CHAPTER FOUR
ABLAZE of satisfaction settled Merlina’s quivering nerves. Jake looked completely stunned. And he wasn’t recovering quickly, either. Shock had blanked out the usual vitality of his playboy handsome face. There were no dimples in his cheeks. His mouth was absolutely still, not so much as a twitch of amusement. His dark eyes were not enlivened by mischievously teasing twinkles. He stared at her as though dazed. Mesmerised.
No doubt about it.
She had socked it to him with a vengeance.
And here she was, on show, in a bikini, and proud of herself for having dared to do it. A liberated woman. Her own person.
All the time and attention she had poured into producing this scenario had just paid off. She could retire from the battle scene of her employment with honours on her side. No sense of defeat at all!
But she still had to finish the act and do it absolutely right. She hoped all the rehearsals of stepping down the tiers of the cake in these sexy red shoes would stand her in good stead. Teetering would be terrible at this point. She fastened her gaze on Byron Devila, obviously the man standing at the end of the red carpet and just in front of Jake, then turned on a slow, sensual smile designed to warm the cockles of his eighty-year-old manhood.
Though he didn’t look eighty, more like a young sixty, and the smile he returned smacked of very lively male appreciation of how she looked. Which gave Merlina the encouragement she needed to set off descending to the red carpet which led directly to him.
Think Marilyn Monroe, she told herself. The orchestra took it upon itself to play ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ as she made her way down the steps, for which Merlina was intensely grateful. It was much easier to look sexily graceful moving to music than in silence with everyone watching. She arrived on the red carpet without a falter, and determinedly ignoring Jake, she walked straight towards his grandfather, growing in delicious confidence with every step.
She’d done it and it was wonderful!
She felt Jake’s gaze on her, felt a churning maelstrom of thoughts coming from him and swirling around her. Her nerves were very active again, not quivering with the fear of failure as before, but buzzing with elation at having thrown the puppet master into a wild tangle with his own strings.
And Byron Devila was looking at her as she’d always wished Jake would—with sparkling admiration and captivated interest. The triumph of it all was exhilarating. The smile on her face grew in brilliance. Her eyes danced with daredevil glee at the older man. He held out his hands in open welcome as her approach came to a halt. She unhooked the ribbon from her wrist and presented him with the red satin heart-shaped cushion.
‘Happy Birthday, Mr Devila. May your heart always be filled with joy,’ she said, beaming her own joy right at him.
‘It is, my dear, and you’ve put it there.’ He hooked the ribbon attached to the cushion around his own wrist, then took both her hands in his, pressing lightly, his eyes twinkling encouragement. ‘I prefer at this point in my life not to waste any time. Tell me your name.’
‘It’s Merlina,’ she replied with an arch emphasis for Jake’s benefit. ‘Merlina Rossi.’
‘Merlina…’ He rolled it off his tongue as though finding it much to his taste. ‘A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.’
‘Thank you, Mr Devila.’
‘Call me Byron.’
‘Thank you, Byron.’
‘Now the only other question is—’ he waggled his eyebrows in flirtatious appeal ‘—will you marry me?’
She laughed. Whether it was a joke or not, there was such delicious irony in being proposed to by the grandfather of the man she really wanted, right in front of him.
‘That’s going a bit far, Pop,’ Jake said in an irritable tone, not the least bit amused. ‘You’ve only just laid eyes on her.’
‘Ah, yes! Love at first sight. Nothing like it!’ Byron said with relish, his eyes not leaving hers for a second. ‘Thank you for choosing Merlina for me, Jake.’
‘I didn’t choose her!’ he rasped in exasperation. ‘And you can’t have her. She’s mine!’
‘Yours?’ Byron turned a frown to his grandson. ‘You’ve had a skinny model hanging off you all afternoon. Go back to her, my boy. You can’t have it two ways, you know.’
Absolutely right, Merlina thought darkly, warming to Byron Devila who clearly understood how relationships should work. She gave Jake a look of hot scorn for his playboy ways. If he wanted her to be his, he was going to have to drop every other woman and fight his grandfather for her. Leap through a few of her hoops, too. Like marriage and children. Which wouldn’t happen. She knew that. But it didn’t extinguish the wild fantasy of a life-changing miracle suddenly happening.
‘Mel happens to be my personal assistant!’ Jake bit out menacingly.
‘Mel? Mel? Who is Mel?’ His grandfather demanded.
Merlina was beginning to love Byron Devila. He was fighting on her front, forcing Jake to acknowledge her real name.
‘This woman you’re so taken with is Mel,’ came the belligerent reply. Jake waved his hand in a scissor-like movement that clearly wanted to cut this scene to its end immediately. He glared at Merlina to confirm his statement.
No way,she beamed back at him.You can stew in this juice all by yourself. I’m not rescuing you. Not ever again.
‘You should be shot for corrupting such a beautiful name,’ Byron declared, returning his attention to Merlina, smiling at her as though she was all the goodies in the world wrapped up in one package. ‘It’s the feminine version of Merlin, the great magician, and you hold me spellbound, my dear.’
Oh, he was good! This was real heady stuff! No wonder he’d wooed seven women into wedlock. His immense wealth might be one attraction but the man himself was an absolute charmer.
‘Tell him!’ Jake commanded, positively fizzing with frustration. ‘Tell him you’re my personal assistant.’
Merlina took a deep breath and sighed with blissful satisfaction in her erstwhile employer’s disarray. ‘Iwas Jake’s personal assistant, Byron,’ she said to her new admirer. ‘But I’m not anymore.’
‘What do you mean you’renot ?’ Jake fumed.
She fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘I left my resignation on your desk yesterday afternoon. You no longer have any claim on my time, Jake.’
He was stunned again.
Temporarily speechless.
It was marvellous!
She smiled sweetly at his grandfather. ‘So I’m free to spend as much time with you as I like, Byron.’
‘Bravo!’ he approved.
But Jake wasn’t finished yet. He came back firing. ‘You can’t leave me without notice.’ His eyes glittered satisfaction as he reminded her, ‘It’s not ethical, Mel.’
‘I believe a month’s notice is more than sufficient to fulfil my obligation to you, Jake. I mentioned it in my note of resignation. You have the next month to find my replacement.’
Realisation hit him, drawing his brows into a glowering frown. ‘But you’ll be away on vacation all that time.’
‘Yes. And I am due that vacation, as you very well know.’Not having had one in the nineteen months she’d been his slave!
‘Splendid!’ Byron approved heartily. ‘Where would you like to spend it, Merlina? Say the word and I’ll…’
‘Merlina…’ Jake grated out between gnashing teeth, ‘is not a true blonde.’
Had he burst a blood vessel?
To attack on such a personal level…
Byron rolled his eyes at him. ‘Neither is your skinny model, my boy. Do be a good chap and go back to her. I understand your disappointment in losing Merlina to me but you obviously didn’t appreciate her enough.’
Too true! she thought, definitely beginning to love Jake’s grandfather.
‘I’m not talking about bottle blondes,’ came the fierce retort. ‘Her hair is dark brown. She’s wearing a wig!’
That was a mean blow. Completely below the belt.
Byron re-appraised her hair. ‘Damned good wig!’ he approved. ‘Had me fooled.’
Jake went for the kill. ‘And she’s fooling with you, Pop.’
Byron grinned at her. ‘Nothing like having a beautiful woman fooling with me.’
The tight place in Merlina’s chest loosened up as imminent humiliation passed. She grinned back. ‘I wore it to please you on your birthday, Byron. Jake said you preferred blondes.’
‘Well, I now find myself leaning towards sassy brunettes. And speaking of my birthday…’ Byron half turned, offering his arm to her. ‘Allow me to escort you to my table where we can toast it together.’
‘How kind!’ she purred, curling her arm around his.
She wasn’t sure if Jake actually growled but he looked at her as though he’d like to go for her throat. The aggression emanating from him was definitely dangerous. And thrilling.
Byron patted her hand and smiled benevolently at his grandson. ‘Thank you, Jake. Best birthday gift you could have given me.’ He blithely waved a dismissal. ‘You can have the cake rolled away now but I’m keeping Merlina. And please ask the orchestra to play Lerner and Loewe’s classic, ‘The Night They Invented Champagne.’
Jake was left standing in fight mode with nothing to fight as Byron led Merlina away in a triumphant walk back towards his guests.Maybe he’ll kick the cake, she thought, and decided to flirt outrageously with his grandfather for as long as the party lasted.
‘Oh, what fun!’ Byron burbled in her ear. ‘I take it you have issues with my grandson and you’ve just given him a wake-up call.’
She smiled at him, noting the merry amusement in his eyes. ‘Something like that.’
‘Brilliantly done, my dear. Don’t know what he sees in all those skinny women.’
She sighed. ‘I don’t think it will change anything, Byron.’
‘Nonsense! You have him on toast.’
‘Just the heat of the moment. And that does my pride a lot of good,’ she wryly confessed. ‘But unlike you, Jake isn’t the marrying type, and I’ve already wasted too much of my life on him.’
‘This is not the day to give up, Merlina. You’re on the crest of a wave and you must ride it through,’ he advised. ‘It’s time the boy did get married and I heartily approve of you as my granddaughter-in-law. A sassy woman puts a bit of excitement in one’s life.’
She laughed, hugging his arm with real affection. ‘You are a darling, Byron. But I don’t think…’
‘Leave it to me. I’m a master of manoeuvres.’
‘I’d have to agree with that. Asking me to marry you was wonderful!’
‘We can play on it. Give me the pleasure of your company and I’ll give you a diamond engagement ring.’
Merlina halted, suddenly unsure of where she was going with Jake’s grandfather. ‘Byron, I think you’re a lovely man but I couldn’t really marry you.’
He laughed. ‘Just setting the cat amongst the pigeons, my dear. How long did you work for Jake?’
‘Nineteen months.’
‘So the hook is well and truly in, even if he doesn’t know it yet.’
Merlina shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t go that far. He’s had a string of women while I’ve been working for him.’
Byron nodded knowingly. ‘The best of both worlds without having to give any commitment.’ He patted her hand again. ‘Let’s nail the pay-time. Be my live-in companion for a week. Just one more week of your life, Merlina, to see if Jake will come to your party.’
It was a tempting prospect. The idea of driving Jake Devila into a jealous rage was the stuff of giddy dreams. If it could actually happen…
‘I promise you we’ll have fun. I’ll take you shopping. Trips to the theatre, dining out. I’ll parade you everywhere, make us a conspicuous couple. I bet Jake won’t be able to ignore that.’
‘You’re as much a devil as he is, Byron,’ she said, thinkingWhy not? A week of being a pampered companion would be easy to take, wouldn’t it? Some fun time before looking for another job. And if her being with his grandfather did get to Jake…
‘Got his genes from me.’
Warning bells instantly rang. Byron Devila might be eighty but Merlina suspected he hadn’t lost any of his virility. She drilled him with her eyes. ‘I’d need you to be an absolute gentleman if I’m to live in.’
He laughed. ‘Hands off, I promise. I know where your interest lies, Merlina, and I’m feeling very inclined to further it if I can.’
She believed him. With a mad sense of throwing her hat well and truly over the windmill, she said, ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’
‘That’s my girl!’ he rolled out with beaming approval. ‘What a lovely birthday I’m having. Now let me introduce you to Jake’s mother.’
And they resumed their stroll towards his table.
Behind them the orchestra started to play ‘The Night They Invented Champagne.’
10-10-07, 01:32 AM
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