Free The Heart of a Hero by Janet Chapman Page B

discovered there was enough cat hair in his apartment to stuff a king-size mattress. The smell of coffee tickled Julia’s nose, and she realized the waiter had poured some into the delicate china cup on the tray and was now looking at her . . . expectantly.
    Oh, he was waiting for his tip! “Just a minute,” she said, going to her purse on the bureau. Dang it, how much did she tip a five-star room service waiter? She pulled out a ten dollar bill, folded it in half, and walked back and handed it to him. “Thank you,” she murmured, opening the
front
door of the room and smiling at him . . . expectantly.
    He stuffed the money in his pocket, returned her smile with an added nod, and left. Julia closed the door behind him and locked it, then ran over and grabbed the cup of coffee, blew on it briefly, and took a sip. She gave a hum of pleasure and took another sip, figuring there was nothing like caffeine to cure a crying hangover. Another sip, then she lifted the larger of the domes on the tray and actually laughed. Oh yeah, there must be
a lot
of cat hair, she decided as she sat down and pulled the tray in front of her, if the size of this breakfast was any indication.
    She ate the perfectly cooked eggs Benedict, all six slices of crisp bacon, both thick oat-nut toasts—that she slathered with both tiny jars of jam—most of the hash browns, and every last piece of exotic fruit while washing everything down with what was definitely fresh-squeezed orange juice.
    “Okay, Mr. Nicholas,” she said with a laugh, saluting the window with her third cup of coffee and leaning back in her chair with an overstuffed sigh. “I guess your blatant bribe worked. I’ll vacuum up your cat hair for just the price of breakfast.”
    She was not, however, having dinner with him—even if her sister was included—at Aeolus’s Whisper. Not at the risk of being seen dining with Spellbound’s most eligible bachelor, because she didn’t want to be found dead on a cart path tomorrow morning after being run over by Wanda Beckman or any one of a dozen female workers. And besides, people
dressed
for dinner at Aeolus’s, and her only decent outfit was crumpled up in a ball at the bottom of a trash bag at the moment.
    * * * 
    Nova Mare’s international employee housing sat back in the woods beyond the resort’s horse barn. The two-building complex consisted of ten apartments on the ground floor with male and female dorms running the length of each building above them. The dorms were usually filled with young men and women from all over the world during the resort’s busy summer season, while Julia believed the apartments were occupied year-round by a few of the nonlocal security guards, some of the reputedly fearless road maintenance crew, a husband and wife horse wrangler team, and several restaurant workers. There were only four children residing on Whisper Mountain: Olivia and Mac’s three—twelve-year-old Sophie, ten-year-old Henry, and two-and-a-half-year-old Ella—as well as the horse wranglers’ teenage son.
    Nicholas’s apartment—now temporarily hers and Trisha’s—was an end unit with two bedrooms and two baths, a well-appointed kitchen, and windows on three sides. None of the apartments or the dorms had a spectacular view, but then, everyone spent their days looking down at Bottomless and were probably all viewed out, anyway.
    “Didn’t I tell you Nicholas was fast on his feet?” Olivia said with a laugh as she watched her top security guard drive away. She set Ella down and turned to Julia, even as she gestured toward the window. “I just have to show up with Princess Hugs-a-lot, and he vanishes faster than a cat at a rocking chair convention.”
    “He doesn’t like children?” Julia said in surprise, bending to pick up Ella when the toddler started tugging on her pant leg and holding up her arms, making Julia chuckle when the girl lived up to her nickname by immediately giving her a fierce hug.
    “No, just