Enticed Page 5

  “You don’t want to swim, Rachel?” he asked as he rounded the pool much too close and too casually for my liking.

  I shook my head. “Didn’t bring my suit. You have fun, though.”

  With a happy cannonball, he landed in the deep end with a splash. Over the rim of my sunglasses, I watched him splash and play. I smiled at his youthful vigor. Every day was an adventure, and for Jonathan Fullerton, the world was his oyster. He didn’t know yet what dangers lurked in the shadows.

  But I did.

  There was a reason that I didn’t own a suit. I never planned to step foot in a pool again in my life. With a sigh, I turned back to the book.

  Chapter Six

  Just as Jonathan had predicted, Alex Fullerton returned after lunch, this time with Elise McAuliffe in tow.

  I already learned through my research that a number of rumored infidelities had resulted in the messy, bitter divorce between Drew and Elise two years before. His wandering eye was legendary, splashing his face all over every outlet for tabloid journalism. But it took a starlet to publicly accuse him of fathering her unborn child to drive the last nail in the coffin. Though Drew would go on to prove that the starlet had made it all up to extort money from him, Elise was out of the house, went back to her maiden name and had filed for divorce.

  Before the ink had dried, she was living with another man, namely her former tennis instructor from their country club. Drew had accused her of starting her affair while they were still married, and the press just got uglier from there, especially when it came down to the custody battle. Drew had leveled charges against her that she hadn’t yet married her tennis instructor because she could get more money from alimony, proving that she only wanted Jonathan for his hefty child support payments. And since Drew had not dated anyone in the last two years, he claimed that made him a much more stable influence for Jonathan rather than a couple of adults who couldn’t even commit to each other.

  If Drew himself settled down, it would only strengthen his position even more, but from all accounts it looked like he was resigned to throw himself into his business. His business deals kept him in the headlines these days, not a litany of beautiful women.

  All of this was hearsay according to the tabloids, so who knew if any of it was true. The people who did know weren’t talking, which tipped the scale a little more in Drew’s favor. If he thought she had been cheating on him, quite possibly when Jonathan himself was in her care, then that would explain his refusal to even speak her name.

  I felt immediate empathy for him. Sure, Alex had certainly selected a side with Elise, fighting for her right to have contact with her son, as any mother should have. But Alex was also the rogue of the family, who might have his own agenda to take the one thing from Drew that meant the most to him.

  There was no way I could be certain of any of these rumors or stories with the scant information available, but it was a moot point anyway. The only thing I cared about was Jonathan. If he didn’t want to go with his mother, there had to be a reason. So I knew that this was my test. I had to stand up to both Alex and Elise, neither of whom lived in this home or had me on their payroll. It was my duty to refuse them access to Jonathan simply because I didn’t have the authority to grant it.

  “Go up to your room, dry off and get dressed,” I told Jonathan as we walked through the back door. “I’ll take care of this.”

  He didn’t look very certain as he trudged down the hall toward the rear stairs. I took off my hat and laid it on the table before I walked to the living room where our prospective guests sat. Harrison hovered nearby. I knew he was much too composed to show any emotion, but I could see him mentally wringing his hands. Apparently this wasn’t their first confrontation.

  Alex was standing as I entered the room, and Elise rose from the chair she no doubt used to own. Her hair was flaxen and hung perfectly straight down her back. She was lithe and graceful as a feather on a breeze. She was petite, barely over five feet tall, and she clearly weighed less than a hundred pounds. According to her Wiki, she had been a classically trained ballerina when she met Drew at the tender age of 17, and her poise definitely hinted at her professional training.

  I plastered a smile on my face as I held out my hand. “Miss McAuliffe,” I greeted as professionally as I could. “I am Rachel Dennehy, Jonathan’s potential new teacher.”

  She didn’t smile as she appraised me coolly with icy blue eyes. She withdrew her hand without offering similar pleasantries in return. “I am here to pick up my son.”

  “Did you have an appointment?” I asked, fighting the urge to cross my arms in front of my chest.

  Her face hardened. “I don’t need an appointment. I am his mother. Clearly you know that much.”

  I bit back any catty retort. “I am aware who you are, ma’am. I’m just a little fuzzy on any authority you have in this house.”

  “More than you have,” Alex growled from where he stood.

  I turned to Harrison. “Is Mr. Fullerton aware of any visitation plans for today?”

  He shook his head. “No, miss.”

  I turned back to Elise and Alex. “There you have it. Harrison is Mr. Fullerton’s personal valet. If there was a pre-approved visitation, he’d know about it. So, as lovely as it was to meet you, Miss McAuliffe, I’m afraid I’m going to have to deny your request.”

  Her mouth fell open. “Who do you think you are?”

  “The hired help, ma’am,” I answered with a wry curl of my lip. “I have to go by what my boss has directed. I mean, I have his cell phone number. We can call him right now to be sure, if you’d like.”

  She fumed where she stood. She would never allow me to call Drew, because she knew damn well she didn’t have the authority to take Jonathan without his consent. “You may think you’re winning some brownie points,” she said as she approached. “But call me in six months after he replaces you, too. Then we’ll see who the fool really was today.”

  She stomped by me and out toward the entry way. My eyes slid to Alex, who stood in a casual stance, leaning up against a table. He studied me so openly I immediately felt ill at ease. “Is there anything else?” I asked.

  He eased into an upright position. “Nope,” he said as he strolled up to where I stood. “But you might want to think carefully about the sides you choose, sweetheart. No amount of money can make up for your soul.”

  “My soul’s just fine, Mr. Fullerton,” I said coolly. “That little boy you love so much? He’s scared to death to go with his mother alone. And his feelings are the only ones that matter here. He needs adults who care for his welfare, not a bunch of bratty children fighting over one favorite toy.”

  “You think you know,” he said with a bemused grin. “But you know nothing.”

  “I know I’m not some dumb hick you can roll over just because your brother’s out of town,” I shot back. “Think about that next time you want to pull a stunt like this.”

  I spun on my heel and exited the room. I found Jonathan sitting on the very top step of the spiral staircase. I glanced down just to see Alex shut the door behind him. “I wish you hadn’t heard that,” I said as I sat on the step below him.

  “Nobody thinks I hear anything,” he said softly. “But I do.”

  I seriously wanted to take him into my arms and cuddle away all that pain so clearly etched into his young face. “Hey,” I said. “Let’s just get out of here and go do something.”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  My face broke apart in a wide smile.

  An hour later we stood in the children’s section of the public library. He glanced up at me with a skeptical furrow of his brow. “The library? Really? I thought we were going someplace fun.”

  “This is fun,” I insisted with an eager smile, leading him further amidst the shelves of colorful books. “This is the most fun place in the entire world.” He snorted. “All right, smart guy. Tell me where else on the planet you can fight aliens or travel through time or be bitten by a r
adioactive spider and turn into a superhero. Books are a passport limited only by your imagination.”

  “But why do we have to come to the library?” he asked. “I can read books on my computer.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed as I pulled an older book from the shelf. I opened it up till he could smell the pages. “But where can you do that? Think of how many people you connect with when you open a library book. Years and years of people you’ve never met, all sharing one tiny detail no matter how different the rest of your lives are. You are a link in the chain in a book’s life, connected by that one thing with everyone who has ever read it.”

  We wandered around, perusing books. He picked a book about a young sorcerer, and I had encouraged him to read a book that I always put on my reading lists for my seventh graders after one of my students discovered it and recommended it to me. “Comic Squad?” he asked as I put the book on top of his pile.

  I nodded. “It’s about 12-year-old girl who has a hard time relating to the world after her dad dies. Instead she immerses herself into a comic book because that’s where the heroes live. When a comic book villain escapes into her world, she has to summon all her courage to defeat him, learning a little something about friendship and family along the way. And,” I added the piece de resistance, “it features a spider the size of a compact car.”

  That caught his attention. “Cool,” he said as he looked over the cover.

  He started reading in the car on the way back to the house, and only stopped to help me prepare dinner for the evening. Since it was just us, I had sent Cleo to the store for specific ingredients to make a fun meal suitable for kids and kids at heart. It was my tried and true Cowboy Casserole. We ground up some meat with diced onions, then added cream of mushroom soup, corn and green beans, and topped it with scads of tater tots and cheddar cheese.

  Again he nearly lapped up his plate. He offered to clean, and afterwards we retired to the media room to watch TV. During a commercial break, Jonathan turned to me. “You meet my dad tomorrow, huh?”

  I nodded. “That’s the plan.”

  “Are you nervous?”

  I gave that some thought. Finally I shrugged. “The interview process can be stressful. You want to do well enough to get the job, so I think it’s natural to experience some nerves. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression.”

  “I hope you get it,” he said. “I like it with you here. I don’t feel so alone.”

  I smiled softly. “Ditto.”

  He cuddled against me and we watched a fanciful program about fairytales.

  Later, after we both retired to our respective bedrooms to read, I found that I couldn’t concentrate on the old book in my lap. All I could think about were Jonathan’s eyes as he looked up at me, so hopeful and so vulnerable. I honestly didn’t want to leave him, though he wasn’t mine at all to claim. I had never fallen for a student so hard and so fast.

  But this was a little boy who desperately needed someone in is life who could make him a priority day in and day out, to fill the void left by the warring adults in his life. If I left him, how many actual gold-diggers would claw their way into the house, cozying up to this poor little boy just to get their mitts on his father’s billions?

  How many would abandon this child again and again because he was never truly their goal?

  It would repeatedly rip off the scabs on the same wound his own mother had clearly inflicted the moment she left.

  I started this journey with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, but that was all gone now. I wanted this job. I wanted to be that life raft for Jonathan when it was painfully clear he needed one so badly. In fact, I hadn’t wanted anything as much in over three long years. If there was anything at all I could do to help a child, I knew I had to do it.

  When Drew called that night, I knew I had to tell him about Elise and Alex. I wanted to be on the up and up and show him that he could trust me. He listened quietly as I explained what happened, and what I had done about it.

  “Thank you for telling me that, Rachel,” he said in a quiet voice. “Many new employees aren’t aware how to handle this prickly situation, but you showed quick decisiveness and loyalty.”

  “Was this a test?” I asked suddenly. Could he have really left me alone the first weekend, just to see what I would do?

  His response was just as direct. “If I say yes, will that change your mind about taking the job?”

  “No,” I said instantly. My heart had already made up my mind for me; there was no backing out now. But the possibility did invite the opportunity to set some boundaries, and I was quick to do exactly that. “I just don’t appreciate being manipulated. I deal straight with you, Mr. Fullerton. I expect the same in return.”

  “Then yes,” he admitted with no noticeable remorse. “I did leave you alone at the house this weekend to make sure how you would handle this particular situation. If it helps at all, you handled it exactly the way I wanted you to.”

  “I took a chance and I got lucky. It’s really hard to make any logical decisions when I don’t have access to all the information. Had you told me that you would not have allowed Elise to take Jonathan,” I started, but he was quick to interrupt.

  “You would have done what I asked, simply because I asked it,” he finished for me. “I don’t need another automaton, Miss Dennehy. I need someone who can put Jonathan’s needs first and do what’s right for him because it is what’s right.”

  “According to Alex, seeing his mother is what’s right,” I pointed out. I knew it was dangerous territory, but since we were separated by thousands of miles, I felt courageous enough to bring it up.

  “That might be true of a woman who cared about being a mother,” Drew conceded. “But Elise has other priorities. She always has. No doubt she looked impeccable, as if she were on her way to a photo shoot.”

  He didn’t exactly ask a question, but I answered it anyway. “Yes.”

  “That is Elise,” he said. “Everything has to look right. No hair out of place and no knock-off designer clothes or accessories. She works hard to maintain her reputation as one of the Beverly Hills elite. Jonathan is just one more accessory, something to wear on her arm so people won’t think poorly of her. If she loved him, truly loved him, she wouldn’t have left him to shack up with some beach-dwelling gigolo.”

  So it was true. Still… it was absolutely none of my business (and certainly not in my job description) to shield them from one another. “I don’t know her, and I really don’t know you. But I do know it’s tearing Jonathan up to be in the middle of all this. I’ll do what I can to help,” I promised. “But I refuse to be a pawn used between you and your ex-wife. Please don’t put me in that position again.”

  “Noted,” he clipped. “Goodnight, Miss Dennehy.” I could tell by his tone that the boundaries had been fully reestablished.

  “Goodnight, Mr. Fullerton,” I said. I hung up the phone and back to my book. I reread the same page five times before I finally gave up, turned out the light and tried to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  Jonathan was an endless ball of energy as we shopped at the local market for dinner. “What’s next on the list?” he asked.

  “Lemme see,” I said as I perused the shopping list. “We have the ground meat and the rice. We just need the green beans and garlic.”

  “I got it!” he exclaimed as he rushed off toward the produce section. I followed with a smile. As he put handfuls of fresh green beans into a bag, I stopped to look at the bright yellow bananas. “How do you feel about banana pudding?” I asked as I picked up a bunch of perfectly ripe fruit.

  “Don’t know,” he said as he brought the bag of green beans to our cart. “I’ve never had it.”

  I gasped in mock shock. “Well, we have to fix that, pronto. Add to the list,” I said as I handed him the pad and a pen. “Bananas. Pudding mix. Vanilla wafers. And whipping cream.”

  He nodded as he complied. I grabbed a beautiful spring bouquet of pink Ge
rbera daisies along with pink and red roses. We finished our shopping and Harrison drove us back to the house by four o’clock in the afternoon.

  By six, when Drew was due to arrive, Jonathan put the finishing touches on the meal while I arranged the bouquet in a beautiful crystal vase on the large mahogany table in the formal dining room. Jonathan brought the salad to the table. He looked so cute in Cleo’s apron I had to smile. “It looks amazing,” I praised. “I guess I better run up to my room and dress for the occasion.”

  He glanced over my jeans and sleeveless cotton top. “You look fine to me,” he said.

  I grinned as I mussed his hair. “I look like the help.”

  “You are the help,” he retorted with a teasing smirk.

  “Don’t rub it in,” I said as I knelt down to eye level. “And, as a matter of fact, I’m not officially hired yet. So I should probably go change into something more professional to impress you dad and seal the deal.”

  Something foreboding crossed over Jonathan’s face. “Don’t try too hard to impress him,” he warned softly. “It never works out. For anyone.”

  He turned and headed back into the kitchen, leaving me speechless from his remark.

  What a sad little boy, I thought again as I ascended the grand staircase. He had the whole world at his tiny fingertips and yet he still ached with an unfulfilled yearning. It just proved, once again, money could not fill the void of love and emotional security.

  The self-described prison in which he lived was just a helluva lot nicer than the modest dwellings in which most of us lived.

  Twenty minutes later I descended the stairs in a pale green flared skirt and a white cotton blouse. I pulled my hair back into a professional bun and kept any makeup I might have worn to a bare minimum. The fact I wore any at all was newsworthy enough. If Nancy would have seen me she might have likely had a stroke. But I could hardly show up to dinner with one of the most important and powerful men in the county looking like a country bumpkin from some dusty farm in West Texas, which is precisely what I was. So I dusted my cheeks with foundation to minimize my freckles, and decided to lighten my eyes with mascara and a light dusting of gold shimmery powder. With a smack of lipstick I was good to go. I slipped into my sandals and entered the dining room two minutes before Drew did.