The Hired Husband. Judith Stacy

already prepared a very nice room for you overlooking the rear gardens. You’ll—”

      “You expect me to stay here?”

      “Well, yes, of course.”

      “No.” Mitch paced a few feet away.

      “You must stay with us,” Rachel told him. “And you must work here, too.”

      “No,” Mitch said. “That’s out of the question.”

      Rachel huffed. “Fine. Then I’ll pay you five times your salary.”

      He swung back to face her. “You don’t even know if you can afford that.”

      “Then you’d better see to it that I can,” she told him.

      A long moment dragged past with the two of them glaring at each other. Finally, Mitch broke the silence.

      “Just so we’re clear,” he said. “I don’t care about you or your family. I’m here to do a job. That’s all.”

      She drew herself up and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what sort of services you’ve provided for your previous employers, Mr. Kincade, but all I need you to do is the job for which you’ve been hired.”

      “I expect to be left alone to do just that.”

      “You can work in my father’s study. No one will disturb you.”

      “Fine.”

      “Fine.”

      They glared at each other for another moment, then the reality of his decision and the situation it left him in struck Mitch like a kick in the knee. He’d finish this job. Get it done and leave.

      And in only a few weeks, he’d have his old life back again.

       Chapter Four

       E verything would be all right now. Wouldn’t it?

      The thought ran through Rachel’s mind once again as she sat on the settee, watching the late-afternoon shadows crawl toward her across the sitting-room floor. Yes, everything would be fine. Mr. Kincade had come highly recommended. At this very moment he was in Father’s study discussing the situation with Uncle Stuart. He’d fix their problem.

      If he kept his word and stayed.

      Another wave of anxiety rumbled through Rachel, setting her heart to beating faster. Mitch had said from the outset that he didn’t want the job. He’d refused it outright, initially. She’d had to bribe him with more money to get him to agree to stay.

      But what if he changed his mind? What if he simply up and left?

      Was that fear the reason she felt so anxious?

      Rachel glanced down at the tablet in her hand and the blank page that taunted her, and realized Mitch’s potential abrupt departure was one of the many troubling things on her mind right now.

      The pages of her tablet should be nearly filled by now. The guest list. The menu. Flowers. All those things still needed to be put into motion.

      Usually, preparing for this sort of event delighted her.

      Usually, she and her mother did it together.

      With a heavy sigh, Rachel pushed the tablet away. She’d work on the luncheon preparations later.

      Mitch came into her thoughts once more at the sound of his voice rumbling in the background. Not loud enough that she understood his words as he spoke with Uncle Stuart in the study down the hall, but a constant companion as she’d sat here.

      The image of him filled her mind. Tall. Yes, he was certainly tall, strikingly tall. Broad shoulders. Big hands. They’d looked ridiculous earlier holding the teacup. Was he seated behind the desk in Father’s study? Had he taken off his jacket? Loosened his necktie? Opened his shirt collar…

      Rachel gasped and hopped off the settee as if her own thoughts had given her a pinch. Good gracious, what had come over her, imagining Mr. Kincade—an accountant, of all things—without his shirt on?

      Commotion at the sitting-room door caught Rachel’s attention. She turned, grateful for the distraction and expecting to see Chelsey in tears again, but found Claudia Everhart rushing into the room instead. Rachel hadn’t even heard the door chimes.

      Gracious, had she been that deep in thought over Mitch Kincade’s chest?

      “Rachel! It’s happening!” Claudia announced, her eyes wide, her cheeks as pink as the frothy gown she wore. “Tonight!”

      Rachel gasped. She and the pretty, blond Claudia had been friends for years. That look on her face could mean only one thing.

      “Graham?”

      “Yes!”

      “Tonight?”

      “Tonight!” Claudia rushed to Rachel and clasped her hands. “Mother told me that Graham has asked to speak with Father. Tonight! He intends to ask Father’s permission to marry me. I rushed right over here. You’re the first to know!”

      Rachel shared a quick hug with Claudia. “Graham Bixby asking for your hand. He’s the perfect husband.”

      “Oh, yes he is, isn’t he?” Claudia sighed. “The Bixbys are one of the finest families, and Graham is so handsome and so refined, and so dignified. He’s terribly successful. He’s—he’s perfect.”

      “He’ll look gorgeous in his tuxedo,” Rachel said, smiling along with her friend. “Your groom waiting at the altar for you.”

      “Oh, and our wedding will be perfect. Absolutely perfect—” Claudia gasped and her eyes widened. “Oh, goodness, Rachel. How thoughtless of me. Rushing over here, prattling on about my news when you—”

      “Don’t give it a thought,” Rachel insisted, forcing aside the unpleasant memory.

      “But if things had been different, you and—”

      “Please,” Rachel told her, shaking her head. “It’s over and done with.”

      “Benjamin Blair,” Claudia said, disdain in her voice. “He should be shot for—”

      “Has your mother started planning?” Rachel asked, anxious to talk about something different.

      Claudia smiled. “Mother started planning a year ago when Graham asked permission to court me.”

      Rachel’s heart swelled with delight over her friend’s good news. Claudia Everhart and Graham Bixby would truly make the perfect couple. They would have the perfect wedding, the perfect reception.

      “I must get back home,” Claudia declared, rushing out of the sitting room. “I have to decide what to wear this evening when Graham comes over.”

      “Something pink,” Rachel suggested, hurrying alongside her. “It’s your favorite color and it will—”

      Mitch Kincade and Uncle Stuart stepped out of the study, stopping Rachel and Claudia in their tracks. Rachel’s gaze jumped between the two men. Mitch looked taller, sturdier, stronger next to her aging uncle.

      And his shirt collar was buttoned up tight.

      Rachel felt her cheeks color as the very unladylike thought zipped through her mind.

      “Good afternoon, ladies,” Uncle Stuart said with a smile.

      Pleasantries were exchanged and, finally, Rachel had to introduce Mitch. She’d made thousands of introductions. Why did this man unnerve her so? Because he held the future of her family in the palm of his hand?

      Or was it something else?

      “Claudia, I’d like you to meet Mr. Mitch Kincade,” Rachel said. “Mr. Kincade is one of our family’s oldest and dearest friends, and he’s visiting with us for a while.”

      Mitch