Upstairs Downstairs Baby (Sweet Tea And Scandal 1)

“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 woman’s abrupt turnaround left Claire feeling off balance. “I don’t think so.”

“Let me give you my card. You can call me when you have some free time.”

With Everly’s business card burning in her pocket, Claire finished her shopping. It had been easier to accept the card and agree to call the attractive blonde woman than to continue to put her off.

Anxiety had eased its grip on Claire once she got in line to pay for her groceries. Really, it was almost funny that anyone could imagine she was attractive enough to catch Linc’s attention. The idea was absurd. By the time Claire exited the grocery store, with a small bag of items on one hip and her daughter on the other, she’d chalked up her encounter with Everly to one of the pitfalls of working for someone in the public eye.

Claire stored the groceries in her trunk before settling Honey into her safety seat in the back seat of her ten-year-old gray Saab. The car had taken her from California to Charleston when she fled with her daughter after Jasper’s parents started threatening her with a custody suit. To obscure her trail and make it hard for them to know where she’d gone, Claire had sold her former car and paid cash for the Saab. A friend had helped by registering the car in his name. Claire probably should’ve ditched the Saab when she reached Charleston, but she felt unaccountably secure after she reached the city.

In an odd way, when she’d exited I-26 and driven south on Market Street all the way into historic downtown Charleston, she’d been overwhelmed by a sense of coming home. Which was ridiculous, because until a little over a year ago, the farthest east she’d ever been was Las Vegas.

During the short drive back to Linc’s house, she shook off the eerie feeling from the odd encounter with Everly. In a town like Charleston, it made sense that most people would feel as if they had some connection to Linc and speculate on the reason behind his abrupt breakup with London.

He was a media darling. Not only was he a famous baseball player, handsome, wealthy and from one of Charleston’s older families, but he was also an active philanthropist, offering his personal and financial support to numerous charities. His innate charisma dominated whatever room he walked into. In short, Linc was a colossal celebrity.

“People make up all sorts of absurd things,” she remarked to her daughter as she unbuckled Honey from her seat and lifted her out.

As soon as Honey’s sandal-covered feet touched the brick pavers of Linc’s driveway, the toddler made a beeline for the kitchen door, leaving her mother to follow more slowly after collecting her bags. In addition to grocery shopping, Claire had purchased flowers and containers for centerpieces. She intended to make those up this afternoon because tomorrow would be reserved for cooking.

“Mama!” Honey’s excited call pulled Claire away from the refrigerator, where she’d been putting food away.

“What, baby?”