Free The Invitation by Jude Deveraux Page A

so confusing that it was several moments before Jackie could speak. “Would you mind telling me what is going on?” she asked Billy after pulling him aside. “And would you mind telling those men to stop putting furniture inside my house? I already have enough furniture.”
    Billy looked surprised. “The top floor is empty, isn’t it? You didn’t rent that floor, did you?”
    â€œNo, I didn’t. Your father—”
    â€œOh, I bought the hotel from Dad. He charged me five dollars for it. I tried to get him down to one dollar, but he wouldn’t hear of it. At first the scoundrel wanted ten, but I don’t have a degree in business for the fun of it. I won’t be cheated, even by my own father.”
    Jackie was sure the story was very amusing, but at the moment she wasn’t ready to be amused. “What is going on?”
    â€œI guess I should have asked your permission first. I mean, it is your house, or at least the bottom three floors are, but I really didn’t have time to ask. I had to make arrangements as fast as possible to give us as much time as possible to get ready for the Invitational. I thought it would be much more convenient if I lived nearby instead of driving from Chandler every day, so I bought the hotel from Dad and hired people to clean the top floor. My mother found the furniture in the attic for me and—”
    â€œWait a minute!” she half shouted. “What do you have to do with the Invitational? What do I have to do with a race like that? Why do you keep talking about ‘we’?” The instant she said the words, she knew the answer. Standing in front of her, shading her from the sun, was not little Billy Montgomery but William, her rescuing knight, the man who had pulled her from a wrecked plane, the man who had intrigued her with his talk, had made her interested in life, and had even made her think about love once again. He was the man she had been fantasizing about, dreaming about, conjuring up a future with. The man she was beginning to fancy that she was in love with was actually a very tall little boy.
    Embarrassment was Jackie’s first emotion. “I think there’s been a mistake. You’ll have to remove your furniture and go back to Chandler.”
    With her head down so he wouldn’t see her reddened face, she started toward the hotel where the men were carrying a small table through the front door. But William caught her arm.
    â€œJackie—” he began.
    â€œDidn’t your family teach you to call your elders by their proper title? I’m Miss O’Neill to you.”
    He didn’t release her arm. “I think we should talk about this.”
    â€œI don’t think we should talk at all. Hey!” she yelled to a man leaving the hotel to go back to the truck. “Don’t take anything else inside. Little Billy won’t be staying.”
    The men chuckled as they looked from Jackie to William, hovering over her. He was several inches taller than she, a good deal heavier, and he didn’t look like anyone’s idea of “little Billy.”
    William gave the men a curt nod. “Take a break,” he ordered. Then, still holding Jackie’s arm firmly, he pulled her down the street, a tumbleweed blowing across their path. He didn’t say a word as he pulled her into a building that had once been one of Eternity’s saloons. Inside were half a dozen broken chairs and a few dirty tables. Firmly he ushered her to the only chair that had all four legs and sat her on it. “Now, Jackie—”
    Like a jack-in-the-box, she came out of the seat immediately. “Don’t try explaining anything to me. This has been one huge mistake, that’s all. Now I want you to get your things out of my house—” She hesitated. “Or, if the place now belongs to you, I shall be the one to move.” At that statement her heart wrenched. She had taken a