5- Found Her

Sheldon walked wearily into the kitchen. He was over six feet tall, with shoulders like the handle of an ax and a huge chest, but the hard physical labor drained even his impressive resources. His long, thick black hair tangled limply and wetly over his rough features. "Is there any chance you ever bought a beer or soft drinks when you went shopping?"

Mira barely looked up from the grimy cooker she was scrubbing and gave him a look of disbelief.

"You're just kidding!"

"You can't be mad at me." Sheldon treated her with a look of pained male incomprehension. "You should have called. If I get a warning that you're coming back, I'll bring Sheila to clean up—

A gleam of contempt flashed in Mira's eyes. "Your sister has her own full-time job and a life. You should be ashamed of yourself, Sheld. When we moved here, you promised you would do your best. What should you do the moment I turn around?" she asked with bitter resentment. "You've turned the cottage into a filthy mess and my garden into a dump!"

Sheldon uncomfortably changed size by thirteen feet. "I didn't clean up because I didn't expect you to come home—"

"Don't try to pass the buck. Use those bulging muscles to move those ugly old tubs off the lawn and into the barn!"

Sheldon grimaces. "The barn is full:"

"Then sell 'em and dispose of 'em! They're making this place look like a dump!"

"Sell them? Are you crazy? They're worth a pack!" Sheldon was absolutely appalled at the suggestion. "I'll make more whips in a shower than you'll make in a week selling bric-a-brac at a market stall!"

Mira calmed down with an unconscious sense of amusement. Her conscience pricked her too. Sheldon had been her best friend since she was twelve.

She sighed.

"Look—why don't you go take a shower? I'll clean up the garden for you later."

But Sheldon circled and cleared his throat. "I should have said that yesterday, but I can't find the words to express it—I'm really sorry you lost your brother after finding you."

A lump swelled in Mira's tight throat. "He's a nice guy," she muttered, swallowing hard. "I was lucky to have the opportunity to know him."

"Yeah—" Sheldon frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then took two big feet. "But why leave Manila in such a hurry when he seems to have left you a portion of his worldly fortune?"

Messy people and things. Her cheeks flushed. She turned her head away in self-defense. Remind her that this was a habit of her youth, and it wasn't welcome.

"And you also can't leave the estate hanging. The executor will be forced to track you down. That's his job."

"He'll find it difficult. I didn't leave a forwarding address."

"Collect what you have received, I bet you could say goodbye to the market deal and open a grocery store here as you've always planned," Sheldon pointed out calmly. "Then we could make an offer to buy the place from my aunt instead of renting it."

Sheldon's fatal flaw, Mira smiled wryly. Never miss any opportunity to make or attract money. Because of this, he could be a millionaire by twenty-seven. His engineering business was booming. "You can create a better life for yourself. That's obviously what your brother wants." Sheldon continued firmly. "Then why are you acting so flippant and guilty towards his widow? I'm pretty sure he didn't impoverish her!"

Mira turned, pale and angry, but, having finished his words, Sheldon made it safely upstairs before she reached the hall. Not getting a chance to let him mind his own business, she frowned at the cramped lounge doorway, examining the men-only remains of abandoned takeaways, crushed beer cans, and magazines. Her nose wrinkled. It will take a few days for her to restore the cabin to its previous cleanliness.

She groaned in protest, rubbed her sore back with her dirty hands, and strolled out into the pale bright sun.

A limousine is turning the curb. The impressive car pulled up behind Sheldon's truck. Just as Mira raised her eyebrows, a driver in uniform climbed out of the car and opened the rear passenger door. She started walking toward the barn.

It might be one of the days of the week when Sheldon doesn't open, but he's never turned away a customer. However, when a tall, dark-skinned man in an extremely elegant blue suit stepped out of the limousine, Mira stopped suddenly, her fragile face frozen in shock and frustration.

Sunlight on Jacob Delrama's dark hair gilded his tanned skin, accentuating the tough, hawk-like masculinity of his masterful bone structure. He strode across the yard toward her, his long, powerful legs swallowing the distance with a movement of natural grace, as striking as a prowling lion. Mira was connected with black eyes that shone between thick black lashes.

Her stomach tightened and her heart pounded violently against her breastbone.

"All women found Jacob irresistible," Dimitri told her ruefully. "I don't think he's ever been rejected. Unfortunately, it makes him quite cynical about your gender."

Mira suddenly emerges from that innocuous memory and finds herself being treated like herself. Like a mouse.

She blushed, suddenly embarrassed by the dirty sweatshirt and ripped jeans she was wearing, and then quickly pissed that she should even take his opinion into account!

"Let's go in and talk," Jacob told her sternly.

"How the hell did you find me?" He raised a winged ebony eyebrow sarcastically.

"It's not difficult. Dim's desk diary has your address on it."

"Well, I don't want you here," Mira retorted angrily. "So you can get away again!"

"I'm not leaving until we have a deal." Jacob stared down at her, the line of his haughty jaw stiffened, his nostrils flaring, and a dark frown creased between his brows. "How old are you?" he asked suddenly. "Twenty—

"Twenty —not your—"

"Twenty?" Jacob gave her a horrified look, his sexy mouth contorted in blatant disgust. "Damn—what was Dimitri thinking?"

"Anyway, it's not what you're thinking!" Mira said contemptuously.

"But it takes an experienced man like me to understand how a greedy little tramp's mind works," Jacob replied without hesitation. "You must have put Dim through hell the last few weeks of his life!"

Mira paled in shock. "What are you talking about?"

Jacob strode past her into the cabin. "We'll discuss it indoors."

"I'm asking what you're talking about," Mira reminded him tremblingly.