A Bride For Mr. Right (Redbud Romance Book 2) Read online

  Waste? He thought saving her life was a waste of his precious time? He would pay for that comment. Seeing him hard at work on the old house, she had halfway decided to let him off the hook and forget about nagging him for a job, but not now.

  “You can’t take the offer back. You threw me out of my office and place of work. You can’t just offer a job then take it back because it suits you. We’re not kids.”

  Slamming the hammer on another nail, J.T. sent her a look as sizzling as the sun hitting the roof. “That’s right, we’re not. You should know better than to climb ladders when you’re wearing a dress and those flimsy heels you like so much. It’s dangerous.”

  “I wore those dresses to honor my grandmother’s memory, but that’s changed. I know how to dress for work.” Edee gripped the sides of the ladder and struggled to keep from looking down. They needed to talk. “I need to know what you want me to work on today.”

  “Woman, I told you—”

  “You offered me a job as your girl Friday and I accepted. Now, what do you need me to do?”

  Huffing, he dropped to his backside to the roof, resting his arms on his bent knees. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

  Shaking her head, Edee kept her eyes glued to his glistening face. Beads of sweat highlighted his straight nose and high cheeks and made his green eyes glow.

  “To tell you the truth, your offer was a Godsend.” Edee shrugged, and let out a little gasp when the ladder shuddered under her weight.

  But the hint of amusement in his glowing eyes forced her chin up.

  “There weren’t enough bookkeeping clients to pay the utilities. If you hadn’t offered me a job, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “Great.” Shaking his head, J.T. stared across the field beside the house. “Did you think about going back home? Selling off what your grandmother owned and cutting your losses?”

  “This is my home” Edee lifted her chin high as she dared. “Grandmother left me the house for a reason. I can’t lose the last connection to her.”Waiting in silence for his response, her glance settled on his stubborn chin. “That’s where you come in, in case you’re wondering.”

  J.T. picked up his hammer. “You don’t know squat about construction work.”

  “And you don’t know how to design a website to advertise your company, but I do.” Edee tightened her hold on the ladder. “What I don’t know about being your assistant, I’m willing to learn.”

  J.T. shook his head. “You don’t even know how to dress for the job.”

  Squinting until her eyes were slits, Edee glared at him. “I’m wearing jeans and trainers. What do you require?”

  A long look passed between them, his eyes tinted with a touch of surprise, hers laced with challenge.

  “You really want this job?”

  Nodding with more enthusiasm than good sense, Edee felt the ladder shiver and held on for dear life. “I do.”

  “You’re willing to work all hours, maybe get dirty as a kid in a mud hole and not complain?”

  “If that’s what it takes.”

  Snorting, J.T. picked up his hammer and went back to nailing shingles.

  Fearing she had lost, but not willing to concede defeat, Edee angled her chin. “Actually, a mud hole sounds quite refreshing. How do you stand the heat on this roof?”

  Long seconds passed with only the songs of birds and the pounding hammer filling the silence. Edee held her breath and prayed she hadn’t pushed him too far.

  Then she did a mental eye roll. No one pushed J.T. Knight where he didn’t want to go.

  “If you’re serious,” he glanced from under his brows without raising his head, “get all that stuff cleared out of the office by tomorrow.”

  Nodding, Edee swallowed a gasp. She doubted he realized how sexy he looked, but with the breeze tossing his curls and his long lashes outlining his eyes, she almost melted right there on the ladder. “You’re the boss.”

  ***

  Her mind filled with thoughts of J.T., Edee parked with one wheel almost on the sidewalk and jumped out of the car. Blaming her distraction on her new boss, she dashed through the glass door of the diner.

  The delicious scent of bacon and coffee, made her stomach growl. In her rush to confront J.T. this morning, she left home without breakfast. Sliding in a booth in the back of the diner, she grabbed a menu.

  “Well, look at you, hon.” Gum popping, Stella stared at Edee’s denim covered legs. “Seeing you in jeans is a treat for these old eyes.”

  Edee gulped. Memory of a broad back, glistening with sweat in the morning sunlight flashed in her head. Now, that sight was a treat. Her appearance in jeans wouldn’t even register on the same scale.

  Swallowing the lump clogging her throat when she thought of J.T., she smiled. “Hi, Stella, are you still serving breakfast.”

  “Sure thing, hon. Coffee?”

  Edee blinked. “And one of Roy’s Mexican Omelets, please.”

  Watching Stella dash toward the kitchen, Edee wondered how she was going to get things back to normal. Back the way they were, before she caught a glimpse of a J.T. looking like a superhero on that roof.

  “Here ya go, hon.” Stella plopped the cup and saucer down, and poured the steaming coffee without spilling a drop. Giving the room a quick check, she slid in the booth and leaned toward Elle. “What made you come to your senses, hon?”

  Edee blinked, taking a few seconds to realize Stella meant the way she was dressed. Since Stella couldn’t read her mind, she forced a grin that felt strained. “I’m packing up the office today. It’s going to be dusty work.”

  “I’ll say! Bless her heart, Emma stayed so busy she never had time to pick up a dust cloth. I always wondered what she did, cooped up in her office. What, with all the dust and all.”

  Edee stirred her coffee fast enough to turn churn the cream to butter to cover the fear building inside her. How long had her grandmother been letting the business slide?

  CHAPTER SIX

  “What are you doing?”

  Thinking she was alone in the office, the sound of J.T.’s voice startled Edee. She clutched at thin air to regain her balance, and her fingers made brushing contact with the frame on the wall, but it slipped out of reach. Okay. Standing in the swivel chair wasn’t the best idea, but all her smart rebuttals went flying out of her head when she peeped over her shoulder.

  The sun cast a glow around J.T. illuminating the sun-bleached strands of his hair as he stood half in the doorway. Even with his shirt on, he looked good. And that did nothing for her peace of mind.

  She’d spent the better part of the morning making a mental list of all the reasons she should stop thinking about this man. A lot of good that had done. One look at his frowning face sent her heart racing like the front runner of the Kentucky Derby.

  Tension beaming from his poison green eyes stiffened the wobble in her knees. She was as susceptible to drop-dead gorgeous as the next female, but temper she could deal with. “Packing.”

  “You’re standing on a chair.”

  Chin angled, Edee returned his glare. “I’m packing up the office. You ordered me to vacate, remember?”

  Okay, so snapping at him wasn’t necessary. Just a few hours ago, she had thought they were on the same side, but that was before the image of him working on that roof without a shirt had burned into her memory. “Did you come to make sure I was following orders?”

  “I didn’t mean for you to break your neck.” J.T. stalked across the room, and put a steadying hand at her waist. “Step down. I’ll get that frame for you.”

  Edee bristled at his commanding tone, but relief shimmed along her nerves as her feet touched the floor. Her blood sizzled from his touch, not her fear of heights. “Should I say thank you, or yes, master?”

  J.T. smelled of sunshine and the outdoors, reminding her of how she had seen him last. Heat rushed to her face, making her feel as hot as his skin looked. Feeling every nerve in her body quiver, she forced hersel
f to take a step away from his side.

  Reaching up a long arm, he unhooked the frame, and stepped back. “Either will do.” Laying the frame on the desk, he turned. Eyes sparkling with humor, he studied her face. “What’s got you so riled?”

  Edee tore her glance from his and stared at the vacant walls. Taking down her grandmother’s framed columns seemed like an act of betrayal, even if she didn’t have a choice. And the affect of J.T.’s nearness on her left her wondering if she’d made a fool of herself by demanding he give her a job. Was she really that desperate to stay in Redbud?

  “Are you checking to see if I’m following orders?”

  Hands on hips covered by faded jeans, J.T. shrugged. “Naw, I don’t have time to check behind my employees.” He turned, squinting at the ceiling. “I need someone I can count on to follow orders.”

  Edee bit her lip to hold back a retort. She intended to keep her relationship with J.T. on a business level. It was the only way she could protect her heart, but working for him promised to be harder than she expected.

  “When are you starting work on the building?”

  Grimacing, J.T. met her questioning glance. “Well, that’s the thing. I have to wait for inspectors, for permits, and for inspectors to inspect the permits.”

  Frustration underlined each word and she realized he was as eager to get this job done and she found herself wondering why? Had the event in the diner changed his mind about Redbud?

  “So, I didn’t have to move out of the office, after all.”

  “Afraid you did, ma’am.” J.T. walked along the wall, stopping here and there to knock on the surface, with an intent listening expression on his face. “It’s waiting on the red-tape that takes so much time. But we have to be ready to move the instant they’re approved.”

  “Will you stop calling me ma’am.” Fighting the urge to stomp her foot, Edee forced her glance to the boxes in the room. Would moving out under force count as breaking her promise to save her grandmother’s business? “I don’t want to lose any clients.”

  “What do you want me to call you, Girl Friday?”

  Inhaling through quivering nostrils, Edee clenched her fists. “What’s wrong with calling me by name?”

  For long…heart stopping…breath robbing…seconds, their eyes met in a battle loaded with emotions as old as time. One man. One woman. And a mix of emotions neither dared admit as tension built around them.

  Who would cave in first…he would never know, because the old ringer phone on her desk shrilled like a sound bite from the Rockford Files.

  Through the fog in his brain, he heard Edee say, “Hello.”

  Clients?

  What clients? Stifling a snort, he bent to check the baseboard running along the back wall. Far as he had been able to find out, her grandmother had about two clients a year. How many could Edee miss by relocating?

  Walking to the bookcase along the sidewall, J.T. frowned. He didn’t like to think of a new business owner failing. He had been close, himself. He hadn’t failed, but he had worked his tail off to make his business succeed.

  Thing was, people kept saying Edee was keeping this office open because of a promise she made her grandmother. He admired her loyalty, not the senseless promise, but she needed to face reality.

  He admired the grandmother for trying to provide her granddaughter, and he admired Edee for making the promise.

  The whole deal seemed foolish to him, but if he had been in her shoes, and been given a grandmother who cared enough to demand a promise, he would have agreed, too.

  None of which solved Edee’s problem, or his. She needed an office. He needed to bring this building up to standard and he lost focus when Edee was around.

  Her brown eyes caused pain to stab the center of his chest. Her stubborn chin made him want to tease her until she conceded defeat…but he couldn’t stand the thought of watching her business fail and that worried him.

  The idea of having Edee work in his office meant new headaches.

  Coming back to Redbud was problem enough. Now, townspeople viewed him as the enemy of their new favorite resident. He could live with their opinions, as long as he knew they were wrong. But what did Ms. Edee Cutt do?

  She rushed to his defense in full view of an audience that would spread the word around town. He didn’t need the headache, or the lectures on how he was treating Edee Cutt. He didn’t need the matchmakers telling him to make love, not war. And he certainly didn’t need warm brown eyes staring at him as if he were the last ice cube on the road to hell.

  Maybe he was just aggravated because people made him the bad guy in this situation. All he wanted was to establish himself as a respected business owner, and run his contracting firm out of his hometown.

  He had expected some opposition. But buying a run-down building in the center of town had seemed a sensible way to gain support. Then he learned everyone was up in arms because he asked Edee Cutt to move out.

  Couldn’t they see he was doing her a favor?

  Didn’t people realize she needed a job to support herself and choices were slim in Redbud? A handful of bookkeeping clients would not keep Edee Cutt in food.

  And how many of the fine upstanding citizens of Redbud had signed up as clients of her web design business? Two maybe? He had, and so had Sam, which meant she could probably count on Ellie signing on as a client as well.

  How did people in this town expect her to live without selling her grandmother’s house? From her reaction when he made that suggestion, she wouldn’t even consider the option.

  And he was left wondering how she intended to support herself. He had faced that problem himself and been fortunate to have a mentor offer assistance. He wanted to pass the favor on to Edee, but she was so stubborn he was having a hard time getting around her pride.

  And the people in this town weren’t helping.

  Clearly, the town’s citizens didn’t understand the long process to permits to remodel this building. Hearing Edee hang up the phone he returned to their conversation.

  “Do you have any clients?” He repeated, keeping his back turned. The sight of Edee in fitted denim jeans played tricks with his ability to think straight. He needed his mind on the job, and off her delectable female curves.

  Edee rearranged one of the packed boxes sitting on the desk. “Just you.”

  “That’s it?” Swallowing, because her words made it hard to breathe, he frowned. One client? She had one client? How did she plan to keep her office open? She couldn’t pay bills with one client, much less eat. Had he made a mistake by trying to help her? Wouldn’t she be better off if she went back home? “I’m your only client?”

  “Sam’s considering signing up,” she shrugged.

  “You got plans?”

  “Maybe.” Edee looked up from stacking more things in a box. The clouds in her dark chocolate eyes sent a shaft of pain through his head. It wasn’t his place to worry about her lack of clients. Asking her to relocate hadn’t chased clients away.

  Meeting his gaze, she shrugged and put another frame in the box. “I was planning to move everything to the house…”

  At the tone of her voice, he frowned. “But?”

  “Ellie offered to let me the space over her shop—”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I thought I should stay downtown…be accessible for new clients.”

  Almost choking, J.T. forced his response. “Good idea.”

  Sending him a cold stare for the uncertainty in his tone, she said. “I do have the newspaper ad, you know.”

  “Ah, the newspaper advertisement,” he deserved an award for holding a straight face, “that should help.”

  Her dark eyes bored into his as if she were looking for hidden meaning in his words. Shoot! He knew she couldn’t make ends meet with what she would earn from response to that ad in the paper. And he knew better than most that relocating always cost money. “Don’t take on too many clients. I expect the town council to act on my permits any
day.”

  Edee dropped her eyes as she picked up an empty box and started packing books out of the tall bookcase. J.T. ambled over to help. He was putting the third handful of books in the box.

  “Sam sounds interested, and I think Ellie will want a website, too.” Her glance darted from his face to the books in his hands. A flush filled her cheeks with rosy color. J.T. knew females as well as the next guy, and, he knew a guilty look when he saw one. Question was, what made Edee look so guilty?

  And why did she look so dad gummed cute?

  The sight of her in jeans instead of those dresses had almost given him heart failure. It didn’t help that her navy t-shirt hugged her curves. The sound of her husky voice startled his wayward thoughts back to reality.

  “I offered to do Ellie’s website for free.”

  Squinting as he stacked books, J.T. pretended he hadn’t noticed the glitter of tears in her eyes, or the emotion that added the rough note to her voice. “Working for free won’t pay bills but it earns a ton in good will.”

  Nodding, Edee’s long dark hair swished, distracting his thoughts about how she would stay afloat until the town council approved his permit.

  “Ellie’s been so kind and she offered me use of her loft for office space, anyway, it’s free advertising for my business to have one of my website designs posted on the internet.

  The door opened. The barber strolled in. “I saw you carrying boxes when you arrived, Edee. Do you need help?”

  Edee smiled at the kind expression on Hoyt’s lined face. “Thanks, Mr. Grange, but I’m about finished.”

  “I’m helping!” J.T. held up a handful of books before lowering them to the box.”

  “After evicting Edee, young man, I’d say you’ve done enough.”

  ***

  “Why does she insist on pretending that bookkeeping business is worth the effort?” J.T. asked, ignoring the menu in his hand.

  Gum popping, Stella sighed. “She wants to keep things like her grandmother left them.”

  “Why?”