“Then why are you here?”

Lori blinked. Okay—so there was nothing wrong with Gloria’s mental reasoning skills. “I’m the best. And really expensive. You should respect that.”

Gloria looked her up and down, then sniffed. “You’re shabby and poor. I can smell the poverty on you.”

“Is that from personal experience? After all, you started out poor. Wasn’t your first job working as a maid in a hotel?”

Gloria glared at her. “I will not discuss my past with you.”

“Why not? I’m actually interested in how you got from there to here. You were running an empire at a time when most women were afraid to dream that big. You’re a pioneer. I respect that.”

“You think I care about your opinion on anything?”

Lori thought for a second, then smiled. “Yeah, I do. Not enough people respect you, which is their loss.” She pushed the table back over the bed and nudged the tray a tiny bit closer to Gloria. “I picked out the meals for the first few days, but the catering service left a menu. I’m happy to let you look it over and choose your own food. Or if you’d prefer to hire a cook, that’s fine, too.”

Gloria kept her expression neutral, but Lori thought she saw a flash of emotion. She just couldn’t tell which one.

“You’re very free with my money,” Gloria muttered.

Lori laughed, even though she knew the other woman wasn’t trying to be funny. “One of the perks of the job. Do you want me to cut up your chicken?”

Gloria’s gaze narrowed. “Only if you want me to stab you with my fork.”

“I’m pretty spry. You’d have to move quickly.”

“I would be motivated.”

At last—a flash of something very close to humor. A good sign. “Okay—I’ll let you eat in peace. Do you want the television on?” She opened the cabinet doors, exposing the television and DVD player, then left the remote on the bed. “Call if you need anything.”

BY FOUR-THIRTY that afternoon, Lori felt as if she’d been the victim of a hit-and-run. Her momentary breakthrough with Gloria was nothing more than a distant memory once the older woman finished complaining that her bed was too hard, her pillows too soft, that her sheets had an odd smell and that the television buzzed.

“I’ll get a serviceman in here as soon as possible,” Lori said, doing her best to be patient. She also had to keep herself from looking at her watch. This had been the longest afternoon of her life. And to think it had only been a half day with Gloria.

She kept telling herself that Gloria was unhappy for a reason and that things would get better.

A little after five she headed for the kitchen and found a tall, pretty, large-breasted woman unpacking a giant tote bag. Her uniform marked her as a nurse. Her physical description told Lori who had done the hiring.

“Hi,” the woman said, smiling brightly. “I’m Sandy Larson, twilight nurse. Which is a first. Usually I’m the night nurse. On call when it’s dark. Hey, that sounds like the title of a book. Or a p**n movie.” Sandy grinned. “Not sure which I’d rather be in. On a good day…”

Lori did her best to greet the woman pleasantly, despite the sudden knot in her stomach. What on earth was wrong with her? So Reid had gone true to type with the other nurse. What did Lori care?

Lori brought Sandy up to speed on Gloria’s care. “She’s tired so she’s a little difficult, but not awful.”

“I can handle her,” Sandy said. “If my patients give me any trouble, I start talking about my favorite soap opera. That usually bores them into falling asleep. It’s why I love the night shift. You day girls work too hard.” She leaned toward Lori. “Gotta love this job, though. Twelve hours of pay for an eight hour shift.”

“It’s great. I’ll just go and tell Gloria goodbye.”

“Sure thing. See you tomorrow.”

Lori nodded and returned to the study. “I’m heading out,” she told Gloria. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

Gloria looked up from the magazine she’d been reading and stared at Lori over her glasses. “I can’t imagine why you would think I would care about your comings and goings. Stay or go. It doesn’t matter the least to me.”

Lori grinned. “I had a good day, too, Gloria. You’re more than welcome.”

REID PARKED his Corvette behind the Downtown Sports Bar and climbed out. He stood staring at the rear door for a full minute, then told himself it wouldn’t be so bad.

Ever since he’d blown out his arm and had to retire from baseball, he’d been working at the family sports bar. “Working” being a loose definition of what he did. In theory he was the general manager. In reality he came and went as he wanted, occasionally worked behind the bar, entertained customers with stories about his baseball career and life and hired the female staff. He’d always thought of the sports bar as a refuge—a place to hang where he was known and admired. Today it was nothing more than a house of shame.

Everyone inside knew him and he was willing to bet his impressive bank account that each one of them had read the morning paper.

“Goddamn it all to hell,” he grumbled, then used his key to let himself in the back door.

Figuring he might as well get it over with as quickly as possible, he bypassed the relative safety of his office and walked into the bar.

Instantly the low rumble of conversation stilled and all eyes focused on him. Reid kept moving.

“Hey, hon,” one of the waitresses called, her mouth twisted in some weird almost-normal smile. “Good to see you.”

He nodded and continued walking through the happy hour crowd.

“Reid!” one guy yelled. “How’s it hanging?”

Reid ignored that, scanned the clusters of patrons and saw two familiar faces in a corner. He headed directly for them.

“Reid.” Maddie, one of the waitresses, grabbed his arm. “She’s full of shit, okay? That night we were together was great. Let me know if you want me to sign a letter or something.”

He nodded at the busty brunette, knowing that they had spent the night in bed and unable to remember anything specific in the blur that was his sexual past.

He hurried over to greet his two brothers and sank gratefully into the chair they’d pulled up for him.

They’d positioned their table just right, tucking his chair next to a display case of sports crap. It meant he wasn’t in anyone’s direct line of sight.

Cal, his older brother, pushed a full mug of beer in his direction. “How you holding up?” he asked.

“How do you think?” Reid took a long swallow. “It’s a little slice of hell.”

Walker, his younger brother, grimaced sympathetically. “Sucks the big one.”

Reid eyed the nachos on the table, but he wasn’t hungry. “The worst part is I don’t even remember her. It was the week my team was in the playoffs. I’m sure I was drunk.” He shook his head. “What does it matter? She wanted revenge and she sure as hell got it. Reporters are everywhere. They’re crawling all over the houseboat.”

“It’s not a defensible position,” Walker told him.

Cal looked at Reid. “So speaks our brother, the former marine.”

“He knows what he’s talking about,” Reid grumbled. “I’ve got to get out of there. I thought about a hotel, but they’ll find me there. Someone on the staff will sell me out.”

“Come stay with Penny and me,” Cal said. “We have room.”

Reid hesitated. Their house was big enough, but Cal and Penny had a new baby. They were focused on other things.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’d be in the way.”

“You wouldn’t,” Cal told him.

Walker shrugged. “You can bunk with me, but it would be on a sofa.”

“Tempting,” Reid said with a grin. “But, no.”

“You could always move in with Gloria,” Cal said. “No one would think to look for you there. Didn’t you say one of her nurses had set up a room for her downstairs?”

“In the study,” Reid said slowly, considering the possibility.

“You would have the whole upstairs,” Walker told him.

“There’s plenty of room,” Reid murmured. His moving in would also annoy the hell out of Lori, and that would be a plus.

A woman walked toward the table. She was tall, built and cover-model gorgeous. She smiled at him.

“Darlin’, I just wanted to let you know that the night we had together was incredible. I still remember everything about it and I’m willing to swear to it. Want my phone number?”

Reid studied her face and realized he had absolutely no recollection of ever having seen her before. What did that say about him?

“I appreciate the offer,” he said. “I’ll let you know if I need a signed statement.”

“You do that. I’m always willing.”

She turned and walked away. He watched her swaying h*ps and felt absolutely nothing. Given the day he’d had, it would probably be months before he could think about ha**g s*x again, and how grim was that?

He leaned back in his chair and looked at his brothers. “That reporter has me by the balls. I can’t sue. There’s no way to win. It would be a circus. I don’t want that. My manager says to lay low and it will blow over.”

“He’s right,” Walker said. “People will get interested in someone else’s life.”

“When?” Reid asked, knowing it couldn’t be soon enough. “I talked to him about the other stuff in the article. Where that bitch of a reporter said I’d blown off kids and charity events. I wouldn’t do that.”

He hadn’t. He hated that kind of stuff, so he made it a point to never accept any kind of invitation where he had to show up and speak. He sent checks…or his manager did.

“Just because some kid sent a letter inviting me to some charity thing doesn’t mean I have to go. But that’s not how the reporter saw it.”

“You have to let it go,” Cal said. “You can’t do anything about it now.”

Reid knew that was the truth, but he hated being painted in as**ole colors. “I talked to Seth about the other stuff in the article, that baseball team that went to the state championships. He said that was just a mix-up with the travel agent. I didn’t know anything about it.”

His brothers looked sympathetic, but that wasn’t helping. Maybe because sympathy wasn’t enough. Not when he’d been accused of offering to sponsor a baseball team and send them to their state championships, only to have the travel agent forget to include a return ticket. All those kids and their families had been stranded hundreds of miles from home with no way to get back.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he mumbled, knowing in truth, he hadn’t done anything at all. “I told Seth to send me everything. The fan mail, the charity requests. I’m going to read them myself.”

“And then what?” Cal asked.

“Hell if I know. I’ll do something. I have to. It’s one thing for that reporter to say I’m lousy in bed, but it’s another for her to claim I disappoint kids. I’d never do that.”

Not messing up was one of the main reasons he preferred not to get involved at all.

“This sucks,” he said, as he reached for his beer. “My life is at a new low point.”

“Worse than when you blew out your shoulder?” Walker asked.

“No,” Reid said quietly. “Not worse than that.”

Walker shrugged. “Just trying to put things in perspective.”

No, this wasn’t worse, Reid thought, but it was close. A little too close.

REID WAITED until close to ten to drive to his houseboat. He’d borrowed Walker’s SUV so he could load up his stuff and transport it to Gloria’s house. Despite the late hour, there were two photographers waiting on the dock. They snapped pictures of him going into the houseboat and he heard one of them making a call, saying he’d been found. He also caught a suggestion about him taking an Internet class on how to please women.

Twenty minutes later, he’d packed two suitcases and was backing out of his parking space. The tow truck he’d hired pulled behind the photographers’ cars in the guest parking section of the lot, preventing Reid from being followed. The guy would stay there a few more minutes, then leave. All Reid wanted was a clean getaway.

When he reached Gloria’s place, Walker was waiting there to help him unload. They traded car keys and Walker left with the SUV. Reid’s Corvette was already hidden in the garage.

“Hell of a way to live,” he muttered as he walked inside.

He started up the stairs only to stop when he saw a somewhat familiar, tall blonde heading down. She smiled.

“Hey, Reid. How’s it going?”

“Good,” he lied, as he tried to remember where he knew the woman from. Then he focused on the scrub shirt and realized she was one of Gloria’s nurses.

“Sandy,” the woman said when they were on the same step. “Sandy Larson. You interviewed me for the job.”

Right. And her beaming smile said the interview had gone well. He remembered now—Sandy had been eager to sleep with her favorite player. They’d had a hell of a time on his big desk at the Downtown Sports Bar.

“I heard you’re moving in here,” Sandy said.

“Temporarily.”

“Sure. Makes sense.” She touched his arm.

“Listen—I had a great afternoon with you, but I wanted to let you know I’m with someone now. It’s exclusive. So I’m not going to be interested in a repeat performance. Please don’t take it personally, okay?”