CHAPTER 3

          ‘Hello, Mr. Scrooge!’ Sparkle thought… ‘Well, this is starting off well.’

“Thank you very much for the info,” she said, desperately trying to hang on to the smile curving her mouth as well as her optimistic attitude. “But I’m not lost. I’ve just come from town.”

          If anything, his frown deepened.

“Then who are you and why are you here? What do you want?”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Sparkle said, half tugging Hayzel behind her.

          Not that she was afraid of him but why subject her little girl to a man who looked like he’d rather slam the door in their faces than let them in?

“I repeat,” he said, “who are you, and why are you here?”

“I’m Sparkle Pearce. I’m Martha’s friend?”

          It came out as a question though she hadn’t meant it as one.

“Oh, please… You must be joking right now!”

          His eyes went wide as his gaze swept her up and down in a fast yet thorough examination. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. But when his features remained stiff and cold, Sparkle went for insulted.

“I can assure you I’m not. I am who I said I am… Is there a problem?” she asked. “Martha told me you’d be expecting me and…”

“You’re not an old woman.”

          Sparkle blinked at him and again tried not to feel insulted.

“Well… I still had a lot until that point in my life, but thank you for noticing. Though I’ve got to say this… if Martha ever hears you call her ‘old’, I can assure you it won’t be pretty.”

“That’s not…”

          Kaleb stopped and started again.

“I was expecting a woman Martha’s age,” he continued. “Not someone like… Uh… like you. Or,” he added with a brief glance at Hayzel, “a child.”

          ‘Why hadn’t Martha told him about Hayzel?’

          For a split second, Sparkle worried over that and wondered if he’d try to back out of their deal now. But an instant later, she assured herself that no matter what happened, she was going to hold him to his word. She needed to be here and she wasn’t about to leave. She took a breath and ignored the cool chill in his eyes.

 “Well, that’s a lovely welcome, thank you again. Look, it’s cold out here. If you don’t mind, I’d like to come in and get settled.”

          He shook his head, opened his mouth to speak, but Hayzel cut him off.

“Are you the prince of this castle?”

          Hayzel stepped out from behind her mother, tipped her head back, and studied him.

“The… what?”

          Sparkle tensed and she went in full momma-bear mode. She didn’t want to stop Hayzel from talking, pretty sure because she wasn’t entirely sure she could but Sparkle was more than willing to intervene if the quietly hostile man said something she didn’t like.

“The prince,” Hayzel repeated, the tiny lisp that defined her voice tugging at Sparkle’s heart. “Princes live in castles… such as yours…”

          The moment she caught the barest glimmer of a smile brush across his face, she lowered her guard a little. But the smile disappeared as fast as it appeared. Somehow, though, that ghost of real emotion made her feel better.

“No,” Kaleb said and his voice was softer than it had been. “I’m definitely not a prince.”

          Sparkle could have said something to that, and judging by the glance he shot her, he half expected her to. But irritating him further wasn’t going to get her and Hayzel into the house and out of the cold.

“But he looks like a prince, doesn’t he, Mommy?”

          ‘A prince with a lousy attitude. A dark prince, maybe.’

“Sure, honey,” Sparkle replied with a smile for the little girl shifting from foot to foot in her eagerness to get inside the ‘castle’.

          Turning back to the man who still stood like an immovable object in the doorway, Sparkle decided to solve this situation before she and Hayzel turned into popsicles.  

“Look,” she added reasonably, “I’m sorry we aren’t what you were expecting. But here we are. Martha told you about the fire at our house, right?”

“The firemen came and let me sit in the big truck with the lights going and it was really bright and blinking.”

“Is that right?”

          That vanishing smile of his came and went again in a blink.

“Yes… and it smelled really bad,” Hayzel put in, tugging her hand free so she could pinch her own nose.

“It did,” Sparkle agreed, running one hand over the back of her little girl’s head. “And,” she continued, “it did enough damage that we can’t stay there while they’re fixing it…”

          She broke off and swallowed hard before continuing.

“Listen… If it isn’t too much to ask… Can we finish this inside? It’s really cold out here.”

          For a second, Sparkle wasn’t sure he’d agree, but then he nodded, moved back, and opened the wide, heavy door. Heat rushed forward to greet them, and Sparkle nearly sighed in pleasure.

          She gave a quick look around at the entry hall. The gleaming, honey-colored logs shone in the overhead light. The entry floor was made up of huge square tiles in mottled earth tones.

          Probably way easier to clean up melting snow from tile floors instead of wood, she told herself and let her gaze quickly move over what she could see of the rest of the house.

          It seemed even bigger on the inside, which was hard to believe, and with the lights on against the dark of winter, the whole place practically glowed. A long hallway led off to the back of the house, and on the right was a stairway leading to the second floor.

          Near the front door, there was a handmade coat tree boasting a half-dozen brass hooks and a padded bench attached. Shrugging out of her parka, Sparkle hung it on one of the hooks, then turned and pulled Hayzel’s jacket off as well, hanging it alongside hers.

          The warmth of the house surrounded her and all Sparkle could think was, she really, really wanted to stay here. She and Hayzel needed a place and this house with its soft glow was... welcoming, in spite of its owner.

          She glanced at the man watching her, and one look told her that he really wanted her gone. But she wasn’t going to allow that. The house was gigantic, plenty of room for her and Hayzel to live and still stay out of Kaleb Brantley’s way.

          There was enough land around the house so that her little girl could play. One man to cook and clean for, which would leave her plenty of time to work on her laptop. And oh, if he made them leave, she and her daughter would end up staying in a hotel in town for a month.

          Just the thought of trying to keep a five-year-old happy when she was trapped in a small, single room for weeks made Sparkle tired.

“Okay, we’re inside,” Kaleb said. “Let’s talk.”

“Right. It’s a beautiful house.”

          Sparkle walked past him, forcing the man to follow her as she walked to the first doorway and peeked in. A great room that really lived up to the name. Floor-to-ceiling windows provided a sweeping view of the frozen lake, a wide lawn, and a battalion of pines that looked to be scraping the underside of the low hanging gray clouds.

          There was a massive fireplace on one wall, where a wood fire burned merrily. A big-screen TV took up most of another wall, and there were brown leather couches and chairs sprinkled around the room, sitting on brightly colored area rugs.

          Handcrafted wood tables held lamps and books, with more books tucked onto shelves lining yet another wall.

“I love reading, too, and what a terrific spot for it,” Sparkle said, watching Hayzel as the girl wandered the room, then headed straight to the windows where she peered out, both hands flat against the glass.

“Yeah, it works for me.”

          Kaleb came up beside her, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Anyway...”

“Listen, you won’t even know we’re here,” Sparkle spoke up quickly. “And it’ll be a pleasure to take care of this place. Martha loves working here, so I’m sure Hayzel and I will be just as happy.”

“Yeah, but…”

          She ignored his frown and the interruption. On a roll, she had no intention of stopping.

“I’m going to take a look around. You don’t have to worry about giving me a tour. I’ll find my own way…”

“About that…”

          Irritation flashed across his features and Sparkle almost felt sorry for him. Not sorry enough to stop, though.

“What time do you want dinner tonight?”

          Before he could answer, she went on again.

“How about six? If that works for you, we’ll keep it that way for the month. Otherwise, we can change it.”

“But I didn’t agree…”

“Martha said Hayzel and I should use her suite of rooms off the kitchen, so we’ll just go get settled in and you can get back to what you were doing when we got here.”

          Sparkle had a bright smile on her face when she called her daughter.

“Baby, come with me now.”

          She looked at him.

“Once I’ve got our things put away, I’ll look through your supplies and get dinner started... if it’s alright with you.”

          And even if it isn’t, she added silently.

“Talking too fast to be interrupted doesn’t mean this is settled,” he told her flatly.

          The grim slash of his mouth matched the iciness in his tone. But Sparkle wasn’t going to give up easily.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to settle. We agreed to be here for the month and that’s what we’re going to do.”

           Kaleb shook his head.

“I don’t think this is going to work out.”

“You can’t know that, and I think you’re wrong,” she countered, stiffening her spine as she faced him down.

          She needed this job… This place… For one month. And she wouldn’t let him take it from her. Keeping her voice low so Hayzel wouldn’t overhear, she looked at him and continued.

“I’m holding you to the deal we made.”

“Oh, but we didn’t make a deal…”

“You did with Martha…”

“Martha’s not here.”

“Which is why we are.”

          ‘One point to me!’

          Sparkle grinned and met his gaze, deliberately glaring right into those shuttered brown eyes of his.

“Are there fairies in the woods?” Hayzel wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, honey,” Sparkle said.

“No,” Kaleb told her.

          Hayzel’s face fell and Sparkle gave him a stony glare. He could be as nasty and unfriendly with her as he wanted to be. But he wouldn’t be mean to her daughter.

“He means he’s never seen any fairies, sweetie.”

“Oh.”

          The little girl’s smile lit up her face.

“Me either. But maybe I can sometimes, Mommy says.”

          With a single look, Sparkle silently dared the man to pop her daughter’s balloon again. But he didn’t.

“Then you’ll have to look harder, won’t you?” Kaleb said instead, then lifted his gaze to Sparkle’s, and with what looked like regret glittering in his eyes, he added, “You’ll have a whole month to look for them.”