Read Promoted to Wife (Destiny Bay) for Free Online Page A

about to put on tails, but she had brought along a supply of navy-blue skirts and white blouses to wear on the job. She'd agonized over what to wear. Should she wear pants and tie and try to be as much like a man as possible? She'd decided against that. Who really wanted to see a woman dressed like a man? No, she would dress with feminine dignity. At least, she would try.
    But Rick didn't seem to approve. He shook his head.
    “You've changed your tone too. I like you better the way I found you in my closet this morning.” He frowned, his gaze skimming across her face and down toward the opening of her crisp shirt. “Can't we forget about this butler business for a while?”
    She looked into his eyes and remembered, suddenly, why she'd been avoiding his gaze. There was too much in those eyes. She got the impression he could see things in her she didn’t want seen, and that he found them infinitely amusing. But it didn’t annoy her at all. Instead, she found it tugged at her, tried to pull her closer. And she didn’t want that.  
    “I think I hear the car,” she said unevenly, dragging her gaze from his. She was going to have to remember a new rule—never look into the eyes of a man you don't want to fall in love with.
    Her hand flew to her mouth. Had she really thought those words? What was the matter with her? She was letting the excitement of this first day on the job get to her.
    “You okay?” he asked, right behind her.
    She nodded. Outside, a car door slammed. She went to the massive front door and flung it open.
    A long black limousine was parked at the end of the front walk. The middle-aged chauffeur was opening the car door for the two occupants.  
    The girl slid out first. Terry knew she was twelve, but she looked at least three years older than that, and more like a model for a slick magazine than a little girl. Her blond hair was cut in a modern wedge style, the top layer falling over the shorter hair at the sides. Long silver earrings swung from her ears, and she was dressed in a fashionable black and white suit.  
    Terry couldn't help but remember how she'd dressed at that age. No one could pry her out of blue jeans and T-shirts.
    “This is Erica,” her father said, introducing Terry to her. “And this is Jeremy.”
    Jeremy looked like the five-year-old boy he was. He was dressed in a little blue suit, but he carried a huge stuffed koala bear held tightly in his arms. With his wide brown eyes and button nose, he looked a bit like a koala himself.
    The children seemed to take her in stride. They barely wasted a nod on her. They were looking at their father warily, as though unsure of what to expect from him.  
    Terry had a sudden picture of her own homecoming after camp one year, how she'd flung herself into her father's arms and they'd laughed together.  
    This little rendezvous was sadly different. She turned toward the car, wanting to leave the family alone to greet one another.
    Charles, the chauffeur, was taking her presence a little harder than the children had.
    “Who the hell are you?” he whispered as she bent to pick up one of the bags he was taking out of the trunk.
    “Terry Yardley,” she said primly, feeling like Mary Poppins. “The new butler.”
    His face was hostile. “I've never heard of a woman butler before,” he growled. “The others aren't going to like this.”
    “The others don't have to like it,” she said calmly. “But it's the way things are.” Her smile was as sweet as she could make it, but he didn't respond. “I'll take the children's bags up for them.”
    She was surprised to find the children sitting stiffly in the living room like guests, while Rick stood in front of the fireplace looking strained. When Terry walked into the room he looked up with something very close to relief in his eyes.
    “Here she is,” he said heartily, as though they'd been waiting for her for a very long time.
    She looked at each of the Carringtons, smiling uncertainly,