The Glass Shoe by Kay Hooper Page A

look.
    "Uh-huh," Penny murmured, industriously mixing batter. "He asked where you were. As soon as I told him, he headed for the barn."
    "Oh," Amanda said.
    The back door opened suddenly, admitting a gust of cold air and a snow-covered Ryder. "Did somebody say something about a storm?" he demanded as he forced the door shut behind him. "That's no storm out there. That's a blizzard."

Chapter Five
     
    Without replying to his announcement, Amanda retrieved both plates from the oven and carried them to the table. "Coffee's over there," she said with a nod when he'd removed his gloves and jacket. She found napkins and silverware for them both, and carried them to the table, then sat down and began eating her breakfast.
    Ryder joined her with his coffee, whistling under his breath, seemingly cheerful for a man who anticipated being snowed in for days to come.
    Amanda tried to keep her mind off that probability. "Penny, what about the other guests?"
    Penny shrugged philosophically. "We're ready for them, but I'm not going to hold my breath. The next was due to arrive tomorrow; another few hours and the roads are going to be impassable. I'd say until this blows over, it's going to be just us."
    Just the four of them, Amanda reflected. Just her,
    Penny, Sharon, and Ryder. There were more than a dozen ranch hands out in the bunkhouse, of course, but that was self-contained; the men had their own kitchen, their own cook, and their own work to do— even in a blizzard.
    Amanda felt a little desperate. With only the four of them in the house, there was barely enough work for Penny and Sharon, let alone her. She could do virtually none of the work she'd come to the ranch to do, since the workmen wouldn't be around. Quite literally, there was nothing for her to manage. Except far too much free time.
    And a guest who wanted her.
    She stole a glance at the man sitting across from her, and found him regarding her with a faint smile.
    "Don't look so worried," he said softly for her ears alone.
    Amanda knew at that moment, with utter clarity, that she had to tell him the truth about herself. Now, before this—whatever it was—between them went any further. She looked down at her half-empty plate, then rose and carried it to the sink.
    "I'll take care of that," Penny said, taking the plate away from her.
    Nodding, Amanda went silently out of the kitchen. She went down the hall and into the den, knowing Ryder would follow her. Having made her decision at last, she felt an odd kind of peace. No, she realized, not peace. A sense of suspension. A waiting.
    "Amanda?"
    There was a fire in the fireplace, blazing merrily. Penny must have built it, Amanda thought as she stood before the smoke-blackened old brick hearth and turned to face him. "There's something I have to tell you."
    He crossed the room slowly until he reached the couch. "Should I sit down?" he asked politely.
    She nodded. "Yes."
    He did, his expression growing a bit more serious as her tension obviously communicated itself to him. "Okay. I'm braced for it."
    Amanda tried to think of the best way to explain this. She'd known it would be difficult, but... "Have you ever worked for a relative?"
    "No. I don't have many."
    "Well, it's easier sometimes if the people around you don't know that you're related to the boss."
    Ryder nodded. "I can see how it would be. And so?"
    She drew a breath and looked away from him, watching Nemo enter the room and lie down on a rug near the door. "And so, since I often work for my uncle, I prefer to do so as just another employee. And because we have the same last name, I use my mother's maiden name whenever I'm doing a job for him." She looked back at Ryder.
    "Your name isn't Trask?" He seemed very still, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at her.
    "No." She rushed on before he could asked the next logical question. "When I came out here I didn't know who was on the guest list. It wasn't until you told me why you'd come that I realized things were going to