At Your Service (Silhouette Desire) Read Free Page B

big deal,” she muttered to herself.
    But there was something in the way he ran his fingers through his hair that made her want to take over the job herself. Run her own fingers through the thick, dark hair that was overly due for a cut, and smooth it back to order for him.
    “Thanks a million, angel. You’re redeeming my faith in women. See you in an hour.”
    She heard him chuckle and say goodbye to the woman on the other end of the phone line, and repressed the urge to find out who the woman was and to scratch her eyes out. Sheesh, her hormones must be on overdrive.
    Think bossman, not boyfriend, she repeated to herself silently.
    “Your reference checked out fine. Great, even. Although you should tell that guy to cut out the fake French accent.”
    She didn’t think he’d noticed her come in. His back to the door still, redialing the phone, Tyler reached behind him and placed some papers and a pen on the bar.
    “Just fill these out, you can skip the references part, and we’ll get you set up.”
    For five minutes he chatted up what sounded like yet another woman on the phone, his voice coaxing seductively, promising anything. Meanwhile, Grace filled out her fake name, and hotel address, and then stared blankly at the lines requesting her driver’s license and social security numbers. She hadn’t figured out a way to wriggle out of this part yet.
    When Tyler hung up the phone and finally turned toward her, she flinched involuntarily and started digging through her purse, looking for inspiration.
    “Not done yet?” he asked, looking at the half-completed form.
    “Um, no,” she mumbled as she shoved her wallet to the bottom of her purse. Then she put on her most innocent, worried look and tilted the purse so that he could look in to see the tangle of makeup and scrap paper. “I think I left my wallet back in my room.”
    With any luck, her new boss would just think she was a little flighty, and not a little con artist.
    Her luck held.
    “Bring it tomorrow,” he said shortly. Punching a button on the register, he popped the cash drawer open and tugged out two twenties. He handed them across the bar to Grace. “Somehow, we didn’t get any limes or lemons with our produce delivery this morning. Not a good thing for a bar. I want you to get as many of each as you can.”
    The request was made as casually as if she’d worked for him for years, but Grace still felt as though she was being tested. She wondered what odds he was putting on her returning with the fruit and banished her irritation at being under suspicion. Hopefully, the idea that she’d run off with his cash was the long shot in his mind.
    “I don’t really know the neighborhood. I’m sorry.”
    “For what?”
    She’d apologized automatically, somehow feeling the need to atone for the theft she knew he imagined.
    “There’s a store two blocks north on Linden,” he continued. “Make it fast. We’ve got a lot of work to do still.”
    She slid off the stool and flew out the front door of the bar. Feeling as though she’d just received a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card in a Monopoly game, she was halfway to the store before she realized that she hadn’t really escaped anything. She would still have to figure out how she could get around showing him an ID.
    Tyler might not worry about filling out her paperwork for a day or two, but Grace knew that wouldn’t last. Sooner or later he’d remember that he had yet to see any form of identification from her. She would count on making herself invaluable to the man before that point.
    Even if she only had tonight, she’d do it. She’d make Tyler think he couldn’t live without her.
     
     
    Strange lady, Tyler thought as he continued making the necessary calls to come up with at least a skeleton staff for the night. She’d practically begged him for this job, but she’d rushed out the door on his errand as though she’d just been let out of prison.
    The ever-present nervousness in her vivid blue