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them for a moment.”
    “I can do that.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Jenny went to her room, passing Devon’s truck. She opened her window a crack, turned off her light, and sat on the bed, looking out the window. She could clearly see the office and would be able to watch Devon as he left. Why she wanted to watch him leave, she had no idea, but for some reason she wanted to see him go.
    Within minutes Miriam walked out, Devon right beside her. “What!” he cried frantically, his voice raised. “Hired her? Miriam, you’ve worked here for a long time, but no one gave you the authority to hire a prima donna like that!”
    “Really!” Jenny said to herself, her face turning as red as a beet. “Who does he think he is!”
    “ She’s perfect, Mr. North. You should have heard her qualifications.”
    “I can’t pay her a red cent.”
    “She said she’d work in exchange for a room,” Miriam said meaningfully.
    “Free?” he asked with great surprise. “It doesn’t make sense,” he mused aloud. “Why would she work for nothing?”
    Miriam nodded enthusiastically. “My mother always said never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
    “I don’t like her,” Devon said.
    Jenny pressed her lips tightly together. Insufferable lout, she thought.
    “ We can’t tie up the room,” he argued. “She’ll have to go.”
    “No, Devon,” Miriam resisted. “She’s a gift. Mark my words.”
    “No,” he said firmly. “That’s one of the few rooms that is ready. We need it.”
    Miriam lightly touched his arm. “I’ve already thought of everything, dear. We’ll have room twelve back tomorrow. Jenny can go into Maria’s room.”
    “What!” he exclaimed.
    “Maria’s room,” Miriam repeated firmly, like a mother to her young son. “You said it was ready to live in now, didn’t you? The electrical is fixed, right?”
    “Yes,” he muttered, “but, but—”
    “We’re not renting Maria’s room out,” Miriam reasoned. “It would cost you nothing, and this way she could be close to the hotel and have an office in the Captain’s House. It’s perfect.”
    “She’s a spoiled little brat,” Devon said. “I could tell that the moment I met her.”
    Jenny nearly hit the roof. “Listen, here, you Neanderthal,” she mumbled. “If it wasn’t for Miriam, I would have left the moment you walked in. Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?”
    “So venomous,” Miriam chided her boss. “You just met her, Devon. Why do you dislike her so much ?”
    “I already told you,” he said in a surly tone.
    “Well, you’re wrong. She’s a sweetheart, I tell you!”
    Jenny strained to hear his response.
    “I don’t trust beautiful women,” Devon said quietly, not knowing Jenny could clearly hear every word from her hidden perch. “And I especially don’t trust her.”

Chapter 3
     
    “You big jerk,” Jenny said softly, glaring at him from her hidden spot. She thought about the wild fantasy she had earlier, the one in which she had presented herself to him. “Not in a million years, buddy. Not if you were the last man on earth!”
    They spoke a short time longer and, unable to reach a consensus, Miriam and Devon agreed to disagree. Then Miriam got into Devon’s truck. Though Jenny was in no mood to entertain anything but negative thoughts about the caveman, she did like that Devon was driving Miriam home. In a way, at least with others, he was quite nice and genuinely engaging. But with her he was nothing more than a royal pain.
    He got into the truck, closed the door, and soon they were backing out of the driveway. When they were gone, Jenny opened the curtain halfway and leaned against the window frame. The grounds were eerily quiet, and the wild shrubbery, bathed in the pale yellow glow of a nearby light, seemed strangely familiar, almost surrealistic. How different her life had become in a mere few days. Everything was topsy-turvy now. The hotel, for some unknown reason, seemed like the only beacon in her life,