Priceless Treasure(31)

“Aw, come on. I want to take a little ride, and it’s lonely all by myself.”

She chuckled. “If you put it that way, then I really don’t have a choice, do I? Are we going to watch from deeper out to sea?” she asked as he urged her along to a smaller boat and helped her up.

“No. Just a better location.”

She didn’t think to question him further. But within a few minutes the boat was pulling away and they were racing along the water.

It was her first evening boat ride here in Seattle, and laughter spilled from her as the cool night air whipped through her hair. Seriously, there was no place she’d rather be.

Far too quickly, though, the boat slowed down, and Richard began moving toward a large lit-up dock. And then she saw a bright bonfire and a crowd of people in beach chairs sitting around it, and several other people moving across the sand-covered shoreline.

“What are we doing?”

“This is the spot to watch the sunset,” Richard said as he cut the boat’s motor.

“Is this your place?”

“It’s my brother Joseph’s house.”

“I don’t want to intrude,” she told him.

“I guarantee you that Joseph will be upset if you don’t join me, sweetheart.”

Richard was genial about it, but what choice did she have? Leaving would be not only rude but also impossible. How was she to get a ride back?

Just as she was giving in, she spotted Ashton. She so wasn’t ready to speak to her boss again, not after what had happened that morning. And not after the thoughts that her sister had placed in her head.

“Let me introduce you to some of the family,” Richard said, pulling her attention from Ashton, who was laughing at something one of his friends or family members had just said to him.

Before Savvy knew what was happening, she was swarmed, and people were throwing names her way. There was no way she would remember all their names. But she really wouldn’t have to anyway. It wasn’t as if she’d be hanging around this wealthy crowd. She was only a worker, not on their social level at all.#p#分页标题#e#

Name after name, handshake after handshake continued her way. Lucas, Alex, Mark, Trenton, Crew. She finally gave up on even trying when the wives and children were all standing in front of her.

“Come sit down for a minute with us ‘girls,’” one of the women said. “The Anderson and Storm men can be quite overwhelming.”

Dammit! Savvy couldn’t remember her name, but she wasn’t about to ask her to repeat it.

The woman laughed. “I’m Brielle, married to Colt, that devastatingly handsome man over there by the fire with Ashton,” she added.

He was pretty dang handsome, but Savvy hadn’t noticed before now. It was hard for her to look beyond Ashton, even if she told herself to do it.

“I’m Cassie, Trenton’s wife,” a pretty blonde said. “I wish I weren’t nursing — parties suck when you can’t drink alcohol. Never mind me, Savvy, have an extra for me. Now give us the scoop on Ashton. We’ve heard rumors that the Wicked Witch of the West — or is she from the East? — is long gone.” She grinned happily as she said that.

“If you … um, mean his fiancée, I don’t know. I believe they’re still together,” Savvy stammered.

“Oh, come on. He’s been so different since a pretty brunette has been hired to work for him,” another woman said.

Was it genetically impossible for one of the Andersons or their brides to be ugly? Savvy was beginning to think so. “I’m Kyla,” the woman added as an afterthought.

“I just work for him,” Savvy told the women, shifting on her feet as she looked down. She wasn’t exactly lying. She did just work for him … when she wasn’t allowing him to strip off her shirt and run his tongue along her skin.

The mere thought brought a blush to her cheeks.

“Yeah, we heard Richard and his brothers set up the job interview,” Amy Anderson said. Savvy recognized her.

“Yes, Richard was at a job fair at my school,” Savvy told them, not thinking anything strange about it.

“That’s how it all starts,” Emily said. “I met Joseph that way, and he offered me a cooking job. I just didn’t know it was for his amazingly hunky and very single son Mark,” she said with a giggle. “But I am so grateful to the man because I love Mark and our children so much.”

“Surely he wasn’t trying to match you up,” Savvy gasped.

“Of course he was. That’s what the meddler does. Then his brother George moved home, and they did the same with his kids. Now, they’ve found Richard and the fun continues,” Jessica said with her own laugh.