The Lone Star Cinderella

At that thought, she remembered the buzz of something...interesting she’d felt when he’d laid his hand on her arm. Thoughtful, she set the dryer down onto the pale cream granite counter and stared at her own image in the mirror. “Probably didn’t mean anything,” she assured her reflection. “I was probably just weak from hunger. Any man would have brought on the same reaction. It just happened to be Dave.”

The woman in the mirror looked like she didn’t believe her and Mia couldn’t blame her. It had sounded lame to her, too.

Shaking her head, she walked back to the bedroom, grabbed a pair of dark wash jeans from her dresser drawer and tugged them on over a pair of pale pink bikinis. When she had them zipped and snapped, she pulled on a white silk tank top, then covered it with the dark blue sweater. She stepped into a pair of black half boots, then walked back to the bathroom.

Her hair was still damp, so instead of the tight knot she usually wore it in, Mia quickly did up a single, thick braid that hung to the middle of her back. She didn’t bother with makeup. Why pretend to be something she wasn’t? There was going to be enough pretending for her over the next few weeks. Might as well hold on to some form of reality.

With that thought in mind, she flipped off the light and walked through her apartment. She stopped long enough to snatch up her black leather shoulder bag, then she was out the door and into her car before she could talk herself out of the craziest thing she’d ever done in her life.

* * *

An hour later, she was so grateful she hadn’t changed her mind about coming.

“Steak done the way you like it?” Dave asked from across the table.

“It was perfect,” Mia answered, though the truth was, she had been so hungry, if they had trotted a cow through the living room, she might have gnawed on it raw. At the moment though, she was comfortably full of steak, a luscious baked potato swimming in butter and sour cream and the best fresh green beans she’d ever eaten.

She sighed and lifted her coffee cup for a sip.

Dave was watching her, and she noted one corner of his mouth quirk.

“What’s so amusing?” she asked.

“You,” he admitted. “I’ve never seen a woman enjoy a meal so much.”

She flushed a little, then shrugged. No point in pretending she hadn’t been hungry. He had already checked her out, so he probably knew just how many packages of Top Ramen were left in the pantry. “Maybe you should broaden your horizons a little. Date a woman who eats more than half a leaf of lettuce.”

He grinned. “Might have a point.”

Her eyes met his and in the soft light of the dining room, his gray eyes looked as deep and mysterious as fog on a cold winter night. He wore a black sweater, black jeans and his familiar, scarred boots and he looked, Mia thought, dangerously good.

“I like your house,” she blurted when his steady stare was beginning to make her twitch.

“Thanks,” he said and glanced around the dining room. Mia did the same, taking another long look at her surroundings. Sadly, between her still unsteady nerves and the fact that she’d been so seduced by the scent of the meal, she hadn’t taken the time to really get a good look at the room.

One thing Mia had noticed was that every doorway in the house was arched. There was a lot of wood and a lot of stone throughout—definitely a man’s house. Even the dining room was oversized, and somehow so...male. The table could easily seat twenty. Heavy oak, the table’s thick edges were covered with intricately carved vines and flowers. Each chair boasted the same carvings and the seats were upholstered in dark red leather.

A black wrought iron chandelier provided the lighting, and framed paintings of the Texas landscape dotted the walls. Her gaze slid back to meet Dave’s and she felt that jump of nerves again. Well, she was going to have to get over that.

“Come on,” he said, pushing up from the table and holding out one hand to her. “I’ll show you around. You’ll have to know the place if you’re going to be my fiancée.”

“Okay...” She turned her head toward the closed door leading to the kitchen.

“What is it?” he asked.

Mia looked at him. “No dessert?”

Surprised, Dave laughed and this time it was real laughter, not the sardonic smirk or the condescending chuckle Mia was more familiar with. Amazing how real emotion could completely change Dave’s features from gorgeous to heart-stopping.

Oh, Mia hadn’t counted on this. Okay, yes, she’d felt that mild sizzle earlier today when Dave had touched her. But that could’ve been static electricity, too. In fact, she hadn’t felt any interest in a man in so long, she’d begun to think she was immune.

Now was not a good time to find out she wasn’t.

“Come on,” Dave said again, “I’ll take you on a tour, then we’ll have dessert in the great room.”

“All right,” she said, and stood, putting her hand in his. She determinedly ignored the fresh sizzle she felt when his hand met hers. Instead, she focused on the promise of sugar in her near future.

He kept a firm grip on her hand as they walked from the dining room and Mia idly listened to the sounds of their boot heels on the tile floor. When she’d first moved in as Alex’s housekeeper, she had been so impressed with the flawless beauty of his home. It was elegant and lovely in an understated way that she’d come to admire over the past couple years. But now, seeing Dave’s house, she was bowled over by the sheer scope of the place.

It was lovely in a completely different way from Alex’s home. This was rustic, and as she’d already thought, completely male in an unapologetic, straightforward manner. The floor tiles were beige and brown with splashes of cream to lighten the feel. The walls were a mix of stone and wood and textured, cream-colored plaster. Dark beams bracketed the high ceilings and arched windows boasted leaded glass. Every door was a curved slab of heavy, dark wood that made Mia think of centuries-old English estates.

“You’ve seen the dining room and the great room,” Dave was saying as he led her down a long hallway. “This is the main living room.” He kept walking, then paused to open another door. “My office.”

She caught a quick glimpse before he was moving on again and saw more dark wood, a large desk and a stone fireplace that looked as wide as her living room at home.

“This is the game room.” He stopped again, swung a door open and Mia saw a huge flat-screen TV hanging on the wall, a pool table, a couple of vintage video games and a well-stocked bar.

“You’ve got PAC-MAN.”

“Yeah.” He looked at her. “I’m surprised you know the game.”

“I spent a lot of time in arcades as a kid,” she said and let it go at that. No reason to tell him that while her father was earning a living playing poker in bars and casinos, she was left to her own devices and had become a champion at video games.

A flicker of admiration shone in his eyes. “We’ll have to have a match sometime.”

They passed through the foyer and Mia glanced at the clear panes of glass arranged in a wide arch around the double front door. It was dark out, naturally, but there were solar lights lining the walkway to the circular driveway. When she’d arrived, she had noticed the number of outbuildings. There was a barn, a paddock and several smaller houses all at a distance from the main house. The Royal Round Up was a prosperous, working ranch that no doubt required dozens of employees.

The whole place was huge. Dave was even more wealthy than she had guessed him to be. Which explained how he could offer to pay off her school loans without so much as blinking. She had no idea how to live like this. Not even how to pretend to live like this. Yes, she worked for Alex and he was wealthy, too, but in his house, she was the housekeeper. She wasn’t expected to act as though it was her own home. To act as though living like this was second nature to her. The more she saw, the more anxious Mia became. What had she gotten herself into?

“This hall takes you back around to the kitchen,” Dave said, and she glanced where he pointed. More art on the walls. More miles of gleaming tiles. She would never be able to find her way around this house. Plus, she didn’t even have the kind of wardrobe the fiancée of a wealthy man would wear. She didn’t fit into this world and she knew it. How could she possibly pull this off and convince anyone? Maybe, she told herself, it would be best if she just backed out of this deal right now. It wouldn’t be a complete waste; she had gotten a terrific steak dinner out of it.

An inner voice complained that without Dave, she’d be paying back college loans for the rest of her life. But surely that was the saner approach to take. Nodding, she braced herself to tell Dave that she simply couldn’t do it. She’d thank him and get out fast before she could change her mind.

Just then, he stopped in front of another door and threw it open. “This is the library.”

If he continued speaking, she didn’t hear him. All she could think was books. Acres of books. Floor to ceiling shelves lined with thousands of books ringed the cavernous room. There were couches, chairs, tables and reading lamps. There was a fireplace and giant windows overlooking the front lawn. With sunlight streaming through that glass, the room would be beautiful. The spines of the books lining the shelves must shine like rainbows, she thought, moving into the room and turning in a slow circle to take it all in.