Upstairs Downstairs Baby. Cat Schield

party would be one big husband hunt, with him, the unlucky prey.

      The situation wasn’t unfamiliar. Since high school, women had been throwing themselves at him. And once he’d started playing pro baseball, he couldn’t turn around without a beautiful woman hitting on him. But those women weren’t usually of a sort he took seriously. After a one-night stand or a brief hookup, they drifted out of his life.

      This was different. His mother intended to toss him into a pit with a voracious group of marriage-minded females. He doubted he’d come out intact.

      So Linc started making his own list of eligible guy friends whom he could persuade to attend to take some of the focus off him. He knew twenty who fit the bill, but the question remained: How many could he convince to attend? They had to realize what his mother was up to.

      Over dessert, his mother turned her attention to gossiping about her neighbors and the antics of her former in-laws. There was little new or surprising in what she had to impart, and Linc let the white noise of her voice flow over him while he wondered if Claire had found the earrings and if she liked them.

      The unique asymmetrical style wouldn’t have suited most of the women he knew, but Claire would appreciate them. She had a quirky Bohemian style, a product of her growing up in California. He hoped she liked the interesting shapes and blue-green color of the stones. Would she guess that remembering turquoise was her favorite color had prompted him to choose this particular pair? Doubtful. He’d been doing a good job hiding his interest in her.

      “I’m thinking about getting remarried.” His mother’s abrupt declaration jolted Linc out of his musings.

      “Remarried?” he echoed dumbly, his thoughts scrambling to catch up. “I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.”

      “I’m not. At least, not exclusively.”

      Linc frowned. What did that mean? He narrowed his eyes and focused all his attention on his mother. “So you’re seeing several men?”

      He couldn’t reconcile this with his mother’s behavior after her husband went to jail, was released and then abruptly filed for divorce. After years of devoted support, Bettina had been blindsided, causing Linc to sever all contact with his father. Ever since, she’d kept a low profile and hadn’t really dated, at least as far as Linc knew.

      “Not in the way you’re implying.” His mother’s tone sharpened. “I entertain gentlemen from time to time. They come by for lunch or cocktails. Sometimes dinner.”

      “Where do you meet these men?”

      Bettina preened, obviously appreciating her son’s alarm. “Is that concern I hear in your voice?”

      “Of course it’s concern. You can’t just drop something like this on me.” Linc shook his head. Today’s lunch was certainly eventful. “Are you sure they’re interested in you and not just—”

      “I suggest you don’t finish that statement,” his mother said, eyes narrowing. “I’m an attractive woman.”

      “Yes, you are,” he murmured.

      Bettina rolled on as if he hadn’t spoken. “With needs.”

      “Please, no more,” he begged, cringing away from thoughts of his mother having any sort of sex life.

      Bettina continued, either oblivious to or not concerned about her son’s sensibilities. “You’ve been so busy with your life that you haven’t paid all that much attention to what’s going on with me or your sister.” His mother paused for a beat. “Did you know she’s been seeing someone?”

      Linc shook his head, struck dumb by the twists and turns the conversation was taking. “Anyone I know?”

      Bettina shook her head. “You know she doesn’t tell me anything about her personal life.”

      Sawyer had learned that lesson watching their mother meddle in his life.

      “Then how do you know?” he asked.

      “A mother knows when her children are up to something, and Sawyer is definitely acting like she has a secret.”

      As the implication of Bettina’s words hung in the air, Linc hoped that wasn’t true, because the last thing he needed was for his mother to find out about his feelings for Claire.

      * * *

      Claire stood in the middle of The Market on Market and gaped at the woman who’d just issued such a provocative statement. With her brain short-circuited as the implications sank in, her entire body remained frozen. But as she watched Everly’s gaze flick to Honey and narrow as if assessing the toddler from a fresh perspective, Claire regained her wits.

      “Me?” she burst out, half laughing, half in irritation. “And Linc Thurston? That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

      While Claire wasn’t surprised the woman knew all about Linc’s severed relationship with London, she was stunned to be thought of as the reason for the breakup.

      Everly’s perfectly arched eyebrows rose. “Is it?”

      “You have it all wrong. I’m his housekeeper.” Not to mention she was the furthest thing from Linc’s type.

      He was attracted to beautiful, elegant women with money and social graces. A man of his wealth and social position needed an accomplished hostess at his side, someone of equal standing in Charleston. His mother would demand nothing less.

      “You think it’s unusual for a man to have an affair with his hired help?” Everly asked, her voice sly and full of salacious undertones.

      Claire considered all the scandals that had arisen surrounding famous men and their female staff. From nannies to assistants to housekeepers. She supposed it made sense for the woman to jump to the wrong conclusion about her.

      “Linc is not like that,” she said with mounting dismay.

      Why was she bothering to defend herself and Linc when this woman was so far off track, not to mention completely out of line?

      “You’re female. And you’re pretty. I’m sure you can understand how it looks.”

      The woman’s insistence made Claire ponder her interactions with Linc. Sure, they had an occasional flirtatious exchange, such as the one this morning about her skinny-dipping in his pool. Sudden heat flooded Claire’s cheeks as she thought about how it could’ve been misinterpreted.

      “He’s never been anything but professional with me.”

      “Of course.” But Everly didn’t sound at all convinced.

      Claire was on the verge of letting it go when she remembered that in Charleston’s tight community even a whiff of scandal could be damaging. She sucked in a breath for one final clarification.

      “Linc is surrounded by beautiful, interesting women all the time,” Claire said evenly, keeping her features composed as she hit the woman with a final double-barreled shot. “I clean his toilets. There’s nothing beautiful or interesting about that.” Then, barely giving the woman a chance to let that sink in, she added, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my shopping.”

      Claire pushed the cart forward. To her dismay, the woman wasn’t giving up. Everly’s heels clicked on the tile floor as she moved to intercept Claire once again. She snagged the shopping cart with one manicured hand and Claire noticed how she appeared contrite.

      “I’m sorry. I was out of line to say what I did. Let me take you to lunch to apologize.”

      The urge to laugh almost overpowered Claire. She imagined how out of place she and Honey would be sitting down to a meal with Everly in one of the sophisticated restaurants that the elegant woman no doubt frequented.

      “You don’t need to do that.”

      “I feel terrible. Let me make it up to you.”

      The whiplash of the