Against the Heart (2 page)

She had hoped to make it all the way there, but only a few gallons were left in the gas tank, and she didn’t have enough money to fill it.  When the fuel light came on, she took the first off ramp, Argonne Road. 

"Mama, I’m hungry." 

There was a Safeway up ahead.  Food came first.  Meri pulled into the parking lot of a small shopping center that included the grocery store, a Rite Aid, and a row of smaller businesses. 

Taking Meri out of her bumper seat, she took the little girl’s hand and headed toward the store.  There was only a ten-dollar-bill in her wallet, but it was enough for a snack and a small carton of milk for Lily.

Meri started for the door, which opened automatically, and the two of them walked inside.  The first thing she noticed was the bulletin board.  Dozens of cards and notes had been pinned up there, addresses and phone numbers of people looking for various types of work.

She could do just about anything, from waitressing to secretarial, bookkeeping, cleaning, cooking.  She’d even worked as a trainer at a Riverside gym.  But even if she left her cell phone number, she couldn’t wait around for someone to call.  Either she had to keep driving or find a place to stay.  Maybe she could find work in Spokane.  It wasn’t that far away. 

She decided to leave her number on a slip of paper just in case, and began digging around in her purse for a pen.  That’s when she saw him, the handsome blond man with the brilliant blue eyes who was intently studying the board.  He was over six feet tall and broad-shouldered.  Worn, faded jeans hugged a set of very nice buns.  He was carrying a note pad, she saw, jotting down phone numbers. 

He didn’t look like a serial killer so Meri took a chance.  "Are you looking to hire someone?"

He glanced down at her and she felt a jolt when those cool blue eyes fixed on her face.  "Actually, I am.  I’m looking for a housekeeper."

"Well, there’s a coincidence.  I was just getting ready to put my number up on the board.  I’m very good at housekeeping."

"It’s really more of a cleaning job," he said.

She thought of the ten dollars that was all she had left in the world.  "I can do that.  I don’t mind hard work and I’m very efficient."

Lily tugged on the hem of her T-shirt.  "Mama, I’m hungry."

"In a minute, sweetheart."  She turned back to the man, desperation mixed with hope.  "I’d do a good job for you.  I’m a very hard worker."

Those cool blue eyes ran over her, taking her measure.  She was five-foot-six, not too short, and after her job as a trainer, she was in excellent physical condition.

"I was really looking for someone older," he said.

"I’m twenty eight.  That’s old enough to clean a house."

His mouth edged up.  He had a very sexy mouth.  Funny...she had never thought of a man’s lips that way.

"I see you have a daughter," he said.  "What would you do with her while you’re working?"

Her stomach knotted.  She really needed this job.  "She’d stay out of the way, I promise.  She’s very well behaved--aren’t you sweetheart?"

Lily started jumping up and down.  "I’m hungry.  I’m hungry!"

Meri lifted her up and propped her on a hip.  "If you’ll be good, I’ll get you one of those orange-vanilla ice creams you like.  But you have to be quiet until Mama finishes talking to this nice man."

Lily started nodding, visions of ice cream dancing in her four-year-old head.  "Okay." 

Meri set her back on her feet.  When she looked at the man, she could read the amusement on his beyond attractive face.  "As I said, she’s usually well behaved," she said.  "You wouldn’t even know she was there."

His amusement slowly faded.  "I’ll be honest, Ms...?"

"Jones.  Meriwether Jones.  People just call me Meri.  This is my daughter, Lily."

"I’ll be honest, Meri.  The house is a real mess.  It’s going to need hours of hard work to get it in shape.  I think you’d be better off--"

She caught his arm, stopping him mid-sentence.  "I really need this job.  I promise, if you hire me, you won’t be disappointed."

His gaze traveled from the reddish-brown hair she had braided into two long plaits, paused at the pink T-shirt that read I AM WOMAN, moved down over her jeans to her pink canvas sneakers.  He looked at Lily, who stood quietly now, big blue eyes a little lighter than his staring back into his face. 

"All right, fine.  You’re hired.  But my father lives in there and he isn’t going to like having a kid in the house.  You have to keep your daughter away from him."

Her heart was thumping.  This could be the answer to her prayers.  Or a least to her immediate prayer that she could earn enough to get to a city where she could find a real job.  "That won’t be a problem.  He won’t even know she’s there." 

"I guess we’ll see."

"How far away is the house?"  Meri thought of the Chevy and wondered if she needed to use some of her remaining ten dollars to put a gallon of gas in the tank. 

"Not far.  Just up the road.  How soon can you start?"

Her stomach growled.  She’d been feeding Lily, but she was afraid to spend her last few dollars on food for herself.

"If you have something there to make sandwiches, I can start today.  In fact, I can start as soon as I get there."

The man pulled out his wallet and handed her two, twenty-dollar-bills.  "Get some bread and meat and whatever else you need.  You don’t happen to cook, do you?"

She started nodding.  "I’m a very good cook.  I took cooking lessons.  For a while I wanted to be a chef."

One of his dark gold eyebrows went up in what could have been relief.  He handed her another twenty.  "Get something to make for supper.  You can eat with us if you want." 

Did she want to eat supper with them?  Her stomach growled again.  Oh, God, did she.  "It won’t take me long.  I’ll get the groceries and follow you home."

"All right.  Fifteen minutes.  By the way, my name’s Ian Brodie." 

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Brodie."

"Ian works."

"Nice to meet you, Ian.  We’ll be right back."   Grabbing her daughter’s hand, she hurried into the grocery store.  Sixteen minutes later, she was through the checkout line carrying three plastic grocery bags of food, out the door into the parking lot.

The bad news was, there was no sign of Ian Brodie.

Ian sat in his Jeep waiting for Meriwether Jones.  He should have hired someone else.  Some big strapping female who could tackle a dirty job like the one in his father’s house.  But Ian was a sucker for a woman in trouble, and he’d been a cop long enough to know this one surely was.

He could read the desperation in her face, and the fact that she was so pretty only made it worse.  Along with her mahogany hair, golden brown eyes, and fine-boned features, she had sexy, feminine curves in all the right places.  He’d felt a kick the moment he’d laid eyes on her. 

Add to that, she had a kid.  Ian had a weakness for kids, and Lily, with her big blue eyes and angelic face, was a real cutie.

He saw Meri emerge from the store, holding onto an armload of groceries, Lily hurrying along beside her.  In a pair of jeans, a neon green T-shirt, and pink sneakers the color of her mom’s, the little girl licked an orange 50-50 bar.  Meri halted just outside the door, surveying the parking lot in search of him.  Even from a distance, he could read the fear in her face. 

Opening the car door, he stepped out and waved.  "Over here!"

She seemed to sag in relief as she hurried toward him, handed him the grocery bags, which he loaded into the back of the Jeep.  She carefully counted back three one-dollar-bills, gave him twenty cents in change and a receipt for the food. 

"That’s my cell number."  She pressed a slip of paper into his hand.  "In case we get separated in traffic."

"I won’t lose you," he said, looking down at the money she had so carefully returned, a good sign he thought.  "I promise."

Meri just nodded.  He watched her as she hurried to her car, loaded Lily into the kid’s seat in back, then went around and slid into the driver’s seat.

Ian kept the old car in his rearview mirror as he drove back to the house.  He wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with his father, but what was done was done.

He’d given Meriwether Jones a job. He didn’t know her story, didn’t know what kind of trouble she was in.  In time, he’d figured it out.  Investigating people was what he did.  In the meantime she’d be working for him.

Ian hoped like hell he wouldn’t regret it.

Meri wrinkled her nose at the smell as Ian held open the front door of a white two-story house surrounded by open fields.  Walking past him, she towed Lily into the entry. 

"Mama, it stinks in here."

Heat rushed into her cheeks.  "That’s why we’re here, sweetheart.  To help Ian get the house cleaned up."

Ian glanced around, rubbing the back of his neck, a little embarrassed, she figured, seeing the house through a visitor’s eyes.

"When my mother was alive, it was spotless," he said.  "She died five years ago.  My dad never really got over it.  He isn’t much of a housekeeper."

That was the understatement of the year.  "You want to show me around?"

"First, let me introduce you.  Dad’s in the den."

She followed him into a small, wood-paneled room off the hall.  An old-fashioned TV was playing, a game show, she saw. The room looked like something out of the seventies, with dark brown shag carpet, and a brown vinyl sofa, chair, and recliner.

"Dad, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.  This is Meriwether Jones and her daughter, Lily.  Meri is going to do some cleaning and cooking for us." 

He just grunted.  "I thought that’s why
you
were here.  You said you were going to get the place cleaned up."

"I am.  But there’s plenty to do outside.  Meri’s going to take care of the inside."

Another grunt.  "Suit yourself.  Long as she doesn’t come bothering me in here."

Ian turned in her direction.  "Meri, this is Daniel."

"Hello, Mr. Brodie."  The room was so dim it was hard to see exactly what he looked like.  Tall, she figured, since his son was.  Silver hair reflected in the light of the TV screen.

He made no reply. 

"Say hello to Mr. Brodie, Lily."

She looked up at him, her eyes big and solemn.  "Hello, Mr. Brodie."

He pushed the handle down on the recliner and sat up in the chair.  "She’s got a kid?  How’s she going to clean while she’s tending a kid?"

"We’ll let her worry about that," Ian said, heading for the door.  "Come on, Meri.  I’ll give you a tour." 

Thankfully, Ian left the den, led them into the hall and up the stairs. 

"The room I’m using is relatively clean and there’s a TV in there.  Lily could watch cartoons while I show you around."

"That’d be great."  

Ian led her into one of the bedrooms.  Football wallpaper covered the walls, and there was a full-size bed.  It looked like the room of a high school student.  Gold athletic trophies: swimming, tennis, and football, lined the bookshelf.  A canvas duffle sprawled on top of the old-fashioned quilt on the mattress. 

"I just got here," Ian said.  "I have hadn’t had time to unpack."

"This was your room?"

"Yeah.  Mom never changed it after I left."

Curiosity moved through her.  You could tell a lot about a person by the space he lived in.  She wondered what the room would tell her about Ian Brodie. 

He walked over and turned on a small TV, set it on the Disney channel.  Meri lifted Lily up on the bed in front of the screen. 

"You stay here.  Mama’s going to work for a while.  I’ll make you a sandwich and bring it up, okay?"

Lily nodded, her eyes fixed on the cartoon characters on the screen.  "Okay."  Besides watching cartoons, her favorite pastime was coloring, or playing with her Kermit the Frog hand puppet.  Meri made a mental note to get the toys out of the car.

"I’ll show you the rest," Ian said. "Then I’ll show you where the cleaning stuff is kept.  It’s bound to be there, since Dad clearly hasn’t used it."

She smiled and followed him out of the bedroom.  A quick tour of the upstairs included a total of three bedrooms and two baths.  Except for the master, where Daniel Brodie slept, the upstairs wasn’t too dirty.  She figured not too many people had stayed there over the years so the doors and windows had remained closed.  Still, the rooms were musty, dusty, and the linens all needed washing.

The living room was dank and cluttered, but had seen little use.  She paused in the dining room to admire the lovely old mahogany dining room table with its eight, high-backed tapestry-upholstered chairs, and the beautiful matching sideboard with a silver tea service on top. 

"This was my mother’s favorite room," Ian said softly, reaching out to run a finger through the dust on top of the table, exposing the mirror-like sheen underneath.

"It’s beautiful."  She looked up at him.  "It will be again, Ian.  I promise you."

He smiled.  It wasn’t one of the wary smiles he’d been giving her.  It was a smile that lit up his face and made her breath catch at how amazingly handsome he was.

"My mother would like that," he said.

Meri just nodded.  Her mouth felt dry.  Her heart was hammering.  It had been years since a man had attracted her.  Not since before Lily was born.  She had learned the hard way what could happen when you let your physical desires rule your head.  The only good thing to come from that night with Joey was Lily.  Meri would always be grateful for that. 

She glanced away from Ian’s sexy smile.  "Where’s the kitchen?"

"This way."  He led her into a once-white room whose walls were now more a gray.  White curtains trimmed with faded red hung at the windows and the white Formica counters where piled high with dirty dishes. 

"Cleaning won’t be enough," she said, appraising the dreary room.  "It needs to be painted."  The whole house did, but she wasn’t sure she should say that.

He nodded.  "It’s pretty bad.  After you get things put away, I’ll get in here and get it done."

"You’re going to paint it yourself?"

He grinned.  "What?  You don’t think I can handle the job?"