Breathless

Chapter 14: A Grand Passion - April 1

"1212 Pine Street."

Ruby read the number off the grand two-story house. It dwarfed even her Victorian home. Making it appear like the tiniest cottage.

It must be nice to be the chief executive officer of a major company. Of course, his wife probably paid the price. Barely seeing her husband. After all, Mr. Taylor wasn't the one bringing his beloved her forty-year anniversary gift. The girl who worked on the first floor of his building was doing this fun job for him.

She turned off the ignition and climbed from her car before reaching back in to collect a mammoth vase of roses and a huge box of chocolates. She marched up the sidewalk to ascend the steps to the mansion. She used the knocker on the door to alert a butler to her presence.

A butler? Really?

They had a butler?!

"May I help you?" he intoned in a deep voice.

"I have a delivery for Mrs. Taylor from her husband."

"Malfoy? Who is it?" questioned a crisp voice from the spiraling staircase behind him to his right.

"It's a gift from Mr. Taylor for you," he murmured without taking his eyes off of Ruby.

"Rupert sent me a gift?" Her voice was suddenly laced with delight. "Goodness! What is it? It's not enough that he's throwing a party for me tonight?"

Perhaps Ruby was wrong about the wife being neglected. She didn't sound like she'd been ignored by her husband of forty years.

She instantly appeared before Ruby. Now a huge grin lit up the elegant woman's face.

"Why, hello! What do you have for me? Oh! Those roses are absolutely gorgeous! And...is that a box of chocolates? Oh! Rupert has outdone himself this year!"

Beaming at her, the woman shooed Ruby into the house. "Come on, come in, my dear. Malfoy!" she snapped out a cheerful command as she turned towards the austere gentleman. "Bring us some lemonade. Out on the veranda." She pivoted back towards Ruby. "Come, my dear. Follow me."

Then Mrs. Taylor marched through a sitting room into a dining room and out a set of gorgeous French doors. Onto a lovely patio that overlooked a sparkling swimming pool.

"Please. Set the vase on that table there. I'll take the chocolates." She held out her hand to receive the delectable gift.

Ruby smiled at her as she handed her the box. Then she crossed to a glass patio table surrounded by chairs and overshadowed by a huge umbrella. She set the vase carefully down in the center of that table.

As Mrs. Taylor began to savor a chocolate heart, her eyes perused Ruby's face. "What's your name, darling? You remind me of my own dear Susan. Without all that glorious red hair, of course. Poor Susan got my mouse brown hair."

"Mouse brown?" Ruby roared with laughter. "You do yourself a disservice, ma'am. Your hair is a beautiful shade of ash brown. Quite stunning. Much more appropriate than my unruly fiery curls, I can assure you."

"Have you truly no idea of how lovely you are, dear?" The kind woman asked abruptly.

Ruby's face went blank. Then a ripple passed over it. A tremor that made the older woman wonder.

"You are quite lovely," Mrs. Taylor breathed.

"Thank you," Ruby whispered before raising her voice to a normal tone to brush away her embarrassment. "Is Susan your daughter?"

"Yes. She's in her last year of college." The woman brightened. "In fact, she'll be coming home in a few weeks. What is it now? Six, I think? Oh! I've missed her so! I cannot wait until she comes home. You would just adore her!"

Ruby chuckled inwardly at the woman's confident assumption.

"What's your name, dear?"

"Ruby."

"What a fitting name you have! A ruddy little gemstone! How perfect." She seemed to study the girl's face. "Do you work for my husband? I don't believe I've ever met you before."

Ruby bobbed her head. "I work behind the front desk. On the bottom floor."

"Oh! I must have passed you hundreds of times then! How could I forget that glorious hair?"

"No, actually, I was just moved to the first floor last week. I used to work on the fourteenth floor. But the girl who greeted people and answered phones went into premature labor, so I'm covering her position until they can find a more permanent replacement. I thought someone had been hired today, but when I showed up in my old department, I was sent back downstairs. They still haven't found anyone to cover her spot permanently."

"Ah. That explains it. Buried on the fourteenth floor, huh? What was your job?"

"Assistant to a junior executive."

The woman's eyebrows flew high. "Did you like that job?"

"It was all right." Ruby shrugged.

"Are you hoping to be an executive someday?"

"Me?" Ruby's eyebrows had just assaulted some clouds passing by overhead. "No!"

"Why do you sound so surprised, dear?"

"I haven't got what it takes to be an executive. I'm a mouse, you see."

"We need to trade hair then," the woman asserted. "Because I am a lion."

Ruby chuckled. Her statement appeared quite true.

Mrs. Taylor studied her for a moment. "You're wrong, you know. You aren't a mouse at all. I think you're a brave soul like the Celtic warriors of old. Your hair proves it. Underneath that quiet exterior, a blazing fire roars."

Ruby giggled suddenly. And then slapped her hand over her mouth.

But Mrs. Taylor smiled. "Why are you laughing, dear?"

"Because I just made friends last night with a man named Blaze."

"And I just called you a blazing fire. Hmm. A man named Blaze, huh? He sounds like the hero in a romance novel. This is very promising. Is he terribly handsome?"

"Umm." Ruby could feel herself blushing again.

"Ah. I can tell by your reaction that he is most dashing. And probably suffers from a grand passion for you."

"What?" Ruby asked, shocked. "No. I can assure you; he does not. We're just friends. Acquaintances really. I haven't seen him since high school."

"I see. An old flame, is it?" Her lips quirked upward at her joke.

Ruby tensed.

Mrs. Taylor remarked mildly, "Perhaps this is the start of a promising friendship."

Ruby relaxed.

"And a grand passion," the woman finished.

Increasing Ruby's anxiety level greatly.

But Mrs. Taylor just grinned at her as though she knew something Ruby didn't.