The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie Read Free Book Online Page A

great.
    Howard transferred his sneer to Linc. “Hey, she knows how this works.”
    “If you owe her the money—” Linc began again.
    “I don’t know who you really are, buddy,” Howard interrupted, “but…”
    Buddy? Daisy watched Line’s face darken.
Thank you, Howard, for being a consistent jerk
, she thought. An equal opportunity jerk. A jerk for all seasons.
    “Give her the money, Howard,” Linc said.
    Daisy stole another glance at Linc. He looked mad. Big and mad. And it was all for her. Oh, good. Oh, really good.
    “What?” Howard stepped back.
    “I said, give her the money.” Linc put both hands on the counter and loomed over him. “Pretend it’s the end of the month and give her what you owe her.”
    Daisy looked at Howard, expecting him to sneer again, but he didn’t. He was looking at Linc with healthy respect. And Linc wasn’t looking much like a college professor, not with that jaw. He was looking like a thug with a very short fuse. She heard the register chime, and Howard shoved a handful of bills at her.
    She counted it. “This is only seventy. You owe me a hundred and twenty, Howard.”
    “You’re wasting our time, Howard,” Linc said.
    Howard shoved some more bills at Daisy.
    Daisy counted some more. “This is too much.” She put some of the bills back on the counter. “Now we’re even.”
    “Great,” Howard said, never taking his eyes off Linc.
    “Well, I think so,” Daisy said.
     
    Out in the car, Daisy looked at Linc proudly. “My brother from Jersey.”
    Linc closed his eyes and wondered if there was insanity in his family. First “Yes, I have a fiancee” and now “Yes, I’m her brother from New Jersey.” At least this time he hadn’t actually said anything. This one wasn’t his fault. He turned and glared at Daisy. “Don’t ever do that again.”
    Daisy bounced a little on the seat as she looked at the bills fanned out in her hand. “That was terrific.”
    He pulled out into traffic and then looked at her, bouncing with happiness, and he was torn between killing her and jumping her, which only increased his annoyance. “Not
ever
again.”
    She beamed over at him. “You were great.”
    He glared at her harder. “I mean it.
Not ever again
.”
    “All right.” Daisy clutched her money and smiled at him, content. “Not ever again. My brother from Jersey is now dead.”
    He moved into the fast lane and picked up speed. What the hell did she think she was doing in there? What the hell did
he
think he was doing in there? Linc shook his head. The woman was a menace. Still, she didn’t deserve the way that jerk had treated her. Whatever else Daisy Flattery did, he was sure she didn’t ask for anything she didn’t deserve. And Howard had been kicking her around just because he could. Linc hated bullies, having run across quite a few of them in his youth, people who thought because you were poor it was all right to push you around. It wasn’t, and telling Howard that it wasn’t had felt great. Making Howard’s sneer disappear like dirty snow in the rain hadn’t been the intelligent, mature, responsible thing to do, but it had been satisfying. And fun—
    No, it hadn’t. He stopped for a red light and glared at Daisy again. “Don’t
ever
do that again.”
    She rolled her eyes, exasperated. “All
right
.”
    Linc made a sound between a groan and a snarl and stepped on the gas as the light turned green.
    “You know,” she said a few minutes later as he pulled into the driveway at their house, “I don’t think you appreciate me.”
    “You’re an acquired taste.” He got out and held the car door open for her. “And unfortunately, we’re not going to be together long enough for me to acquire that taste.”
    “That’s not unfortunate.” Daisy took his hand as he levered her out of the low-slung car seat. “Just because .you acquired a taste for me doesn’t mean I’d let you indulge it. You’ve just saved yourself a lot of frustration.”
    Linc