Too Much Temptation (20 page)

Being surrounded by Grace’s fragrance probably had as much to do with the sound, peaceful way he’d slept as it did with the overindulgence of tension-draining sex.

It was just as Noah found his boxers and pulled them on that he heard Grace arguing with someone. She sounded…upset, a little angry.

Protective, possessive instincts rose in a scalding wave. Without thinking about it, Noah stormed across the room, jerked the door open, and stalked into the living room. He promptly stalled.

Grace said, “Noah!” at the same time his grandmother gasped.

Noah was a little old to be blushing, but damn it, he was naked except for his underwear.

Agatha hadn’t yet been seated, so Noah assumed she’d only just arrived. She was fashionably attired in a blue print suit with matching pumps, looking as pulled together, as business oriented, as ever. At the moment, she had one foot tapping impatiently.

Grace wore a long nightshirt, and her silky hair had been pulled back into a haphazard ponytail. She stood next to the sofa, where the ruined uniform lay in a rumpled heap next to a sewing kit. It appeared as though Grace had been reattaching buttons before Agatha’s ill-timed arrival.

Grace fretted. Agatha scowled.

Noah decided there was nothing left to do but brazen it out, so he crossed his arms over his naked chest and summoned a firm tone. “Just what the hell is going on here?”

A
gatha Harper was not a fainthearted woman. It would take more than Grace’s stammering discomfort or her grandson’s surly tone to budge her from the spot. She mimicked Noah’s aggressive pose and glared.

“I happen to be visiting Grace. Of course, I don’t need to ask what
you’re
doing here.” She flicked her gaze over his sleep-rumpled hair, morning beard shadow, and naked chest, then shook her head in disapproval. It was quite obvious that Noah had just crawled out of Grace’s bed. “My God, you’ve lost all pretense to polite decorum.”

Once again, Grace rushed up and stationed herself protectively in front of Noah, making Agatha sigh. The girl was embarrassingly smitten and not even trying to hide it.

This was worse than she’d first assumed. Noah and Grace hadn’t indulged in one indiscretion. They hadn’t gotten carried away a single time, as she’d hoped.

No, they were quite clearly involved.

They also showed no signs of self-consciousness over the situation. Agatha wondered if either of them even tried to keep the affair private. Gossip would no doubt run rampant. The good Harper name was bound to take a beating.

If she didn’t do something, and fast, Grace would end up irreparably hurt by it all, once Noah came to his senses and returned to Kara. When that happened, as it surely would, Agatha could hardly expect Grace to return to work and face Noah on a daily basis. And she definitely wanted Grace to return. With each passing hour, Agatha realized just how much she depended on Grace, and how much she missed her daily involvement.

Grace was a godsend, organized and precise and tactful. She didn’t require constant supervision to handle things. She’d learned early on which appointments were important to Agatha and which invites should be politely turned down. The daily juggling of unexpected crisis, the numerous requests for her time or her input were now left up to Agatha, and she already didn’t like it.

Since Grace had left, Agatha felt more abandoned than ever, and things were piling up around her. She’d lost her grandson and her right hand in the same week. Intolerable.

“Grace,” Agatha said, never taking her gaze from Noah, “why don’t you go get a shower and make yourself decent? Noah and I can entertain ourselves a moment.”

Noah’s hands settled on Grace’s shoulders. “Grace is about the most decent woman I know.”

Agatha narrowed her eyes at him. “This is difficult enough as it is. There’s no reason to deliberately misconstrue my words.”

Grace looked very undecided until Noah turned her around and started into the bedroom. To Agatha, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

It was the sight of Noah leading Grace away that gave Agatha a new idea. Perhaps she’d been looking at this all wrong. There was more than one possible way to get everything she wanted, for herself and for her grandson.

Agatha smiled in thought, her mind whirling with potential outcomes. As Noah gently tugged Grace into the bedroom, Agatha decided that it just might work. Everything was already in place.

All Noah needed was a nudge.

Noah shushed Grace when she started to protest the way he’d dragged her off. “I can handle my grandmother, Grace. You don’t need to keep running interference.”

Grace stalked behind him as he went to the chair by her bed and picked up his slacks. She watched him dress with grave misgivings. Despite what he said, she was afraid Agatha planned to inflict a few more well-meaning barbs. “Noah…”

“It’ll be fine.” He shrugged on his shirt. “Why’d you leave me this morning?”

Given the fact that his grandmother waited in the other room, Grace was amazed by Noah’s change of subject. “I didn’t. I was just cooking breakfast.” She’d had plans to enjoy a peaceful morning meal with Noah—and then Agatha had shown up.

He sniffed the air and smiled. “Yeah, it smells great.”

“The bacon is done. I was going to fix the eggs and toast after you woke.” She fretted again. “I suppose I could put more bacon on for Agatha…”

“No need. She won’t be here that long.” He sat on the side of the bed and reached for his socks. “Do you realize you’re always trying to feed someone? First Kara, and now Agatha?”

Heat suffused her cheeks. Perhaps she had her mind on food too often.

Noah must have seen her look of guilt. He cocked a brow. “Is your bottom still sore?”

Grace blinked. “Um, no.”

“Then maybe you need another swat.”

She couldn’t help but grin. She loved playing sex games with Noah, just as she loved his compliments. After last night, she had no doubt that he found every single inch of her desirable, regardless of her extra pounds. “No, sir. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Good.” Now fully dressed, Noah stood and pulled her close. “Grace, you’re not repairing that uniform so you can wear it, are you? It looks good on you—too good—but no way in hell is it appropriate for work.”

Grace laughed. She could hardly credit that Noah was concerned about such a thing. “Of course I won’t wear it.” Her voice lowered, and she muttered, “But I didn’t want Ben to see the buttons missing and think I’d popped them on my own.”

Noah tilted her back in the circle of his arms so he could nuzzle her throat. “Want me to tell him how it happened?”

Grace swatted at him. “Don’t you dare. Ben teases enough as it is.”

From one moment to the next, Noah turned serious. “Grace, if you want a new uniform, just tell Ben. He doesn’t give a damn what size you wear, and you know he’d never tease about something that might embarrass you.”

“I know. Your brother is very sweet.” But she still had no intention of sharing her size, or her weight, with anyone. Especially not Noah’s brother.

Noah rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Grace saw no reason to belabor the point. “Actually, I tried on one of the other uniforms this morning, and it fits. So there’s no reason to tell Ben anything.”

Noah looked skeptical. “Maybe I should see it on you first. Now don’t get riled, Grace, but I’m beginning to think you’re clueless as to what’s too seductive and what isn’t.”

Grace hid her smile. Noah was afraid other men might find her attractive. She knew better. After all, she was twenty-five, and men had never made a habit of pursuing her. She’d had male friends and known plenty of kind, likable men, but none of them had tried to rush her to bed.

Still, to her mind, it was a lovely compliment. She patted Noah’s chest. “It’s fits, Noah. Honest.”

“Still…”

Grace shook her head at him. She loved him, but she wasn’t about to let him start ruling her life. “If you leave your grandmother waiting much longer, she’ll wonder what we’re doing in here.”

“Yeah, but a few lascivious thoughts might make her less rigid.”

Laughing, Grace turned Noah and gave him a small shove. “Go. I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

“Take your time, Grace. I’ll send my grandmother on her way so when you finish getting dressed, we can eat. I’ll even cook the eggs.”

Grace sighed as Noah went through the door and closed it softly behind him. She knew Agatha well enough to realize she wouldn’t be budged a single inch until she was good and ready to move. And she was here for a reason, of that Grace was certain.

The moment she’d arrived, she’d informed Grace that she had a sound plan to get Noah and Kara reunited. Though the idea had felt like a fist around her heart, Grace hadn’t tried to dissuade her. It wasn’t until Agatha declared Noah to be bullheaded and selfish that Grace had disagreed—most vehemently.

Before Grace could get too wound up, Noah had walked in and the hostilities had really started. She hated the new tension that invaded the air whenever the two of them were in the same room together.

Grace decided it might be propitious to hurry through her shower. Left to their own tempers, Agatha and Noah would probably do more harm than good.

“So Agatha, what are you doing here?”

Agatha set her purse aside and smiled. “As I said, I came to visit Grace. I like her.”

“Huh. S’that why you fired her? Because you like her so much.”

“You’re the one to blame for that, Noah.”

“How’d you figure that?”

Agatha strolled over to a bookcase and surveyed Grace’s eclectic collection of books. She pulled out one on baby names. Noah tried not to stare.

Baby names?

Lifting a brow as if to emphasize her point, Agatha added, “You put me in a no-win situation. Grace is a friend as well as my personal secretary, but Kara is your fiancée.”

“Ex-fiancée. I wish you’d try to remember that.”

Agatha gave one condescending nod. “Be that as it may, Kara is still a close friend, and her parents are like family. I had to do something or risk alienating Grace and Kara both. With your actions, you forced me to fire Grace. It was the only solution.”

Noah didn’t want to accept that he might very well be to blame for Grace’s current circumstances. And he was still distracted by that damn book, though he thought he hid it well. “I need a cup of coffee. You want to join me?”

“Thank you.” Agatha strode forward. “I recall that Grace makes excellent coffee.”

Noah ground his teeth together. As Agatha’s secretary, Grace shouldn’t have been assigned the duty of coffeemaking. Agatha had a housekeeper to take care of that chore.

He found two mugs in the cabinet over Grace’s sink and set them out. Knowing Agatha favored both sugar and cream, he did some more rummaging around the pristine kitchen until everything was on the table.

The more he saw of Grace’s apartment, the more he liked it. Her kitchen was small but brightly decorated with yellow-patterned wallpaper and sky blue rag rugs. Her canisters were shaped like smiling cows and her salt and pepper shakers were small pink pigs, one sporting a top hat, the other a Sunday bonnet.

Noah grinned as he helped himself to a slice of crispy bacon. He was ravenous after the long night of debauchery.

Rather than sit at the table with Agatha, Noah leaned against the sink. There was nothing he could tell his grandmother about the breakup, so he didn’t address that issue at all, choosing to go straight to the point instead. “As you can see, Grandmother, you came at a bad time. Grace and I have plans.”

“To do what?” she asked, her tone cool.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

Agatha stiffened, then went through the routine of doctoring her coffee. Finally, she said, “I need to be at the restaurant soon. It seems we have a rebellion on our hands.”

Noah gave Agatha a sharp look. Old instincts were hard to break, and he almost asked her to explain. As Grace had said, he had friends at the restaurant, people he cared about. Agatha’s interference at this point would only make matters worse.

At the last second, Noah caught himself. It wasn’t easy, but he managed a credible shrug of unconcern. “You mean
you
have a rebellion. I’m out of it, remember?”

“You can’t tell me you don’t care, Noah. I know you better than that.”

He shook his head slowly. “No, I don’t think you know me at all.”

Agatha looked stricken for only a moment; then she rallied. She cloaked herself in belligerence. “I went out of my way to come here and I don’t have much time. Surely you can see Grace whenever you like?”

She made it sound like a question, putting Noah on alert. He wondered what she was up to now.

“Not so.” No way in hell was he going to leave Grace alone with his grandmother until he knew what she wanted. “Grace got a new job and she has to work later, so her time today is limited.”

Agatha froze. “Where is she working?”

Wondering what his grandmother’s reaction would be, Noah sipped his coffee and looked at her over the rim. “She’s waiting tables in the bar for Ben.”

Agatha dropped her spoon to the tabletop with a clatter. She appeared genuinely horrified. “She’s
what?
”

Gratified that his grandmother liked it even less than he did, Noah expounded on Grace’s new employment. “She started yesterday, and from what I can tell, she loves it.”

“But that’s absurd!”

Noah shrugged, adding slyly, “Evidently, compared to her old job, working in a bar is a lot of fun.”

Since her old job had been with Agatha, his grandmother looked ready to have a full-fledged fit. Noah hid his grin behind another sip of steaming coffee. He could see why Ben went out of his way to rile her. There was a certain pleasure to be found in making Agatha Harper lose her mask of cold hauteur.

Noah detailed Grace’s duties. “She’ll be waiting tables, serving food and alcohol. Not just during the day, but late at night, too.”

Agatha sputtered, she was so indignant. “That place is…”

“Ben has it mostly under control,” Noah interrupted before Agatha could go off on a tangent. “He’s really turned it around. It was a complete dive when he first bought it, but now it’s pretty respectable. Most of the time, anyway.”

Noah couldn’t let Agatha make slurs against Ben. But he appreciated, even welcomed, this proof that she cared for Grace. He should have already known it; after all, who could be close to Grace and not love her?