Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 by Christine Rimmer Read Free Book Online

pictures of existing furniture and fixtures that would be included in the new design.
    Before she left at four-thirty, she promised to crunch the numbers. The contract would be ready for his and Quinn’s approval early next week.
    â€œGive me a call,” said Manny. “We can decide then whether to meet here or at your showroom.”
    â€œThat’ll work.”
    Annabelle urged her to “Come back and see me soon, Chloe. And bring cookies.”
    Chloe promised that she would. She drove to the showroom, let Tai go home and got to work on the contract, planning out the estimated costs, room by room. At six, she closed up and headed for her house, a big, fat smile on her face and a thousand ideas for the redesign swirling in her brain.
    She parked in her detached garage and was halfway along the short breezeway to the front door when she caught sight of the gorgeous bouquet of orchids and roses waiting in a clear, square vase on the porch. It must be from Quinn. The arrangement was so simple and lovely and the gesture so thoughtful, she let out a happy cry just at the sight of it.
    Okay, it was a little silly to be so giddy at his thoughtfulness. But she hadn’t had flowers in so long. Ted used to buy them for her, and since the divorce, well, she had no desire to buy them for herself. To her, a gorgeous bouquet of flowers just reminded her of Ted and all the ways she’d messed up her life. But if Quinn gave her flowers, she could start to see a beautiful arrangement in a whole new light.
    She disarmed her alarm and unlocked the door—and then scooped up the vase and carried it in.
    Dropping her purse on the entry bench, she took the vase straight to the kitchen peninsula, where she set it carefully down. The card had a red amaryllis on the front and the single word, Bloom. Bloom was the shop that belonged to Quinn’s sister, Jody.
    Whipping the little card off its plastic holder, she flipped it open and read
Beautiful flowers always remind me of you. I hate that it went so wrong for us. I miss you.
    Ted

Chapter Four
    â€œN o!” Chloe shouted right out loud, not even caring that she sounded like some crazy person, yelling at thin air. “No, you do not get to do that. You do not.” She tore the note in half and then in half again and she dropped it on the floor and stomped on it for good measure. They were
divorced
, for God’s sake. He had a new wife. And all she wanted from him for now and forever was never to see or hear from him again.
    Her heart racing with a sick kind of fury that he’d dared to encroach on her new life where he had no business being, Chloe whipped the beautiful flowers from the vase. Dripping water across the counter and onto the floor, too, she dropped them in the trash compactor, shoved it shut and turned the motor on. The compactor rumbled. She felt way too much satisfaction as the machine crushed the bright blooms to a pulp.
    Once the flowers were toast, she poured the water from the vase into the sink, whipped the compactor open again and dropped the vase on top of the mashed flowers. She ran the motor a second time, grinning like a madwoman when she heard that loud, scary pop that meant the vase was nothing but shards of broken glass. After that, she picked up the little bits of card, every one, threw them in with the shattered vase and the pulped flowers, took the plastic bag out of the compactor, lugged it out to the trash bin and threw it in.
    Good riddance to bad trash.
    She spent a while stewing, considering calling Ted and giving him a large piece of her mind.
    But no. She wanted nothing to do with him and she certainly didn’t want to make contact with him again. That might just encourage him.
    She wondered if the flowers and the creepy note could be considered the act of a stalker.
    But then she reminded herself that Ted and his bride, Larissa, lived more than a thousand miles away in San Diego. It was one thing for Ted to have his