A Savannah Christmas Wish. Nan Dixon

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СКАЧАТЬ sat. “So you didn’t know.”

      What should he tell her? “Apparently, Pop hasn’t been feeling well.”

      “Oh, no.” She touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”

      He wished he knew. “He’s tired.”

      “He’ll be fine.” She chewed on her bottom lip.

      Heat shot through his groin. He’d nibbled on that lip. “Yeah.”

      She stared at her hand on his arm and snatched it away. “Can we do this?”

      He rested his fists on the table. “Work together?”

      She raised an eyebrow.

      “We’ve got the same goal,” he said.

      She nodded, her ponytail bouncing. “Opening Carleton House by the beginning of February.”

      “I’ll make it happen. I don’t want Pop worrying.” He took a deep breath. “I need you to—behave. I don’t have time for any of your shenanigans.”

      Her head snapped up. “Behave? Shenanigans?”

      “You know what I mean.” He waved a hand at her.

      “I don’t.” Flashing green eyes glared at him.

      “The stupid pranks you pull.”

      “I’m not a teen. I’m a professional.” She straightened. “I outgrew pranks years ago.”

      He didn’t believe her. “Then how did we end up in bed together?”

      Her eyes went wide. “You think that was my fault?”

      He shrugged. “If you hadn’t hopped into the fountain, I wouldn’t have carried you home.” And been turned on by all her curves and hair and legs.

      “You are delusional.” She started to leave and stopped. Her chest moved up and down in a big sigh. “Let me know if there is anything my sisters and I can do to help your dad.”

      “Keeping on top of the Carleton House timelines would be a good start.”

      “I’ll do my part.” She grabbed her blueprints and bag. “You do yours and maybe we’ll get through this.”

      She headed to Fitzgerald House. Her body was long, muscled and gorgeous. He ripped his gaze away and headed to his truck. Ogling Bess wouldn’t get his work done. Admiring Bess’s strong body wasn’t the problem. It was the out-of-control feelings that went along with her craziness.

      A childhood spent waiting for Nathan’s next catastrophe had taught him to stay away from situations he couldn’t control. Bess was one of those situations.

      He rubbed his hand on his neck. Only for Pop and Forester Construction would he work the next five months with Bess.

      * * *

      BESS WHIPPED HER hair into a ponytail, grabbed another binder and wrapped the mass into a bun. She was ten minutes early for her meeting with Daniel. The ass. Thinking she would pull pranks. She wasn’t a lovesick teen anymore. She wasn’t trying to get his attention—at all.

      The Carleton House kitchen door slammed. Bess straightened. She could do this. She could work with Daniel. All it would take was a lobotomy. Or maybe Daniel could get a personality transplant.

      “Hey.” Daniel nodded. His brown eyes did a hit-and-run with hers.

      Right. Hard to believe they’d ever gotten naked with each other.

      Bess got down to business. “How do you want me to walk through our changes?”

      Daniel blinked. “Show me what you want.”

      She led the way to the dining room. “We’d like a pass-through between the butler’s pantry and the dining room.”

      Daniel knocked on the wall and checked out the room from the pantry. He came back. “Okay.”

      He made notes on his copy of blueprints.

      “Here are the notes I worked up.” Bess held out a copy.

      “This will help.” He moved closer.

      She caught a whiff of his woodsy aftershave. Like Pavlov’s dog, her body flashed with unwelcome heat. Thrusting the paper at him, she hurried to the library.

      His footsteps echoed behind hers.

      At the exterior wall that looked out on the backyard, she waved her hands at a tall window. “We’d like double French doors here.”

      Daniel moved around the room. He shook his head. “That’s a lot of structure work. Why not change this window—” he pointed “—and this into single doors? We’d make the doors as tall as the current windows, and the lines from outside will match.”

      She frowned. “Double doors would be elegant.” And it would bring the garden into the room.

      “But you’ll change the lines from the outside. You want the height of the windows and doors to stay the same and keep the room’s symmetry inside and out.”

      She chewed on her thumbnail. “Could each window be changed into a door?”

      He examined all four windows.

      “For balance I’d suggest two doors.” He pointed. “One on each side of the room.”

      Bess pulled out another set of sketches and set them on a library shelf.

      He leaned close. His breath made the hair escaping her bun dance on her neck. “Did someone else do architectural sketches?”

      “These are my garden plans.” She’d sketched the combined Fitzgerald and Carleton House courtyards. “You’d recommend the doors be here—” she drew a circle “—and here?”

      He took her pencil, his golden head dipping next to hers. “Is this to scale?”

      She nodded, clenching her fingers to keep from brushing the silky hair that slipped across his forehead.

      He measured the windows and drew in the doors on her layout. His shoulder bumped hers, and another flash of heat zipped through her. “There.”

      “Good.” She rolled up her work, planning to escape.

      “Can I get copies of those?” he asked.

      “Why?” The gardens were her concern.

      “I like a complete picture of everything happening on my projects.”

      “So you have total control?” she asked. “You really do have a control hang-up, don’t you?”

      “I anticipate problems.” A lethal smile broke across СКАЧАТЬ