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  “You don’t have to come, Joy. I could have one of the waitresses sub.”

  “I want to,” she said firmly.

  Sort of.

  Because he was going to look so good tonight. Grayson Bennett always looked good.

  “You work too hard,” Frankie said.

  “So do you.”

  Frankie shook her head and then stared long and hard across the room. She’d worn glasses until recently, and without the lenses, her eyes seemed bluer than ever.

  “You know,” she said casually, “I was talking to Tom yesterday. He was asking a lot of questions about you. He’s a really nice guy.”

  Tom Reynolds was the new line cook who’d been hired to help Nate and his partner, Spike, in the kitchen. And he was a nice guy. With a nice guy’s sweet smile. And a nice guy’s gentle eyes. And a nice guy’s polite manner.

  Except Joy liked what Gray had. The power. The charisma. The promise of breathtaking, hot sex.

  Which probably would have shocked her sister.

  If Frankie was the practical one, Joy was supposed to be the prim, protected youngest. Except she was getting bored with being good, especially whenever Gray Bennett came to mind.

  Which, in spite of her resolve, was about as often as the grandfather clock downstairs spoke up.

  Basically, every fifteen minutes.

  “Maybe you and Tom should go out sometime,” Frankie said.

  Joy shrugged. “Maybe.”

  As her sister left the room, Joy sat on the bed. She knew her fixation on Gray was unhealthy. Getting tangled up in fantasies about some man she saw maybe five or six times a year was ridiculous. And it wasn’t as if he encouraged her. Whenever Gray came up to the lake in the summer and she ran into him in town, he was always friendly. He even remembered her name. But that was as far as it ever got.

  Well, except in her dreams. Then it went a whole lot further.

  In real life, however, the attraction was totally one-sided. She was pretty certain about how Gray perceived her and it was just what she thought of Tom, the line cook. Nice. Sweet. Young.

  Completely unremarkable.

  And the truly pathetic thing was, even though she knew all that, even though she wanted to forget about Grayson Bennett, she still couldn’t wait to see him tonight.

  * * *

  GRAY WORKED HIS FATHER’S TIE into a Windsor knot. Ever since the stroke five months ago, Walter Bennett’s left side wasn’t working right. The physical rehab helped, and with time’s passing his brain had recovered some, but his fine motor skills were still compromised.

  “You ready for tonight, Papa?”

  “Yes. I. Am.” The words were slow and slightly garbled.

  “Well, you look sharp as hell.” Gray measured his efforts. A little tug to the right and the tie was perfect.

  Walter tapped his chest with a gnarled hand, pushing aside the strip of bright red silk. “Happy. Very. Happy.”

  “Me, too.” Gray smoothed the tie back into place.

  “Are. You?”

  Gray walked over to the bureau and picked up his father’s gold cuff links. They were heavy in his hand, marked with the Bennett family crest. He had a pair just like them, given to him when he’d turned eighteen and headed off to Harvard.

  His father stamped his foot, a habit he’d developed when he had to get someone’s attention. “Are. You?”

  “Sure.”

  “Don’t. Lie.” Walter was stooped with age, far shorter than he’d been when he’d had his youth, but he was still a big man. And although he wasn’t fierce by nature, not like his only son, when he wanted to be, he could be very direct. The trait was no doubt one of the reasons he’d been such a successful federal judge in D.C.

  Gray smiled to reassure his father. “I’m looking forward to getting back to Washington.”

  Which was lie number two.

  Walter huffed as his cuff links were put on and Gray had the feeling he was being given a stiff lecture in his father’s head.

  “You. Should. Talk. More.”

  “About what?”

  “You.”

  “There are much better subjects. Besides, you know the Dr. Phil stuff’s never been my thing.” Gray stepped back. “Okay, Papa. You’re done. I need to shower and change.”

  “Change,” his father said. “Change. Is. Good.”

  Gray nodded, but cut off the conversation by heading for his own room. On his way down the hall, he paused in front of Cassandra’s guest room.

  And sometimes change wasn’t so good.

  After he’d learned about Cassandra’s husband’s death, Gray had made a point of going to New York City to see her in person. He’d worried that with Reese gone, she’d be all alone in the midst of the Manhattan social tilt-a-whirl. Fortunately, their mutual friend, Allison Adams, and her husband, the senator, had taken to watching over the new widow like a hawk. But it was still a difficult time.

  If Gray and Allison hadn’t ridden her so hard, Cass never would have agreed to come up for the weekend. She’d have continued to nurse her broken heart in that big penthouse on Park Avenue all by herself.

  Gray kept walking. Cassandra and Allison were two unusual women for the circles he ran in. They loved their husbands and were faithful to them.

  Which was why Reese’s death struck him as unfair.

  Most of the ladies Gray knew, and he used the term lady loosely, thought fidelity was something you had for a clothing or shoe designer. The fact that some sap slid a diamond on their finger and they’d thrown on a white dress made little impression on their libidos.

  But maybe he was just bitter.

  Yeah, only a little, he thought.

  Gray shut the door to his room and took off his polo shirt. He’d had a lot of women come on to him over the years and a good number had been married. But he couldn’t blame his distrust of the fairer sex solely on his contemporaries.

  No, he’d learned his first lessons at home.

  From mommy dearest.

  Belinda Bennett was a blue-blooded, well-

  moneyed beauty. Real top-drawer stuff if you looked at her Mayflower roots and all that patrician bone structure. Unfortunately, she was first and foremost a harlot. A rebellious, misbehaving, spoiled brat who seemed determined to make her mark on her back.

  As if getting screwed by men who didn’t give a damn about her was a badge of independence.

  God, the things she’d done to his father. The humiliation. The degradation. And all of it caused by what she’d done with his friends at the club. His tax attorney. His own cousin. As well as the gardener, her tennis instructor, the choir master.

  Hell, even Gray’s camp counselor and his prep school English professor hadn’t been off-limits. And she’d also managed to find her way into the pants of two of his buddies from college. Former buddies, that was.

  Gray turned the shower on, kicked off his shorts and stepped under the water.

  His father was a good man. Weak when it came to love, but a good man. Unfortunately, this combination meant he’d stayed in the marriage even though he’d known what was happening. Even though his heart had gotten broken over and over.

  Which was precisely what happened when your principles outweighed your common sense. You got spanked.

  Courtesy of the spectacle, Gray had decided long ago never to let a woman get into his head, much less the center of his chest. He’d been called a misogynist by quite a number of them, and though that was hardly something he was proud of, he’d never denied the charge.

  Gray couldn’t imagine trying out what his father had attempted and failed at. He couldn’t fathom the idea of finding a woman he could really trust and marrying her.

  Ah, hell. Maybe he was just a coward.

  Gray snorted as he stepped out of the shower and toweled off.

  Yeah, and if he was such a pansy, why were so many members of the Senate and the House of Representatives scared of him? And the President of the United States might not be wary, but he
sure as hell took Gray’s calls, no matter where the man was, no matter who he was with.

  No, it wasn’t cowardice that had him pulling the I-am-an-island routine. It was a complete lack of myopia. He saw clearly the truth other men didn’t. If you gave anyone the power to hurt you, soon enough, they were going to use it.

  Gray walked into his closet, picked out a navy-blue suit and a button-down shirt, and tossed them onto the bed. He pulled on the pants and was zipping them up when he caught a flash of movement outside.

  His hands stilled and he leaned toward the window.

  He’d know that strawberry-blond hair anywhere.

  Joy Moorehouse was coming down his driveway on a bicycle, her long mane of curls streaming out behind her like a flag. She pulled up to the side of the house, looked around and seemed to realize she’d overshot the service entrance. Slipping off the bike, she walked it around to the back, away from view.

  Gray’s body slammed into overdrive, his blood pumping, his muscles twitching as if he were about to run after her.

  He cursed and planted his hands on his hips.

  This was not happening, he thought. He was not feeling any of this.

  Yeah, whatever.

  And then, as if his libido were taking a potshot at him, he was subjected to a quick replay of the day he’d caught her in nothing more than a bikini.

  God, that had been a couple of weeks ago, but he could picture it as clear as if it had happened this morning.

  To think he’d once considered his accurate recall a gift.

  After years of seeing Joy around town during the summers, and finding her pretty but otherwise unassuming, something had changed this season. And that was before he’d gone to White Caps and come upon her just as she was about to take a swim.

  Lovely before, she’d become instantly a thing of legend. Those subtle curves, all that smooth skin, those eyes so startled and wide when she’d seen him.

  Frankly, he was appalled with himself. She was so young. Well, maybe not that young, but there was something so pure about her. So guileless. So honest. She was fresh in a way that made him feel as though he should wash his hands before he dared touch her.

  Hell, with all her innocence, she made him feel dirty and ancient. Dirty for the things he’d done. Old because he had nothing but cynicism and hard ambition to offer anybody.

  Gray cursed again and yanked on his shirt. The buttons refused to behave well under his fingers and it took him twice as long as it usually did to get the thing done up. And forget about the cuff links. He actually dropped one.

  As he crammed the shirttails into the waistband of his pants, the fact that he was suddenly in a rush to get dressed and go downstairs didn’t escape him.

  But it sure as hell didn’t improve his mood.

  Chapter Two

  JOY PROPPED HER BIKE against the house and looked around. She’d grown up in a big place, but Gray’s mansion was huge. The three-story structure was the size of a college dorm and looked like a castle. It was also in perfect shape, the great stone walls pale and clean in the late sun, the trim painted bright white, the shutters gleaming black.

  “Yea, you’re here!” Frankie’s voice came out an open screen door. “How’d you like to help make cream puffs?”

  Joy swept her hair up and pinned it out of the way with a barrette as she came into the industrial-quality kitchen. “I’m your girl. Just show me—”

  The force of the blow sent her reeling into the wall and nearly kicked her feet out from under her. Something hit her in a wet splatter and then there was a loud clang as a pan bounced on the floor. The kitchen went dead quiet.

  Tom Reynolds’s face was the color of oatmeal. Although it wasn’t as if he’d had a deep tan to begin with.

  “Oh, God. Are you okay?” He reached out. “I didn’t see you. I’m so sorry. I’m really, really…”

  Joy glanced down at herself. Her white shirt and black pants were covered with tortellini and pesto. She looked as though she’d been stabbed and was bleeding brilliant green.

  Right out of a Roger Corman flick, she thought with a grin.

  “I’m fine.” She was more worried about Tom. He didn’t look so steady. “Trust me, I’ll recover.”

  The poor guy was on the verge of another round of apologies, but Frankie’s fiancé cut him off with a hand to the back of the neck.

  “Whoa, tiger. What was I telling you about slowing down?” Nate was a big, handsome man dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. He looked about as cheflike as your average Harley motorcycle owner, but he was heaven on wheels behind a stove. “You all right, angel?”

  She smiled at her soon-to-be brother-in-law. “Fine and dandy. Just keep me away from the vampires. I could give a garlic wreath a run for the money.”

  Frankie came over, shaking her head. “We’re going to have to get you out of those clothes. I think I saw some waitressing uniforms in the back room. Let me see what I can find.”

  Nate got down on his hands and knees and started cleaning up the mess. “We’re going to have to get creative. There isn’t enough time to remake this batch so we’ll have to whip up something else.”

  Tom sank to the floor, putting his head between his knees for a moment. His blond hair was messed up as if even his follicles were upset.

  “I really need this job,” he said softly.

  Nate froze. “Who said you were getting canned? Good God, you should know half the things I’ve dropped over the years.”

  Joy put her hand on Tom’s shoulder. “It was just an accident. I should have been looking where I was going, too.”

  The cook blushed as he began scooping up tortellini with his hands. “That’s a nice thing for you to say, Joy.”

  A second later Frankie came back with a black-and-white uniform in her arms and an impish, sixty-year-old woman at her side.

  “Oh, look at the poor girl,” the woman said, grabbing the clean clothes. “Come on, now, I’ll show you to a shower.”

  As Joy’s hand was taken in a firm, warm grip, she let herself get swept along.

  “I’m Libby, Old Mr. Bennett’s housekeeper.” They went up a set of back stairs. “I suppose I’m his butler and his secretary when he’s here, too. I’m also Ernest’s mom.”

  “Ernest?”

  “He’s not allowed in the kitchen when we’re cooking. Although he’d be handy at cleaning up that pasta.”

  At the top of the stairs, they turned right and went down a hall. On the walls there were black-and-white photographs of sporting events hung from floor to ceiling. Joy slowed. There were staid ones from the 1920s, with men dressed formally for cricket and a woman with her hair cut into a bob twirling on old-fashioned ice skates. A football team picture from the forties had all the players wearing leather helmets and big Hs on their chests. There was a shot of a track-and-field event from the seventies, with a man wearing first-generation Nikes vaulting over a pole. Another picture was taken at a swim meet with a girl diving fiercely into the water.

  “Ah, yes, the Bennetts over the generations,” Libby said fondly. “They’re an athletic lot, aren’t they? I put up the pictures because I couldn’t stand to have them lying around, collecting dust in boxes. And wouldn’t you know? Gray and his father both make a point to take first-time visitors up here to witness the glory.”

  Joy stepped forward only to pause again. In a simple black frame, she saw four men standing in front of a crew boat, their arms linked. Gray was on the end, grinning.

  “Oh, I like that one, too,” Libby said. “Young Mr. Bennett looks so happy in it.”

  The woman went down further and opened a door. A golden retriever bounded out into the hall, eighty or so pounds of glee in a pale fur suit. After a quick lick of Libby’s hands, he headed straight for Joy.

  Libby did her best to quell the adoration, but Joy didn’t care. She was perfectly happy to be climbed on.

  “Ernest likes you,” his mom muttered while trying to grab his collar.

&nbs
p; With a lunge into the air, the dog leaped up, his front paws nearly shoulder height. Joy laughed and gave his sides a sturdy round of patting.

  “I’m not sure I should take it personally,” she said. “I smell like Italian food, so what’s not to love?”

  After Ernest found a tortellini in the folds of her shirt, she went into the room. It was beautifully decorated with flowered wallpaper and lots of drapes. A four-poster bed with handmade quilts folded at the foot took up most of the space. The rest was occupied by antiques.

  “This is lovely,” Joy said, thinking of the staff quarters back at White Caps. Those rooms were like prison cells in comparison.

  “The Bennetts take very good care of me. And Ernest. Young Mr. Bennett’s practically adopted him.”

  “He likes dogs?”

  Man, if Gray Bennett was a canine lover, that would pretty much seal the deal on him being a total dreamboat.

  “Don’t know about all dogs, but he loves Ernest. They go on walks together and boat rides and—” Libby shook her head. “I’m rambling. The shower’s through there. You’ll find fresh towels on the rack and there’s a hair dryer under the sink. I’d have taken you to another room, but the other staff quarters are shut down for the winter and the guest rooms are all filled. Do you mind if Ernest stays?”

  Joy looked at the dog who returned her gaze with inquiry.

  “Of course not.” She smiled and fluffed his soft ear.

  As his owner left, Ernest planted his butt on the floor and leaned into Joy’s leg.

  “So, Gray’s your buddy,” she said to the dog when the door closed. “Got any secrets you’d like to share?”

  * * *

  GRAY PUSHED OPEN the butler’s door and strode into the kitchen.

  “Hey, big guy,” Nate called from the counter. “You’re lookin’ fine tonight.”

  They shook hands with a meaty clap. White Caps’ new chef had turned out to be someone Gray knew well. He and Nate had gone to college together, though they’d lost touch thereafter. It had been a real kick in the pants, in a good way, to find out who’d transformed the Moorehouses’ kitchen into paradise.