Page 9 of The Moment He Saw Her

Something about this guy annoyed her, and she wasn’t sure what. He’d been kind, making her coffee and calling the mechanic, but Libby felt like he was laughing at her, even though it didn’t show on his face.Because you’re tired and scared, which probably makes you paranoid.“If you have none, I can look somewhere else,” Libby added quickly.

Two weeks ago, her only thought had been marrying Andrew, the man she loved… or thought she loved. The last few days she’d been questioning if it had been love or simply the belief he was the right person to share her life with because their families wanted them to marry.

“Do you bake?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Make coffee?”

She shook her head again, feeling like a fool.

“I could do with some help around here for the next few weeks, but I need you to learn how to make coffee,” he said.

She eyed the gleaming chrome and black machine. “I could try.”

“Your jobs would be dishes and coffee, cleaning…. Basically anything I tell you to do, you’d have to do,” he said, looking at her nails.

“I can do that,” Libby said quickly. She was intelligent and picked things up fast. Sure, this was a long way from her office on the fourteenth floor, but she’d do it to get the money she needed to keep moving until she had her head on straight. Only then would Libby go home.

He studied her through his brown eyes as he took a large mouthful of coffee. She did the same. Libby was done backing down from men. The ones in her life had been dictating to her since she was born.

“I don’t have references,” Libby said.

“Anyone I can call to make sure you’re not a career criminal about to rob me blind and burn down my cafe?”

She shook her head, biting back the need to cry as the desperation welled up inside her. She’d done enough of that to last her two lifetimes.

Yes, she was in a situation that she’d never been in before, but Libby was strong and would deal with it. She had to be.

“Okay, Libby Gulliver, you can work here, but it’s a trial for a week. If after that you want out, you go, and if I want you gone, you are,” he said, bracing both hands on the counter to stare at her.

She fought the need to tell him what to do with his job. “Thank you. I will work hard, I promise. But it may take me a few days to get the hang of it.”

The smile started in his eyes and moved over his face, and the effect packed a punch, or would if she had it in her to be affected.

“Hang of working?”

“I know how to work, Ryder.” Libby just bit back the snap. “But I’ve never done this kind of work before.”Remember he’s standing between you and your first paycheck.

He stared at her hard, letting his eyes run over her face, and she withstood it. Libby knew how to handle people looking at her; she’d been subjected to that her entire life too.

“What kind of work are you used to, Libby?”

Run.She tamped down that need and held his gaze. “I, ah, I’m good with numbers, problem-solving, and attention to detail, and I’m mentally strong,” she recited, remembering when she’d had to convince her father what she could do because of her dreams. He’d refused to let her, so she’d done it anyway and forced him to take notice of her.

“Well.” He whistled softly. “Sounds to me like you’re overqualified.”

“I need this job, and I will work hard for you, I promise,” Libby reiterated.

She withstood his look for long seconds, and then Ryder Duke nodded.

“All right, Libby Gulliver, you can start tomorrow.” He held out a hand, and she put hers into it.

Yes, she wore gloves, but she could still feel the heat from the large hand closing around hers. Libby tried to remember Andrew’s touch and failed, which was odd, as they’d been a couple for years.

“Like I said earlier, if you need a room, there is accommodation called the Circle Left. It’s pretty busy in town at the moment with a bachelor party and a team-building group from Chicago, and why the hell they’d come all the way here at this time of year, I have no clue, but I’m sure Nancy will have something for you.”

“Which direction? I’ll head there now.”

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