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CHAPTER TWO

WYATT glanced at Alex as they moved down the hallway toward his office. She was tall and willowy and…restless. Moments earlier she had excused herself to make a call.

“My apologies for stealing you away from your friends,” he said.

“I just had to let them know where I am. They were expecting me several minutes ago. But since I’m here…could you help me forward a card to Belinda? Babies are important.”

“Do you have children of your own?” he asked.

“No. I’m not married.”

Wyatt felt his senses go on full alert, coupled with a slight sense of relief—no doubt a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that this beauty hadn’t been claimed. But there was also wariness because she hadn’t been claimed. He’d never allow himself to pursue a woman who wanted children. His kind didn’t promise forever, so they didn’t produce babies.

No matter. She would either say yes to what he was about to propose, and their new relationship would create distance between them, or she would say no and he’d never see her again.

Five minutes, he reminded himself, opening the door of his office. “Have a seat.”

She looked at the leather chair as if it might have sharp teeth hiding beneath the upholstery.

“Problem?”

“No. I was just thinking that I feel a bit like a kid who’s unexpectedly been sent to the principal’s office. Mr.—Mr….?”

“McKendrick. Wyatt McKendrick.”

“Of course. Mr. McKendrick. I’m not sure what this is about, but I have to tell you that I’m pretty uncomfortable.”

“And frank.”

She shrugged. “That’s me.” But, despite her discomfort, she sat. She was wearing a white dress, and he couldn’t help noticing that she had amazing legs. He frowned at his reaction.

“Total honesty does bother some people,” she conceded, and he realized that she had noticed his frown.

Wyatt shook his head. “Honesty is…” What I demand of my employees, he’d meant to say. But he didn’t want to come on too strong. Starting with employee rules would be the wrong approach. “I’ll make this brief, Alex. I’m sure you could see how concerned Belinda was about her replacement.”

Alex looked wary. “Ye-es.”

“She takes her work very seriously, and she excels at it.”

“A good concierge must be hard to find.”

“Yes. The job requires someone who can think on her feet.”

“Of course.”

“Someone who knows how to make customers feel at ease, who makes them feel that their concerns matter, whether they need tickets to a show or have a plumbing problem.”

She blinked. Wyatt supposed the plumbing comment had been too much, since she’d handled such a problem only minutes earlier. But he didn’t have any time to waste. She was a guest here. Temporary.

“Of course a good concierge also knows every detail of the city, but that can be learned,” he said.

Alex frowned. “I don’t understand. Why are you telling me this?”

“I find myself temporarily short a concierge.”

“You told Belinda you’d hired someone.”

“I lied. She would have worried, and right now she needs to concentrate on herself and her family.”

A small, pretty smile turned Alex’s extraordinary face even more intriguing. “You don’t sound like the ogre Randy made you out to be.”

He raised one eyebrow.

A guilty flush coloured her cheeks. “Forget I said that.”

“Already forgotten. Randy, for all his fussing, is good at what he does.”

“And as the owner of this…palace of a hotel,” she said, “that’s very important to you?”

“Absolutely. I only want the best people.”

Suddenly she looked more relaxed. “Good. For a minute I was worried. It almost sounded as if you were going to offer me a job.”

“I am. I need a sub for Belinda.” He surprised himself by blurting it out. Even though he was in a bit of a bind, he’d still intended to give the issue a little more thought. Do a quick background check. No matter. All that could be done after the fact.

“You can’t be serious. I’ve never been a concierge.”

“And I’d never owned a hotel until this one. Some people are naturals.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“I know enough. And I’ll find out the rest.”

“I could be a total idiot.”

“No. You couldn’t.”

“I could be a thief.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

She gave him the kind of look people reserved for small boys who were trying to snow them. “I could live in San Diego.” She glanced at him from beneath very long lashes. Her expression clearly said, Give me an answer for that.

Wyatt allowed himself the smallest of smiles. “You mentioned that. San Diego’s a beautiful city.”

“I know. I love it.”

“And…you’re not interested in relocating.”

“I’m sorry. No. I’m invested in the city. In addition to my Web site, San Diego Your Way, I’m hoping to open a shop of the same name soon. So, while I’m flattered that you would offer to hire me, references unseen, I can’t move.”

Okay, this was going to be difficult. But then he’d been raised in difficult circumstances. Horrible circumstances involving beating and ego-killing insults. Situations that were merely difficult didn’t faze him at all.

“You couldn’t be persuaded to relocate even for a few months?”

Alex shook her head, her sable hair brushing her cheeks. “I’m sorry. It wouldn’t be practical. I have a job.”

“At the front desk of a hotel chain. I take it that you already have the capital to open your shop? I see.” What he didn’t see was why the thought of letting Alex slip away bothered him. He hadn’t laid eyes on her fifteen minutes ago.

The best reason he could give for this odd crestfallen sensation was that McKendrick’s was his life. Making it the best it could be, aiming to get it on every five-star list, was what drove him. Anything that negatively affected McKendrick’s messed with his life and his plans for the future. Given that, Alex had seemed like a gift. That must be why he felt let down.

She had ducked her head, refusing to look directly at him for the first time since they’d begun their conversation. “Well, I’m not actually close to having the capital. It’s expensive living in California. But I’m working on it and getting closer.”

Alex sounded so apologetic that Wyatt wanted to smile. As if the state of the economy was her fault. Still, he saw one last opportunity—one he would grasp. He’d been called a lone wolf before, a man with no ties, one who followed the scent of whatever he wanted, relentlessly. It was an apt description. He needed to succeed, and right now he felt the thrill of having discovered Alexandra’s weak spot.

“So if I offered you a better salary—” he named an amount large enough that Alex jerked her head up “—and promised to find you work equivalent to what you’ve been doing if this doesn’t work out, or when you return to San Diego in two months, even that wouldn’t convince you to become my concierge?”

Somehow that last phrase had come out a bit wrong: too sensual, too possessive. Dammit, it had sounded as if he was offering to put her up as his mistress.

And she was looking like a pretty sable rabbit that wanted to take the bait but was wary of anything offered by a wolf.

Suddenly she looked him square in the eyes, rose to her feet and smiled. The pretty rabbit disappeared, replaced by a very human, very lovely woman. “This is very tempting and totally unexpected. When I came downstairs today I was looking for a menu, not a job. I love my home. I have friends there that I don’t want to give up. I have hopes and dreams, and all of them are based in San Diego.”

That statement alone should have sent chills down his spine. People who used the term hopes and dreams tended to be breakable people. He steered clear of them.

“Your…dreams,” he said, “may be centered in San Diego but taking this job would help you reach your goals much more quickly. You could raise the capital you need.”

She closed her eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She didn’t answer at first. For a second he thought he heard her counting beneath her breath. He did hear her counting. But when she got to six, she opened her eyes.

“What am I doing? I’m trying not to say yes,” she said with a groan. “I need time. Because if I make the wrong decision we might both regret it. This whole situation…it’s completely crazy. I just came here for the weekend. I have friends I’m flying back with.”

“I’ll refund the price of your airline ticket.”

She raised her brows. “Somehow that won’t solve the problem.”

“Problem?”

“I have a reputation for jumping into fires that burn me. I promised myself I’d stop that. Agreeing to do this…I mean, just look at you.”

Wyatt waited. She clearly had more to say.

“I can hear their thoughts already. Some good-looking resort owner asks Alex to please help him and what does she do? She leaps right in. They’ll think I’ve lost my mind. I—no. I need to be smart.”

Don’t push her, Wyatt told himself. Hadn’t everything she’d told him indicated that she had a tendency to let her emotions guide her? No matter what his gut instincts were saying, that wasn’t what he was looking for. He’d had a lifetime of bad experiences with people whose emotions dictated their actions, and up until he was old enough to be on his own he’d been forced to suffer the bitter consequences.

Still, this was short-term work they were discussing.

“A sensible person trying to save money would go for the gold, wouldn’t she?” Wyatt asked.

Alex frowned. “Maybe she would. But I…This is a big step. I really should go. I’ll need to think this through.”

Before he could say one word, she had moved to the door.

“Alex?” he said, before the door had opened an inch.

She turned to look at him.

“Don’t think it through too much,” he said. “Stay here. I’ll make it worth your while.”

A woman—someone other than Alex—gasped. Alex swung the door wide to reveal three women. Wyatt wanted to groan. He was very careful to keep his personal and business life separate. In fact, he’d opted not to have much of a personal life.

Alex was blushing prettily, but she held her chin high. “Jayne, Serena, Molly—meet Wyatt McKendrick, my potential new boss. Wyatt, these are my best friends.”

And obviously very protective of Alex, from the looks of them. He nodded to the three openly curious women. “It’s very nice to meet you. I’m hoping that Alex will make me a very happy innkeeper. I need her.”

Wrong thing to say. Her friends’ expressions said that he was a wolf and Alex was a tasty lamb. They would try to convince her not to take the position.

But he was determined to have her. It wasn’t just the way she’d handled Belinda’s situation and the customers. It was how she’d stood up to him. Not many people dared to question him. She was brave without being overbearing. It was a good quality for a concierge.

Or a woman. He frowned at that out-of-place thought and, leaning down, whispered in Alex’s ear, upping the salary he had proposed earlier. “I really do need help,” he said.

“What did he whisper to you?” one of her friends asked. Good. They were looking out for her. He liked his employees to have strong support systems. He’d grown up without one, so he didn’t require one, but most people did. It made for a happy, productive employee.

Still, he was on a mission. “How much time do you need?”

“I leave tomorrow afternoon.”

“Then think it over tonight. I’ll meet you here tomorrow morning at eight. And…Alexandra?”

The startled look in her eyes told him that very few people called her by her full name. Good.

She waited.

“Say yes,” he told her.

“You might regret it,” she said, “but I’ll consider it.”

Was she right? Would he regret being hasty? Most likely. Alex Lowell was very appealing. That could be a problem. He didn’t make personal connections, and that was an unbreakable rule. Yes, he would regret pursuing Alex.

But he would also regret not pursuing her. He only hired the best, and his infallible instinct, which had enabled a rebellious, angry young man to build an empire out of nothing, told him that she was the best.

And he wanted her.

CHAPTER THREE

ALEX felt as if she’d just jumped out of an airplane and realized she didn’t know how to pull the cord on her chute. A thousand questions were firing in her brain as she and her friends headed to her room. What had just happened? She had expected Wyatt to ask her to give him a play-by-play of her experience with Belinda. Instead he’d offered her a job and an obscene amount of money. She remembered that much. But mostly she remembered how every time Wyatt had looked at her, her entire body had reacted as if she’d just discovered, at age twenty-eight, the difference between men and women. And why some women got into hair-pulling contests over a virile man or tattooed men’s names on their bodies.

Wyatt was going to be a problem. And not because of anything he would say or do. Oh, no.

It was all her. She was the problem. The man made her hands shake with awareness of her body. She’d practically had to sit on them to keep them still, and she couldn’t have that. Her relationships with men had always been awful, starting with her father’s and stepfather’s abandonment of her. She still remembered running after her stepfather’s car, begging him to stop. It had been the beginning of a life of over-achievement, of volunteering to help men with their problems, only to get her heart broken. But her last awful experience with Michael had been the worst. A child had been harmed by that relationship, so she was through. And since she loved being independent with no need of a man, her instant reaction to Wyatt should have been a blaring warning that she was in danger of making a major mistake. The only sensible thing to do in such a situation was—

“Run back to San Diego.” She muttered the words beneath her breath.

“What did you say?” Molly asked.

“I said that you don’t have to worry about me,” she told her friends as they entered the hotel room she was sharing with Jayne. The truth was that she could handle the worrying about herself part of things just fine.

“You can’t come to Las Vegas for a weekend and end up staying,” Jayne said. “Alex, that’s insane. You could get hurt.”

Alex shook her head. “No, I can’t. I have new rules for myself. Parameters. If I took this, it would be just a job.” One she’d have turned down instantly if Wyatt hadn’t made it difficult to say no. “I love your hair, by the way.”

Alex, Molly and Serena had pitched in to give Jayne a salon treatment, and she’d had her waist-length hair cut short. Alex knew it was because Jayne’s fickle fiancé had loved her long hair.

“Thank you, but that won’t work,” Jayne said.

“What won’t?” As if Alex didn’t understand.

“She means that you can’t distract us,” Molly said, frowning. “Alex, we’re worried about you. We know running into Michael and his daughter hurt you last week. If you stay here alone…well, we don’t want you to stay here alone.”

Alex’s throat began to close up. Molly, Serena and Jayne had been there for her when Michael had broken her heart and her spirit. They’d had her back…always.

“Thank you, but don’t worry. I haven’t decided yet what I’m doing.”

“Decide no,” Serena said. “This is too big a change to make so quickly.”

“Yes, it is,” Alex agreed. “I totally agree.”

Jayne and Molly and Serena looked at each other.

“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” Serena asked.

“I probably shouldn’t, but when he was whispering to me…”

Alex’s breath caught at the memory of Wyatt’s breath lifting her hair, tickling her ear.

Molly snapped her fingers in front of Alex’s face. “Come back, Alex.”

Alex blinked. “I wasn’t daydreaming. I was thinking.”

“About…?” Jayne prompted.

“She was thinking about Mr. McKendrick whispering in her ear. In that very sexy way,” Serena said.

Serena didn’t miss a trick. It was best not to let anyone focus too much on how irresistibly sexy Wyatt was.

“This has nothing to do with Mr. McKendrick’s hotness factor. The thing is…he offered me three times my current salary,” Alex said. “Then he upped it again.”

Jayne’s eyebrows rose. “I think we better sit down while you tell us what happened. You only stepped out to get a menu.”

“Talking about this is a great idea,” Molly agreed, sitting on the bed. “Talking you out of it would be even better.”

“Spill it, Lowell, and make it good,” Serena said.

Alex sighed. They had a point. Going through what had happened would clear her thoughts. As it was, the whole episode was a blur of excitement.

“Okay.” She sat down cross-legged on the bed. “It all began with the pregnant concierge going into labor…”

A smile lifted Serena’s lips. “You certainly know how to begin a story.”

But Jayne wasn’t smiling when the story ended. “Careful, sweetie. I smell heartbreak if you stay. Wyatt McKendrick looks like a man who’s run through a lot of women. Rich, sophisticated women.”

And Alex wasn’t either rich or sophisticated.

“But he’s offering you your dream, isn’t he?” Molly asked. “The chance to open your shop sooner. That’s the appeal, isn’t it?”

“Partly,” Alex said. “Without this chance I might never make enough money to open the shop. But it’s more than that. All my life I’ve ended up in situations where I had no power and no stable home. After my father and my stepfather left, my mother struggled to support us. Sometimes we got evicted. We never had a real home. Later, there were men. Always temporary. Robert, the athlete I tutored, who left me for the prom queen; Leo, the painfully shy guy I mentored and turned into a woman-magnet only to have him slip away with someone he’d known all his life. Then Michael…He was struggling to be a single father. I was helping him. I thought we were going to make a home together, but we’re not.”

“Alex,” Jayne said. “That’s what worries me. I read somewhere that McKendrick’s is competing for an award and…we know you so well. You’re too darn warm-hearted. You jump in to help and end up getting hurt by men who don’t appreciate what you’ve done for them.”

“Which is exactly why I’m safe this time,” Alex said. “Jayne, I’m aware of the mistakes I’ve made in the past. Those men I helped and fell in love with but who didn’t love me back—they were my training ground. The scars I picked up will protect me, because now I know that if I want a home—and I do, more than anything—I’ll have to make my own. From now on I’m declaring my independence from men who never offer forever or stability, anyway. I’m going after what I want, and when I get that shop I’m putting my whole heart in it. The money Wyatt is offering me could help speed up that process.”

“What about your Web site?” Molly asked.

“I can update that from anywhere.”

“You’ll probably be living at the hotel. That won’t be anything like a home. You know how you cling to that little apartment you’ve lived in for four years.”

“I know, but I won’t be here long.”

“So you’re staying?”

“I don’t know. It’s difficult. I’d miss all of you and…wow…this has happened so quickly that I’m not thinking straight. I do know that during those moments when I was manning the concierge desk it was exciting and…powerful. A little taste of what it’ll be like running my own place. It was totally crazy, but I liked it.”

“And then along came gorgeous Wyatt McKendrick, offering to let you have that power every single day,” Serena suggested.

Alex and Serena studied each other. She knew that Serena was worried about the possibility of Wyatt hurting her if she stayed here without her friends as a buffer.

“If I stayed, it wouldn’t have anything to do with Wyatt,” she said. “I only spent a few minutes with him.”

“So in those few minutes what did you think?” Molly asked.

“He runs a great hotel,” Alex said. Good answer.

“How about those eyes? I love amber eyes,” Serena said.

“But they’re green.” Alex frowned…and then groaned.

“Alex…” Jayne said, but Alex shook her head.

“If it makes you feel better, if I do decide to take this job, it won’t be because Wyatt has gorgeous eyes.”

“But I’ll bet it doesn’t hurt,” Molly said sympathetically.

No, it didn’t. And that might be a problem. If she stayed, she would have to keep a constant watch over her traitorous body and emotions. Fortunately she’d already been exposed to the dangers of making emotional mistakes. She was getting quite good at the recovery and moving on part, and she was determined to conquer the avoidance part, too. All she had to do was remember one thing: Wyatt was the kind of man who would break her heart without even being aware of it. So there could be no fantasizing about him. At all.

“Just…don’t make this decision in haste,” Jayne said.

“We wish you’d come home with us,” Molly added.

A part of Alex agreed. Home was a known quantity. Her apartment was tiny, but unlike this job it wasn’t temporary. Her real job offered no excitement but no dangers, either.

“I’ll probably leave with you,” Alex agreed.

Unless I don’t, she thought. Inwardly, she sighed and started counting to ten. She kept counting until her urge to decide quickly, take the money and worry about the potential pitfalls later, subsided.

After dinner, Serena and Molly went out to a hotel bar, but Alex and Jayne chose an evening by one of the hotel’s pools. Both of them wanted some quiet time, and the Amber Moon Pool, with its fragrant tropical landscaping, underwater amber lights, low-key background music and swinging hammocks was just the “escape to paradise” mood they wanted. The stress Jayne had been going through and the weekend’s nonstop activity had left her exhausted. She needed to recharge her engine before finishing up tomorrow, and Alex just needed the relaxation of water.

“I need to think,” Alex told her friends.

“You’re supposed to be having fun,” Serena reminded her.

Alex thought back to those adrenaline-charged minutes when she had controlled the lobby of McKendrick’s and she smiled. “I am having fun,” she said. Too much fun, maybe, but…

She knew then that she was going to say yes to Wyatt McKendrick’s job offer. It probably wasn’t that dangerous, anyway. He was, as Jayne had said, a man who probably had a lot of women, so he wouldn’t be interested in her. She wouldn’t be spending much time with him. At least outside of her daydreams.

Wyatt was surprised at his impatience to hear Alex’s decision. He had hired and fired lots of people, always basing his decisions on what was best for the hotel. Firing someone was unpleasant. But hiring? Completely a cut-and-dried decision.

It’s just the timing, he thought. He’d already been cutting things close, trying to locate someone of Belinda’s caliber. Losing her so soon had caught him off-guard. So his mood had nothing to do with Alex’s blue eyes or the curve of her mouth when she smiled.

But when he saw her crossing the lobby, in a poppy-red dress that showed off those amazing long legs, his gut tightened. His male antenna went on full alert. Too bad he was never going to do anything about that.

She smiled at him tentatively. If there was ever a look of “just let me get through this,” Alex was wearing it.

Wyatt steeled himself for her Thank you, but… speech.

Instead, her smile grew as she drew closer. “So, what do we do first?” she asked. “If I’m going to do this, I want to be good at it.”

A slow thrum of pleasure slid through his body. “You’ll be good at it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Didn’t we have this discussion yesterday? The one where you tried to convince me that you might be a criminal?”

“I did not. I merely implied that you didn’t know anything about me.” That pretty little nose lifted in the air. Somehow Wyatt kept from smiling.

“I think I might have mentioned that I intend to find out all about you. I may have seen your raw talent, but I assure you that I’m a very astute businessman.”

“As if I didn’t know that. I mean…look at this place, Mr. McKendrick.”

“It’s Wyatt. All my employees call me Wyatt.”

She raised a brow. For half a second he thought she was going to give him a lecture on sound business practices. He half wished that she would, just for the entertainment value of it.

Instead she shook herself, as if forbidding herself to give that lecture. “Well, okay. Wyatt. But anyone can see that this place is a palace, and you’re the man who keeps the lights lit. It’s obvious that you know what you’re doing.”

“And you’re worried that you won’t know what you’re doing?”

“If I leave my job to do this and things don’t work out, I’ll be worse off than I was before I said yes.”

“Things will work out. I’ll train you.”

“If you do that, you might as well do the job yourself.”

He arched an eyebrow.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ve never met anyone who tried so hard to convince me not to hire them.”

“I just want to make sure we understand each other.”

He looked into her eyes. “Okay, here’s my part. I need a concierge and I’ve decided you’re it. Barring a major miscalculation on my end, you’ll slide into the job smoothly. Now, you tell me your part.”

She stared right back. “I intend to be the best darn substitute concierge you’ve ever seen.”

“Only the best substitute?”

She lifted one delicate shoulder in a shrug, an action that wasn’t meant to be erotic but turned Wyatt hot. “Well, I didn’t want to sound like I was dissing Belinda.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”

“How is she?”

“Mother of a baby girl named Misty.”

“Oh, I love that name. I’ll bet she’s a sweetheart.” The look of naked longing in Alex’s eyes served as a warning to Wyatt. Alex could apparently make him burn just by lifting her shoulder an inch, but she was not a woman he could desire. She was the hearth and home type, and he’d never be that guy. He’d missed that imprinting process.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes. There’s just one thing.”

“And that is…”

“When the afternoon comes, my friends are leaving…”

“Friends. Of course.”

He wasn’t a man who cultivated friendships. Another failure to imprint, he supposed. Or…no. It was a choice. Letting people get close enabled them to see too much and gave them too much power. It left a person vulnerable, and he would never do anything that left him vulnerable again. Still, he understood the value of promoting the goodwill of employees.

“You’ll want to see them off.”

“They’re my closest friends.”

“Friends who are on vacation with you.”

“Yes, but I made a deal with you.”

“And I’ll expect you to be on duty every day, beginning tomorrow. I demand punctuality and good attendance from my employees, but frankly you saved my rear, so I’m not inclined to make you cut your vacation short. We’ll manage to scrape by one more day by having people do double duty and juggling a bit. Fortunately I have no meetings scheduled, and I’m capable of directing people around my own facility when necessary.”

She frowned again. “Already I don’t like the way this is starting. Your other employees will resent being asked to cover for me.”

“My other employees know who signs their paychecks. They also know I’ll compensate them for their trouble and that I’ll return the favor when they need an emergency day off.”

“I don’t like to shirk my duties.”

Wyatt gave her his most intimidating look—the one that had been known to make those on his payroll shake in their shoes. “We’re not going to argue about this.”

Alex looked completely unperturbed. “No, of course not. I’m totally aware that you’re in charge, but still…”

Again he had that urge to smile, and Wyatt had never been a man given to smiles. Without missing a beat, he stepped over to a cabinet, opened a drawer, pulled out a handful of brochures and held them out to Alex.

“What’s this?”

“Homework. If you’re going to play hooky, I’ll at least expect you to start educating yourself about the local attractions and the hotel.”

The woman’s smile could have lit the ballroom at McKendrick’s. The impact of it nearly sent Wyatt reeling. “I’ll do that. Is there anything else?”

Yes. Stop smiling, he wanted to say. Stop making me think of you as a woman I want to touch, and just be what you have to be, a very temporary employee. “Yes, there is one thing.”

She waited.

“Enjoy your day off.”

“I will. And…thank you.”

“For what?”

Her lips curved up more. “You’re making it possible for me to fulfill my dreams.”

Wyatt wanted to groan. He wished she hadn’t said that. Dreamers were delicate creatures who could be easily hurt by men like him. He’d been a dreamer once, a long time ago. These days he gave the naive and the innocently optimistic a wide berth.

“Meet me here first thing tomorrow. I’ll get you started.”

Because the sooner he got her established, the sooner he could start thinking of her as just another employee.

He hoped.