House Divided by Jennifer Peel Read Free Book Online Page A

looked at me as he exited. “If you need anything, Ms.
Eaton, you have my card and cell number.”
    I do need something. I need to get out of here .
    Brady saw Mr. Howard out and asked his
secretary to bring in the paperwork that had been prepared for me. He came back
in and took Mr. Howard’s empty chair next to me. His secretary brought in a
stack of papers and handed them to Brady, and then she shut the door on her way
out. I felt trapped.
    Brady looked at me and grinned. I didn’t return
it. I just wanted to get this over with.
    “You look fantastic, Ellie.”
    “Mr. Jackson, can we please just skip the
niceties and get on with it.”
    “Please, call me Brady.”
    I reached into my purse and got my pen
out. “Just tell me where to sign.”
    He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment,
then he began to arrange the paperwork on his desk. There were signature tabs
on each of the documents. He directed me to sign at each tab.
    I started signing the plethora of
documents.  I felt like that’s all I had done all day.
    “How’s your aunt?” Brady asked as I
signed.
    I didn’t even bother to look up at him as
I wrote out my signature for the hundredth time that day. The sooner I could
get out of there the better. “Feisty. She’s driving the doctors and nurses crazy.”
    Brady laughed. “How long will you be in
town?”
    I gave in and looked over to him. He
hadn’t changed much, other than he was even more handsome, but he still had
country boy charm written all over his face.  He looked at me sincerely.
    I turned back to the paperwork. “Hopefully
not long.”
    “Are you staying at your aunt’s house?”
    “What is this, twenty questions?”
    He reached over and lifted the pen out of
my hand. “Come on, Ellie, can’t we just talk?”
    “Why do you insist on calling me Ellie?”
    “You used to like it.”
    I took my pen back. “That was a long time
ago.”
    He tugged on my hair. “It wasn’t that long ago.”
    He was starting to get on my nerves. This
was business. “Do you treat all of your customers like this?”
    “No, but you’re my most beautiful
customer.”
    “Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr.
Jackson.”
    “Please, Ellie, you’re killing me with the
Mr. Jackson.”
    I finished signing the last document. “I
think that will do it.” I got up quickly to leave.
    “Please don’t go yet.”
    I turned back around. “Why, Brady? If I
remember right, you’re still a Jackson and I’m still an Eaton, with no titles
or crowns, and this is still against the rules.”
    “Things have changed, Ellie.”
    I edged closer to the door. I didn’t know
what that meant, things had changed, but I knew one thing that hadn’t changed,
and that was I still loved him and I could never have him. I needed to get away
from him. 
    “Thank you for your help,” I said as I
reached for the door.
    He was standing now too. “My niece loves
your books. She would love to meet you,” he quickly blurted out.
    That caught me off guard. His nieces would
be way older now than my target audience of four- to eight-year-olds. That is
unless he was married and he was talking about his wife’s side. I admit I had
already looked at his left hand to see if there was a ring there and there
wasn’t, but maybe he was just one of those guys that didn’t wear one. I hated
thinking about him married, but look at him, he was a catch to be sure. I was
sure he was already married.
    “That’s really sweet, I’ll have my office
send some signed copies to the bank for her,” I said all flustered. Then I made
a quick exit. As I marched through the bank, the stares continued. I felt like
yelling, “Don’t worry, Brady and I didn’t do anything against the rules.” I
hated this town.
    I sped through town and got to Aunt Lu’s
house, which was technically mine now, just in time for her three freshly cut
Christmas trees to arrive. She had also ordered fresh garland for all the
mantles. I let the men in and showed them where to