Maid For The Untamed Billionaire. Miranda Lee

‘That sounds…weird.’

      ‘Yes, I thought so too,’ he agreed drily. ‘But Craig was never a conventional man. Look, why don’t we both drink our coffee before it gets cold? Then, afterwards, I’ll fill you in on everything.’

      When Jake picked up his coffee mug, Abby did likewise, sipping slowly and thoughtfully. A hot drink always calmed her. And brother, she needed calming after that crazy moment when she’d almost hugged her boss back.

      ‘I would have liked to go to his funeral,’ she said after a suitably calming minute or two. ‘Was he buried or cremated?’

      ‘Buried,’ he said.

      ‘Where?’ she asked.

      Jake’s face looked grim as he put down his coffee. ‘Rookwood Cemetery.’

      She wasn’t sure where that was. She didn’t have a GPS in the ute and often got lost. ‘I’d like to go and visit his grave some time. Pay my respects. Say a prayer or two. Would you take me?’ she asked him before she could think better of it.

      Jake’s sigh suggested that was the last thing he wanted to do.

      ‘Okay,’ he said with a resigned shrug. ‘But I can’t go till next Saturday. In the meantime, wouldn’t you like to hear about what Craig wanted me to give you?’

      ‘Oh, yes. What is it?’

      ‘Well, first of all he wants me to buy you a new car. Something small and stylish, with a decent warranty.’

      Shock at this news was swiftly followed by confusion.

      ‘But that doesn’t seem right,’ she said. ‘As much as I would love a new car, why should he ask you to pay for such a thing?’

      ‘It’s basically Craig’s money, Abby. He left most of his estate to me. Trust me when I say that my inheritance was considerable. So it’s no hardship on me to spend a seriously small portion of it on you.’

      ‘But why didn’t he just leave some money to me in his will to buy my own car?’

      ‘I have no idea. It might have been simpler all round if he’d done that. Apparently, he was worried that you might not spend it on yourself—that you might give it away to relatives.’

      ‘Oh, dear,’ she said, embarrassed. ‘I suppose it’s because I told him about paying for Timmy’s operation.’

      ‘No. He didn’t mention anything specific. Who’s Timmy?’

      ‘My sister’s little boy. She’s a single mum and doesn’t have any private health insurance. Timmy needed his tonsils out but would have had to wait eighteen months to have it done. She couldn’t afford the operation so I paid for it to be done privately.’

      ‘I see,’ he said, his tone sceptical.

      A degree of anger pushed aside Abby’s embarrassment. ‘Please don’t think my sister’s a user because she’s not. She’s doing the best she can under the circumstances. Megan didn’t ask me to pay for Timmy’s operation. That was my idea. She won’t come and live with me, even though I said she wouldn’t have to pay any rent. Your uncle got the wrong idea.’

      ‘Possibly, but that’s irrelevant now. I have no alternative but to follow through with Craig’s dying wishes. He was most specific in his letter about what he wanted me to buy for you. A new car is the first cab off the rank. Then he wants me to give you twenty-five thousand dollars. For your travel fund, he said.’

      Abby’s mouth dropped open. ‘Twenty-five thousand! But…but that’s way too much. What will people think?’

      ‘Who cares what they think?’ came his arrogantly dismissive comment. ‘And who are they?’

      ‘My sister for starters. She’ll think I’ve done something I shouldn’t have with your uncle to get him to leave me all that money.’

      ‘Really. Such as what?’

      ‘You know what,’ Abby shot back.

      ‘True,’ he said drily. ‘In that case I suggest you don’t tell her about your unexpected windfall.’

      Abby gave a snorting laugh. ‘Hard to hide a brand-new car.’

      ‘True again. So what do you want me to do, Abby? Go against my uncle’s wishes? Forget everything?’

      She looked at him with pained eyes. ‘I couldn’t do that. I don’t care so much about the new car, but I couldn’t turn down the travel fund money. It’s my dearest wish to go overseas and see the world. And I’d like to go before I get too old.’

      Jake laughed. ‘You’re hardly ancient, Abby.’

      ‘I might be by the time I save up twenty-five thousand dollars.’

      He seemed startled by this statement. ‘Do I pay you that poorly?’

      ‘No. But I have a house and a lot of bills.’ And the remainder of a debt for porcelain veneers.

      Jake frowned. ‘You have a mortgage?’

      ‘No. My husband’s life insurance paid that off. But I still have a lot of bills. Maintaining a house is expensive.’

      ‘Tell me about it,’ he said with the first hint of a smile that day. He really wasn’t much of a smiler. Not with her, anyway. He smiled on television a lot though. Abby wished he would smile more. It really transformed his face from cardboard handsome into a likeable human being.

      Unfortunately, his smile also did things to Abby which she was finding hard to process. Her stomach curled over and she found herself staring at his mouth and thinking totally unacceptable things. Like what would it be like to be kissed by him? And not just on her mouth.

      Lord, but this wasn’t like her. She didn’t even enjoy sex that much, unlike her sister, who couldn’t live without it. Sex with Wayne had been okay, but nothing to write home about. She’d done it whenever he wanted, more for him than herself, because she’d loved him so much. In her mind, making love was a natural part of loving. Of marriage. She’d never been into sex for sex’s sake.

      Why then was she looking at her boss and thinking that here was a man who just might change her mind on that subject?

      Not that she’d ever have the chance to find out. Not only did he have a gorgeous girlfriend but he was totally off-limits. He was her boss, for heaven’s sake! On top of that, he clearly didn’t fancy her. A girl knew when a man fancied her and Jake definitely didn’t.

      Her eyes dropped from his to her near empty coffee cup.

      ‘I’m still finding it hard to believe all this,’ she said, glancing up again once she had her wayward thoughts under control. ‘In one way it’s like a dream come true. But I still can’t get over your uncle dying like that. And all alone.’

      ‘Indeed,’ Jake said, that hint of a smile disappearing as quickly as it had come. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he went on, his face very businesslike again. ‘I’ll put next Saturday aside so that I can take you to visit Craig’s grave in the morning, then we’ll go on and buy you a car afterwards. It’s not far from Rookwood Cemetery out to the major dealerships at Parramatta. Do you trust me to pick out a car for you, or do you want to choose one yourself?’

      ‘Well, I… I don’t know,’ she stammered, startled by how quickly he wanted to organise everything. ‘I’m not much of a car buff. But if it’s going to be mine I think I would like to look up a few possibilities on the internet.’

      ‘It’s a good idea to buy something that is cheap to repair,’ he advised firmly. ‘I would suggest you look at the Japanese cars. Or the Korean ones.’

      ‘All right,’ she agreed. He seemed to know what he was talking about, whereas she was pretty ignorant when it came to cars.

      ‘And what bank account