"You're welcome."
"I'll send for my kitchen things some other time."
"Fine."
He watched as she hoisted the suitcase. The muscle in his jaw knotted and unknotted. The damned thing was heavy; he'd felt its weight this morning. And he could see the strain showing in the bowing of her shoulders.
Oh, for God's sake...
"Just give me that," he snapped, but Lucinda tugged it out of reach when he tried to grab the handle.
"I don't need your help."
"Think of it this way, Ms. Barry. You trip, hurt yourself carrying this lump of lead, and you'll undoubtedly sue me." His smile was quick and unpleasant. "It's in my interest to take it out to the taxi for you."
A soft wash of pink rose in her face. "I didn't call for a taxi."
"Well, you should have." Why didn't the woman stand still instead of dancing away from him with her luggage? "There's no public transportation near this house."
"I like to walk."
"You'll be walking all night, just trying to get downtown. Dammit," Joe said, and made another grab. "Will you stand-"
The suitcase went flying. So did her pocketbook, which spilled open. Lucinda's change purse burst open, and her money flew across the floor. She shot Joe a mortified look, went down on her knees to gather it up, but he beat her to it and scooped up the bills.
Aside from what he'd just given her, she had less than fourteen dollars. .
Joe looked at her. "Where's the rest of your money?"
Lucinda felt her cheeks turn hot. "In your hand."
"That's all of it?"
She didn't reply.
He frowned. "Fourteen bucks is all you've got? That, plus what I just gave you?"
"What you just paid me," she said with dignity. "Give it to me, please."
"This won't even cover a cab ride to the nearest bank machine."
Lucinda reached for her money. Joe closed his fist tight. "You do have an ATM card, don't you?"
Her color deepened. "Of course." It wasn't a lie. She had one. Unfortunately, the account it had once accessed was empty.
Joe got to his feet. She did, too.
"I don't believe you."
"Romano, I don't care what you believe." Lucinda made a grab for his hand, but he lifted it over his head. "That's my money! Hand it over."
"You're broke," he said flatly.
"My finances are not your concern."
She was right. They weren't. She wasn't. And he had no doubt that a babe as clever as this one wouldn't stay broke for long. San Francisco was full of clubs, and private parties, and men who'd pay damned near anything for the pleasure of watching her take down all that soft, golden hair and turn from a schoolmarm into a seductress.
Joe felt as if somebody had kicked him right where he lived. "You're right," he said. "They aren't." He reached for her suitcase, snatched it up, and headed for the stairs. "But a man in my position can't afford gossip."
Lucinda stared after him. He was going up the steps like a whirlwind, and now he was making his way down the hall.
"What are you doing? Romano! Romano..."
He didn't answer. She mouthed a word she'd never realized she knew and flew after him.
"Are you crazy?" she said when he shouldered open the door to the room she'd just vacated and dumped her things on the bed. "I quit, remember?"
"You didn't."
"I did."
"I fired you." He turned to her, his expression grim, his hands on his hips. ''You just said so. It's why owed you a day's pay."
Lucinda stared at him. He was crazy. She told him so. "You're crazy, if you think I'd stay in this house."
"You're crazier, if you think I'd let you wheedle out of a deal."
She blinked. "What deal?"
Joe's glower deepened. "I'm the employer here, Blondie. That means I get to ask the questions. Is there any possibility you can boil water?"
Her spine stiffened. "What a stupid question."
"Is that a yes?"
"Certainly, it's a yes."
"Can you use a can opener?"
Lucinda blew a strand of hair off her forehead. "I won't dignify that with a response."
"Is that another yes?" Joe snapped.
"I can also open jars of mayonnaise and cartons of milk," she said coldly. "And-surprise, surprise-in a pinch, I can even unwrap the plastic from a package of frozen hamburger."
"Done," Joe said, and marched past her to the door.
Bewildered, she spun towards him. "What's done?"
"You're hired. Rehired. Cook for me for the rest of the month, let my grandmother go on thinking you and I are an item, and I'll give you a month's severance pay on top of your salary. That's the deal."
She couldn't speak at all, she could only gape. "But but-"
"I wanted to teach Nonna a lesson. Well, it won't be any kind of
lesson at all if I only keep her dangling for a day."
"You can keep that poor old woman dangling forever, Romano. You certainly don't need me to do it"
"My nonna isn't stupid. She'll smell a rat, if you vanish now."
"And just what makes you think I'd go along with this insane plan of yours?"
"Four thousand bucks," Joe said brusquely, "that's what makes me think it."
Lucinda blanched. "Four thousand...?"
"I'll double your severance pay and give you room and board."
"Yes, but-"
"You might as well save your breath, Blondie." Joe folded his arms. Stony-faced, he stared at her. "I'm not about to go a penny higher. Now, is it a deal?"
"I-I..." Lucinda swallowed. "Yes," she said faintly. "It's a deal."
Joe nodded. "Good."
The door swung shut after him. Lucinda stared at it, shook her head, then wrenched it open. There had to be some rules, rules of her own making, so he'd know she wasn't spineless.
"Romano?"
He was halfway down the steps. At the sound of Lucy's voice, he stopped and looked up over his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"You call me 'Blondie' again, I'll quit."
Her chin was trembling. Her eyes glittered suspiciously. Her hair looked as if she'd been caught in a wind tunnel and yet, for all of that, she almost radiated dignity.
"You quit, you won't get that money."
Lucy straightened her shoulders. "Money isn't everything." But it was. To her, anyway. Otherwise, why did she dance for strangers? Why did she taunt them with that beautiful body? And why had she accepted a job in his home when she knew as much about cooking as he did about cardiac surgery?
The questions raced through Joe's head, but he didn't ask them. The answers were none of his business. Keeping his grandmother on tenterhooks for two weeks was. And keeping his fake fiancée around was the best way to do that.
"Okay," he said, and shrugged. "No more Blondie."
"Good."
She shut the door. Joe thought about what it was going to be like to know she was sleeping in the room right next to his...
The lock clicked home. He let out his breath and went on down the stairs.