“There’s a plate of sandwiches on your desk,” she said when he walked back through to his office.
“I ate lunch with Trevor.”
It would have been nice to be told, she decided, then admitted to herself that as her boss, Blake didn’t owe her his time.
She followed him into his office. “Here are your messages. You’ll see there’s one from Mrs. Richardson.” When his face remained blank, she said, “Clarice.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “What does she want?”
“For you to call her. She delivered it in person.”
He scowled. “How did she get up here?”
Samantha told him. “I’ve passed on my concern to the front desk. They’re going to look into it.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“By the way, Clarice left her room number for you to call her back. She says to tell you she has a proposition for you.”
“A proposition?” He grimaced. “I bet she does.”
Samantha picked up the plate of sandwiches and put them in the refrigerator near her desk, feeling better that Clarice hadn’t fooled him. Not that she expected he wouldn’t see through it all. He knew more about women than she did herself.
It was fairly quiet for the next two hours as Blake returned messages and she typed up some reports. Then, he came out carrying his coat. “I have to go into town for a meeting. It’ll take a few hours.”
She almost asked if she could go with him, then stopped. Her place as his assistant was here.
Suddenly he came over and kissed her hard. “I’ll see you later at the lodge. We can go out for dinner if you like.”
She shook her head, pleased. “No, let’s eat in. I’ll get something from the hotel kitchen on the way home.”
His eyes flickered, and she suspected he’d noticed her mention of the word home. “Okay.” He left.
Not long after that, Samantha decided to go down to the kitchen to see about tonight’s dinner. She took the plate of sandwiches down to the front desk, as one of the staff might appreciate them for later, rather than throwing them in the trash.
She was walking through the lobby toward the front desk when out of the corner of her eye she happened to glance over at the bar. Her heart stuttered. Blake and Clarice were sitting in there having a drink. Both of them were focused on each other, though she noted Clarice was leaning toward him and doing the talking, more with her cl**vage than not. Was this where the other woman offered her “proposition?”
So much for his appointment in town, Samantha thought, not sure what she was doing as she spun around and headed back to her office, giving herself time to adjust to what she’d seen. She had to put this into perspective.
Okay, so there was probably nothing to it, but she just didn’t like that Blake was telling her one thing, then doing another. And wasn’t he getting Clarice’s hopes up even by sitting with the woman? Then again, he was a free man and once she left Aspen he would get lonely. The other woman was certainly beautiful.
Samantha threw the sandwiches in the trash, unable to face going back downstairs again. Instead, she phoned the kitchen and ordered two meals for dinner, though she wasn’t sure she would feel hungry.
Blake seemed lost in thought when he returned to the lodge that evening, so Samantha didn’t mention it straightaway. Besides, she didn’t want to sound like a harping wife.
She managed to wait until they had almost finished dinner before saying offhand, “By the way, Blake. Next time you don’t plan on having a drink with Mrs. Richardson, don’t do it in the bar.”
His eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?” he said coolly, thankfully not looking the least bit guilty.
“I saw you with her,” she said, still keeping her voice casual.
He frowned. “So?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I just thought it odd that you weren’t ‘free’ to spend time with her…and then you were.”
He had an arrested expression, before a look of male satisfaction crossed his face. “You sound jealous.”
She tried not to look flustered. If he thought she was jealous then he might realize she was more emotionally involved with him than she was letting on. “It’s not in my nature to be jealous,” she lied, quickly disabusing him of that.
His eyes sharpened. “So you don’t mind if I go out with other women, then?”
“While I’m here in Aspen, I do mind,” she said, seeing his jaw tense. “I think a person should show respect for their lover, don’t you?”
There was a moment’s pause before he gave a brief nod. “I totally agree, Samantha. Lovers should be true to each other.”
“Thank you.”
He broke eye contact and took a sip of his wine. “Anyway, you have nothing to worry about with Clarice. She waylaid me as I was leaving for my meeting in town and I felt I had to hear her out. Her proposition is a business one. She owns a chain of high-end boutiques and she wanted to know if she can put one here at Jarrod Ridge.”
Samantha digested the information. Now she felt foolish for jumping to conclusions about Clarice.
Yet not.
“It’s purely about business,” Blake assured her. “I’m going to speak to the family about it at tomorrow morning’s meeting.”
Her heart constricted at the thought of what else was on tomorrow’s agenda—the résumés for her replacement. She noted he didn’t mention that right now.
Trying not to think about it, she concentrated on what the other woman’s proposition would mean. “Clarice will be here in Aspen a lot, then.” And she wouldn’t be. Clarice would have a clear field with Blake.
He frowned. “I’m not sure. I’d say while it’s being set up, she’ll visit on and off from L.A.” His eyes caught hers. “Why?”
She schooled her features. “No reason. I was merely thinking out loud.” She planted on a smile. “And of course I won’t be here anyway, so it doesn’t concern me.”
His eyes turned somewhat hostile. “That’s right. What do you care anyway?”
“Exactly,” she agreed, her heart breaking. She stood up. “I’ll get dessert.” She hurried out of the room, aware that he still didn’t understand why she had to leave and thanking God he didn’t. She took comfort knowing he had no idea she loved him.
Unfortunately the marvelous chocolate concoction in the refrigerator wouldn’t lessen her inner pain. She doubted anything ever would.
“…And now that the Food and Wine Gala is completely out of the way for this year,” Blake said the next morning, looking down the boardroom table at his siblings, “let’s move on to the next thing on the agenda. Gavin, can you give everyone an update on the bungalow project.”Blake already knew the details of the project, so he found his mind straying back to Samantha. Last night at dinner he’d actually been pleased that she might be jealous of Clarice. Never before had he wanted a woman to feel jealousy over him. Samantha had soon disabused him of that, but appeared to deliberately bring up the fact that she was leaving soon just to goad him. And he’d retaliated by lashing out with an I-don’t-care attitude.
Only trouble was…he did care. And he couldn’t shake that feeling. It kept hitting him in the face no matter where he turned. She didn’t seem to realize how much he was going to miss her. If she did, would she still leave? He’d already made it clear he didn’t want her to go. Hell, she should be here at his side right now taking notes. Instead, he deliberately told her not to bother attending the meeting today. Not when she was on the agenda.
“Blake, I’ve finished,” he heard Gavin say.
He blinked and saw the others staring at him. He had to get back to business. “Right. The next item on the agenda is mainly for you, Trevor. One of the wealthy guests has approached me about opening a boutique here at the lodge.” He explained further.
Trevor nodded as he listened. “Sounds good. We could see—”
There was a tap at the door.
Samantha came into the room, looking slightly apologetic. “I’m sorry for the interruption, but Trevor’s assistant asked me to give him a message.” She walked toward Trevor and passed him a piece of paper. “I ran into Diana downstairs,” she said directly to him. “She was on her way up here, so I said I’d hand it to you and save her coming up.” Then she gave a general smile and turned to leave the room.
Blake watched her walk away with a slight sway to her h*ps that emphasized the soft lines of her body, but as she closed the door behind her, he heard Trevor mildly curse.
“What’s the matter, Trev?” Guy was the first to ask.
Trevor looked at the note and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on. It’s some woman called Haylie Smith. She left a message the other day saying it’s important she speak with me but that it’s private and she won’t discuss it with anyone else. I’ve never even heard of her.”
“Maybe she’s got a crush on you?” Gavin mocked.
Trevor shot his brother a look that wasn’t amused. “I don’t mind a novel approach but this is getting ridiculous.”
“Perhaps you should call her back,” Melissa suggested.
Trevor shook his head. “No, if it was that important she could leave a message as to why.” He grimaced. “I’ll have to let Diana know not to interrupt my meetings in future.”
“Maybe you should get a tap on your phone,” Christian said, ever the lawyer.
Erica looked at her fiancé. “Darling, the woman’s only left two messages. Hardly enough reason to put a stalking charge on her.”
“Hey, who said anything about a stalker?” Trevor choked.
“I think—” Melissa began.
“People, can we focus here,” Blake cut across her. “We have other matters at hand.”
A few seconds ticked by.
Then Trevor nodded. “Yes, of course.” His forehead creased as he thought. “Now, where was I? Right. I think we can give this Mrs. Richardson a short-term lease and see how it goes. I’m sure she won’t want a long-term lease anyway.”
Blake agreed. “Good idea. Perhaps you’d like to check out her business practices and financial situation before we decide anything further.”
“Sure.”
Blake turned to Melissa. “How’s the spa going, Melissa?”
Melissa launched into a brief report.
“And now we need to discuss plans for the upcoming ski season.” Blake looked at his half sister. “Erica, I believe you were going to prepare a report on how the Christmas bookings and the hiring of staff are going.”
Erica inclined her head, looking very efficient. “Yes, Blake, that’s right. I’ve drawn up a presentation, so if you’ll all just look at the screen…”
Blake glanced at the screen, immediately impressed by Erica’s attention to detail, and he couldn’t help but surreptitiously glance at Christian sitting down the table on his right. The other man was looking at Erica with pride and admiration. But Blake saw something in the other man’s features that reminded him of how he felt whenever he looked at Samantha.