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The Man Must Marry(35)

By:Janet Chapman


"It looks nice. I was a bit surprised to see the reception area painted   in such cheery colors. I thought the collection of antique urns was a   nice touch, though."

"Ten days ago, that lobby was deep green and brown, with gold leaf   accents. And there was a beautiful bronze statue of a breaching whale.   Now that's sitting in my office suite, under a newly installed   spotlight."

Sam stared at her. "Who has the authority to sign checks on your business accounts?"

"Only me, but it doesn't matter. If I don't okay an expense, they simply   use their own money. Or sometimes they pool their paychecks to buy   whatever they think my business needs. My older workers are very well   off, and a lot of them don't have any close family to leave their   estates to. So they indulge themselves by running Kent Caskets the way   they want to run it."

"That's actually very dangerous, Willa. If one of them dies and a   relative comes out of the woodwork, you could be sued for whatever your   deceased worker had contributed to your business."

"I have two retired lawyers working in sales, and they've made sure that can't happen." She shrugged.

"Kent Caskets is more about people than it is about money. And if   anything, they've taught me that gobs of money sitting in the bank is   stagnant energy. They spent their entire lives working hard to   accumulate it but found it has little value in and of itself. They claim   they enjoy spending their money much more than they enjoyed earning   it." She sighed. "But I think their greatest joy is doing stuff behind   my back."

"You have got to be the weirdest woman I know," he said, more to himself than to her.

"Thank you," she snapped, turning to face the windshield. "Let's go.Shelby 's waiting for me."

"I meant that as a compliment, Willa," he said, starting the truck. "What the-where's the gas pedal?"

"On the left side."

He looked down, touched the pedal, and revved the engine, then looked at her. "Why is it on the left?"

"This is the truck Abram bequeathed to Jennifer. She only has her   learner's permit, so I let her drive to school this morning, then I   drove here." She grinned smugly. "You can take her driving this   afternoon. She wants to meet you anyway, to thank you in person for the   truck."

"I didn't have anything to do with this truck."

Willa shrugged. "She thinks it's very nice how you Sinclair men don't   mind that your grandfather gave part of your inheritance to her. Oh, and   she thinks you're really sweet to let me keep the RoseWind without   making a stink." She fastened her seat belt, almost giddy with   anticipation. "Drive. I want to be home when Richard shows up."

"Will he cause trouble forShelby ? Maybe I should hang around your house today."

"We don't need you to protect us from Richard. He won't do anything   stupid. He was angry when he brought Abram down toNew York because Shel   had just told him about the divorce, and he blamed me. Let's go."

Sam put his foot on the brake, pulled the shifting lever into drive, and   pushed down on the accelerator with his left foot. Jennifer's  brand-new  truck shot out of its parking space as if it had been kicked  in the  ass. Willa had to brace her hand on the dash when Sam slammed on  the  brakes and they came to an equally abrupt halt.                       
       
           



       

"Hell," he muttered, darting a glance at the building to see if anyone   was watching. He shifted in his seat and tried to reach the gas pedal   with his right foot.

"I already tried that," Willa said from behind her hand, which she was   using to hold in her laughter. "It doesn't work, because the brake pedal   gets in the way. You have to use your left foot."

He turned and glared at her.

"Switching the pedal to the left was Emmett's idea, since Jennifer's right foot is a prosthesis."

"Using my right foot is so ingrained it's automatic. How did you get to work this morning without killing anyone?"

"I actually got pretty good at it after several miles. Go ahead, give it another try."

"You set me up," he growled, slowly letting his right foot off the brake, easing down on the gas pedal with his left.

"Oh, like you set me up this morning? You're supposed to be on your way back toNew York -

without telling anyone we spent the last five days together."

"They wanted to know who beat me up, and I told them you did," he said, concentrating on idling out to the road.

He looked both ways for traffic, and Willa's head slammed into the   headrest when they suddenly took off. She had to grab the door handle to   stay upright because they were turning at the time. "Um … my house is  the  other way."

Sam muttered something appropriately nasty.

He found a place to turn around and got them headed in the right   direction, accompanied by the squeals of spinning tires. The ride   eventually got less jackrabbitty as he got used to using his left foot,   and they only had twenty cars behind them when they finally turned into   her driveway. Willa decided it must be a guy thing, not pulling over  to  let honking traffic pass. Sam stopped the truck beside Peg's car,  shut  off the engine with a deep sigh, and looked around. "Nice place. I  can  see why it appealed to Bram."

"He stayed in that cottage over there," she said, pointing past him   toward the bluff. "You can go see it if you want. I don't know if   there's anything of his left in there or not; I haven't had time to look   around yet."

Peg and Shelby came out of the house and stood on the porch. Sam got out   to greet Peg and introduce himself toShelby , and Willa took her time   following. Did she still own that book that explained how to wipe out   bad karma, or had she foolishly donated it to the library book sale?

Chapter Sixteen

As soon as Peggot a good look at Sam, she dragged him inside and scolded   him for making such a mess of himself. Willa and Shelby had to run   upstairs so Sam and Peg wouldn't catch them laughing hysterically.   Neither of them could decide which was more outrageous, that Peg was   making such a fuss over Sam or that he was letting her. "I thought she   was going to start kissing his booboos,"Shelby said, flopping down onto   Willa's bed in laughter. "Cody runs in the opposite direction if I even   ask if he's hurt."

Willa walked over to her closet and started pulling out hangers of   clothes. "You should have seen Sam in my break room this morning. He was   pointing out every little bruise to my workers and blaming me for each   one."

Shelbysat up when Willa set an armful of clothes on the bed beside her. "My God, he's handsome.

Wait-why would Sam blame you? And how did he get so beat up?" Then her   eyes widened. "Oh, my God! He sailed down fromNew York with you on the   RoseWind! That's what he meant when he told Peg you tried to drown him."   She jumped up and followed Willa back to the closet. "How come you   didn't tell me about Sam last night?"

"I forgot."

"You forgot?" She grabbed Willa's arm and swung her around. "You can't   just forget to tell me you spent five days on a boat with a man. I'm   your sister! You're supposed to tell me everything."Shelby dragged her   back to the bed. "Okay, out with it. Did he make a pass at you?" She   grinned. "Did you make a pass at him? "

Willa escaped back to the closet. "That's none of your business."

"Emmett doesn't call you Willy Wild Child for nothing,"Shelby said,   following her. "You're a completely different person when you're at   sea." She grabbed the clothes out of Willa's hands and tossed them in   the general direction of the bed. "Or should that be wild woman ?" Her   voice dropped. "Willa, be honest now. You're attracted to Sam, aren't   you? I mean, you'd consider having an affair with him if the opportunity   presented itself, wouldn't you?"                       
       
           



       

"He's ten times crazier than Abram, Shel. The man jumped out of a   helicopter in the middle of Long Island Sound, for crying out loud."

Shelbypulled her into a huge hug. "Oh, this is wonderful! It's about damn time you had a fling."

Willa pulled free and crossed her arms under her breasts. "And you think   he's just the man to end my drought? Well, let me tell you something   about Samuel Sinclair. Five days after meeting me, he asked me to marry   him, and three days ago, he actually told me he loved me."