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Jarvis was well aware that she considered him eye candy, which might be flattering from another woman. From Selina, it felt sticky. From the start, he’d chosen to play along—with extreme caution—so she’d keep talking to him.
He smiled, employing the easygoing charm that had won over many a person in boardrooms and out here on the ranch. “What is it I can help with today?”
“You are such a treat.” A catlike grin spread over her face, and her blue eyes sparkled. Her hair was down, the red-gold waves flowing over her shoulders. She stepped away from the door so he could walk inside. “The problem is back this way.”
r /> He followed her through the house. She was an attractive woman and her casual sundress played up her best features. Surely, she’d tempted many a man on or off the ranch into her bed. Jarvis focused on the newest additions to her luxurious decor rather than the woman herself. She was always changing something. Yeah, her attorney had been superb, but she still struck him as lonely. To his relief, today’s trouble wasn’t near her bedroom, but outside, where she kept making improvements to her deck and outdoor kitchen. Selina loved to entertain.
“I ordered new fixtures for the sinks and a better wine cooler. Take the old one if you want it.”
What was he going to do with a wine cooler? He could hear the crap he’d take from the other ranch hands if he put it in his room. “We’ll see,” he said, eyeing the various boxes. The thing might be of some use to Mia out at the bunkhouse or even his sister, Bella.
“It impresses women when men are prepared,” Selina said suggestively.
He arched an eyebrow. “Prepared to serve wine properly?”
“Boy Scouts have a stellar reputation for a reason,” she demurred.
He laughed, unable to temper the reaction. She sucked in a breath. “What’s so funny about that?”
“You’d be bored with the Boy Scout–type in about thirty seconds flat.”
She folded her arms under her breasts, boosting them a little. He kept his eyes locked with hers, refusing to take the bait. She pouted. “Fine. You might be right.” Sauntering closer, she dragged a finger across his shoulders. “Rugged and rough is much more to my liking.”
Today, maybe. Selina wasn’t the type that stayed content. Hell, she’d had it all with Payne and seemingly tossed it aside to chase younger men. Of course, she’d landed on her feet. Ignoring her attempts to distract him or bait him into something physical, he focused on the fixtures.
“I need to let Asher know I’ll be here awhile.” Looked like his search for confirmation of Isaiah’s story would be pushed back another day.
“You do that,” she said. “We can make a day of it.”
“Sure.” It would be a day of crawling around, squeezing under counters and twisting himself into tight spaces while Selina eyed him like a prize.
She drifted away on a cloud of expensive perfume and he shut off the water at the valve that served her outdoor entertaining space. At the breaker box, he cut the power to the outdoor appliances, just to be safe.
Normally, he had no opinion about how Selina lived. Her choices weren’t his concern. But today it bothered him. She had so much luxurious space, all of it protected by a security system, big fences and a crowd of people who helped her even when they didn’t enjoy the task. Mia, on the other hand, was barely making do with her son in a basic cabin. From his perspective, he was sure both women were lonely with their circumstances, but Selina struck him as sad underneath all of that. Mia was afraid of the threats, overwhelmed and uncertain, but somehow she gave off a ray of hope.
He shook off the weird thoughts. The talk-show shrink routine only proved he needed real sleep in his bed rather than the truck. And it wouldn’t hurt to have something else to think about besides the mother and baby he’d left stranded on the opposite side of the ranch.
If only he could convince Mia to move to the main house until she sorted out the problem with her stepmom. Mia would rightfully throttle him if he exposed her that way. She’d been adamant that Regina was too close to both Genevieve Colton and Selina to take that chance. He couldn’t argue it, having no real clue about the people the Colton Oil side of the family called friends.
Pushing all of that to the back of his mind, Jarvis set to work on the new plumbing fixtures. The sooner he knocked this out, the more daylight he’d have for his own agenda. To his surprise, Selina didn’t hover over him. She took a couple of business calls from a lounger on the other side of the outdoor kitchen. Around noon she even offered to pick up lunch for both of them. He took her up on that since he’d missed breakfast.
But when she wanted him to linger over the food with her at the shaded table, he politely declined. Even though Asher would want him to chat her up, he was too tired and achy to guide the conversation without being obvious.
“Are you thinking you’re too good for me, Jarvis?”
“Hardly,” he said with a sincere smile this time. “We shouldn’t leave your wine suffering at the wrong temperature.”
He didn’t have to like Selina to respect her talent for negotiation. Though the Coltons openly wished she’d leave the ranch and Colton Oil, she stuck hard and kept her head high despite her mistakes. Whether that was some unsavory blackmail or just her nature didn’t make much difference to him. It took tenacity to pull off the life she’d carved out for herself.
“No, we wouldn’t want the wine to suffer.” This time when she chuckled, the sound seemed more genuine than calculating. Walking over to the brand-new faucet, she stroked the spigot with great affection. And just like that, Selina the seductress was back. “The oil-rubbed bronze is perfect,” she mused, peering at him from under her lashes. “I should’ve gone with it from the beginning.”
He wasn’t about to fall into her games. “It fits the vibe you’ve got out here,” he said, keeping his tone neutral.
She pursed her lips, as if deciding how best to come at him next, when her cell phone rang. Checking the screen, she gave him a flirty wave of her fingers and walked toward the house.
“Regina!” she gushed. “I was just thinking of you. Tell me everything new.”
It was logical that Selina might know more than one Regina, but Jarvis didn’t believe in coincidence. Did Selina suspect Mia was hiding on the ranch somewhere? Did Regina?
