Flirting With The Boss. Tina Beckett

know,” she said with a smile.

      His heart began pounding in his chest. The effect she had on him could be a big distraction.

      “Thank you for giving us that peace of mind. You’ve been so kind.”

      He wondered if she’d always think that. “I didn’t do that much.”

      Those dark eyes locked with his. “You seem to be there whenever I need you.”

      He found he might not mind being that man. He leaned down to kiss her when he heard something and looked toward the road. “Looks like we’re getting rescued.”

      Jace pointed to a large truck with a plow attached to the front. It stopped a few yards from the door and Toby and Joe climbed out.

      Smiling brightly, his foreman called, “I hear someone here might need a ride back to town.”

      “Toby,” Lori cried and hurried down the steps Jace had cleared earlier.

      He watched as she ran through the snow to get to Toby. She hugged the big foreman. Jace felt a stab of jealousy stir inside him, but he didn’t have any right to claim her. Not yet, maybe never.

      After stopping to get Jace’s truck, the ride back to town took about thirty minutes. He followed behind the plow truck until they reached the highway. After Lori gave Toby her car keys, she got into Jace’s truck and drove to the Keenan Inn.

      She knew she should probably go straight to the house but asked Toby to tow her car to the inn. Besides, she wasn’t ready to leave Jace yet.

      When they got to the porch, the door opened and they were immediately greeted by Claire and Tim.

      “Well, you had yourself quite an adventure,” Tim said.

      Lori felt a blush rising up her neck as they crossed the threshold. “I guess I should pay better attention to the weather forecast before heading out into the countryside. I did discover my father has a lovely cabin. Thank goodness there was heat.”

      “Where’s Cassie?” Jace asked, looking around.

      Claire looked worried. “She’s in the kitchen. She’s with one of our new guests.”

      Lori caught Jace’s frown. Then he took off and Lori followed him through the dining area and into the large kitchen.

      She found Cassie at the counter with a tall, statuesque woman. Her hair was a glossy black in a blunt shoulder-length cut. Her face was flawless, her eyes an azure-blue. She was a beautiful woman until she flashed a hard look at Jace.

      The child ran to him. “Daddy. Daddy, you’re back.”

      “Yes, baby.” He hugged his daughter. “I told you we got stuck in the snow.”

      Cassie looked at Lori. “Miss Lori, did you get stuck, too?”

      “Yes, your daddy found me.”

      The child turned back to her father and whispered, “Daddy, don’t let Mommy take me away.”

      Shelly Yeager stood and walked toward them. “Hello, Jace.” She gave Lori a once-over. “It’s nice to see that you could make it back to take care of our daughter.”

      “Shelly. What are you doing here?”

      “I came to take my little girl home, of course.”

      An hour later, Lori’s car had arrived and she got in and drove home to find a relieved Gina. She’d taken a long shower and gotten dressed in clean clothes, but couldn’t push aside the memories from last night. The incredible night she’d shared with Jace, then reality hit them in the face with Shelly Yeager.

      She couldn’t stop thinking about Cassie and what her mother had said. Was she going to take the child back to Denver? No, Jace couldn’t lose his daughter. She wished she could help him, like he’d helped her.

      Lori came downstairs to find her sister in the dining room working with Wyatt. The security guard was a retired army man in his forties with buzz-cut hair. She smiled. He didn’t look out of place pulling down twenty-year-old brocade drapes. No doubt this wasn’t in the man’s job description.

      Standing back, Maggie was smiling at what was going on. “It’s about time someone got rid of those awful things, don’t you think?”

      “The room does look brighter.” Lori had put her sister in charge of making changes to the house. Gina had told her a few days ago about the plans for the dining room. This was good since it had taken her sister’s mind off her ex-husband and any trouble he could cause.

      Gina finally turned around. “Oh, yes, you look better now. Still a little tired, but better.” She walked over as Maggie left the room. “You okay?”

      Lori wasn’t sure what she was. “I’m fine. We’ll talk later.” She sighed, not ready to share what had happened with Jace. “So what are you doing in here?”

      Her sister smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. I decided to take you up on your suggestion and redo the room. I’m going to order some sheer curtains and light-colored linen drapes. Then I’ll plan to strip the wallpaper and paint.” She went to the sideboard to find the paint chips. “I’ve narrowed it down to either shaker beige, or winter sunshine.”

      Lori tried to focus on her sister’s selection and push Jace out of her head. It wasn’t working. “You’re the decorator, you decide.”

      “Well, since I’m going to keep the woodwork dark, I’m thinking shaker beige.” She glanced at Wyatt. “What do you like?”

      Lori found herself smiling. At least something was going well today.

      “I can do anything I damn well please,” Shelly told Jace as she paced her suite upstairs at the inn. Cassie stayed downstairs with the Keenans while her parents talked.

      Jace knew better than to get into a fight with this woman. “I thought you wanted me to have Cassie until the first of next year. You were going to be on an extended honeymoon.”

      Shelly glanced away. “Plans change.”

      She was hiding something. “So you’re going to just rip Cassie out of school and drag her back to Denver? Well, that’s as far as you’re going, Shelly. You can’t take her out of state, and forget about out of the country.” He glanced around the large room and into the connecting bedroom. “Where is your so-called duke?”

      Shelly glared at him. “His name is Edmund. And he’s not a duke.” She raised her head as if she was better than everyone. That was always what Shelly wanted to be, but she had come from the same background he had. “He might not be a duke, but he’s got money and a bloodline linked to the royal family. And he can take care of me.”

      That always got to him. He could never make enough money to satisfy her. “I’m happy for you, Shelly. So why are you here and not with … Edmund?”

      “There’s been a delay in our wedding plans. I might be having second thoughts. So I decided I’d come to see Cassie. And you. You were always good at calming me down.”

      Something was up with her, and Jace was going to find out what it was. First stop was to visit his lawyer, Paige Keenan Larkin. No one was taking Cassie away from him.

      That afternoon, Lori went into her office at the bank. She had to do something to keep her mind off what had happened at the cabin. She also had to think realistically. She couldn’t hold out hope about having a future with Jace. His ex-wife showing up in Destiny proved that.

      The most important thing she had to remember was that a child was in the middle of this mess. That meant Cassie’s welfare had to come first. She had to stay away from Jace Yeager.

      A sudden knock brought her back to the present. “Come in.”

      Jace