Enlisted by Love by Jenny Jacobs Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t tell me. Dashboard hula girls and seashell picture frames. I don’t want to know.”
    â€œI’m sure you’ll think of something to do with them.”
    â€œKindling.”
    â€¢ • •
    â€œLet me talk to him,” Greta said, setting aside her laptop and adjusting the pillow behind her back. She closed her eyes for a moment to center herself, remembering her yoga teacher’s admonitions to find her happy place. Just because he unsettled her, had her longing for something she’d never experienced, made her think about things — all right, made her think about
kissing
— there was no reason she couldn’t suck it up and deal with him. With a sigh, she held out her hand.
    Tess surrendered the phone, mouthing a grateful “thank you” as she did. She’d been trying to explain Greta’s design plan to Ian, without much success.
    â€œMr. Blake — yes, fine,
Ian
— I will not allow that collection of curios to be displayed in the living room,” Greta said, without wasting any time on small talk. She gripped the receiver tighter. Really, the man made her forget the first thing about professionalism. It wasn’t that her clients necessarily thought of her as warm and nurturing, but she was always well-mannered and courteous.
    â€œBut I want to put them where I can see them,” he said.
    â€œWhy?” she demanded.
    â€œI like them.”
    She did not respond immediately. Let him deduce the message from the silence.
    Apparently her silence was more persuasive than her speech, because after a long moment, he yielded, saying, “At least let me put them up in the bedroom.”
    She closed her eyes again. After she had counted to ten, and then to twenty, she was able to speak. She said, “Ian.”
    â€œHow about — ”
    â€œNo.” He would suggest the kitchen next. She knew his type very well. There was no “no” he would not attempt to negotiate, no boundary he would not attempt to cross. “And not in the bathroom or the front hall, either. You may put them in the utility room.”
    â€œBut — ”
    â€œThat is my final offer.”
    â€œIt’s my house.”
    Give me strength
, she thought. “If you wanted a designer you could boss around, you should have hired Alison. In fact, you still may. I would encourage you to do so.”
    This time he was silent. Probably he had noticed she hadn’t offered to return his retainer and was calculating the costs vis-à-vis his bank account balance.
    There was a moment of fulminating silence, and then he said, “Yes, ma’am.”
    â€œYou’ll appreciate this later,” Greta said in her most reassuring way, relieved that he wasn’t being as stubborn as she knew he was fully capable of being. “You’ll see I’m right.”
    â€œI have no doubt you’re right,” he admitted. “I just don’t have to like it.”
    She hung up and turned to Tess with a smug, superior smile. “And that, kid, is how it’s done.”
    â€œUh huh,” Tess said. “How
what’s
done?”
    That
, Greta reflected, her pleasure at winning dimming a little,
is a very good question.

Chapter Four
    â€œWhat’s wrong with displaying my carefully gathered collection of tchochkes?” Ian asked. He had a root beer in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other and ordinarily he would not be thinking about interior decoration under the circumstances. But he had become a bit obsessed.
    He and Michael were watching Monday Night Football in Tess’s crowded living room, which no decorator had ever touched, not withstanding the fact that she was Greta’s business partner. Unlike Greta, apparently Tess did not think her entire life should revolve around her work.
    Right now, she was on the sofa, snuggled against Michael, a magazine open in her lap, but she seemed more interested in giving her