The Pint-Sized Secret by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

that upset your date?”
    “I was planning on going solo. They have my money. No one will miss me.”
    Brianna doubted that.
    He gave her one of those winning, megawatt smiles. “So, how about it?”
    “Sorry, no.”
    “Another date?”
    “No.”
    “Too much to do?”
    “Yes.”
    “You work too hard,” he scolded. “It’s not good for you. You need to relax, have some fun.”
    “I thought that’s what I did last night. Now I have to catch up.”
    “On?”
    “Housework. Paperwork. I have an important business trip at the end of next week.”
    Clearly undaunted, he suggested, “Tell me about it.”
    “You’d be bored to tears.”
    “It’s my family’s business. Why would I be bored?”
    Put in her place, Brianna searched for an explanation that would ring true. She couldn’t very well tell him that he made her uneasy, that she simply wanted him to go, that she didn’t want to get too comfortable with having someone—especially him—around.
    “Rumor has it that you don’t care all that much about oil, that you’re working at the company because your father expects it,” she said eventually. “Naturally I assumed hearing about dirt samples and rocks would bore you.”
    He surveyed her with one of those knowing, penetrating looks that he obviously knew rattled her. “I’ll bet you could make it interesting.”
    “I don’t have time to try,” she said flatly. Then because her first tactic had clearly backfired, she tried another one. “Before I get down to work, I have to do my chores around here. With my schedule, I have to stick to a routine.”
    “In other words, you’re in a rut.”
    “I prefer to think of it as living a structured life,” she said testily.
    “Okay, then, I’ll help,” he volunteered.
    Taken aback by the unexpected offer, she stared at him. “You’ll help?” she repeated, as if his offer hadn’t been entirely clear. When he nodded, she asked, “Why?”
    “Why not? I can run a vacuum or dust as well as the next person, though I’m a little curious why a woman with so much on her plate and making your salary wouldn’t have a maid.”
    “Because I have better uses for my money,” she said tersely, brushing past him and going inside, hoping to put an end to this absurd discussion. If she could have, she would have slammed the door in his face, but there were a whole lot of reasons for not doing that, starting with his ability to make trouble for her at the office. Naturally, he didn’t take the hint. He followed.
    The minute he crossed the threshold, she very nearly panicked. Had she left the door to Emma’s room closed, as she usually did? Though the townhouse was a recent acquisition, purchased in the aftermath of the divorce because she no longer had the funds or the time to cope with the upkeep on the house she and her ex had shared, she had decorated a room for her daughter. It was filled with dolls and stuffed animals, the overflow from a collection too big for Emma’s room at the rehab center.
    The bed was a little girl’s dream, a white four-poster with a pink eyelet canopy and matching comforter. Emma had picked it out just before the accident, but she had never slept in it. It had been delivered during those awful days when they hadn’t known if she would live or die. When Larry would have sent it back, Brianna had insisted on keeping it, clinging to it as a talisman that her daughter would get well and come home again.
    “Excuse me a minute,” she said, and dashed upstairs to check the door. If she couldn’t talk Jeb into leaving, she had to be sure he wouldn’t spot any evidence that she had a daughter.
    Upstairs, she found the door to Emma’s room closed. She turned the key in the lock as an added precaution, then pocketed it. Thank heavens, the only pictures of Emma were in her bedroom, a place she was all but certain she could manage to keep Jeb from entering.
    When she went back downstairs, she found Jeb surveying the living room with