"No, thank you, bellisima." Rupert Thorne winked, pulling her in for a kiss.
"Naughty boy," Jacqui said, wagging her finger when Rupert licked rather than pecked her cheek.
"I'll see you around," he promised.
Not if I can help it, Jacqui thought grimly. She straightened up, slammed the door, and found Ryan, Eliza, and Mara watching her, all with different expressions on their faces. Ryan looked amused, Mara intimidated, and Eliza impressed.
"Kick-ass boots!" Eliza said to Jacqui.
Apparently boots in summer were okay after all, thought Mara.
"Thank you," Jacqui said with a slight accent. "We just got them in from Australia the other day." She smiled at Eliza. "Jacqui Velasco."
"Eliza Thompson. That's Ryan Perry, our boss." She snickered. "And, uh ... I forgot your name. Mary, right?"
"Mara," Mara said with steel in her voice. She wasn't going to let Blondie here push her around. "Mara Waters, nice to meet you."
"So did you have to go on a wait list or something to get
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those? I've been dying for them!" Eliza said, falling in step with Jacqui.
The two headed inside the house, chatting about footwear, their nearly identical wraparound sunglasses pushed up on their heads. Mara stood somewhat at a loss, wondering if she should follow them, already feeling completely out of place.
Ryan pulled her battered nylon suitcase from the trunk and handed it to a white-jacketed butler. "Don't let Eliza bother you too much," he said. "She can be a pain, but she's actually really nice. She's just going through a lot right now."
Mara couldn't fathom how "really nice" could ever apply to the Attitude Queen, but she wanted to be agreeable. If only she wouldn't blush every time he looked at her.
A chubby ten-year-old girl with unruly curls ran out of the side door, wearing a bright pink bathing suit, goggles, and flippers. "You're IT!" she said, barreling into Ryan.
"Madison Avenue!" he said, lifting her up and spinning her around.
"Stop! Stop!" She giggled. "Put me down!!"
Ryan let her go and said, "Hey, say hi to Mara. Mara, my little sister Madison."
Madison scooted inside the front door, Ryan and Mara following.
"By the way," Ryan said, holding the door open. "I thought that limo was a dumb car, too."
Mara couldn't stop smiling even after he had left.
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this is what "let's burn the money to Keep warm" looks like
"Welcome to Creek Head Manor!" A frowsy, overweight woman in a pink sweatshirt with a Nokia hanging on a chain around her neck beamed at them as they entered the house. "I'm Laurie, Anna's personal assistant. Anna's not back from her Reiki session yet, so she asked me to welcome you and give you a tour of the house." She clucked at the sight of their footwear. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask everyone to take off their shoes before entering. The zebrawood hasn't been oiled yet." Laurie proudly explained that Anna had flown in an artisan from South America to work with I. J. Peiser's Sons on the floor design. According to Laurie, they did everyone's floors, though it occurred to Mara that "everyone" must not be anything like anyone Mara knew.
>
Eliza grumbled at the inconvenience, Jacqui laughed, and Mara felt embarrassed to take off her cowboy boots--one of her gray socks had a huge hole in the toe. Laurie kept up the chatter as they tiptoed around the edges of the vast living room, which
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was dominated by an enormous floor-to-ceiling picture window that stretched from one end of the house to the other. "I love this feature!" she gushed as she pressed a button on the wall and automated curtains revealed an uninterrupted view of the Atlantic coast. The waves lapped gracefully at the shore, and seagulls waddled across the sand.
"We've been putting out poisoned bread to keep them off, but it's not working." Laurie sighed. "Shoo! Shoo!"