everything but it kind of felt that way.
She’d intended to be at the diner first but got a call about a potential job and had to take it. She wanted to be the one watching him make the long walk past the counter and swivel stools to the booths and tables at the far end. In a perfect world they would both have arrived at the same time, but why should her world start being perfect now? A world where she was in control and not nervous about what the man who’d walked out on her was up to.
Now she was late and moving toward a table in the back, where he was sitting and staring at her.
If only she knew what he was thinking. On the upside... She was ten years older and less likely to give a rat’s behind what Lincoln Hart was thinking. It had taken her a long time to get to a place where she didn’t care and no matter what Vicki thought, she really didn’t.
She slid into the red-padded booth seat and met his gaze across the gray Formica table. “Sorry I’m late.”
“No problem.” There was a nearly empty coffee mug in front of him. Apparently he’d been here long enough to drink it.
Rose waited to feel guilty about keeping him waiting, but couldn’t quite manage. “I had to take a work call.”
“Of course,” he said reasonably. “I hope it wasn’t a crisis situation.”
As opposed to sitting across from the man who once broke her heart and trying to pretend that same heart wasn’t pounding so hard it might give out?
She shook her head. “No crisis.”
“Good.”
Again she cursed the unfairness of him looking even better than he had ten years ago. She didn’t remember his eyes being such a dark shade of blue or that his shoulders were quite so wide. Could be the white dress shirt he was wearing, with the long sleeves rolled up to midforearm. It was a look she’d once loved on him and that thought didn’t do much to slow her pulse.
“So I’m glad you called,” he said.
“Hmm?” She blinked, suddenly realizing she’d been staring at his chest while her mind skipped down memory lane, very close to the point where she wondered how he looked without a shirt now. “Right. My call. Thanks for meeting me.”
“You wanted to discuss the job offer.”
“Yes.”
Before she could say more, the waitress came over to take their orders. Rose had been hungry until seeing Linc put knots in her stomach the size of a Toyota. But she figured a half-sandwich-and-salad combo would work. He asked for a burger and fries so obviously his appetite was totally unaffected by seeing her. That was irritating.
When they were alone again she asked, “Where is this condo again? The one you need decorated?”
“Blackwater Lake, Montana. It’s a picturesque town that’s being compared to Vail and Aspen in Colorado.”
“And what are we talking about? Paint? Furniture? A theme?”
He nodded. “Everything. Flooring, fixtures, carpet. Right now it’s just a shell and the builder left it that way at my request.”
“It’s my understanding that you can’t get a mortgage unless the flooring is installed.”
“I don’t have a mortgage.”
Of course he didn’t. His family had buckets of money. Whether or not he was a Hart by blood, clearly Linc was one of their own. Rose refused to wonder what it would have been like to be married to him and not have to worry about the money to pay her rent. It would be dishonest to say she hadn’t been dazzled by the glitz and glamour of the Hart name and all it represented, but that’s not why she’d fallen in love with him.
“So you’re talking about cupboards, sinks and everything?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re not living there yet.”
“No,” he replied.
Rose waited for him to fill in the blank of where he did stay but that didn’t happen. “Are there accommodations in this picturesque place?”
“I’ll handle that and pay all of your expenses.”
There was a question she just had to ask because it would be stupid not to. “What’s in this for you, Linc?”
His easygoing expression didn’t waver. “I get a beautifully decorated condo. What else would there be?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. You led me on once and even married me to get what you wanted, so I’d just like to know if I should be worried.”
“I can’t stop you. But I give you my word that I only want to take advantage of your decorating expertise to make my place a serene and comfortable space to live in.”
“So this time you’re not planning to get me into bed and have your way with me under false pretenses?”
His gaze narrowed, a sign that the barb drew a little blood. “There were no false pretenses the first time.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“There’s nothing I can say to change that.” His mouth pulled tight for a moment. “But let me add this—I researched your company and it’s in trouble. Decorating my place is more than a job. It’s an opportunity for the kind of publicity that you can’t afford. I feel badly about what happened and this is my way of making it up to you.”
So it was pity.
The words made her feel both better and worse. There was some satisfaction in calling him on the crap he’d pulled but he really had all the power. Her business needed help and no one else was offering. “Okay, then. I’ll put together a contract with a rough estimate of my time and a price. You can decide if it’s acceptable.”
“It will be.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“I don’t have to.” He took a sip of coffee and met her gaze over the rim of the mug.
She knew he was a successful executive and didn’t achieve his level of affluence by making bad deals. “What if the charges are inflated?”
“I have trust.”
“That makes one of us because I don’t trust you.”
“You’ve made that really clear. And I completely understand.” Again with the irritating reasonableness. “I’m happy to pay whatever you want to charge for your services.”
“You do realize I’m not a hooker.”
Even though it had been a quickie marriage in Vegas that’s the way he’d made her feel ten years ago. Her words produced barely a flicker of an eyelash but she knew they’d hit their target again. Well, too darn bad. And the exhilaration she felt right now was proof that she’d deliberately provoked him. Not smart to cut off her nose
