Free The Mysterious Stranger (Triple Trouble) by Susan Mallery

company. You live like a monk. You’re a young man. It’s not healthy.”
    “Leona!”
    “Fine. I say too much. But it’s the truth.” She headed for the kitchen. “I know, I know, start lunch. I’m going.”
    Ariel was busy folding the evening dresses back into neat, tissue-wrapped packages. He couldn’t see her face, but he suspected she was smiling at his discomfort, not to mention the housekeeper’s words.
    “I do not live like a monk,” he growled.
    “It’s true,” Anna Jane piped up. “Uncle Jarrett hardly ever talks to God, and monks talk to God all the time.”
    “Thank you,” he said to his niece.
    She dimpled. “You’re welcome.”
    Ariel opened another bag. In it were shorts, shirts and a few frilly things she quickly thrust out of view. “Maybe I’ll take this up to my room and sort it out there,” she said.
    “Don’t take long,” Anna Jane responded. “We have to help Leona decorate after lunch. We can do the living room and maybe wrap some lights and stuff around the banister.”
    “I’d like that,” Ariel said. She scooped up an armful of clothing and rosé to her feet. “Gee, Jarrett, you’d better hope that in my other life I’m frugal, so I have a lot of room left on my credit cards. Everything is very beautiful and it’s going to be tough for me to decide what I want. I might end up picking several things.”
    He stared at her. “You expect to pay me back?”
    “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
    Because he was rich and no one ever tried to pay him back. Most people made it a habit to see how much they could get from him. Ariel stepped close and lowered her voice.
    “I don’t know who your friends are, but you might want to think about hanging out with some different kinds of people. I swear, even if I’m working somewhere for minimum wage, I’ll pay you for these. It might take a while, but I’ll do it.”
    Conviction burned in her green eyes. He figured even odds that she was lying…about everything else. He believed her about the clothes and her wanting to pay him back.
    She climbed the stairs, her shorts showing off long, shapely legs. His reaction was as quick as it was predictable. Leona was right; he’d been living like a monk for too long. Yet there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He, of all people, knew the risk of getting involved.

Chapter Five
    A riel hung her new clothes in the spacious closet. Anna Jane curled up on the queen-size mattress and watched her. “It’s funny to have the weather so nice,” the nine-year-old said.
    Ariel glanced at her over her shoulder. She still wore her hair in a pretty French braid. Anna Jane fingered her own short hair and wondered how long it would take to grow it enough to braid. She’d wanted it long, but her mother had always said it was too much work. Maybe she should talk to Uncle Jarrett. She didn’t think he would mind how she wore her hair.
    “Where are you from?” Ariel asked.
    “Manhattan. We wouldn’t always have snow for Christmas, but it was usually cold. Here it’s warm all the time.”
    “I know what you mean. I keep expecting a little whiff of something chilly.” Ariel frowned.
    “Do you remember where you’re from?” Anna Jane asked eagerly.
    “Not exactly. I can picture fog and rain. But nothing specific, which means it’s not much help. It gets foggy and rainy just about everywhere.”
    “Not here.”
    Ariel grinned. “That’s right. Not here. Every day is a good-hair day on St. Alicia.” She sat on the edge of the bed and started folding T-shirts.
    The clothes she’d chosen were different from what Anna Jane’s mother would wear. The casual shorts and shirts, along with a few dresses, wouldn’t suit her mother’s designer tastes. But Anna Jane liked them. It was important to dress up in the city, but here it didn’t matter.
    “Do you miss New York?” Ariel asked.
    “Some. My school.”
    “Friends?”
    Anna Jane wrinkled her nose. “I’d changed schools in