Housekeepers Say I Do!: Maid for the Millionaire / Maid for the Single Dad / Maid in Montana

Somehow he had to get back to behaving normally around his wife.

Ex-wife.

Maybe the first step to doing that would be to remember falling victim to their sexual attraction hadn’t done anything except toss them into an unhappy marriage.

Just outside the door, Liz leaned against the wall and breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Two minutes after she suggested Billy help Cain she remembered they’d be using power tools—potential weapons—and she nearly panicked. But it appeared as if Billy and Cain had found a way to get along.

She and Amanda began painting the dining room but at eleven-thirty, they stopped to prepare lunch. At twelve they called Cain and Billy to the kitchen table and to her surprise they were chatting about a big project Cain’s company had bid on when they walked to the sink to wash their hands.

They came to the table talking about how Cain’s job is part math, part hand-holding and part diplomacy and didn’t stop except to grab a bite of sandwich between sentences.

Liz smiled at Cain, working to keep their “friendship” going and determined not to worry about her secret until the time to tell him materialized, but Cain quickly glanced away, as if embarrassed.

When they’d finished eating, Billy and Cain went back to their work and Liz and Amanda cleaned the kitchen then resumed painting.

At five, Liz’s muscles were pleasantly sore. She did manual labor for a living, but the muscles required for painting were different than those required for washing windows, vacuuming and dusting. Amanda planned to take her kids out to dinner so Cain and Liz had decided to leave to give them time to clean up before going out.

Still, as tired and sore as she was, she couldn’t let Cain go without telling him she was proud of him. Billy needed him and he had cracked some barriers that Amanda had admitted she couldn’t crack. After his wary expression when he glanced at her at lunch, she had to tell him how much he was needed, how good a job he was doing.

Leaning against the bed of his truck, waiting as he said goodbye to Amanda and Billy, she smiled as he approached.

“I’m not sure if you’re embarrassed because you didn’t want to help Billy or embarrassed that you did such a good job.”

He tossed a saw into the toolbox in the bed of his truck. “He’s a good kid.”

“Of course he is. He just spent the first sixteen years of his life with a man who gave him a very bad impression of what a man’s supposed to do. You were a good example today.”

“Don’t toss my hat in the ring for sainthood.”

She laughed.

“I’m serious. If Billy had been a truly angry, truly rebellious teen, I would have been so far out of my league I could have done some real damage.”

She sobered. He had a very good point. “I know.”

He made a move to open his truck door and Liz stepped away. “I’m sorry.”

Climbing into the truck, he shook his head. “No need to apologize. Let’s just be glad it worked out.”

She nodded. He started his truck and backed out of the driveway.

Liz stared after him. She’d expected him to either be angry that she’d set him up or to preen with pride. Instead, he’d sort of acted normally.

She folded her arms across her chest and watched his truck chug out of the neighborhood and an unexpected question tiptoed into her consciousness. Was acting normally his way of showing her they could be friends…Or his way of easing himself back into her life?

After all, he didn’t have to be here, repairing Amanda’s house. He could have refused when Ayleen asked him.

He also hadn’t needed to befriend Billy. Yet, he’d responded to her silent plea and then did a bang-up job.

He also didn’t have to interact with her. She was only here as a chaperone of sorts. Now that the work was going smoothly, he could ignore her.

So what was he doing?

CHAPTER SIX

“HAPPY MAIDS. Liz Harper speaking.”

“Good morning, Ms. Harper. It’s Ava from Cain Corporation. Mr. Nestor asked me to call.”

Liz’s heart did a somersault in her chest. Something was wrong. There was no reason for Cain to ask Ava to call except to reprimand her or fire her. Or maybe he’d finally found a full-time maid? It wasn’t that she begrudged him help, but with Rita working now, bringing her staff up to seven, she needed every assignment she had and more.

“He’s having some friends for a small dinner tonight—”

Liz’s heart tumbled again and she squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn’t fired. He was inviting her to a party! Oh God! He was trying to ease her back into his life.

“He’s cooking.”

Knowing Cain was very good at the grill, Liz wasn’t surprised. But she still didn’t want to go to a party at his house. Not when she was just about certain he was trying to get them back together.

“So he won’t have a caterer to clean up. He’s going to need you to send someone tonight after the party to do that. He’ll pay extra, of course.”

Liz fell into her office chair, her cheeks flaming. So much for being invited to his party. He wanted her to clean up. She was his maid. Not a friend. Not a potential lover or date…or even an ex-wife. She was an employee.

He wasn’t trying to ease her into his life. He wasn’t even trying to show her they could be friends. He wasn’t thinking that hard about it because in his mind there was no longer a question.

He didn’t want her.

She swallowed again, easing the lump in her throat so she could speak. That was, after all, what she wanted.

“We’ll be happy to clean up after the party.”

“You’ll only need one person.”

No longer upset about the call itself, Liz noticed the pinched, tight tone of Ava’s voice.

“It’s a small party. Mr. Nestor and the partners of his new venture are gathering to have dinner before they sign a contract. He believes everyone will be gone by nine. Let me suggest you arrive around a quarter after nine.”

The first time Liz had spoken with Ava, she’d been light, friendly, eager to get some housecleaning help for her boss. Today’s stiff voice and formal tone puzzled Liz.

“A quarter after nine is fine.”

She hung up the phone confused. Could Cain have told his assistant that Liz was his ex-wife? But why would he? What difference would it make? He never shared personal information with employees. Why start now?

Placing her fingers on her computer keyboard to begin inputting her workers’ hours on a spreadsheet, she frowned. Even if he had told Ava Liz was his ex-wife, why would that upset his assistant?

And was that why she hadn’t received any referrals from Ava?

She’d expected at least one person to call and say they’d been referred. That was how it worked in Liz’s business. Maids had to be trusted. A word-of-mouth recommendation worked better than cold advertising. Yet, she’d gotten no recommendation from Cain.