“I’ll be with you tonight.”
“Buying more clothes and going to a salon will be a whole new experience,” she said. “Aaron, I think I can raise just as much money looking the way I already look.”
“Humor me. We’ll see. I think you can raise more and you’ll be more at ease on television for interviews.”
“I don’t think clothes will make a bit of difference.”
He grinned. “Clothes will make all kinds of difference. You go on television without any and you’ll get so much money—”
“Aaron, you know what I mean,” she interrupted, and they both laughed. She had fun with him and he was helpful to her. She gazed at him and wished she didn’t still feel some kind of barrier between them, because he was growing more important to her daily. And she was falling more in love with him daily while she didn’t think his feelings toward her had changed at all.
They passed through another set of iron gates after Aaron entered a code. When he drove up a winding drive to a sprawling three-story house, she was shocked at the size and obvious wealth it represented. “You have a magnificent home.”
“I’m in the construction business, remember?”
She rode in silence, looking at the mansion that was far too big for one person. It was just another reminder of how little she knew about Aaron and how closed off he was about himself.
When he parked at the back of the house and came around the car to open the door for her, she stepped out. Stella stood quietly staring at him and he paused.
“What?” he asked. “Something’s worrying you.”
“I don’t even know you.”
He studied her a moment and then stepped forward, his arm going around her waist as he pulled her against him and kissed her. For a startled moment she was still and then she wrapped her arms around him to return the kiss.
“I’d say you know me,” he said to her when he released her.
As she stepped back, she waved her hand at the house. “This is not what I envisioned.”
“You’ll get accustomed to it. C’mon, let me show you your room,” he said, retrieving their bags from the back.
“We’ll take a tour later,” he said, walking through a kitchen that was big enough to hold her entire suite at the Cozy Inn. It had dark oak walls and some of the state-of-the-art appliances had a dark wood finish.
She walked beside him down a wide hallway, turning as hallways branched off in opposite directions. He stepped into the first open doorway. “How’s this?” he asked, placing her bag on a suitcase stand.
She looked around a spacious, beautiful room with Queen Anne furniture, dark and light blue decor and thick area rugs.
“I’ll get my mail and you can meet me in the kitchen. As soon as you’re ready, we’ll go to town. It’ll give you more time to shop and I need to get to the office.” He stepped closer, placing his hands on her shoulders and lowering his voice. “There are other things I’d rather do this morning, but with your appointments we better stick to business.”
“I agree. You check your mail and I’ll meet you.”
He nodded and left.