The Billionaire's Housekeeper Mistress(51)

Until the telephone rang.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN



DAISY automatically reached out and picked up the telephone receiver from the bedside table, not even wondering who was calling, her mind still floating from the pleasure of the deeply intimate connection with Ethan. It was a jolt to hear her mother’s voice.

‘Oh, good! You’re home! I thought you might still be out partying.’

‘Partying?’ Daisy repeated, trying to get her wits together. She sat bolt upright and shot Ethan a warning look, putting a silencing finger on her lips.

‘We saw you on television, standing right next to Ethan Cartwright when he was presented with the Golden Slipper. It was such a surprise. We couldn’t believe our eyes. You didn’t tell us you were going out with him.’

The chiding tone caused Daisy’s heart to skitter all around her chest. She took a deep breath to shoot some oxygen into her brain, knowing she needed an explanation that sounded reasonable. ‘Well, Mum, it was our first date and I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure. I mean he’s such a high-powered person, I felt nervous about going out with him, fitting in with his friends. It might have ended up awful, so I didn’t want to tell you about it. But I actually had a wonderful time. It was a marvellous day.’

‘Your first date.’ Her mother sounded pleased. ‘You looked beautiful, dear. Such a gorgeous dress and headpiece. Did you buy it especially?’

‘Yes. I splurged, but the outfit made me feel good so it was well worth the money. Lucky I have such a highly paid job now.’

‘And it’s lovely that you’re spending your money on yourself instead of on us.’

‘I didn’t mind that, Mum.’

‘Well, thank heaven it’s behind us. Or I should say thank Ethan Cartwright for his good advice. When we saw you together on the television, your father wasn’t as surprised as I was. He thought the man must have been sweet on you all along to have offered his help with our financial problems. Will you be seeing him again, dear?’

‘Yes. He’s invited me to a tennis party at his house.’

‘No need for you to be nervous about that,’ her mother said confidently. ‘You’re a better player than most people.’

‘I’m over my nerves now, Mum. I’ll be fine.’

‘I was thinking…Easter is coming up next week. The whole family will be here as usual. Why not invite Ethan to come to Sunday lunch?’

A vision of her family swarming around him, probably assuming things about their relationship they shouldn’t assume and making stomach-squirming comments, played havoc with the nerves she had just declared in fine condition.

‘I think it’s too soon for that,’ she said, inwardly re-coiling from any move that might bring rejection and the crushing of a dream that she hoped might come true, given enough solid time together.

‘It would be a nice way of showing our appreciation for what he’s done for us,’ her mother pressed.

‘Mum, it was business,’ Daisy said emphatically. ‘Ethan would have been rewarded for it, taking a commission on the deal.’ Her cheeks burned. She couldn’t look at him.

‘But that’s so impersonal, Daisy,’ her mother argued. ‘And what he did was personal. It was because he was pleased with you. You told us so yourself. And it’s obvious he’s still pleased with you. Ask him if he’d like to come.’

Daisy gritted her teeth and thought hard. ‘He probably has family of his own to go to at Easter.’

‘Well, if he has, he has. There’s no harm in extending an invitation.’

‘Okay. I’ll let you know.’ Please, God, let her stop now, Daisy prayed.

She didn’t.

‘You’ll be coming home anyway, won’t you, dear? We haven’t seen you since you took up your new job.’

Her free time was exclusively Ethan’s. That was the deal. But surely he’d understand she had to attend the family get-together at Easter. ‘Yes, I’ll be there,’ she answered unequivocally, not wanting to make some excuse unless she was forced to.

‘It will be such a happy day,’ her mother rattled on. ‘Ken and Kevin are both employed again. Your father has paid off Keith’s business debts, and we can now afford to send Violet’s boy to a special school for autistic children.’

‘That’s great!’

It really was—alleviating a lot of stress in her sister’s life. Money was not the root of all evil, Daisy thought. It could be a huge blessing.

‘Well, I’ll let you go, dear, but do ask Ethan if he’d like to join us for Easter Sunday. He’ll be most welcome. Such a handsome man, too,’ she added in a tone overflowing with benevolence, causing Daisy to fly into a panic.