A Millionaire for Cinderella (12 page)

“Don’t you think you’re being drastic?” Piper asked.

“Trust me, I’m not. You should have seen Stuart’s face,” she added in a soft voice. For as long as she lived, she wouldn’t forget how the betrayal and anger darkened his features.

“Probably because he was mad you didn’t tell him. Stinks when people keep information from you.”

Patience winced. “I know. I’m sorry.” The other night she’d broken down and told Piper about the arrest. Her sister had been ticked off over being kept in the dark, too, although she’d softened when Patience had explained how it wasn’t news you shared with your preteen sister.

The thing was, Piper was right. If she’d told Ana everything from the beginning, she wouldn’t be in this position. Granted, she probably wouldn’t have gotten the job, but she also wouldn’t have had to deal with Ana’s disappointment. Or with Stuart’s. Which, when she thought about the past couple weeks, would have been the best thing of all.

Sure would hurt less, that’s for sure.

“I’m not really upset anymore,” Piper told her. “Stuart might not be, either. Maybe he decided that the past doesn’t matter.”

“Right, that’s why he had me investigated. Because my past doesn’t matter.” She still couldn’t believe he’d crossed that line. Well, actually, she could believe it. Stuart had said from the beginning he had trust issues. Still... “Who does he think he is, judging me? I may not have made fantastic decisions, but I always had the best intentions. I got you an education, and I kept us off the streets.”

“Hey, no arguments from me,” her sister replied. “I think you’re awesome.”

And to think she had been feeling guilty about not telling him. Turns out her subconscious knew best. The only thing telling him about the arrest would have accomplished would be to put the regret in his eyes that much faster. At least this way, she’d eked out a few more days with him.

“I never should have let myself...”

“Let yourself what?” Naturally Piper heard her. When would she learn to keep her thoughts quiet?

She considered brushing the comment off, but Piper wouldn’t let her. When she was a kid, she’d made Patience repeat every under-the-breath phrase ever muttered. Maybe talking would lessen the ache in the chest. “Let myself start to care,” she said.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

Way more than liked. She missed him the way she would miss breathing. “Not that it matters. I told you before, we were having a fling, nothing more, I mean, face it—even if I’d told him everything from the start, he could never seriously love someone like me. We come from completely different places.”

“So? Why can’t people from different worlds fall in love?”

“Do they? When’s the last time someone from our neighborhood got swept off their feet by a millionaire?”
Prince Charming ain’t walking through that door.

“That’s not what you used to tell me.”

“You’re different,” Patience immediately replied. “I raised you to be better than the neighborhood.”

“I know. You always said I was just as good as the next person.”

“You are.”

“Then, aren’t you?”

Closing her eyes, Patience let out a long, slow breath. “This is different.”

“How?”

Because, she wanted to say, the world wasn’t black-and-white. Equality in a human sense didn’t mean equal in the eyes of society. And while Stuart had no right to judge her as a person, there was a huge difference between not judging someone and falling in love with them.

“Trust me, it just is. A guy like Stuart doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life with an ex-stripper.”

Before either sister could keep the argument going, a knock sounded on her hotel door. “Who on earth would be banging on my door this time of morning?” Patience asked, frowning. Housekeeping didn’t start for another hour.

“Patience, are you in there?”

The sound of Stuart’s voice came through the wood, causing her heart to panic. “It’s Stuart,” she whispered. “He’s here.” How had he managed to track her down? The only person who knew her location was...

“You didn’t,” she said with a glare.

“He asked me to contact him as soon as I knew where you were staying. He wants to talk with you.”

“Patience, I know you’re in there. Please open the door.”

She looked over her shoulder before glaring at her laptop where her sister’s face was the picture of apology. “What makes you think I want to talk with him?”

“How about the fact that you look like hell? Give him five minutes. What if he’s sorry?”

“Sorry, not sorry—I told you, it doesn’t make a difference.”

“And I think you should hear him out.”

“I’m going to keep knocking until you answer,” Stuart called from outside.

He would, too. A knot lodged itself at the base of her skull. A ball of tension just waiting to become a headache. Patience squeezed the back of her neck, trying to push the tension away, but the feeling was as stubborn as the man banging on her hotel door.

“Patience?”

“Fine. One minute! I am so going to kill you when you get back to Boston,” she hissed at her sister.

“I love you, too,” Piper replied.

Whatever.
Patience slapped the laptop closed. Might as well get this over with. A quick glance at the mirror told her she really did look terrible. She started to comb her fingers through her hair, thought better of it and went to the door.

“What?” she asked, through the chained opening.

Stuart’s blue eyes peered down at her. “May I come in?”

“Anything you need to say, I’m sure you can say from out there.” Where she was safer. The mere sound of his voice had her insides quaking. Goodness knows what standing close to him would do.

“You sure you want me airing our dirty laundry so everyone else in the place can hear us?” he asked.

Damn.
He had a point. “Fine. Five minutes.” Sighing, she unlatched the door and let him in. Immediately, she knew it was a mistake. He had on his weekend clothes. Faded jeans and a T-shirt. The look made him appear far more approachable than his suit. She didn’t want him approachable. She wanted to keep her distance.

He jammed his hands into his back pockets. “How are you?” he asked.

“I was doing fine until you got my sister involved,” she replied.

“You don’t look like you’re doing fine.”

“How I look isn’t your business anymore.” Nevertheless, she pulled her sweater tightly around her, feeling exposed in her T-shirt and sleep shorts. “What’s so important that you needed to track me down?”

“You left without saying goodbye.”

“I left a note.”

“For Ana.”

“Maybe Ana’s the only person I wanted to say goodbye to.”

“Ouch.”

If he expected an apology, he was mistaken. “Is that all you came about? To critique how I said goodbye?”

“No. I came to find out why you left.”

He was kidding, right? “Isn’t it obvious?” She started to make the bed, fussing with the sheets the alternative to losing her temper. Did you really think I would stick around so Ana could fire me for lying to her?”

“No one was going to fire you.”

Patience stopped her fussing. “Okay, pity me then.”

Stepping away from the door, Stuart walked to the opposite side of the bed. The queen-size space suddenly felt too small a buffer zone. The rumpled sheets did nothing but remind her what it felt like to be under the covers with his arms wrapped around her.

“No one was going to pity you, either,” he said. “Ana knew from the very beginning. Well, not the specifics, but she knew you lied your way into the job.”

“How?” She wasn’t sure she should believe him.

“Apparently you’re not that good an actress.”

What did he say the other day? Body language always gives people away. Here she thought she was fooling everyone, when in reality the only fool was her.

She sank to the bed, her back to him. “If Ana knew...why did she hire me?”

“You know Ana and her thing for strays.”

Yeah, she did. Ana believed all creatures deserved a good home. Obviously, she’d believed Patience did, too. A lump rose in her throat, bringing tears. Ana was a greater gift in her life than Patience ever realized.

Suddenly, she felt like the world’s biggest jerk. “You’re right. I owed her a better goodbye. I’ll call her.”

“Better yet, why not come back?”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Why not? I told you, she doesn’t care.
I
don’t care.”

Behind her, she heard his soft cough. “Look, Ana’s not the reason I came. I came to apologize for the way I overreacted the other day. I was a jerk. I should have trusted that you had a good reason for not telling me about the arrest.”

“You hired an investigator.”

“Yes, I did,” he said. “When I first got to town and was worried about Ana. But that was before I got to know you.”

“Stop.” Next, he’d start saying how much he’d come to like and admire her or some other meaningless sweet talk. Her heart was hurting enough as it was. “I get it. Really, I do. Shame on me for not expecting it.”

“Excuse me?”

He came around the foot of the bed until he stood by her knees. Patience immediately fought the urge to scoot backward, to where their personal spaces couldn’t merge.

With a swipe of her hair, she gave her best imitation of disinterest. “In a way, the timing couldn’t have been better. I mean, we both know we were ending things soon. This way we got the messy part over with.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” She had to give him credit—he actually sounded incredulous. “A millionaire and an ex-stripper who cleans toilets? Hardly a fairy tale. I knew from the beginning it was temporary.”

He met her attitude with one of his own. Arms folded, he scowled down at her with eyes that pinned her to the spot. “Wow, you’ve got everything all worked out, don’t you?”

“I’m a realist. I know how the world works.”

“And how would you know what I was thinking? You didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Hell, you would have walked out the night of the dinner dance if I hadn’t pressed you for an explanation.”

He leaned into her face, bringing his eyes and lips dangerously close. “You know,” he said, his voice low, “you keep talking about me not trusting you, but I’m not the only one with trust issues. You were so certain you knew what I was thinking, you didn’t give me the chance to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, if you’d told me about your arrest. Let me in...”

“I let you in as much as I dared,” she told him. “If I told you every lousy thing that’s happened in my life, you’d...”

“What? Be disgusted. Throw you out?”

“Yes.”

“Bull. You only let me in when circumstances pressured you. If Chablis hadn’t crossed our paths, I’d never have found out about Feathers. Trust works both ways, babe.” Taking a deep breath, he stepped away.

Patience hugged her midsection. Without Stuart’s presence to warm it, the air became cold and empty feeling. “Big words coming from a guy who was still investigating me after we started sleeping together,” she murmured.

Her words hit their mark, and he winced. A small consolation. “That was a mistake,” he said. “I meant to call Bob off.”

“Of course, you did.” He simply forgot, right? “Let me guess, the voice in your head telling you I wasn’t good enough wouldn’t let you. A woman with her background—no way she could be any good,” she whispered, mimicking.

“That’s bull.”

“Is it?” She wondered. “Why else would a person ‘forget’ to stop an investigation?”

“Because I was distracted.”

“By what? What could possibly be that distracting?” Why she was even bothering to push the issue she didn’t know, other than that she needed to hear him admit the truth.

But his answer wasn’t what she expected. “You,” he said. “You distracted me.”

“With what? My banging body.”

“No, by being yourself. I forgot to call Bob because I was too busy falling in love with you.”

Love?
This had to be his idea of a cruel joke. He couldn’t really be in love with her. Could he?

Slowly, she raised her eyes and looked into his. There was so much honesty in their blueness it hurt. “How can you love me? I’m—

“Sweet, wonderful, smart...”

“But the things I did. The life I led.”

“Sweetheart, those are things you did. They aren’t you, not the way you think,” he told her. Suddenly, he was in her space again, his hands cradling her cheeks. “I’m in love with Patience Rush. The woman who was willing to do anything, including sacrifice herself, to keep her sister safe. Who survived despite all the hell life threw at her. The woman who was strong enough to pull her and her sister up from that world. That’s the Patience I’m in love with.”

A tear slipped down Patience’s cheek. “When I think about all those years in the club...”

“Shh. Don’t think about them. They’re in the past.” He kissed her. As gentle and sweet a kiss as she ever experienced. She wished she could hold on to the moment forever.

“Come home, Patience,” he whispered.

Fighting not to cry, she broke away. “I can’t...”

Stuart looked like she’d slapped him. Disappointed and hurt. His expression made the ache in her heart worse. “Can’t or won’t?” he challenged.

“Can’t.” Might as well be honest. The past was too much a part of her to let it go. What if a week from now he changed his mind when he’d had time to think? The rejection would be too much to bear.

“I think you should go,” she told him.

“Patience...”

She shook him off before her resolve could crumble. “Please. If you respect me at all...”

They were the magic words. Stuart took back his touch. “Fine.”

He stopped when he got to the door. Patience didn’t turn around, but she heard the pause in his step. “Just remember, all my anger and mistrust was because you were keeping secrets. I never once judged you for your past. If anything, I have nothing but respect for how you survived. Too bad you can’t cut yourself the same deal.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
HE
TUBE
IN
the neon
e
was burned out, turning the sign into “Fathers.” Patience grimaced at the unintentional creepiness.

She wasn’t sure what she was doing here. After Stuart left, she’d tried to call Piper back, but her sister didn’t pick up, so she’d spent the day sitting on the edge of the bed, replaying Stuart’s accusations in her head. She’d spent the night lying in bed doing the same. At first she was angry. How dare he accuse her of having trust issues? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Eventually, however, her emotions turned to the important statements.
I love you
. His declaration scared her to death. How could he love her?
Her.
What did the two of them see in her that she didn’t see?

When she finally got out of bed, her thoughts led her here. She stared at the broken neon sign wondering if inside held the answers she was looking for.

The front door of Feathers hadn’t changed in her absence. The faded black door was still covered with stains, the source of which she never wanted to know, and the beer stench, so strong it seeped through the bricks to reach outside, still made her gag. Familiar as it was, however, she felt as if she was standing in someone else’s memory, as if she’d stumbled across an old photograph in a thrift store. Could it be that she’d changed that much in less than a year?

Back when she started at Feathers, she’d had one dream and one dream only: to give Piper a better life. She’d succeeded, too. In fact, she’d go so far as to say she’d done a damn good job. Not only had she given Piper access to a better life, but all of her sister’s dreams were coming true.

Did she dare dream a dream for herself now?

Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not as good as anyone else.
How often had she drilled those words into her sister’s head? Maybe she’d have done better to drill them into her own.

Stuart loved her. She loved him. She’d probably loved him from the moment he walked through the emergency room doors. Could she trust their love would last?

Then again, two months ago, she hadn’t thought love was possible. Not for her, at any rate. She’d started the relationship with Stuart adamant she wouldn’t risk her heart and look what happened: she’d fallen in love, anyway. Being with him had made her feel special. And if she could feel that good while believing their relationship to be a fantasy, how good might she feel if she opened her heart to it completely?

“Well, will you look who’s come back.” Like a miniskirt-wearing gift that kept on giving, Chablis ambled around the corner. She had a cigarette in her hand. Smoke break. Patience always did find it laughable that taking their clothes off was okay but smoking inside was against the law.

The dancer tapped ash onto the sidewalk. “What’s the matter? Boyfriend dump your stuck-up behind?” she asked, before taking a long drag. Smoke filtered through her magenta-lined lips. Guess you ain’t better than us, after all?”

“You know what, Chablis...?” Patience paused. A week ago—even a day ago—Patience might have thrown Chablis’s smack talk back in her face. She no longer felt the need. Chablis was stuck in a world Patience no longer belonged in.

“You’re right. I’m not better than you. I’m not better than anybody.” She smiled. “But I’m no worse, either.”

Since Patience didn’t expect the dancer to understand what she was saying, it wasn’t a surprise when Chablis’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Whatever.” She reached for the door handle.

Through the gap, Patience saw the dimly lit scenery from a lifetime ago. Once again, it was like looking at someone else’s photograph. Stuart was right—Feathers was in her past. The future was what she dared to make of it. That was something else she used to tell Piper.
Don’t be afraid to go for your dreams.
High time she took her own advice.

And this time, she was going to do without lying or hiding from who she was. Stuart said he loved the real her? Well, the real her was who he was going to get.

“Excuse me, miss?”

The male voice startled her. Stiffening, she turned, expecting to find a customer. Instead, she came face-to-face with a young police officer.

He gave her an apologetic smile. “Is everything all right? You look lost.”

If he only knew. “I was,” she told him, “but I think I know where I’m going now.”

“Do you need directions? Trust me, you don’t want to go in there. It’s no place for a lady.”

Patience looked at the closed door of her past. “You’re right,” she agreed. “I think I’d much rather go home.”

* * *

“You can’t manage without a housekeeper,” Stuart told Ana. They were having a lousy excuse for breakfast—his version of scrambled eggs and coffee—in the kitchen. Or rather he was. Pieces of Ana’s eggs somehow kept landing on the floor for Nigel to eat. She’d been protesting his cooking the past three days. “What will you do when I move out?”

“You could stay.”

“Sure.” They’d had this argument before, too. “How about I adopt a cat and name her Patience, too. People won’t talk.”

He knew why his aunt was dragging her feet. She was hoping Patience would change her mind and come back. Stuart hoped she’d come home, too, but he was a realist. It’d been three days since he poured his heart out in Patience’s motel room. Three days since he said he loved her. And they hadn’t heard a word. Whether he wanted it to or not, life had to go on.

The doorbell rang. “That’s the candidate from the employment agency. I’ll go get her. Try to keep an open mind,” he said.

“If an open mind means telling her no, then fine, I’ll keep an open mind.”

Rolling his eyes, Stuart left the kitchen, Nigel chasing after him. “I hope you’re planning on being cooperative,” he told the cat. Otherwise, this was going to be a long morning. He opened the front door...

And froze in place.

On the threshold stood Patience, dressed for work in her blue work shirt and capris. In her hands, she held a feather duster. “Rumor has it you need a housekeeper.”

She was back.
The hopefulness behind her smile made him want to pull her into his arms then and there, but he resisted. This was her decision; he needed to let her play it out her way.

He settled then for smiling. “Did the employment agency send you over.”

“No. I’m just a woman who’s made a lot of mistakes looking to start over. I don’t suppose there’s a place for someone like me here?”

“Oh, there is.” He pushed the front door wide. “Come on in. There’s a little old lady in the kitchen who’s going to be thrilled to meet you.”

“Just her?”

“Me, too.”

“Good.” She smiled. “Although I should warn you in advance. I’m very much in love with this lawyer I know.”

Stuart’s heart gave a tiny victory cheer. “Sounds like a lucky guy.”

“I’m the lucky one. Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes, and am hoping he—you—will give me a second chance.”

Now he gave in and pulled her close, kissing her with everything in his heart. “You don’t have to ask twice,” he told her.

Patience wrapped her arms around his waist. To Stuart it felt that she was afraid he’d disappear. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” she said into his chest.

“Same here. This time we’ll trust each other.”

“That’s a new thing for me—to trust someone. I might stumble a little bit.” She looked up, her eyes as bright as the brightest chocolate diamond in the world. “Will you be patient with me?”

“Patient with Patience?” Grinning at his lame joke, he kissed the top of her head. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Both of us are going to screw up, sweetheart. But as far as I’m concerned we’ve got all the time in the world to teach each other. Forever even.”

Her arms squeezed tighter. The word
forever
was scaring her, he knew. Someday it wouldn’t, though. Someday she’d realize she was so loved that forever was the only possible time frame.

“Forever sounds like a good goal,” she said finally, her bravery increasing the admiration he held for her. “I love you, Stuart Duchenko.”

He’d never believed three words more. They’d get to forever. He knew they would. “I love you too. Now...” Giving her a reluctant last kiss, he shut the door. “How about we go make an old lady’s day?”

A meow sounded at his feet. “You, too, Nigel.”

Together, the three walked toward the future.

Two weeks later

“Why is the phone ringing in the middle of the night?” Stuart groaned. “Don’t they realize we’re tired?”

“Poor baby. They probably don’t realize how hard furniture shopping was for you.” Patience grinned at the pout she spied before he covered his head with his pillow. The two of them and Ana had spent the day shopping for Stuart’s new condominium. He was scheduled to move out at the end of the week. Ana was disappointed, until she learned Patience would be staying put. For now. As madly as they loved each other, both she and Stuart decided they should take their relationship one step at a time. Eventually, Patience would move in, but for now, there was no need to rush. Like Stuart said. They had forever.

Forever was such a nice-sounding word. Patience believed in it a little more every day. Turned out Prince Charming not only walked through the door, but he stuck around, as well.

“Whoever it is, tell them they’re insane,” Stuart muttered from beneath his pillow. “Then get under these covers so I can do unspeakable things to you.”

“I thought you were sleepy?” she whispered, snatching the phone off the end table.

A hand snaked around to splay against her bare abdomen. “I’m awake now.”

She answered without bothering to suppress her giggle. There was only one person who’d call at this hour and she wouldn’t care. “Piper?”

“Greetings from England.” There was a pause. “I’m not interrupting something, am I?”

“Not yet.” She slapped Stuart’s roaming hand. “What are you doing in England?”

“Helping your boyfriend, of course. And I have good news, and more good news. Which one do you want first?”

“Start with the good news.”

“We found Ana’s painting.”

“You did!” She sat up. “That’s wonderful.”

“That’s why we’re in England. The gallery in Paris gave us a lead on a collector here who purchased one of Nigel’s paintings. Turns out, the painting is of Ana. Almost identical to the one in the background of the picture Stuart emailed.”

Seemed silly to be moved to tears over a nude painting, but Patience’s eyes started to water. After all these years, Ana was finally getting a piece of her Nigel back. “Ana is going to be so thrilled when she hears the news.”

Hearing his aunt’s name, Stuart immediately sat up, too, and mouthed the word
painting
? Patience nodded. He pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Even better, the owner is willing to sell. Tell Stuart I’ll email him the name and contact information.”

“Thank you so much for doing this, Piper.” Ana meant so much to her and Stuart. That they could finally reclaim this piece of her past was but small repayment. “Thank Frederic, as well.”

“I will. Now, do you want the other good news?”

Patience looked at the man sitting next to her, feeling overwhelmed with good fortune. She didn’t think it was possible for life to get better. However, Piper certainly sounded happy, so she was definitely curious. “Yes. What’s the other good news?”

“Well...” There was a long dramatic pause before her sister finally replied.

“I got married.”

She nearly dropped the phone. “Did you say married?” How? When?
Who?

“It’s a long story,” Piper said. “Do you have time?”

Was she kidding? For news like this, Patience had all the time in the world. “I couldn’t hang up now if I tried.” She settled back to hear what her baby sister had to say.

By the end of Piper’s story, Patience had tears in her eyes. Stuart was right there, his strong arms ready to provide solace. “You going to be okay?” he asked, when she hung up the phone.

“She did it,” Patience whispered. “Everything I ever dreamed for her. She did it.” Her heart felt so full she thought it might burst.

One of her tears escaped. Stuart brushed the moisture from her cheek and she smiled, thinking about their first night on the roof. “I was so certain Piper would be the only one of us to find love and have a happy ending.”

“And now?”

She shifted in his arms, so she could look into the eyes of the man who’d captured her heart the moment he walked through the hospital door. “Now, it looks like I was wrong. Because I can’t imagine a happier ending than being with you.”

* * * * *

If you loved this book and want to enjoy Piper’s story too, watch out for BEAUTY & HER BILLIONAIRE BOSS by Barbara Wallace, available in September 2015!

Keep reading for an excerpt from FROM PARADISE...TO PREGNANT! by Kandy Shepherd.