“I never dreamed . . .” Marjorie murmured. New York. Wow.
“Say you’ll think about it. I need to run things past Logan, but he won’t care. He—”
“Run what past Logan?” A masculine voice broke into the conversation. Both women looked up as a man in a starchy business suit entered the Green Dining Hall, dodging the sea of tables anointed with upside-down chairs. He carried a large tray with several dishes and two drinks.
“Hey, baby,” Brontë said happily. “What are you doing here?”
“I was told that my fiancée was last seen entering an empty dining room carrying stacks of envelopes to handle during her lunch hour. And I bet that you’d forgotten to eat again.” He frowned down at her smiling face, utterly austere. “I see that I was right.”
She waved off his irritation and got up, taking the tray from his hands and lifting her face for a quick kiss, which he gave her. She set the tray on the table. “I was just talking to Marjorie about coming to New York and working as my assistant for the foundation. What do you think?”
“Whatever you want to do.” He looked over at Marjorie. “Brontë takes on too much to do. If you can do the job, I’ll pay you two hundred grand a year.”
Marjorie’s jaw dropped.
Brontë elbowed Logan in irritation. “I was going to talk to her about salary.”
“No, love, you’re going to sit and eat your lunch, and then we’re going upstairs so you can take a nap. You’re exhausted.” The look in his cool gaze became tender as he led Brontë to her chair and then sat down next to her. “It does no good to have a wedding if the bride needs a vacation from her vacation wedding.”
Brontë just shook her head, placing the lunch tray on the table. “Didn’t I tell you he was pushy, Marj?”
“I think you told me he was wonderful,” Marjorie teased.
“Well, that, too,” said the bride. And she smiled up at her fiancé as he pushed a wrapped sandwich into her hand.
***
Marjorie stayed down in the Green Dining Room for another hour, chatting with Logan and Brontë about New York, the wedding, and most of all, Brontë’s foundation. It turned out that Logan hadn’t been joking when he’d offered her the salary. It was overpaying for an assistant, he said, but he wanted Brontë to have good help, and he didn’t put a price tag on her happiness.
And Brontë had just beamed at her fiancé with contentment.
Marjorie found herself saying yes to the job, even without knowing all the details. How could she pass it up? Her job as a waitress was fun, but didn’t pay all that great. Two hundred grand a year to live in a magnificent, bustling city and work with her best friend doing something that she would love? It was a dream come true.
Someone was going to have to pinch her pretty soon, because things kept getting better and better.
She was still floating on a cloud of pure happiness when she returned to her room. The maids had come through and straightened things, the bed sheets so firmly tucked she could probably bounce a quarter off of it. And on the nightstand next to the bed, there was a box with a big red bow. Curious, she sat down on the bed and stared at the package. Who’d left her a gift?
Her phone pinged with another incoming text, and she read it.
Did the package get there yet?
Rob.
She gazed at the box with the bow and reached out for the tiny card jauntily shoved into the ruffles of the ribbon.
Wear these tonight. I hope they make you seven fucking feet tall, because then you will be seven feet of glorious woman and I’m man enough to enjoy every inch of it.—R
Heat stained her cheeks again and she pressed the back of a hand to her skin to cool it. Gosh, he was always making her blush, wasn’t he? She pulled the lid off the box . . . and gasped at the shoes inside. Silver platform peep-toe pumps with a nearly six-inch heel. They were studded with tiny crystals all over the shoe leather, and glittered like Cinderella’s glass slipper. She picked one up wonderingly.
It was enormously tall. She’d be a giant. They were garish and impractical and sky-high.
But they were also sparkly, girly, and utterly gorgeous.
Marjorie turned one over in her hands, checking the size. Her size. How had he known . . . ? Her fingers smoothed over the Jimmy Choo stamp on the bottom of the shoe. They had to be expensive. Jimmy Choo didn’t make cheap heels. She should return the present and just send Rob a thank-you.
But then, she pictured his reaction. He’d cuss and stomp his way over to her room and make her take the shoes anyhow.
And . . . she kind of loved them. She was such a cliché—a girl that adored shoes. But so what? How often did she find someone that wasn’t terrified of her height and didn’t want her to wear flats? He liked how tall she was. And she liked the shoes.
So she slid them on and nearly swooned at how good they felt. The leather practically caressed the arches of her feet. Impulsively, she took a picture of her feet in the shoes and texted it to him.
Perfect, he sent back a moment later.
Is this part of your seduction plan? she asked him.
Might be. I’m pretty good at this sort of thing, huh?
She had to admit that yes, he was rather good at it after all. And she was really, really looking forward to their date tonight.
So when do I get to see you again? he sent back.
She gazed down at her gorgeous, impractical shoes. Then, impulsively, she texted back, How about now?
Chapter Fourteen
Rob wanted to meet her that afternoon, but he suggested they meet at a gazebo in the resort gardens. Definitely more romantic than the lobby, Marjorie thought with a smile, and agreed to meet him there in a half hour. She was humming as she changed into something a little sexier for her date—a dark navy slip dress that she normally wore with a sweater and leggings—and put on her sparkly heels. She felt rather pretty, and hoped that Rob thought she was, too.
The path out to the gardens was on the far side of the Turtle pool and lounge. The resort had several pools, but the Turtle one was popular with couples instead of families due to its multiple hot tubs. She glanced at it casually as she passed by and was startled when a man with a microphone and two guys with cameras seemed to emerge from the bushes and approach her.
“Hey, doll,” the guy with the microphone said. “Tell us your name, sugar!”
Marjorie hesitated, alarmed. “Not your doll or sugar,” she told him, and tried to sidestep the men.
“You’re looking sexy today,” the guy with the microphone continued, following her as she tried to go around them. “I don’t suppose you want to earn a little extra cash?”
Her jaw dropped. “W-what?”
“That’s right, baby! Tits or GTFO!” He waved a handful of money at her. “Show us your stuff and we’ll reward you.”
She stared at the man, gaping, and then at the cameras. Then, with a gasp, she ran as fast as her platform heels would carry her, heading for the gardens and the gazebo.
“Guess she’s not interested,” the man with the microphone called. “Your loss, sweetheart!”
Show these horrible men her breasts? She was going to be sick! Horror made her rush, and her ankles protested as she stumbled down the path. She wanted to head back into the resort and hide, but the men were blocking the path. She was pretty sure she heard them laughing, too. Humiliation burned in her breast, and by the time she found the gazebo, she was nearly in tears. She barely spotted a man in a black, collared shirt and jeans, sporting sunglasses. That must have been Rob. She stumbled as she approached him, twisting her ankle and practically falling into his arms.