The Billionaire's Housekeeper Mistress(23)

‘I enjoy eating well. Don’t you?’

‘Yes. But you could afford to frequent the best restaurants. You don’t have to do it yourself.’

‘There’s more satisfaction in doing it precisely to one’s own taste. My grandmother taught me that.’

‘Your grandmother?’

He grinned, delighted to have teased her interest. ‘From the time I was a boy hanging out in her kitchen. I used to go there after school. She loved cooking and everything I ate with her tasted so much better than the stuff my parents bought. Neither of them ever cooked. It was always frozen meals or takeaways, eaten in an absent-minded fashion whenever they felt the need for fuel. They’re both so wrapped up in their mental world, the physical world barely impinges on it.’

He must have had a strange upbringing, Daisy thought, very different from her family life. ‘Does that mean your mother is an academic, too?’ she asked, unable to squash her curiosity about him.

He nodded. ‘The law is her life. She lectures on it at university. Writes books on it.’

‘Were you an only child?’ He hadn’t indicated the presence of any siblings.

‘One was enough for my parents,’ he said dryly. ‘Not that they didn’t care for me. They did in their own way. Though I’d have to say the best thing they did for me was send me to boarding school. I had a great time at Riverview with Mickey and Charlie and the other guys.’

He poured the dressing into a sauce-boat ready to use later. ‘Though the food wasn’t up to my grandmother’s standard,’ he added ruefully. ‘When I finally struck out on my own, I wanted to cook for myself.’

Daisy had to agree it was hard to beat a really good home-cooked meal.

‘This dressing is one of my grandmother’s recipes,’ he ran on. ‘Have a taste.’

It was impossible to resist dipping a finger in and carrying it to her mouth, though she was conscious of him watching the action, waiting for her response. ‘Mmm…yummy.’

He laughed. ‘It’s always a pleasure to share pleasures.’

His eyes twinkled with a seductive invitation to share many more with him.

Daisy instantly pulled herself back into a defensive shell. Everything about Ethan Cartwright made him too temptingly attractive. It was becoming more and more difficult to hang onto common sense. She couldn’t even write him off as a selfish, arrogant pig any more. He didn’t act like one.

But there was still the huge barrier of his billionaire status, and she couldn’t help resenting how easily he could throw money around, getting absolutely everything he wanted. Somehow that made it all the more imperative that he shouldn’t get her, not as anything but an employee who fairly earned her wage.


Ethan observed the shut-down on her face and the belligerent set of her chin as she finished with the tomatoes and moved to the tray where she’d placed the cutlery wrapped in paper serviettes.

‘I’ll take this down to the barbecue area, save having to bring it later,’ she slung at him, avoiding eye contact, and was off, not waiting for him to agree or disagree.

She moved so fast, her pony-tail and her perky bottom twitched from side to side. Ethan grinned to himself, sure that it had become too hot in the kitchen for her and she was taking evasive action. She was so marvellously different from the women who virtually threw themselves at him. With Daisy there was no flirting to encourage his interest, and a swift backpedalling whenever she felt herself teetering on the brink of responding to him beyond her set limits.

All the no-go signs from her only served to make the challenge of breaking through her barriers more compelling. He had made some headway this morning, moving onto personal ground, drawing out a curiosity about his life which revealed the interest she’d been deliberately repressing.

Maybe her ex-boyfriend had soured her view of men generally and she was wary of letting herself be vulnerable again. Certainly his experience with Serena had reinforced his cynical view of women. But he felt the potential for something very different with Daisy Donahue and nothing was going to stop him from clinching a connection with her. He had the rest of the day to work on cracking her resistance to being with him.


Daisy threw herself into the role of party hostess, determined to avoid being with Ethan Cartwright as much as possible. Luckily, none of the wives played tennis, so she couldn’t be drawn into playing a set of mixed doubles. The morning passed agreeably enough. The women expressed interest in a tour of the mansion and with Ethan’s permission, she showed them all they wanted to see, then stayed chatting with them at poolside, only moving away to refill drinks and ensure everyone was enjoying themselves.