Saving Cinderella!

by Myrna Mackenzie

  Because after ending up in Wyatt’s embrace the other day what else could she do? The best way to stay smart was to pretend her time here was almost done, plan ahead, get involved in making her dream of a shop a reality. No more dwelling on Wyatt.

  “Alex, that’s so great—but tell us more about Wyatt,” Molly said.

  Alex gave her a “stop right there” look. “Nice try, Molly, but I have to tell you I really don’t want to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “Answer a lot of questions about Wyatt. I know you’re asking because you care, but I really just need to be with you guys today and have fun. Wyatt told me that I wasn’t even supposed to utter the word McKendrick’s today. I was supposed to be totally lazy and decadent, and that’s what I want to be.”

  “Great! Total decadence works for me,” Serena said with a grin.

  “Sounds fantastic. So where should we start?” Molly asked.

  “Let’s start with chocolate, and then double chocolate—maybe triple chocolate—and go from there,” Alex said.

  “Chocolate what?” Jayne asked.

  “Does it matter? It’s chocolate, Jayne,” Serena said.

  “Excellent point,” Jayne agreed.

  So they ate chocolate, and other things a bit higher up the food pyramid. They drank, shopped, and talked nonstop. They tried on clothes they would never wear in public, shoes too high to walk in. And Alex indulged in her secret weakness—wild earrings she bought but could never find a place to wear. They reminisced about incidents in their past and shared private jokes. And if there were moments when the conversation slowed, when Serena looked sad, Molly appeared worried, Jayne seemed heartbroken or Alex drifted away to thoughts of Wyatt, none of them discussed those things. They had this one no-worries-allowed day, and they didn’t intend to waste it.

  But eventually the day ended. Teary goodbyes were said. Five minutes after all her friends left, Alex got into the limo and turned toward McKendrick’s.

  As if on cue her thoughts turned to Wyatt. She remembered the sound of his voice, how he had tried to protect her from the view of Jenna and the tourists, how he had promised not to let anyone touch her, how she’d felt when he had kissed her.

  Her lips began to tingle, and suddenly the limo seemed to be moving too slowly. She wanted to see Wyatt. She couldn’t wait to see Wyatt.

  That couldn’t be a good thing, and yet when she caught her first glimpse of him, it felt like a very good thing. That tendency to salivate at the sight of him like some Pavlovian puppy was going to be a problem.

  If she let it.

  Woof, she thought, as she smiled and reached out to take his hands. “Thank you so much for today, Wyatt. It was exactly what I needed.”

  She rose on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, her silly palm tree earrings dangling. Then she realized that they had an audience. Katrina, the restaurateur who obviously coveted Wyatt, was standing nearby.

  Wyatt read Alex’s distress. She hadn’t considered the possibility of an audience…although they often had one. That was how she operated: straightforward, nothing held back. She would never consider not offering her thanks or her help if she felt either was needed. It was one of the most appealing things about her, and one that made him insane with worry for her. Someday someone would take advantage of her giving nature. Again. It had better not be him.

  “My, aren’t we enthusiastic?” Katrina said, in that sultry, snotty way that had never bothered Wyatt before. Maybe because she usually reserved it for people who deserved it. Alex didn’t.

  He shot Katrina a sheathe-your-claws look. She shrugged.

  Then Alex did something he hadn’t seen her do before. She straightened her shoulders, emphasizing her full height. She was wearing silly but cute little dangling palm tree earrings that should have looked ridiculous but somehow didn’t. Alex was just an inch or so taller than Katrina, but it was enough to give her an edge.

  She pulled her shoulders back. Then she looked down her pretty nose and smiled a truly feline smile. “Enthusiastic? I’m always enthusiastic, Katrina. You should try it. I hear it’s wonderful at preventing age lines.”

  Ouch! How would Alex know that Katrina was touchy about nearing her thirtieth birthday? This was going to get ugly. He needed to step in before Katrina did some serious damage.

  To his surprise, Katrina laughed. “So, the kitten has claws? Touché, Alex. I totally had that coming, but who knew you’d follow through? Interesting. I do appreciate a woman who doesn’t back down. Not that we’re going to be friends or anything.”

  Alex blinked. Then she smiled. “Not that we are.”

  “Nice earrings.” It wasn’t a compliment.

  “I think so.” She shook her head, sending the little palm trees dancing.

  “So…” Katrina went on. “Wyatt let you have a day off to play while he was here killing himself?”

  “That’s enough, Katrina,” Wyatt cut in. “I don’t make my employees work seven days a week.”

  “I don’t know why not. You do most of the time.”

  “I own the place. I get to decide when I work. Now sounds good.”

  “Is that a not so subtle hint for me to get back to Gendarmes?”

  He smiled. “I appreciate the tip about the reviewer coming here tomorrow, Katrina. Thank you.”

  She returned the smile and turned to Alex. “Since you’re going to be only a very temporary fixture here, I guess I can toss you a bone. I do like the earrings.” And she sauntered out, waving to Wyatt.

  When she had gone, Wyatt looked at Alex. She was studying him, a frown line creasing her pretty brows. He was tempted, so very tempted, to gently trace a line right down that frown with his fingertip to get her to smile. The thought caught him off guard. He was not a man given to whimsy.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You do work all the time,” she said. “I know you want McKendrick’s to show well to the reviewers. I take it that Katrina’s got some hint that another one is on the way, and of course that means more hours for you. But do you ever take time off? Since I’ve been here you haven’t taken a break except for those couple of hours the other day. Weren’t you supposed to stay away all day?”

  He had been. And he’d come back because she’d been invading his thoughts. “I had something to do,” he said.

  “Wyatt,” she drawled.

  “Alex,” he drawled back. “Don’t worry. I’ll take time off.”

  “When? Don’t you ever need to just…kick back? What do you do then?”

  Wyatt almost smiled. No one but Alex would ever ask him about “kicking back.” As for what he did…suddenly he had another burning desire to show her the Haven. That should have alarmed him. No one even knew he owned it. He’d never taken anyone there. And he never shared secrets with another person. Not Katrina. Not Randy. But…

  “What do I do? Come on. I’ll take you there.”

  “There?”

  He shrugged, trying to look casual even though he felt anything but. “I have another hotel.”

  She blinked. “No one ever told me that.”

  He looked directly into her eyes. “That’s because I’ve never told anyone.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “You don’t have to come,” he said. And then he realized what this sounded like. A tryst. A man who might be planning on taking advantage of her. “If you’re worried, I can tell you that I’m not intending to jump you.”

  She smiled and shook her head, those little earrings swinging wildly. “I’m not worried. I’m…I’m honored to be your first.”

  Heat sizzled through him, even though he’d known she had meant that in a completely innocent way. She, however, had obviously finally realized how her words had sounded, and she blushed. Actually blushed. It was charming. She was charming. And he burned for her.

  “I mean, that I’m honored to be your first visitor. Is it going to be the next McKendrick’s?”

  He shook his head. “It’s definitely no
thing like this place. McKendrick’s was a sure thing, a prime piece of real estate. The Haven is far less stable,” he said, mentioning the property by name for the first time. Trusting Alex.

  She gazed directly up into his eyes. “You’re not sure you can make it a success.”

  “Or that I want to try. Failure isn’t an option, and it needs…something.”

  She stood there for a minute, just studying him, as if conducting a computer scan of his thoughts. He’d never had anyone pay that much attention to him, at least not in that way. Women were attracted to his money, his power, maybe even to his looks. But Alex was different. She aimed straight for the core of what made a person tick. He wasn’t sure his soul could survive that kind of close examination.

  “It’s not a very impressive place. You can back out and I won’t be offended,” he said. But he hoped she would come.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why now? Why me?”

  He didn’t want to examine all the reasons. He didn’t want to dig that deep, look inside himself that closely, but he could tell her one true thing. “Because you see possibilities other people miss.”

  “And if there are no possibilities?”

  “I want you to be brutally honest.”

  She gazed up at him with those soft blue eyes. “I don’t like hurting people.”

  He held her gaze. “You can’t hurt me.” But he knew he lied.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ALEX looked at the sad little collection of buildings, and her heart broke for whoever had once tried to make a go of this property and given up. It wasn’t near the bustling Las Vegas strip, the cottages were small, parts of the chapel were tumbling down, and yet…

  “Beautiful scenery,” she said, noticing the stark red rocks in the distance.

  “There’s that, and also isolation.”

  She studied the little cluster of buildings, the small attempts at hominess, planters where non-native plants had died long ago, and the remains of an arching trellis outside the little chapel.

  Wandering inside the adobe chapel, partially open to the elements where glass was missing from the deep cut-outs of the windows, Alex stood soaking in the atmosphere. It was the most basic of structures, a bare wood floor, plain wood pews with slatted backs. There was no light source. Someone had scribbled graffiti on the big timbers that held up the roof and on the white walls.

  Outside there were benches on the path connecting the cottages, their canopy frames empty and skeletal. Everything was silent, deserted, empty.

  Alex noticed other little imperfections—the faded blue door on one cream cottage, a crooked welcome sign over another door, the flowers painted over the entrance to the chapel that would never have occurred naturally in this landscape and yet…

  “There’s something rather charming and winsome about it,” she said.

  “You don’t have to say that.”

  “I know.”

  “Who even uses the word winsome anymore?”

  “I guess I do.”

  Wyatt smiled. “Winsome it may be. Commercial? Doubtful.”

  “And yet you bought it.”

  “I did.”

  Maddening man. He knew she was looking for an explanation of why a man who owned one of the most successful, state-of-the-art hotels around had purchased this clearly not-likely-to-be-commercially-successful property. In fact, she was willing to bet that of all the properties available at the time that Wyatt bought this, few had been so…sad.

  “You’ll want to make changes.”

  He hesitated. “I always make changes. Change is good.”

  “How long have you had this?”

  “A while. More than a year. Almost two.”

  “And yet…no changes?”

  “Not yet. No.”

  “Why? It can’t be lack of funds.”

  “No. Money isn’t a problem.”

  “So why no changes?”

  She waited while he seemed to consider the question. “It has to be right, and yet…I like it how it is, even though I know it’s not marketable.”

  She laughed. “You sound so frustrated with yourself, but I don’t see what the problem is. If you don’t need the money, and you like it as it is, why not simply leave it alone?”

  “To what purpose?”

  “Everything has to have a purpose?”

  “Some people think so.”

  “Do you?”

  “Let’s just say that I grew up in a world where everything had to have purpose and worth.”

  She opened her mouth.

  He shook his head. “Don’t ask me more, Alex. I’ve already told you more than I’ve ever told anyone. I don’t discuss it.”

  “You don’t like to talk about it because it’s painful.”

  He turned those beautiful wicked green eyes on her. “You are an amazing woman.”

  “Because I asked you a personal question?”

  “No. Because you asked me a personal question about my shady past when I just told you that I don’t discuss it.”

  “It was rude, wasn’t it?” And yet she was consumed with the need to know what made Wyatt tick. She was pretty sure that part of that was pain, and her own heart clenched with pain at the very thought. Which should have totally alarmed her.

  This was the very kind of thing she had warned herself about a hundred times. She should back away, maintain a distance. Instead, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from moving forward.

  “Why do you want to know my motives?” he asked, catching her off balance.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  But that wasn’t strictly true. Wyatt interested her far too much, and feeling even one drop of longing for him could lead her straight to heartbreak. In the past, even with the wrong assumptions she’d made about men, she’d at least had some reasonable chance of success, but with Wyatt that chance was nonexistent. There would never be more than physical attraction on his part. And yet when she looked into those green eyes, and saw that he wasn’t as stoic as most people thought, she couldn’t help wanting to know everything about him. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling things she should be running from.

  To her surprise, he chuckled. “You have to be the most straightforward woman I’ve ever met. Do I refuse to talk about my past because it was painful? Well, it certainly wasn’t pretty. My mother didn’t like children, and the uncle she left me with liked them even less. He believed in child labor and that a fist was a useful tool in the parenting toolbox. For my part, I was hell on wheels and not the kind of person you’d want to know. As for why I don’t discuss my childhood…it doesn’t fit the image I’ve created for myself as owner of McKendrick’s. A pathetic story isn’t good for a business in a city based on having fun, and since I intend to be successful, I keep my ugly childhood hidden from view.”

  And yet he had shared some things with her. Twice.

  “I hate to lose, but I bought The Haven,” he said with a grimace. “She’s certainly a sad little establishment, isn’t she? Flawed, blemished, imperfect in every way.”

  Something he had apparently been criticized for by those who should have loved, protected and nourished him. Still, there was affection in his voice.

  That was all it took. Alex’s protective instincts immediately kicked in. “It’s really not a bad little place.”

  “If you say ‘it just needs love,’ I’m going to have to laugh. You know that, don’t you?”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “It needs attention, and some creativity, and some…some…”

  “Don’t say it,” he warned, and she bopped him on the arm.

  “Oops,” she said. “That can’t be right. You’re my boss.”

  But there was heat in his eyes when she looked up, and she forgot to feel like an employee.

  “Alex,” he said with a groan. “Don’t look at me like that. Don’t…”

  “Don’t what?” she asked on a whisper.

  “Don’t make me want you.”

  “I’m not tr
ying to.” But she wanted him.

  “You don’t have to try. I’ve wanted you from day one. I should never have hired you.”

  “Because it’s unprofessional?”

  “Because I don’t want to hurt you, and I might.”

  “Women want you. You don’t want love. It’s a given that hearts would be broken.”

  “I don’t want to break yours.”

  “You won’t. I won’t let my heart get broken again. I’ve learned to be strong.”

  “Then you’d better be strong for both of us, because I’m losing the battle to stay away.”

  As if to demonstrate, he leaned close, his lips almost touching hers. She felt the zing of electricity arc between them, felt her lips tingle, and heat, and…

  She closed the gap. She looped her arms around him and kissed him long and hard and deep.

  He groaned. Alex felt faint with longing, with desire, with things she didn’t want to face. Reality, she thought. Go away, reality.

  But reality ignored her, and she had to admit the truth. She wanted to go on kissing Wyatt, to ask him to take her into one of those rickety little buildings and make love with her. And if she did, he would hate himself for hurting her.

  And she would break in every way possible. She would be disgusted with herself for claiming to be strong and then proving that she wasn’t.

  Wyatt advanced, nibbling at her lips, pulling her against his long, lean, hard body. His arms possessed her; his lips enflamed her. His hands…oh, his hands…

  Don’t let this happen. As if Jayne or Serena or Molly were there beside her, the voice of reason found her. You said you were strong, she thought. Be strong.

  “Wyatt, I have to stop,” she whispered against his mouth, her words garbled.

  But, as if her heart instead of her incoherent voice had spoken to him, he released her. Immediately.

  “I have to stop doing that,” he said.

  Alex frowned and crossed her arms. “Do not try to take credit for that one. I gambled. I started it. I ended it. And I told you that I’m strong. I’m capable of controlling things.”

  As if she’d said something funny, his concerned look turned to a half-smile.