Secret Cinderella

He watched her scrub the helpless pan faster as her temper rose.

“Marriage is nothing more than a meaningless scrap of paper that everyone ignores until they decide to have it abolished. Then the only happy people are the lawyers.”

Rinsing the pan, she slapped it into the dishwasher with noisy force.

“The lawyers make big bucks tearing up the paper right along with people’s lives.”

She scowled, daring him to contradict her.

“Not fond of lawyers, either, I take it,” he taunted her.

“I’d rather be single,” she stated belligerently.

“So you prefer to settle for lovers?”

Her glare was meant to intimidate. Since he agreed with her in principle, he was surprised to discover her adamancy disturbed him. He wondered if her parents had been divorced and how old she’d been when it happened or if her own divorce had brought out such strong emotion.

“You’re just spoiling for a fight, aren’t you? What happened, Roddy, you strike out with the girlfriend tonight?”

He tensed as her barb struck home. “Let’s leave Shereen out of this discussion.”

“Fine with me. You’re the one who brought up the love-life scenario.”

She was good at deflecting questions, but he was better. “Who were you running from tonight, Melanie?”

“The big bad wolf.”

“After seeing you in that dress, I’m not surprised.”

She lifted the whisk she’d used to stir the omelet and aimed it at him as her chin came up defiantly.

“What’s wrong with my dress?”

“Well, for one thing, it’s missing a lot of material, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

To his shock, she suddenly giggled then turned away to rinse off the whisk. She had the most amazing giggle.

“Actually I did notice. I nearly froze to death in that dress.”

The woman knew how to lead his thoughts astray, but now was not the time to be thinking how sexy she had looked in that tempting bit of green. He forced his mind back to business.

“What were you doing there, Melanie?”

“I prefer Mel and it’s none of your business.”

“You made it my business when you lifted my wallet and elected to come here tonight.”

She turned away and began to wipe off the counters.

“Think what you like.”

She shrugged and he watched her generous, unbound breasts rise and fall beneath his shirt. Roderick had no idea what to make of this perplexing woman, but he knew he wanted to know a lot more about her.

“What do you do for a living when you aren’t out picking pockets?”

She yawned hugely, rinsed out the cloth she’d been using and draped it neatly over the sink.

“I’m a short-order cook.”

He shook his head as she turned around to face him. “If you’d said you were a chef I might believe you after that omelet but…”

“Chefs require fancy degrees these days. Cooks can get jobs anywhere. How’s your head?”

He stayed the hand that automatically started toward his temple. The headache that had plagued him all evening was now a negligible throb.

“Better.”

He heard the wonder in his voice. She smiled smugly.

“You’ll be fine after some sleep. I know I’ll feel better. Do you mind if I stay?”

“You are the most extraordinary person.”

“Thank you.”

Obviously she took that for permission because she turned and preceded him to the stairs. Roderick paused long enough to check that the burner was off, turn out the light and collect his dress shoes before following her up the stairs. At the top, she paused to wish him good-night before heading to the guest room.