a big believer in dreams, and I’m not interested in getting involved in the marriage business,” he said. “But despite how things appear, I’m not totally heartless, either. I’ll think things over tonight. Then tomorrow we’ll start looking for somewhere for you to go so that you’re not all homeless.”

And just like that he turned to go. But she was still holding on to his sleeve. Daisy heard a tiny rip as he stepped away, and she let go, her hand flying to her mouth in horror. “I’m really sorry about that. I could … get it fixed for you.”

“You’re quite a resourceful woman, aren’t you?”

That didn’t sound like a true compliment, but then, Daisy had experienced more than her share of criticism in her lifetime. She’d had men turn their backs on her more than once. Men she should have been able to trust and depend on. She lifted her chin and stared straight into his eyes.

“You have absolutely no idea, Mr. Sutcliffe.”

“I don’t,” he agreed. “I don’t know a thing about you. But I know all I need to know.”

And clearly he didn’t like what he knew.

She opened her mouth.

“Tomorrow, Daisy.” He cut her off, which was just as well since she didn’t know what she would have said. Possibly something that would have made the situation worse, if that was possible.

As he walked away, Daisy couldn’t help thinking that most women would probably get all excited at the prospect of a visit from a man who looked like Parker Sutcliffe. Under other circumstances she might have joined their ranks and at least enjoyed looking at him. But these were not other circumstances. Her next meeting with Parker was going to turn her life upside-down even more than this one had.

She had better start preparing for their next meeting. Had she really handed the man—make that the obviously rich man—a homemade bottle of bubbles and a bubble wand? And gotten frosting on what had to be an incredibly expensive suit?

Daisy groaned. She had. And then, despite her precarious situation, she couldn’t help smiling just a little remembering how horrified Parker had looked holding that bottle.

“The man probably never blew a bubble in his life,” she muttered. “I could certainly teach him a thing or two about having fun.”

Immediately she blanched. She’d be better off trying to think of ways to convince him that he’d be better off letting all of them stay here. Despite what she’d said, she could tell that he wouldn’t be moved by her neighbors’ opinions that Tillie would surely not have meant things to turn out this way.

What would Tillie do? she thought.

But all of the ideas that came to her were too preposterous … or illegal.

Maybe a miracle would happen, and a great idea about how to outwit Parker Sutcliffe would come to her in her dreams. Or maybe she’d just end up having a nightmare, one with a gorgeous but cruel villain … one who didn’t like bubbles.

“Still, I need a plan. A fast plan,” Daisy whispered. One that would help her save her family.

CHAPTER TWO

PARKER had called his secretary to tell her that he might be in Las Vegas an extra few days, and now Fran, who had worked for his family for years, was lecturing him.

“You know, you could simply hire someone to take care of that Mathilda situation.”

He knew … even though his late aunt wasn’t the only or even the main reason he was here.

Sutcliffe’s is failing. I have to stop it. The thought slipped in. No surprise. The words had practically become his mantra. Still, he did need to take care of his aunt’s belongings. Something was very wrong here, and it wasn’t just the luscious and bold Daisy.

“No, it’s up to me,” he said, “because clearly someone else took care of Mathilda’s situation years ago or I would have known that I had an aunt before she passed away.”

“Parker, I’m sure that your parents had good reasons,” she began.

“I’m sure they did.” And he had a good idea what those reasons had been. “But they’re both gone now, and I don’t intend to leave here without getting what I came for. I don’t like surprises, I didn’t like this surprise and I intend to make sure there aren’t any more. By the time I leave Las Vegas, I plan to know all there is to know about Aunt Mathilda including why the family didn’t acknowledge her existence, and I’m going to sort the situation out myself. If I hire someone, important personal information may be missed. Or if there’s anything incriminating—which I assume there is—it may become public knowledge and I don’t want to risk having anything floating around out there that would be bad for Sutcliffe Industries.” That was all that was needed to push the company off its fragile golden pedestal.

He also didn’t want to think about the fact that Daisy might know things about his aunt that he didn’t know. The wrong information in the wrong hands …

He frowned. There was something undeniably intriguing and enticing about Daisy, but that only made her doubly dangerous. He didn’t want to be intrigued or enticed. His life had been devoted to his business, the one thing that had never let him down until now, and that was how he liked things. All he had to do was contain the trouble with Sutcliffe’s. Then his world could return to its uneventful but satisfying path.

“You know,” Fran began, breaking into Parker’s thoughts. “Jarrod thinks this trip is a sham and that you’ve simply escaped to Vegas because he and the rest of the board have started picking out potential wives for you.”

Well, there it was. Leave it to Fran to get right to the heart of things. Too bad she couldn’t see his scowl through the phone lines, because she was definitely partly right. Jarrod, his cousin, had recommended an administrative assistant candidate to him last week who was clearly Boston royalty and knew nothing at all about the job.

“Jarrod may think that the board knows what’s best for me and Sutcliffe’s,” Parker said. “But he and the rest of the board are way off base. Marriage isn’t a good idea.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Remember how the stock of Ensign, Incorporated, shot up for months while Lloyd Ensign and his fiancée were engaged and inviting the public to sign in to their website and become part of the wedding-planning process? The company became a household name overnight.”

“I remember. And I remember thinking that Lloyd Ensign was an even bigger ass than I’d always known him to be. Opening my emotional doors to the public for money? Not my style, Fran.”

“I know, and you wouldn’t have to take it that far, of course, but … people love the fairy tale, Parker. You know … billionaire bachelor finds the love of his life, his own personal princess, and has a romantic wedding with all the bells and whistles. And you and the board have agreed that you want to snag the public’s attentions when you launch the new spa complex.”

Which was true. Opening the Sutcliffe Spa Complex was the first major change in the company’s long and successful history, definitely the first since Galen Sutcliffe had died and Parker had taken full control.

Parker’s grip tightened on the phone. His father had been larger than life, a friend to every television screen. His image and voice had launched a hundred hotels and kept people coming back for more. Now there was a hole in the company where he had been, and Parker wasn’t completely confident that the new spa complex could fill that hole. But this plan to boost the company’s ratings by painting him as a Prince Charming in search of the perfect bride …?

“You, too, Fran? Trying to convince me the way everyone else is?”

“Why not me?”

“Because you know me.”

She sighed. “Yes.” And what Fran knew was that Parker wasn’t interested in emotional entanglements. He’d had a lonely childhood until he’d found solace in work, and his solitary ways hadn’t translated well to his relationships as an adult. Women found him too restrained, but they liked his money; they wanted his name. And after the incident when Evelyn had tried to manipulate him into marriage by pretending he was the father of her unborn child … Parker’s blood nearly froze at the thought. Besides the obvious betrayal and lies, the thought of raising a child … no. No. Children needed so much more than he was capable of offering.

“I know you don’t want to get married, and I see your point, but Jarrod won’t give in as easily as I will,” Fran warned. “He’s planted the idea of a big Sutcliffe wedding in the minds of the other board members and it’s starting to take hold.”

Parker didn’t want to tell her that even he had examined the idea. Because while he’d been burned by women and didn’t want to try again, still he understood that his father’s personality had been the secret to Sutcliffe’s success. If a meaningless wedding could breathe life back into the business he’d built his life around … It was just one of the things he needed time to think about, and he couldn’t possibly think with Jarrod and the board singing the Wedding March twenty-four hours a day.