The Billionaire's Fair Lady by Barbara Wallace

Author:Barbara Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

“MERRY-GO-ROUND, merry-go-round.”

Steffi singsonged the words under her breath as they waited in line at the ticket stand. Her body bounced with excitement.

Roxy was happy for her. She loved watching her daughter having a good time. She just couldn’t believe it was at Mike Templeton’s suggestion.

“You really planned to take her here on your own?”

Maybe it was the unseasonably warm weather but the park was crowded with families, in spite it being off-season. Some waited in line to ride the custom-made carousel while more milled around a makeshift stage waiting for the next public event. A sign told people Frogiere the French Frog would be arriving in an hour. Several children carried picture books bearing the same name.

“I admit, I wasn’t expecting the park to be this crowded,” he replied. “It’s a good thing you arrived when you did to save us.”

Roxy pretended not to catch his grin. She was still annoyed with him over the whole makeover business. Although taking Steffi to a carousel did thaw her a little.

A hand brushed the back of her legs. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a boy a couple years younger than Steffi weaving his way around his mother’s legs letting his fingers drift across everything within reach.

The woman immediately apologized. Roxy saw she was wearing a sweater similar to Sophie’s, and sported a loudly large diamond. A second child, a little girl, held her right hand and stole looks at Steffi. Both children looked impeccable.

Self-consciousness washed over her from head to toe. “It’s all right,” she said. “No harm done.”

“That’s because we washed off the ice cream before getting in line,” the woman said smiling. “This is your daughter’s first time on the carousel?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Jacob’s, too. Though, I try to take Samantha once a month when the weather is decent.”

The two women began chatting about entertaining children during the winter. Maybe it was her imagination, but Roxy had to ask herself whether the woman would have chatted with her had she been wearing her old clothes. Possibly not. Certainly felt to her she’d been treated differently since the makeover. People who would never speak to her or show her the slightest bit of deference seemed to be extra friendly all of a sudden.

She wished she knew how she felt about the whole thing.

On one hand, when she first looked in the mirror after Alfredo worked his magic, as he put it, she’d loved what she saw. The woman in the reflection looked sleek and sophisticated. A second later, she grew upset with herself. Wasn’t approving of her new look a betrayal? A passive agreement that Mike had been right—she needed smoothing out?

Then there was Mike himself. She definitely didn’t imagine his expression when she returned to his office. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. And when his hand brushed her skin... Even the memory caused excitement and she absentmindedly pressed a fist to her stomach to prevent the emotion from taking hold. Disappointment quickly followed in its tracks anyway.

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