Reunited in Walnut River
Page 18
“This is basically the same floor plan as my rooms below, with three bedrooms, as well as the living room and kitchen,” she explained. “You’ve got an en suite bathroom off the largest bedroom and another one for the other two bedrooms.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of room for one guy.”
“It’s a big house,” she said with a shrug. She had even more room downstairs, factoring in the extra bedroom in one addition and the large south-facing sunroom.
Winston House was entirely too rambling for one single woman and three bad-tempered cats. It had been too big for an older couple and their adopted daughter. It had been too large when it was just her and her mother, after her father died.
The place had basically echoed with emptiness for the better part of a year after her mother’s deteriorating condition had necessitated her move to the nursing home in Shelter Springs. Her mother had hoped to return to the house she had loved, but that never happened, and Mariah Winston died four months ago.
Julia missed her every single day.
“Do you think it will work for you?” she asked.
“It’s more than I need, but should be fine. Eliza told you this is only temporary, right?”
Julia nodded. She was counting on it. Then she could find a nice, quiet, older lady to rent who wouldn’t leave her so nervous.
“She said your apartment lease ran out before your new condo was finished.”
“Yes. The development was supposed to be done two months ago, but the builder has suffered delay after delay. I’ve already extended my lease twice. I didn’t want to push my luck with my previous landlady by asking for a third extension.”
All Jamie had to do was smile at the woman and she likely would have extended his lease again without quibbling. And probably would have given him anything else he wanted, too.
Julia didn’t ask why he chose not to move into Snow Angel Cove with his brother Aidan and Aidan’s wife Eliza and their children. It was none of her business anyway. The only thing she cared about was the healthy amount he was paying her in rent, which would just about cover the new furnace she had installed a month earlier.
“It was a lucky break for me when Eliza told me you were considering taking on a renter for your upstairs space.”
He aimed that killer smile at her again, and her core muscles trembled from more than just her workout that morning.
If she wasn’t very, very careful, she would end up making a fool of herself over the man.
It took effort, but she fought the urge to return his smile. This was business, she told herself. That’s all. She had something he needed, a place to stay, and he was willing to pay for it. She, in turn, needed funds if she wanted to maintain this house that had been in her family for generations.
“It works out for both of us. You’ve already signed the rental agreement outlining the terms of your tenancy and the rules.”
She held out the information packet. “Here you’ll find all the information you might need, information like internet access, how to work the electronics and the satellite television channels, garbage pickup day and mail delivery. Do you have any other questions?”
Business, she reminded herself, making her voice as no-nonsense and brisk as possible.
“I can’t think of any now, but I’m sure something will come up.”
He smiled again, but she thought perhaps this time his expression was a little more reserved. Maybe he could sense she was un-charmable.
Or so she wanted to tell herself, anyway.
“I would ask that you please wipe your feet when you carry your things in and out, given the snow out there. The stairs are original wood, more than a hundred years old.”
Cripes. She sounded like a prissy spinster librarian.
“I will do that, but I don’t have much to carry in. Since El told me the place is furnished, I put almost everything in storage.” He gestured to the duffel and laptop bag, which he had set inside the doorway. “Besides this, I’ve only got a few more boxes in the car.”
“In that case, here are your keys. The large one goes to the outside door. The smaller one is for your apartment. I keep the outside door locked at all times. You can’t be too careful.”
“True enough.”
She glanced at her watch. “I’ve afraid I’ve already gone twenty minutes past my lunch hour and must return to the library. My cell number is written on the front of the packet, in case of emergency.”
“Looks like you’ve covered everything.”
“I think so.” Yes, she was a bit obsessively organized, and she didn’t like surprises. Was anything wrong with that?
“I hope you will be comfortable here,” she said, then tried to soften her stiff tone with a smile that felt every bit as awkward. “Good afternoon.”
“Uh, same to you.”
Her heart was still pounding as she nodded to him and hurried for the stairs, desperate for escape from all that…masculinity.
She rushed back downstairs and into her apartment for her purse, wishing she had time to splash cold water on her face.
However would she get through the next six weeks with him in her house?
* * *
HE WAS NOT looking forward to the next six weeks.
Jamie stood in the corner of the main living space to the apartment he had agreed to rent, sight unseen.
Big mistake.
It was roomy and filled with light, that much was true. But the decor was too…fussy…for a man like him, all carved wood and tufted upholstery and pastel wall colorings.
It wasn’t exactly his scene, more like the kind of place a repressed, uppity librarian might live.
As soon as he thought the words, Jamie frowned at himself. That wasn’t fair. She might not have been overflowing with warmth and welcome, but Julia Winston had been very polite to him—especially since he knew she hadn’t necessarily wanted to rent to him.
This was what happened when he gave his sister-in-law free rein to find him an apartment in the tight local rental market. She had been helping him out since he had been crazy busy the last few weeks flying Caine Tech execs from coast to coast—and all places in between—as they worked on a couple of big mergers.
Eliza had wanted him to stay at her and Aidan’s rambling house by the lake. The place was huge, and they had plenty of room, but while he loved his older brother Aidan and his wife and kids, Jamie preferred his own space. He didn’t much care what that space looked like, especially when it was temporary.
With time running out on his lease extension, he had been relieved when Eliza called him via Skype the week before to tell him she had found him something more than suitable, for a decent rent.
“You’ll love it!” Eliza had beamed. “It’s the entire second floor of a gorgeous old Victorian in that great neighborhood on Snow Blossom Lane, with a simply stunning view of the lake.”
“Sounds good,” he had answered.
“You’ll be upstairs from my friend Julia Winston, and, believe me, you couldn’t ask for a better landlady. She’s sweet and kind and perfectly wonderful. You know Julia, right?”
When he had looked blankly at her and didn’t immediately respond, his niece Maddie had popped her face on to the screen from where she had been apparently listening in off-camera. “You know! She’s the library lady. She tells all the stories!
“Ah. That Julia,” he said, not bothering to mention to his seven-year-old niece that in more than a year of living in town, he had somehow missed out on story time at the Haven Point library.
He also didn’t mention to Maddie’s mother that he only vaguely remembered Julia Winston. Now that he had seen her again, he understood why. She was the kind of woman who tended to slip into the background—and he had the odd impression that wasn’t accidental.
She wore her brown hair past her shoulders, without much curl or style to it and held back with a simple black band, and she appeared to use little makeup to play up her rather average features.
&n
bsp; She did have lovely eyes, he had to admit. Extraordinary, even. They were a stunning blue, almost violet, fringed by naturally long eyelashes.
Her looks didn’t matter, nor did the decor of her house. He would only be here a few weeks, then he would be moving into his new condo.
She clearly didn’t like him. He frowned, wondering how he might have offended Julia Winston. He barely remembered even meeting the woman, but he must have done something for her to be so cool to him.
A few times during that odd interaction, she had alternated between seeming nervous to be in the same room with him to looking at him with her mouth pursed tightly, as if she had just caught him spreading peanut butter across the pages of War and Peace.
She was entitled to her opinion. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t need everyone to like him.
His brothers would probably say it was good for him to live upstairs from a woman so clearly immune to his charm.
One thing was clear: he now had one more reason to be eager for his condo to be finished.
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ISBN-13: 9781488080777
Reunited in Walnut River
First published as A Merger…or Marriage by Harlequin Special Edition in 2008
This edition published in 2017
Copyright © 2008 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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