His Glorified Maid

Nine

Oh boy, thought Michaela as heat washed through her. The man sure could spin the truth, and act, that even she was tempted to believe him. And who knew he could say so much? Even when he had let his guard down on the way over, he had still been economical with his words. Judging by the quickly disguised surprise on the women's faces, they also thought this was out of character for Carlos.

Michaela wasn't jealous of their beauty, their expensive jewellery, or their luxurious clothing as it did not make up for their mean, dull personalities. But she was jealous that they ran in Carlos' circle in a way that she never would. He knew them by name, and probably invited them personally, as this was an invite-only type of event. And despite what he just said, she was only the help.

"That about sums it up. It was nice meeting you both, but if you'll excuse us." Michaela didn't care if it was impolite to leave the two shocked women so abruptly as she dragged Carlos away. She also didn't care at that moment that she had left Dan behind with them.

Michaela curled into Carlos to give herself the illusion of some privacy, without realising how intimate it made them look to outsiders. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping."

"This isn't helping," she whispered while trying not to gesticulate wildly.

"I didn't like the way they spoke to you. About you."

"Neither did I, but I can handle myself without lying. You just made things worse."

"I didn't lie," he said.

Michaela wasn't ready to examine his last comments, so she focused on his first obvious lies. "I did accept the job and we agreed this is not a date."

"You didn't accept the job. Your brother did."

"My being here is acceptance."

"Fine, then your being dressed as my date, as per my request, is acceptance that you are my date. And as such, I would like to introduce you to some others here tonight."

Michaela was exasperated by the outrageousness of his comments. "I told you that I'm not interested in dating my boss."

He looked shocked. She was sure there was nothing in Carlos' past experiences that prepared him for a woman who didn't want to date him. It was probably a full-time job for him to try and dull their interest.

"We're on a date. Don't confuse it with 'dating'."

Before she could say anything further, she found herself being dragged along by him where he peddled the same ridiculous story around the room.

She did find her small and petty heart took great pleasure watching the women who had treated her with such pithy disregard, squirm in jealousy when Carlos introduced her as his date. It even topped the looks of fear from the men who had been less than gentlemanly. Honestly, if Dan hadn't spent the night shadowing her, things could have been a lot worse. She should remember to thank him afterward.

There was no sense in dwelling on the questioning, and in the case of Sonja hostile, stares from her crew mates right now. Not when she had no say in what was happening.

Once Carlos had finally stopped dragging her around the room she asked, "Do you feel better now?"

"No. But judging by the smile on Jenny's face," he paused so he could point her out and wave, "she does."

Ah. Michaela understood now. Jenny had chewed on his ear for feeding her to the wolves. She really did like that woman, but she was going to have to have a word with her about directing Carlos' energy in a more appropriate way.