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

wondering what was expected of her. She was only the butler, after all. What was Rick asking for, social directing?
    They were all gazing at her expectantly, and she supposed she ought to say something, if only she knew what. She glanced at Rick and he smiled encouragingly. She looked back at the children.
    “Wouldn't you two like to go up to your rooms and change into other clothes to play in?” she asked, at a loss.
    “No, thank you,” Erica said coolly, crossing her nylon-covered legs. “We're just fine.”
    Suddenly Terry understood why Rick looked as though he needed rescuing. Was this child twelve or twenty?
    “Well then, would you like to come with me to the kitchen?” she asked almost desperately. “I might be able to rustle up some lemonade or a soda.”
    Erica's glance was as cool as her voice. “We wouldn't want to spoil our appetite for dinner,” she reminded Terry.
    Terry barely managed to keep from gaping at that. But the girl had brought up a point that would have to be considered: dinner. There was no cook tonight. Where was dinner going to come from? Terry glanced at Rick and saw the same thought forming in his mind.
    “Tell you what,” he said quickly. “I'll fix us all some thing to eat while you entertain the kids.”
    “You'll cook?” Somehow she couldn't imagine the playboy in the kitchen.
    “Of course.” He gave her a look of mock offense. “I can cook up a mean pan of spaghetti sauce, believe it or not.”  
    He was already heading for the doorway.  
    “I was considered the best chef in my fraternity at college,” he told them over his shoulder. “Without my culinary skills, twenty-two young men would probably have ended their college careers with rickets and scurvy.”  
    He raised his eyebrows as he looked at them.  
    “Of course that was quite a few years ago. But I'm convinced cooking is something you never forget, like riding a bicycle.”  
    He frowned.  
    “Now let's see, the water's boiling when those little bubbles start swimming to the surface, right?”
    She laughed without even thinking, then quickly stifled it, remembering her place.
    He grinned at her, gave her a wink, and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. She looked at the children and found them squirming uncomfortably.
    “Silly, isn't he?” Erica blurted out, then colored and glanced sidelong at Terry.
    Jeremy said nothing; his eyes were big and curious.
    Terry forced herself to block out any judgmental reactions to the children. It wasn't her place, she told her self. Though she did seem to find herself situated in the position of baby-sitter.
    She'd never expected to be assigned this role, but here she was. After all, as her father always said, her main job was to keep the household running smoothly. If this was what Rick needed, this was what she would do.
    “Well, Erica,” Terry said with a sigh, sinking down on a chair opposite the girl, “do you come out to Mar Vista often?”
    “Not really. But we’re starting to, I guess.” The girl looked at her primly. “We’re supposed to come every other weekend during school. But in the summer, they say we’ll be here more.”
    “Haven't you... haven't you ever lived with your father full-time?” She was treading on dangerous ground here. But if Rick had left her to deal with the kids, she had to get some handle on what she was dealing with.
    “Not since I was nine,” Erica answered. “Jeremy was just a baby. My mother left my father then. She took us to Louisiana to live with our grandparents there. I hardly ever saw him until last year, when my mother died.”
    Her voice was as dispassionate as if she were reciting a train schedule. Terry frowned, wishing she could get the girl to melt through the icy protection she'd erected around herself. Somewhere inside there had to be at least a bit of the natural warmth her father had in such abun dance.
    “Did you ever go to my father's house?” Jeremy asked all of a sudden.
    Terry smiled