One Week with her Rival:Eden Manor, Book One(2)

     



 

At least Joe didn't appear to be around. Maybe she could make it through the day without running into him.

As if her thoughts had materialized him, she saw a familiar pickup truck  approaching on the long gravel drive. Her heart clenched in a familiar  way, and she worked on steeling her expression.

Joe had bought a new truck last year-a very large, expensive one that he  must wash every few days. He parked it right beside her SUV, making it  impossible for her to slip away without confronting him.

He was grinning as he slid out of the driver's seat with a clipboard.

He was about six feet with medium brown hair, blue eyes, and a perpetual  need of a shave. She couldn't help but like the looks of him, something  that constantly drove her crazy.

A man like him shouldn't be so sexy and good-looking. It was one of the small injustices of life.

"Vanessa," he said, still smiling as he closed his truck's door and  walked around her SUV to her driver's side. "I was wondering if you'd be  here today."

"Why wouldn't I be?" She kept her tone casual. She didn't like to let him see that even his presence upset her.

"What do you think about the crazy deadline? The whole entry hall completed by the end of the week? That's pretty rough."

She'd tried to reach her car door, but he'd positioned his body so she  couldn't get to it without pushing him aside. "Yeah," she said with a  light smile. "It's ambitious, but doable. Your guys are making good  progress on the outside."

"Yeah." Joe looked back at the house, an automatic assessment of the  work done in his absence. She recognized the look, since she wore it  herself all the time. "Who is this guy we're supposed to be showing off  for anyway."

"Their investor," Vanessa said with arched eyebrows. "Didn't they tell you?"

"Yeah, but they acted like I should know who he is."

"Harrison Damon. He's one of those Damons. You know, the family who owns  all those old-fashioned hotels, restaurants, and tea houses. Surely  you've heard of them."

Enlightenment dawned on Joe's face. "Oh, yeah. No wonder they're so  uptight about it. How did they hook up with an investor like that? They  look like they're barely out of school."

Despite her attitude toward Joe, Vanessa could understand the sentiment.  Kelly and Peter Blake, the new owners of this bed and breakfast, had to  be in their early twenties. They apparently knew what they were doing,  and so far they'd done everything in a very professional manner. But, at  twenty-eight, Vanessa still felt old next to them.

She wasn't used to feeling that way.

"You know better than to assume appearance has anything to do with competence," she said coolly.

"True." Joe's friendly smile changed slightly, and he leaned in closer  to her, planting a hand on her SUV behind her. "I'd never believe  someone as little and pretty as you could be a good contractor."

She realized there was a compliment implicit in the words-that she was a  good contractor-but the reference to her appearance and the sudden heat  in his eyes immediately raised her defenses.

He'd looked at her that way a lot when she'd first met him, in that year  after Carl had died. She'd believed the appreciation was real.

She knew better now.

"And I'd never believe someone as obnoxious as you could maintain  employees longer than a couple of months, so I guess we both have to  work on our assumptions."

To someone else, the words might have been mean, but Joe obviously  didn't take anything about her seriously. He didn't look offended. He  looked amused.

And she had to put up a good defense with him or he would just walk all over her.

"Good one," he said, laughter in his eyes. "But what you find obnoxious, others might see as having a good sense of humor."

She shook her head, trying not to respond to the warm amusement. He  could-he did-sometimes make her laugh, which just annoyed her even more.  "Shows how clueless some people are."

He chuckled and lifted his hand, for a moment looking like he would  touch her face or her hair. But then he dropped it quickly and  straightened up.

Vanessa sighed in relief-and maybe the slightest bit of  disappointment-now that she wasn't trapped between him and the SUV.  "Anyway, I've got work to do." She put on her professional face, hoping  he'd get the hint and move on.

Joe Coleman never seemed to take any hints. "It's going to be a  challenge to get that whole staircase done by the end of the week. Do  you think you can do it?"         

     



 

In anyone else, she would have assumed he was genuinely interested and  maybe a little concerned for her sake. But she wasn't deceived by the  sincere look in his eyes. "Yes. Of course I can do it."

"It's not just the railing, which is going to be hard enough even for  Ruth. It's all the stairs. I was looking at them the other day, and  they're in pretty bad shape."

She sucked in a breath. "Why were you looking at them? The stairs are my job."

"I know. I was just interested. Who do you have to work on them?"

She had Carl's cousin, Hal, and a buddy of his. Those were the only  competent guys she could rely on to do basic construction work, since  everyone else wanted to work for Joe. But she wasn't going to admit this  to him. "I've got it covered."

"I could lend you one of my guys, if you need someone else."

Narrowing her eyes, she tried to see what was going on in his mind, but  all she saw was his typical laidback amusement. "And what would you  expect in return?"

"You could lend me Ruth for the Ungers' house. They've got carved  paneling in the dining room that no one on my crew is good enough to  tackle."

No wonder he was being so generous. He needed something from her.  Typical. "You can ask Ruth yourself, if you need her for a job. She's a  freelancer. She doesn't work exclusively for me."

"Yeah, but she won't even take my calls. She doesn't like me."

Vanessa tried very hard not to feel pleasure at this admission. "I can't help you with that."

"I bet she'd do the job if you asked her to."

Ruth probably would. "I'm not going to ask her to do a job for someone she doesn't like."

"But I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me because of you."

"I can't dictate how other people feel about you. It's your own fault.  She's not forgiven you for being such a jackass with me when you were  trying to get my business before."

His face twisted slightly. "That was two and a half years ago. It was  one mistake. I honestly thought you'd be glad to unload the company. I  was just being nice and trying to convince you it should be to me you  sold out to."

Unload the company. That was what he thought of the business Carl had worked so hard to build.

She bit back her initial response, which was to berate him for how he  hadn't been nice-he'd been trying to take advantage of her. But that  would make her vulnerable, show him that his treatment of her still  really bothered her. So she said coolly, "If you want people to like you  better, you might try to tame your obnoxiousness."

Joe's gaze flickered between frustration and his characteristic  amusement before he got back down to business. "But seriously. I'd give  you two guys on the stairs this week if you'll put a good word in for me  with Ruth."

Momentarily, Vanessa was tempted. She could use some extra laborers this  week. But her relationship with Ruth was one of the few advantages she  had in keeping her company afloat. She couldn't give it up. "If you want  Ruth to work for you, you'll have to approach her yourself. I can't  help you with that."

He let out a resigned sigh. "It's no good. She's loyal to you."

Vanessa gave a little shrug. "Some people are."

Something changed on Joe's face for a moment-a flicker of knowledge that  made Vanessa decidedly nervous. "Some people are loyal, yeah. But I  wouldn't expect everyone to stay loyal when it comes to business."

"What does that mean?" Her breathing had sped up at the almost sober tone of his voice.

He gave her a half-shrug. "Nothing."

"It means something. Who isn't as loyal as they've been?" She thought  through her relationships with the fine craftspeople in the area.  "Obviously, it's not Ruth. And Mason Porter was Carl's uncle. He'll  never leave me." Mason was an artist with plaster and a great boon to  Vanessa's business.

"Not Porter. Of course not."

The next obvious possibility was Silas Vance, the best glass and  metal-worker in the county-maybe in the whole state. "Silas was Carl's  best friend."

Joe raised his eyebrows and didn't say anything.

Vanessa sucked in a breath. "Silas isn't going to work for you."

"That's his decision, isn't it?"

She felt a chill run up and down her spine at the possibility. Ever  since her husband had died, Silas had been loyal to Vanessa, doing  contracted jobs only for her, other than his artwork that he sold in  craft fairs and local stores. She needed to use Silas for the stained  glass and iron railings in Eden Manor. If Silas decided to expand his  business to include Joe, Vanessa was going to be at a significant  disadvantage.