The Texan's Tiny Secret

She glanced his way. “Most men are,” she replied, then arched a brow and added, “though it’s seldom my cooking that impresses them.”

“Must be that winning personality of yours.”

“That, too.”

He tossed back his head and laughed, enjoying the verbal sparring. “So what do you do when you’re not catering, Just Suzy?”

“Governor?”

Gil turned to find his bodyguard standing in the doorway. “Yes, Dave?”

“People are starting to notice you’re missing.”

Gil dragged the dish towel from around his waist with a weary sigh, feeling the full weight of his responsibilities settling back on his shoulders. “I’ll be right there.”

Dave touched a finger to his temple, then slipped back through the door as quietly as he’d appeared.

Gil picked up his jacket and shrugged it on. “It was nice meeting you, Just Suzy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, busily plunking fresh raspberries on top of each filled tart.

Unable to resist teasing her a little more, he stepped up behind her and leaned to press his lips close to her ear. “If there’s ever anything I can do for you…”

She jerked away, narrowing her eyes at him. “Like what? Washing my dirty dishes? Or did you have something a little more intimate in mind?”

Chuckling, he snugged the knot of his tie between the points of his collar. “Whatever your needs are,” he informed her as he headed for the door, “just give me a shout, and I’m all yours.”

With only a security light to illuminate the dark alleyway where the catering van was parked, Renee hovered at Suzy’s elbow, worrying her thumbnail. “You don’t think the rumors that he’s gay are really true, do you?”

Remembering the governor’s suggestive parting comment, Suzy scowled as she shoved the last crate of glasses into the rear of the van. “Probably.”

Renee’s frown deepened, then she huffed a breath. “Well, I don’t think he is. He just doesn’t look gay, you know?” She sighed dreamily. “Oh, man, did you see his eyes? Paul Newman blue. And that drawl of his. I bet he could turn sex into a three-syllable word.”

Suzy caught the door and stepped back, forcing Renee back, as well. “I thought your relationship with Rusty was exclusive?”

Renee gave her chin a defensive lift. “It is, but there’s no harm in looking.”

Suzy slammed the rear doors with a little more force than necessary. “Yeah, I’ve heard that line before,” she muttered. “But usually delivered by a male caught with lipstick on his collar.” Seeing Renee’s wounded look, she immediately regretted the sharp words and slung an arm around her young employee. “Don’t mind me. I’m just tired.”

Renee’s shoulders drooped wearily beneath Suzy’s arm. “Me, too. Need me to follow you home and help you unload?”

“Nope. I’m leaving everything in the van until morning.”

“You sure?”

Suzy hugged Renee to her side before giving her a push toward the parking lot. “Yeah, I’m sure. Now scoot. And give Rusty a kiss for me,” she called after her.

Renee lifted a hand in farewell. “I will. Good night, Suzy.”

“’Night.”

Suzy watched until Renee was safely inside her car and pulling out onto the street, then headed for the driver’s side of the van, anxious to get to her own home and bed. Catering an event of this size and importance was a physical and mental drain that took her days to recover from. Unfortunately, she didn’t have days. She had a luncheon for the local garden club scheduled for noon the next day. Or rather today, she thought, stifling a groan as she stuck her key into the door lock.

Gravel crunched on the drive behind her, and she froze as a shadow fell over her, blocking the glow from the security light behind her. Silently cursing herself for not asking one of the security guards hired for the party to escort her to her van, she shifted her keys between her fingers and whirled, thrusting out her hand as if she held a weapon

The dark figure—a man she realized, gulping back the scream that rose—skidded to a stop with the blunt end of the key just inches from his chest and shot up his hands.

“Is that thing loaded?”

Though the man’s face remained in shadows, Suzy recognized the voice. The governor. Furious with him for slipping up on her and frightening her, she dropped her arm. “Are you crazy?” she snapped, fisting the keys within her palm. “You could get yourself killed, sneaking up on a person like that.”

He lowered his hands and teased her with a smile. “Would you miss me?”

Scowling, she wrenched open the door. “Get real.”

He caught her elbow, stopping her before she could climb inside. “I’d miss you.”

His voice was low, husky and sounded sincere enough to have her pausing…but only for the length of time it took for her to draw in an angry breath. Jerking free of his grasp, she spun to face him. “You don’t even know me.”

He hooked a hand over the top of the door and smiled down at her, his casual stance irritating her even more. “No, but I’d like to. How about dinner?”

“I’ve already eaten.”

“A drink then.”

“I’m not thirsty.”

He shifted in front of her and pushed his palm against the side of the van, neatly pinning her between himself and the vehicle. He leaned closer and she drew back, wary of the seductive gleam in his eyes.

“Then we’ll skip the preliminaries,” he said in a voice that would melt the lock off a chastity belt, “and go straight to bed. Your place or mine?”

Suzy planted a hand against his chest, stopping his forward movement. “Neither.” She gave him an angry shove. “Now beat it, Romeo, before I start screaming and have every cop in Austin swarming all over the place.”

To her surprise, instead of becoming indignant, as she might have suspected, or using his greater strength to overpower her, he dropped his head back and laughed. Then, before she could duck, he surprised her again by dropping a kiss on her cheek. “I like you, Suzy.”

Grimacing, she dragged the back of her hand across her face. “Yeah. Most men do.”

He took a step back and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I’d like to see you again.”

With room to move now, she climbed into the van and slammed the door. “Not if I see you first,” she muttered as she rammed the key into the ignition. She gunned the engine, ripped the gearshift into drive and sped off, setting the glasses in the rear of the van rattling.

She rolled down her window as she turned onto the street…and would have sworn later that was the governor’s laughter she heard chasing her down the street.

Gil stood before the windows in his office in the Governor’s Mansion, his arms folded across his chest, staring out at the grounds below. Though late-afternoon sunshine spotlighted a neatly tended rose garden, he saw nothing but the scowling face of a flashily dressed, sharp-tongued blonde.

Thoughts and images of the caterer he’d met at the party the weekend before had filled his head all week, making it difficult for him to complete the simplest task and impeding his ability to concentrate on a particular topic for any length of time. Both of which were an oddity for Gil, as he couldn’t remember a single woman in his past who had dominated his thoughts so completely.

Not that he hadn’t had his fair share of female relationships, he reminded himself. He just hadn’t met one like Suzy before.