Turn My World Upside Down: Jo's Story by Maureen Child Read Free Book Online

out.
    He shook his head and folded his tanned, muscular arms across his chest. “Can’t figure out why I find such a nasty disposition so intriguing.”
    She folded her own arms across her own chest, matching his stance deliberately. “Maybe it’s the refreshing change from your legion of drooling fans.”
    One corner of his mouth quirked. “I don’t think so.”
    Inhaling sharply, Jo blew the breath out again before trying a different tactic. If she kept goading him—no matter how much she enjoyed it—she’d never find Jack and get home. “Look. I don’t want to play games. I’m too tired for one of our typical ‘conversations.’ So whydon’t you just show me where Jack is and we’ll both get out of your hair?”
    Nodding, he unfolded his arms and said, “Okay, we’ll play it your way for now. But sooner or later, you’re going to talk to me, Josefina.”
    “Don’t put money on it,” she muttered.
    “There’s that prize-winning personality again. Can’t understand why I enjoy that so much.”
    Before she could tell him what he could do with his “enjoyment,” Cash shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and started walking. “The house is just around the bend there.”
    They came around the edge of the stand of trees and Jo stopped dead in the middle of the road. She
felt
her jaw drop, but was simply too stunned to snap it closed again.
    The house was
breathtaking
.
    Tucked into the trees, it was a palace of wood and glass. Sharp angles slid into curved walls and back into a slice of terrace that dropped nearly to the surface of the lake crouched at the foot of the building. The forest reflected in the windows until it looked as though the house itself were a part of the woods that surrounded it.
    Jo took one slow step, then another, unable to tear her gaze from the structure. It was . . .
magic
.
    “You like it?”
    Pride hummed in his tone and she couldn’t even be irritated by how close he stood beside her. “It’s wonderful,” she said softly, her voice trailing away as she studied his home.
    Everywhere she looked, she found something new to admire. The curve of a window box at a tiny dormerwindow. The wide expanse of glass that swept around the far edge of the house like a clear shawl the building had wrapped around itself. Two river-rock chimneys sprouted from the multilevel roofline and a second-story balcony zigzagged down the side of the house in a series of ramps that reminded Jo of an old-fashioned fire escape—but this one was built for sheer beauty.
    A soft wind danced across the lake and swatted at them as it passed. Blinking, Jo finally forced her gaze from the amazing house and turned to look at him. “Grace always said you lived in a ‘cabin.’ ”
    And actually, Jo thought, even that wasn’t accurate. Grace Van Horn had told Jo that Cash lived in a shack on the back edge of her property.
    Shack.
    Only Grace, queen of the mini-mansions, would think of this place as a shack.
    Still stunned, Jo realized that all the time she and her sisters had spent working on the tiny guest cottage for Cash, they’d never seen his house. Never known that this incredible place was here, just a few hundred yards farther along that beaten track.
    If the man wanted privacy, he’d sure gotten it.
    Cash shrugged and started walking again. “It started out a cabin. I’ve made some changes.”
    “
You
did this?” she asked, stopping again because shock does tend to immobilize a person. “
You
built this house?”
    His lips quirked. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
    She couldn’t help it. She
was
surprised. Oh, she knew Cash was a good carpenter. But she never would have guessed that a man like him would have so much
artistry
inside him.
    And damn it, she didn’t like the flush of admiration she felt for his skills. His vision. Jo didn’t want to think of Cash as having
depth
.
    It would be so much easier on her if she could keep considering him as just a shallow