The Billionaire's Housekeeper Mistress (12 page)

She’d dressed in jeans for this trip out and he smiled at the sexy way they hugged her cute derrière. This weekend with Daisy had been better than he could ever have imagined. Not only was she great in bed, she was great company, as well. He had enjoyed every minute of being with her.

He wished she was staying on at Hunters Hill. He would miss not having her there. The idea of asking her to live with him flitted through his mind, but he instantly shied away from it. Involving himself in a de facto relationship left him vulnerable to being stripped of a lot of money, possibly even losing the house he now considered his home. No way was he about to leave himself open to massive plunder.

As it was, Daisy could possibly take this apartment from him if he let her live here without paying any rent, but he’d already decided to risk that outcome. She hadn’t shown any bent for filching anything that didn’t belong to her and had been absolutely meticulous about not taking money she hadn’t earned. Given her willingness to stick to the deal this weekend, he believed she would keep to the letter of their agreement.

Integrity was a marvellous thing.

Especially in a woman.

Of course, he could be proved wrong, but right now he had Daisy Donahue locked into a relationship with him for the foreseeable future and he saw no darkness in that future with her.

Still smiling, he loaded the bottle of champagne and glasses into an ice bucket, grabbed the dish of strawberries, and carried the lot into the master suite. He had a few more hours with her before she’d have to go home to get ready for tomorrow’s interview. Ethan intended to make the most of them.

Daisy’s heart jumped at Ethan’s touch as he slid his arms around her waist. She hadn’t heard him come up behind her, the thick cream carpet muffling any sound of footsteps. He gently pulled her back against him, bending his head to brush her hair away from her ear with his cheek. ‘Happy with the view?’ he murmured, his warm breath tingling over her skin.

‘Yes. Who wouldn’t be?’ she answered, making a conscious effort to relax and be happy with what she did have of him.

‘You could move in tomorrow afternoon.’

So as to be ready for him tomorrow night…his convenient mistress.

Daisy clamped down on the bitter thought. She had nothing to be bitter about. Nothing!

‘I should be able to do that,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll have to square it with my parents first.’

‘Say the friend you spent the weekend with has asked you to share an apartment in the city. It’s the truth.’

True enough, she thought, and the move made sense
if she was offered the job at the publishing house. Her parents wouldn’t quibble over it. They were happy, making plans for their future, and would be happy for her to do whatever she wanted.

And she wanted him.

There was no denying that truth.

She wanted him for as long as she could have him.

On a fierce wave of determination and desire, Daisy wheeled around in his embrace, flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him in a savage need to put everything else aside, to generate once again the intense, allconsuming passion where nothing else mattered.

Seize the day…

She would face whatever tomorrow brought when tomorrow came.

T
O
D
AISY’S
astonishment, delight and immense relief, she was given the PR job at the end of the interview—no waiting to hear and no waiting to start work, either. Her new boss remarked that since Ethan Cartwright was prepared to release her from his project and he, himself, needed her services immediately to set up a publicity tour for a new author, he’d like her to begin tomorrow. Even better, the salary being offered was more than she had ever earned before.

It made her wonder if Ethan had exaggerated her worth. Certainly his personal recommendation had worked wonders. Of course, it all fitted nicely into his plan for her to move into his apartment today, but it would suit her, too, which was readily understandable to her parents—a simple case of picking up her independent life again since their financial problems had been resolved. She had already told them she’d seen an affordable place at Pyrmont at the weekend and intended to take it.

It was up to her now to make a success of this new career, get it solidly established so there wouldn’t be too big a hole in her world when her time with Ethan was
over. Ever since she had lost her job with Lynda Twiggley, she had been inescapably dependent on him. The apartment was part of the deal, but at least he was no longer the only source of income for her. She would be able to strike out on her own whenever she had to. That was a good feeling.

There was more champagne that night to celebrate the beginning of her new career. Ethan was happy for her to be happy about it. Certainly he saw it as no threat to what he wanted with her. Even when she explained that a publicity tour would involve overnight trips to Melbourne and possibly other capital cities, he made no objection, seemingly taking it for granted she would not always be free when he was free.

He was definitely not a control freak.

And Daisy was hopelessly in love with him.

She looked forward to the evenings he spent with her during the week. Never on a Tuesday night because that was games night with his old friends, but most other days he dropped in at the apartment after work. They chatted over a relaxing drink, cooked dinner together, watched television, made love, after which he would always go home.

It made her wonder if that was some legal point with him—protection against any claim she might make on him in court when he wanted out of their relationship. She was living in his apartment, but they were not live-in lovers. They weren’t a couple in public, either. Although he invited her to Hunters Hill on weekends, it was only ever the two of them there—no parties. He didn’t take her out nor ask her to accompany him to any social events. Which all hammered home to Daisy that she was his private mistress and for
anything more to develop between them was sheer pie in the sky.

Having resigned herself to taking each day as it came, she could hardly believe it when Ethan suddenly changed the parameters of their relationship. They were lying in bed one Sunday morning, languorously content not to move for a while.

‘It’s the Golden Slipper next Saturday,’ he remarked, running gentle knuckles up and down the curve of her spine.

‘What’s the Golden Slipper?’ she mumbled, nestling her head under his chin.

‘Only the richest horse-race for two-year-olds in the world,’ he answered dryly. ‘The prize money is two million dollars and Mickey has Midas Magic lined up to win it.’

Ethan’s horse—the one that had won the Magic Millions just before the terrible debacle with Lynda Twiggley, which had been immediately followed by Ethan’s determined drive to have her in his life. ‘I guess you want to go and see him race,’ she said, thinking of spending the day shopping since he wouldn’t want her with him in some celebrity marquee where his highsociety friends would be gathered.

‘I know you’re not into gambling, Daisy, but I think you’d find it a fun day anyway. Fashions in the Field can be eye-popping stuff. There’s the whole glamorous spectacle of the Golden Slipper ceremony, plus live entertainment—a guest star singing. Mickey has booked a table for ten in the Winning Post restaurant which has the best view of all the action. We can sit there, eating a gourmet lunch, drinking fine wines and watching it all unfold below us.’

Daisy could hardly believe her ears. She jerked up to look him in the eye. ‘You want me to go with you? Be introduced to your friends?’

He frowned at her incredulous tone. ‘They won’t be all strangers to you. You saw Mickey at the Magic Millions and you know Charlie.’

‘Yes, but I thought…’ She struggled to find the right words. ‘I thought you were keeping me in the background of your life. Not upfront.’

His frown deepened. ‘You were worried about what your parents might think of our connection. I was waiting for a reasonable amount of time to pass in your current career for them to accept it was okay for me to pursue my personal interest in you.’ He grimaced. ‘There’s bound to be publicity about us once we’re seen together.’

Daisy was stunned again. She’d had it all wrong. Totally wrong! He’d been considering her, caring about her. In one huge galloping leap, the hope she had so sternly repressed emerged from its dark dungeon and bloomed in bright sunshine. She had just been elevated from secret mistress to public partner. Her heart skipped and jumped in wild joy. There was a chance this relationship could become a serious one if Ethan was happy for them to be seen as a couple.

‘I have to go shopping. Today,’ she announced, giving him a look of determined purpose. ‘I won’t have enough free time during the week to find something suitable, Ethan.’

‘You could wear your red-and-white dress,’ he suggested. ‘You look great in that.’

‘No, it won’t do.’ She shook her head emphatically. ‘I saw what your crowd wore at the Magic Millions,
remember? I need a fantastic outfit with a matching hat.’ She grinned at him. ‘Not brown.’

He laughed. ‘Okay. I’ll take you shopping, buy you whatever you want.’

‘No, you won’t!’ she cried indignantly, bridling against being put in the bought mistress bracket again. ‘I have to accept the free accommodation you give me because of the deal I agreed to, but I’m making good money now and I can afford to buy some fine feathers of my own, thank you.’

She flounced off the bed and stood up in a challenging stance, hands on hips. ‘Those are
my
terms, Ethan.’

He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow, the green eyes regarding her with a glint of triumph, as though he had just won something. ‘Then I’ll just tag along, be your chauffeur, take you to lunch somewhere along the way.’

She couldn’t argue with that. Her free time was exclusively his. Besides, having lunch with her out in public was more delightful proof that he didn’t want her kept hidden away. Nevertheless…‘I’d prefer you not to be with me in the boutiques. It’s much more fun for me to surprise you on the day.’

He smiled. ‘I’ll park myself in a coffee shop with the Sunday newspapers.’

Daisy smiled back, bubbling with joy inside. ‘You’d better come and shower with me. We have to get moving. And I warn you this might be a marathon shopping trip. I’m not going to settle for anything less than spectacular.’

Pride insisted she look at least as good as anyone in his party—good enough to be accepted as Ethan’s partner in everyone else’s eyes. She wanted to make him feel proud to have her on his arm, make him
feel she could be his partner in every sense. For the first time she thought it could be a real possibility. It wasn’t about just having her in his bed. It was about pursuing his interest in her.

Ethan felt an exhilarating sense of triumphant satisfaction all week, leading up to the Golden Slipper Saturday. Daisy’s response to being with him for the big horse-race proved beyond a doubt that his judgement of her character had not been astray. If she’d been into bartering sex for gain, she would have pounced on his offer to buy her clothes. And he was quite sure now she would walk out of his apartment at the end of the year—the deal done—without any thought of making a claim on it.

His cynical view of her resistance to having an affair with him—a form of manipulation to get him to solve her problems—no longer seemed feasible. There was nothing underhand about Daisy. She played everything straight down the line. Best of all, since the way had been cleared for her to have an open relationship with him, she seemed happy about it. Genuinely happy. Which meant he wasn’t buying her submission to what he wanted of her any more.

He was tempted to remove all force from the situation, free her from the deal, but he liked having her in his apartment, liked having the security of knowing she was his to have. As it stood, she couldn’t walk away from him, not without breaking her word, and Daisy wouldn’t do that. He wanted more time with her. It was stupid to risk not having it.

Mickey called him at work on Friday. ‘Just letting
you know Midas Magic had a great trial run on the track this morning,’ he said, his voice brimming with cheerful confidence. ‘And in case you’re not already aware, Serena has attached herself to James Ellicott.’

James Ellicott…Ethan winced at one of his clients being sucked in by Serena. The man had made a fortune in advertising and had already been divorced twice, costing him a lot of money in settlements. He liked beautiful women and was apparently prepared to pay for them.

‘They were both here at dawn watching his horse trial,’ Mickey ran on. ‘No doubt she’ll be included in his party dining in the Winning Post restaurant tomorrow. Thought I’d better warn you.’

‘Thanks, Mickey. No problem. I’m not the least bit troubled about Serena being with someone else.’

It was true. Though Mickey’s news report had instantly incited the cynical thought that Serena was buttering up another billionaire for the kill. She was not a morning person. If James Ellicott married her, she wouldn’t be accompanying him to dawn trials again. He would have to be satisfied with her gracing his arm in the winners’ circle, which Serena would do beautifully.

Ethan suddenly realised that should Midas Magic win tomorrow, he and Daisy would be in the spotlight for the presentation of the Golden Slipper. She’d been delighted with her shopping trip. He hoped her outfit was spectacular enough to shut Serena’s mouth because his ex-fiancée had no grace at all when it came to losing.

When he walked into the apartment the next morning, any worry that Daisy might be put down by
anyone
disappeared in a flash. She looked absolutely gorgeous. And elegant. And so sexy, desire instantly sizzled
through him, making his tailor-made suit feel more snug than it should around the groin area.

Impossible to race her off to bed. It would mess up the image she had created and it was too marvellous to spoil. She twirled around in front of him, the calf-length skirt swirling in a froth of vivid colour. ‘Like it?’ she asked, her big chocolate-brown eyes sparkling with confidence in her fine feathers. ‘It’s called
neon butterfly
.’

The dress was a brilliant pink, the shiny silk patterned with white and purple and orange and bright green butterflies. Its low V neckline and the wide band from under her breasts to her waist emphasised her beautiful, womanly curves. Her long, dark brown hair was piled on top of her head, and curling from one ear over her crown was a stunning concoction of bright pink flowers and feathers.

‘I’m dazzled,’ he said, shaking his head in bemused appreciation. Gone was the brown sparrow. This butterfly would outshine every other woman at the Rosehill Gardens racetrack.

Her smile wavered. A flash of wary vulnerability took the sparkle from her eyes. ‘Is that good or bad?’

He grinned, warmly assuring her, ‘It’s amazingly good,’ as he walked forward to draw her into his embrace. ‘I’ll have to beat off Mickey from trying to steal you from me, because he’ll definitely see you as the most beautiful fish in the sea today.’

She laughed, relief melting into pleasure. ‘I just didn’t want to let you down, Ethan.’

‘You never let me down.’ He kissed her forehead and smiled into her eyes. ‘And that’s something I really value, Daisy.’

‘You haven’t let me down, either,’ she rushed out somewhat breathlessly, and there was a yearning look in her eyes—a look that did something weird to Ethan’s heart. It was as if a hammer had smashed into the hard shell he’d kept around it since his disillusionment with Serena, and a gush of warmth made his chest swell with waves of emotion.

He wanted to look after this woman.

Protect her.

Give her everything she needed.

The instincts that had driven him to act as he had when he had first met her suddenly made perfect sense. The need to have her, to nail her into a relationship with him…it was because she was uniquely special in his experience…a woman he could trust, a woman he could love, a woman he could share his life with.

The look in her eyes told him she wanted to be convinced that could happen and the realisation hit him that all along she hadn’t believed it was a possibility. Her determined avoidance, her resistance to an affair with him, her stunned surprise that he wanted her to appear in public with him…she simply hadn’t believed a relationship with him would work, that it would always be limited to sex on his terms.

And that wasn’t good enough for Daisy Donahue.

Nor should it be.

Today was a testing ground.

He must not let her down.