What a Woman Wants (A Manley Maids Novel) by Judi Fennell Read Free Book Online Page B

for him to get some info from her lawyer.
    Ignoring his guilty conscience, Sean pulled the door to the study closed, ran down the hall to the living room, tiptoed past when Livvy’s back was turned, went out through the French doors at the back of the hall, and slipped over to the ones from the living room to the patio, praying one curious lamb would find the opening he’d made with the door.
    L IVVY whirled around as Rhett tried to bite Orwell and Orwell tried to bite him back. These two never got along, and the storm’s electricity only made them antsier.
    Kind of what the electricity she had with Sean did to her.
    Livvy snorted. She’d made out with the maid. Wouldn’t the girls at school be surprised? And even more so once they’d gotten a look at said “maid.” Good-looking and he could kiss. He’d probably had so much practice at the second because of the first that she really shouldn’t be surprised.
    Rhett hocked a big noisy one at Orwell, but the bird managed to dodge it, leaving her cheek the perfect target, erasing the memory of Sean’s kiss faster than anything else could. Ugh.
    “Knock it off, Rhett.” She tried to shove the brute sideways, but he’d wedged himself next to the curio cabinet and wouldn’t budge.
    Total analogy for her life and the family she’d come from.
    But things would change once this place was hers. She’d be able to do whatever she wanted with it. Sell it, donate it, or even tear it down, and no one could tell her otherwise. She’d finally be able to put the past behind her and pay them back for the disinterested hell they’d put her through. Mom, too.
    And speaking of hell . . . The geese had settled onto the sideboard and were nipping at the kids as they tried to jump up with them. Randy, appropriately named, almost made it, but he slipped off and landed on top of Buttercup, who took off with a loud bleat and made a beeline for the opening in the French doors—
    How in the world did
that
happen? She could have sworn she’d shut them.
    And then it didn’t matter how it happened because Buttercup slipped out into the storm.
    Livvy took off after the scared little lamb. Daisy had the same idea. They met with a crash against each other and the doorframe, with Livvy’s leg taking the worst of it. Or rather, her butt did as she landed with a spine-jarring thud, cold wet marble not being the optimal surface to land on.
    Out Daisy went.
    This only encouraged the rest of the ewe’s triplets to follow. And then the kids followed suit, which, naturally, had their mother after them in yet another parade.
    Livvy scrambled to her feet, shoved Digger aside, and launched herself through the door onto Daisy’s back just before the sheep could ram into the wrought iron sofa and set everyone free.
    Cursing the rain, her grandmother, Daisy, Buttercup, and most especially Randy for starting it all, Livvy managed to round them all up after fifteen minutes that felt more like fifteen years.
    Where the hell was that sexy maid guy that had come with this place? It’d been much easier when she’d had him there to help her.
    Finally, with hair so wet there wasn’t a spring of curl left in it, her shirt doing double duty as a sponge, and the skirt more a hindrance than anything else, Livvy managed to corral all of the animals back inside where they went back to happily munching the rug. That reminded her; she needed to get them their feed from the barn where the driver had left it.
    At least it was dry. Too bad she couldn’t say the same for anything else in this room. Well, except for Orwell. Who was singing a Beatles’ medley at the top of his tiny little bird lungs fifteen feet up in the air on the corbel holding up the curtains.
    Now how was she supposed to get him down from there?
    A RE you sure she’s not available yet?” The lawyer set the tiny little china cup—the only serving glasses Sean could find—onto the mahogany desk.
    Sean had, luckily, found an old jar of instant