The Radcliffes

by T. J. Kline

  “Look, you said you needed a job. I need a florist for my wedding. And I’m still willing to pay for the damages to your car, so it’ll be a win for everyone.”

  She cocked her head to one side and eyed him suspiciously. “You? Getting married?”

  “We haven’t made the announcement yet, but yes.”

  A California Highway Patrol vehicle slowed and pulled behind the Audi, lights flashing as the sun melted into the horizon. She squinted as she watched the police officer climb out of his car. “Is everyone okay?” he called out to them.

  “See? That should have been the first question out of your mouth.” Anna glowered at this man in his expensive designer suit and shiny shoes. She thought she saw guilt flash across his eyes but dismissed it as a trick of the fading light.

  “I’m offering you an opportunity to work as the florist for what will be the most talked-about wedding in San Francisco’s recent history. It could make your career. The same one you just accused me of flushing down the toilet.” He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the officer and back at her, lowering his voice as the cop approached. “I’m trying to make this right. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  Anna looked into Gabriel Radcliffe’s face, trying to read his expression. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the kind of chance people who’d been in the business for years would kill for. Too good to be true. And that was exactly why she shouldn’t trust him.

  “What do we have here?” The officer walked up and stopped between them before she could answer Gabriel’s question. “Do we need to call an ambulance?”

  “No, we’re both fine,” he answered for her. “I was the one who called and we were just getting ready to call a tow truck, Officer. This was completely my fault.”

  The officer looked to Anna for confirmation but she pinched her lips together, reserving comment until she could figure out what Gabriel Radcliffe had up his sleeve.

  “Why don’t you tell me what happened, sir?”

  Gabriel proceeded to tell the officer exactly what had occurred, not even leaving out the fact that he’d been using his phone, which would earn him a bigger fine. “If you follow me back to my car, I’ll get you my insurance information, Officer.”

  The cop nodded in Anna’s direction, promising to return for her documentation and her side of the story. As she watched them walk away, Anna realized that Gabriel Radcliffe had manipulated even the police officer into compliance, and was, likely, expecting the same from her. He’d anticipated that she’d take his check and when that didn’t work, he’d upped the ante with a job. It was pretty clear he was a man accustomed to achieving success in all things and wouldn’t settle until he did.

  She didn’t want to roll over and be another person who bent to his will, but this was the break she’d been waiting for. There wasn’t going to be any function in San Francisco more high-profile than a Radcliffe wedding. The referrals alone would open doors she couldn’t dream of reaching any other way. This was a job that would elevate her reputation as a florist through the stratosphere. Not to mention, she needed to pay her bills.

  The officer headed back toward her while Gabriel leaned a hip against the hood of his car. He was suddenly relaxed and patient. Confident. Once again, he became the man who’d first arrived at her car door.

  “His information checks out, ma’am,” the officer stated as he scribbled down some information. “Can you get your license, registration, and proof of insurance for me, please?” Anna retrieved the information from her car, passing it over. “Are you sure you’re not injured?”

  “I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up.”

  The officer leaned his head to one side, speaking into his radio to request a tow truck before turning the volume down. “It’ll be here in a few minutes. Want to tell me your side of what happened?”

  Anna told the officer about the crash as he took notes. He stopped and looked up at her dubiously. “You know who he is, right?” She nodded. “Then I’m sure you also realize you’re getting off pretty easily since Mr. Radcliffe is admitting all fault.”

  She stared at the officer, dumbfounded. “That is what happened,” she insisted. Was this officer suggesting that she might be to blame?

  “I’m sure it is.” He didn’t sound convinced as he wrote on the back of a business card. “Call this number later in the week to get a copy of the report for yourself. Be sure to let your insurance company know.” He waved Gabriel over and handed them both back their licenses. “If either of you have any questions, call this number,” he said, tapping the business card Anna held. “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Nolan. Mr. Radcliffe,” he added, handing Gabriel a card, before heading back to his car.

  Anna watched as the officer edged his patrol car back into traffic.

  “I’ll wait with you for the tow truck,” Gabriel said as he looked at her expectantly.

  “Okay.”

  He nodded, looking slightly sheepish as he leaned against the side of her damaged car. “So,” he said, drawing out the word.

  “I mean, okay, I’ll take the job,” she clarified.

  “Of course.”

  She bristled at the arrogance in his tone, as if he’d never doubted she would accept the offer.

  Was the cost of elevating her reputation really worth the cost of her pride?

  Chapter 4

  Gabriel watched the woman in front of him as she signed the documentation for the tow company. In spite of the fact that she’d just accepted his job offer, he could see how wary she was of him. He shuffled through the still-damp pictures from her portfolio while he waited for her to finish with the driver.

  These really were beautiful. Some of the arrangements were obviously from weddings, but there were others from different types of events. He didn’t think Stephanie would be upset with his choice when he told her.

  “Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Radcliffe. I promise you won’t be sorry.” He looked up, caught looking at her pictures, and she held out her hand. Gabe passed the photographs over to her. As she took them, her fingers brushed his and he was surprised by the rush of heat that shot up his arm. “I guess I’ll catch a ride with the driver.”

  It didn’t take a genius to read the trepidation in her eyes at the thought of climbing into a truck at night with the burly stranger. The driver didn’t exactly instill Gabriel with confidence for her safety, either.

  “Why don’t I take you home?” he offered. “It’s the least I can do.”

  She chewed at the corner of her lip and looked back at the man waiting beside the tow truck, cringing as he spat at his feet.

  “Oh, come on,” Gabe said with a laugh. “I’m a better option than that, right?”

  She rolled her eyes in response, but he saw her relief. “I should be able to trust my new boss, right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Gabe led her back to the car and opened the passenger door, pretending that he couldn’t feel the heat emanating beneath his hand at her lower back. Shutting the door, he scolded himself the entire way to his seat. She was beautiful, but he and Stephanie were about to announce their engagement. It didn’t matter if it was a media ploy, or a way to satisfy his grandmother’s need for social advancement. His family needed him. Stephanie needed him. He was going to keep his promise to both of them. It was incentive enough to squash any attraction he felt.

  Anna punched her address into the navigation system, and Gabe merged his dented car back into traffic. “So, Miss Nolan, do you have a first name?”

  She eyed him from across the car. “Anna.”

  “Anna,” he repeated. It suited her—simple yet elegant, pretty but not ostentatious. “Family name?”

  “It was my grandmother’s.”

  She studied him from the passenger seat. He could practically see the questions forming in her mind but she looked too hesitant to ask them. “Go ahead.”

  “What?” She slid closer to the door.

  “You look like you have t
hings you want to know.”

  She chewed nervously at her thumbnail. “Why’d you offer me a job? I mean, don’t get me wrong,” she added quickly. “I appreciate it, but I seriously doubt it’s typical for you to select your employees based on a roadside interaction.”

  He bit back a grin. “Not usually. Most of the time, there aren’t cops involved and I’m the one putting someone in the hot seat, not the other way around.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry for that.” She grew animated, twisting in the seat to face him as she defended her actions. “But you have to understand, I’ve been busting my ass for the last ten years to get the promotion I was promised, only to get passed over because of nepotism. Then some guy comes out of nowhere and hits my car.”

  Damn, that was a bad day. It did make him wonder why she hadn’t just accepted his check from the start, however. She obviously needed the money.

  “The fact is, Mr. Radcliffe,” she went on, “I really want this job. I know I can come up with something great for your wedding. But I don’t want you to think it’s a way to buy me off.”

  “Buy you off?” He felt himself bristle at the suggestion. “You mean, like a bribe?”

  “You’ve already accepted fault for the accident and you’re willing to take care of my car. That’s really all you owe me, regardless of what I might have said during my meltdown.” She ducked her chin, avoiding his gaze. “I want this job, but I want it because I’m a good florist, not because you think it will keep me from suing you.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to sue,” Gabriel said with a chuckle.

  “Well, I’m not going to the press, or tabloids, or whatever, either.”

  “Ah.” He nodded, staring out at the road ahead of him. “You think I’m hiring you because I’m worried you’ll leak the story?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Not really.” He glanced across the car at her and saw the surprise flicker over her dainty features. “Anna, I’m good at reading people. I wouldn’t have come as far as I have, even with my family’s money, if I wasn’t. Someone who tears up a twenty-thousand-dollar check when they need the money has far too much character to do something that underhanded.”

  “How do you know I need the money?”

  He shrugged, avoiding her question. The truth was he didn’t want to point out her worn clothing, beat-up car, or unemployment. Nor did he want to start second-guessing his decision. Gabriel prayed his gut instinct about her was right. If it wasn’t, his grandmother was never going to let him hear the end of it.

  Chapter 5

  Anna wasn’t pleased by Gabriel’s dismissive shrug, but supposed she shouldn’t expect more from someone who had never had to work a day in his life. She turned toward the window. “We can’t all drive fancy cars and wear designer clothing, Mr. Radcliffe,” she said.

  She was surprised when he laughed. “It wasn’t just your car or your clothing, Anna. I don’t mean to sound like a snob.”

  She shot him a dubious glance. “You do pretty well for not trying. Even if I had your money, I wouldn’t blow it on things I don’t need to impress people I don’t care about.”

  His smile instantly faded and he dropped his hand to the gearshift, running his long fingers over the top thoughtfully. “You’d be surprised. Money has a way of making even the best of us do things we don’t want to believe we would.”

  Anna felt a sliver of guilt that her thoughtless comment had caused his sudden change of demeanor. She found herself wanting to ask him about it, to offer to listen, but they didn’t know each other well enough for that. Instead, she watched his hand playing over the leather of the gearshift. Long, tapered fingers with a broad palm. She could easily imagine his fingers dancing over piano keys, playing classical music. As he gripped the stick, she was surprised to see that although his nails were clipped and neat, his hands were rough and calloused.

  “Sorry,” he muttered. Following her gaze, he rubbed his hand over his thigh. “I was actually heading home from my vineyard and I still haven’t gotten all of the dirt from my hands. It kind of embeds itself in your skin.”

  “Vineyard?” she asked.

  He nodded and the smile returned. “I own a vineyard in Sonoma. I’ll take you on a tour when we head up there for the wedding,” he offered.

  Damn, he was handsome. Attraction snaked through her at the thought of him working outdoors. Anna stared at his hands again with a newfound respect for the man beside her. Just the thought of him wandering through grapevines and digging his hands into the soil made liquid heat rush through her. There was nothing sexier than a man who didn’t mind working hard with his hands.

  “So, you were playing in the dirt?”

  “Testing soil,” he corrected with a lopsided grin. “I like to be involved in every aspect from planting and harvesting, all the way down to designing the label.”

  Maybe she’d been too quick to jump to conclusions about him. She rubbed a clammy palm over the denim of the side of her thigh, nearly knocking several of her pictures loose from the ruined portfolio in the process. Being around him was dangerous. She could feel the alarms sounding in her body.

  “Mr. Radcliffe?”

  “Will you please call me Gabriel?” He glanced away from the road to meet her gaze. “Or Gabe, like the rest of my friends.”

  “Gabriel.” She couldn’t help the way his name fell from her lips, with a sigh as her heartbeat seemed to pick up speed. “I’m not sure—”

  “Gabe.” He frowned as he turned into the run-down apartment complex that would be her home for only a few more weeks. “This is where you live?”

  “Just pull into that open spot under the canopy,” she said, pointing ahead.

  “Here?”

  She heard the revulsion in his voice, but she wasn’t going to stay in the car long enough to discuss her living situation with him. She needed to put some distance between them before she ended up making a fool out of herself in front of him, again. Being alone with him in such close quarters was making her realize it had been a long time since she’d been attracted to a man, and never one like him. And she couldn’t be attracted to Gabriel Radcliffe; he was her boss. And he was getting married.

  He put the car into Park and turned toward her, opening his mouth to speak.

  She pushed open the car door, slung her purse over her arm, and pressed her portfolio against her chest before he could stop her.

  “Anna?” She looked back toward him, just as she reached the stairs. “I’ll look forward to seeing you at the Radcliffe Mansion at nine.”

  His gaze slid slowly over the length of her, making her feel as though every butterfly in the Bay Area had just taken up residence in her stomach. Anna’s brain seemed to shut down, unable to do anything more than nod as she spun, tripping at the first stair and catching herself on the railing, nearly spilling her photographs. She ignored the pain in her shin as she bolted up the rest of the stairs without looking back.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning, Anna woke up to her alarm before the light even began to filter through her butter-yellow curtains. She reached over and slapped at her phone, knocking it to the floor, as punishment for waking her from the very erotic dream she’d been having. Her body still hummed with desire as an image of Gabriel Radcliffe’s face emerged from her memories. Anna groaned as the events of the previous evening crept into her mind.

  Just the memory of Gabriel was enough to conjure up sensations she wasn’t sure she should even admit to. The man was gorgeous. He looked more like a fashion model than the vintner he was. Anna knew better than to let herself think about him too much. Even if he wasn’t already engaged, he was so far out of her league, she couldn’t kiss the soles of whatever designer shoes he wore.

  She sighed, throwing back the blankets. “You know mixing business with pleasure is a bad idea,” she said out loud as she sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed her eyes. “Especially when that business is already engaged.”

  It didn
’t matter how charming Gabriel—Gabe, she corrected herself—had been when he drove her home. She couldn’t think about how his gaze might have lingered on her several moments too long, or how it had enough heat in it that she’d felt her stomach tumbling and twirling. While he exuded quiet elegance and strength, she had all the grace of a three-legged rhino in a dancing contest. It was pitiful for her to even acknowledge the way her heart rate sped up when he’d said her name, slow and breathy, like he was tasting it.

  Anna picked up the phone from the shabby carpet, glancing at the time. “Ugh, it’s too early for…crap, my car.”

  The backup alarm she’d set on her phone began to sound and she swiped a finger over the screen, slumping her shoulders in defeat. She was going to need to get out early to catch public transportation in order to arrive at her new position with the very man who’d tormented her dreams.

  She flipped on the shower and, while waiting for the water to heat, made her way to her closet, trying to decide what to wear to meet with her new boss and his bride-to-be. Settling on an ivory, cowl-necked sheath dress and a pair of cream-colored faux suede boots, she laid the outfit on her bed. Steam poured from the shower and fogged up the mirror as she stripped down and jumped inside. Letting the water beat down on her tense shoulders, relaxing the muscles of her back, she dropped her neck forward, her damp hair falling into her face as she tried to concentrate on her day ahead.

  Instead, images of Gabriel’s hands filled her head. Visions of her dream last night broke past the barrier of her consciousness and she could almost feel them on her body. Touching, caressing.

  Anna quickly stood upright and poured body soap onto a loofah, determined to scrub away any inappropriate thoughts of the man, forcing herself to mentally form a checklist for her day. It was going to be a busy day at the Radcliffe Mansion.

  Her cell phone rang from the bedroom and Anna tried to rinse her hair quickly. Yanking open the door and wrapping a towel around her, she hurried into the room, but the phone had already stopped ringing. Anna rushed through her morning rituals, the anxiety in her stomach knotting, making it impossible to eat. Instead, she poured a large cup of coffee into a travel mug and tucked the remains of her portfolio under her arm before heading out the door to catch the Muni.