Page 18 of A Taste For Trouble

It destroyed lives. It brought down civilisations. It started wars. It brought nothing but misery to those afflicted by it. So if Rose wanted to act like nothing had happened between us, I was fine with it.

“There is one other thing,” said Trevor.

“Now what?” I asked wearily, and Rose turned at the door to shoot me a searching look. I looked away immediately, determined not to fall for the snare of her gorgeous blue eyes.

“Your grandmother’s invited you for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

“Make up some excuse, Trevor. Tell her I have an early morning conference call with Japan,” I said irritably.

“No can do, boss. She already knows Rosie’s staying with you. In fact, I’d go so far as to say she’s heard rumours about the two of you, and she’s on a fishing expedition.”

“What rumours?” cried Rose in alarm, and I didn’t blame her for panicking.

You didn’t want my grandmother to stick her nose in your personal life because she was the matchmaker from hell. Gran and her cronies weren’t content to just run this town. They even wanted to run thelivesof everyone living here, and their favourite pastime was matchmaking.

If my grandmother was convinced two people should be together, it would take an act of God before she changed her mind. Strangely, she’d had a hundred percent success rate until now. Which meant we had to take care not to give her ideas about us. I had too much on my plate already to waste time dodging the queenaged Cupids of Maplewood and their arrows.

“She has eyes and ears all over the town, babe,” replied Trevor. “She knows something went down at your cottage, and that the boss came to your rescue. Also, Joe Cheney went straight to Hot Toddy’s after the scene at your place and spent some time grousing about the injustice of losing his girlfriend to the powerful billionaire who owns most of the town.”

“Ohmigod,” groaned Rose. “Todd gossips like an old lady! No wonder your grandmother wants to know what’s happening. We need to fix this, Dom!”

“Trev, tell Gran I can’t make it to breakfast tomorrow. And that Rose is staying here only for a couple of days because her cottage is infested with fleas,” I said desperately, and Trevor shook his head.

“I’ve got my orders, Mr Carlisle. I need to deliver the two of you to her door at nine am tomorrow, or she’ll stick my head on a spike outside the town as a warning to people who think of defying her,” replied the coward. “Her words, not mine.”

“I’m moving back home,” said Rose desperately. “Right now.”

“Too late, bubs. Your dinner’s here. Spaghetti and meatballs from Mancini, as ordered,” said Trevor, with a grin.

“Ordered by whom?” she asked in confusion.

Trevor tilted his head towards me, and I felt a flush creeping up my cheekbones. Darn it! He wasn’t supposed to tell her it was me. I needed a new secretary, someone way more discreet than this one.

“I’ll eat in my study,” I said stiffly, and she walked out of the room without a word.

Trevor gave me a disappointed look, but I knew it was for the best. I couldn’t risk a repeat of the earlier incident.

CHAPTER 9

ROSE

This lie was getting out of hand, I realised, as I paced up and down the living room! Now Grammy Cora was involved, and I couldn’t stop panicking. She’d have the two of us tied up and rolled down the aisle before we knew what was happening.

I know Maplewood seems like an ordinary small town from the outside, but the truth is that we’re a mob town. We’re run by the mafia that pretends to be the town council, and it is made up entirely of meddlesome, grandmotherly old women who like to stick their noses in everybody’s business. And Grammy Cora was the mafia boss, if ever there was one.

She had made it her personal business to find a match for every single person in the town because she wanted the next generation to stick around instead of moving away for greener pastures and turning Maplewood into yet another abandoned, ghost town like so many others in North America.

Grammy Cora took Dom’s single status as a personal affront and considered it the biggest failure of her matchmaking skills. From what I’d heard over the years, she had introduced him to all the eligible women in their circle, but he had remained stubbornly single. I didn’t want to be dragged into their games, especially when Dom wouldn’t even look me in the eye after what we’d just been doing.

I wasn’t dumb. I recognised a man who was backpedaling hastily after a mistake. And that’s exactly what it was. A mistake. A glitch in the matrix. A man like Dominic Carlisle could never want someone like me. He was clearly having a cerebrovascular incident when he asked…no, ordered…me to indulge myself.

I was a fool to believe he meant it.

Never again, I swore. The sooner we got hold of Joe and figured out what was happening, the sooner I could get back to normalcy. How dare he try and break into my house?

Trevor was still on his phone, speaking to Dom’s security team, while the housekeeping staff set the table for dinner. For one. As soon as Trevor got off the phone, I gestured at the dining table.

“Aren’t you eating with me?”