Roarke's Kingdom

Jennifer laughed. “Her bark is worse than her bite.”

“Emilia tells me you’ve struck it off well with Susanna.”

“That didn’t take any effort at all. She’s a wonderful little girl.”

Roarke nodded. “You won’t get any argument from me on that.” His eyes swept over her face. “Do you like children?”

She felt the swift, painful constriction of her heart. “I love children,” she said softly.

The night breeze, softly perfumed with frangipani, blew silken strands of dark hair across her cheek. Roarke reached out and stroked them back, his fingers gentle against her skin.

“Why isn’t there a man waiting for you back in—where was it?”

“Broadwell, Illinois. And—” her breath caught as he cupped her face in his hands and brushed his thumbs over her cheekbones “And how do you know there isn’t?”

“You told me, remember? Anyway, if there were, you wouldn’t have come looking for a job here.”

At first, she didn’t know what he meant. “A job?”

“You said you were looking for a job the day you stormed the walls at Campbell’s.”

“Oh. Oh, that.” She forced a little laugh. “Actually—actually, that was a spur-of-the-moment idea. I—I came here on vacation, and I took one look at the sun and the sea and I thought, why should I go back to an Illinois winter?”

Another lie, but what did one more matter?

“And the job back home is nothing special?”

“I’m a waitress,” she said, chin lifted.

“Hey. No need to get defensive.”

“I am not being…” She sighed. “Okay. Maybe I’m a little defensive. But—”

“But it isn’t what you want to do for the rest of your life.”

“You mean, getting barked at by the owner, snarled at by the cook, growled at by the customers?” She laughed. “No.”

“I get it. Completely. I put in four long years waiting tables in college.”

“You?”

He grinned. “You figured I inherited my money?”

“Well…”

“I come from lofty beginnings made humble by a father who chose not to take the business advice he paid people to provide him, but that’s a whole other story.” He laid his hands lightly on her shoulders. “So, what would you do with your life? If you had a choice, I mean.”

Jennifer hesitated. “Why?”

“Humor me, okay?”

She smiled. “Well, I always thought I’d like to be a teacher. You know. Work with kids.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

It was his turn to hesitate. “Well, then…” He cleared his throat. “Emilia is leaving.”