Glaring from green eyes shooting sparks, J.T. Knight looked over his shoulder. “Go away, please.”
Not used to taking orders from anyone in that commanding tone, Edee’s face flamed and so did her temper. Gasping at his tone, she reared back, ready to protect the little mutt if she had to. She did not like a bully, and from where she was standing, J.T. Knight seemed to be harassing that poor dog.
Sending him the glare she had used numerous times on her first day in a new school, Edee stood her ground. “Can’t you see he’s scared? Leave him alone.”
“He was fine until you scared him back in the corner.”
Tearing her gaze from J.T.’s furious face, she saw he was right. The little black dog had backed up under the wooden steps along side the building.
J.T. turned his back on her and watched the dog.
“I didn’t mean to scare him.” Angry because he snapped at her and turned off the charm, and because he was right, she rushed to defend her actions. “I thought you were going to hurt him.”
J.T. jerked around so fast she didn’t have a chance to step back. His move left them standing toe-to-toe, like two rivals arguing over territorial rights. Chest heaving, Edee stood tall and returned his glare.
“Why would I want to hurt that dog?”
His breath brushed her face he was so close. She stared through the fake glass lens and saw the clear green anger searing from his eyes as muscles bunched along his jaw.
“I didn’t say you were hurting him.” Edee glanced past his shoulder to see the black dog escape around the corner of the building. “I asked what you were doing to him.”
“Same difference.” Glancing over his shoulder, at the disappearing dog, J.T. gave a frustrated sigh. “I was trying to feed him.” He lifted the burger clutched in his hand.
“Oh!” Heat radiating off her face, she stared at him in confusion. Well, how was she to know he wanted to help the dog. “That dog hangs around behind the barbershop.” She tilted her chin and met his glare, thankful for the fake glasses protected her from his fury.
Giving her a look of disgust, J.T. shook his head. “I wasn’t going to hurt him.”
“I-I can see that, now. I’m sorry I intruded.”
“If animal control comes around, that little dog’s days are numbered.”
“Oh,” Edee gulped and pushed the glasses up on her nose. “Were you trying to catch him?”
Green flame flashed in his eyes and before she could blink, a smile spread over his face. “Are we facing off in the street?”
Edee followed his laughing glance to see that not only were they standing toe to toe, their chests were almost touching. Another wave of heat warmed her face, making her ears feel hot and she took a stumbling step backwards. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I like animals.”
“Don’t apologize for defending a little dog.” J.T.’s tone softened as he glanced over his shoulder for sight of the little mutt. The hair challenged little terrier peeped around the corner of the barbershop and he laughed. “I’ll try my luck with him another day.”
“What—”
At the alarm in her tone, the sparkle left his eyes. “I won’t hurt him. What makes you think I would?”
Edee fought to breathe. His clean masculine scent filled her lungs. Heat from his body seared her skin. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but reacting to J.T. Knight seemed out of her control and she lifted her chin.
“I intended to ask what you were going to do with him when you caught him.” She watched him struggle to control the temper burning in his eyes.
“I know someone who lives on a farm.”
His low drawl shivered along her spine and Edee realized she was still standing close to him. She took another step back…
“Whoa!” J.T. grabbed her arm as she teetered on the edge of the curb. Her glasses fell to the sidewalk and shattered. “Hey, I’m sorry—”
Edee planted both feet firmly on the sidewalk and smoothed her dress down with both hands to hide their trembling. “Don’t worry. They’re just glass—”
She jerked her head up at the sound of his startled gasp and she realized what she had said. Another wave of heat rushed to her face. For a grown woman, she had spent too much time blushing over the past thirty minutes. Okay, so now he knew her glasses were fake, but that was all she was going to admit in front of this man. She wasn’t going to stammer an explanation and let J.T. Knight see he had unsettled her. Tilting her chin, Edee returned his stare.
“Why are you wearing fake glasses?”
“You caught me role-playing.” Head high, shoulders rigid, Edee turned on her heel and made her way toward her office in what she hoped was a graceful exit. But it wasn’t what she had been forced to admit or her departure that worried her. It was the way her heart fluttered when she was close to J.T. Knight.
***
“Okay, Sam, you win.” J.T. slouched in the guest chair opposite Sam’s desk after his unsettling encounter with Edee on the street. “Convince me that investing in Redbud is a good deal.”
Give me a business option to get my mind off Edee Cutt and prove I’m not losing my mind. The men in his family didn’t do relationships. He knew. He had grown up without a father.
He had never realized brown eyes could flare with such heat, but without those fake glasses, her glare had seared his skin. It was a good thing he was trying to help that little stray dog, or he would be in more trouble than he was now.
Sam twirled the pencil he had been drawing plans with. “What changed your mind?”
Staring through the glass wall of the office, J.T. looked at the colorful bolts of fabric on the other side, and realized he was looking at Sam’s wife’s sewing shop. Just thinking the word wife gave him hives. He wasn’t going to admit Sam had been right, that he had met a female who turned him inside out with one look.
“I went out to Jensen’s farm.” Lifting his ankle over his knee, he traced the stitches in his work boot, and tried to clear emotion from his voice. “The old place looks pretty run-down.”
Tilting his chair, Sam leaned back and sighed. “Time does that to people and towns.” He studied J.T. from lowered lids and frowned. “It’s up to us to keep things going.”
Looking up from his boot, J.T. met the knowing look in his friend’s eyes and realized he had expected worse. “Us?”
“People younger than Mr. Jensen. Look around, J.T. Most of the leaders of this town are elderly. We have to step-up and help.”
“Are you sure you aren’t running for mayor?” He didn’t want to see the town decline any more than Sam did, but coming back was a big step. He needed to make the right choice. Sam was talking involvement. Commitment. Could he do long term? His father hadn’t…
Laughing, Sam landed his chair on the floor. “Don’t let Pauline Morgan hear you talk like that.”
J.T. mimicked a horrified expression. “I wouldn’t dare.” Then he laughed because they both knew Ms. Morgan’s heart belonged to Redbud. Eyeing Sam from under lowered brows, he trudged in as only a good friend dared. “You’re planning to stay?”
“This is home.”
“Yeah, I put that wrong.” J.T. studied his friend for several seconds, recalling Sam’s battle with his famous cousin. Finally, the actor had returned Sam’s rightful inheritance and the family home. “You never left, did you?”
Arm on the desk, Sam shrugged. “Everyone has to take their own path. The important thing is you’re home, now. Right?”
Home.
J.T. rolled his head back on his shoulders and stared at the ceiling as that word bounced inside his head. The original detailing on the ceiling had been restored like a treasured possession. Why couldn’t life be like that? Why didn’t people take care of the things that mattered most in their lives?
Take Redbud. After graduation, he ran out of town like the track star he had been in high school, but what if he had stayed in town. What if he had faced his past?
You wouldn’t be where you are toda
y. If you hadn’t left part of yourself behind, you wouldn’t have learned what mattered.
His insides twisted and he finally accepted the truth. He wanted to come home to Redbud. He wanted to build his future here, not in some town that was convenient but didn’t mean anything to him. He met Sam’s inquiring stare. Why was that so hard to admit?
“Right!” He finally said the word out loud and felt some of his tension disappear.
“So, what do you need to get the business settled in town?”
His breath catching in his throat, J.T. swallowed.
This conversation sounded an awful lot like commitment. Was he ready? He could go anywhere to open a base of operations, no questions asked. Or he could settle in Redbud and eat crow.
Clearing his throat, he looked at Sam. But a pair of dark brown eyes flashed through his head. “Parking space is the big issue.” Dropping his foot to the floor, he bolted upright in the chair. “I need a large office space.”
Brows furrowed, an intense look settled over Sam’s face. “How about the Beasley building? There’s a large parking lot behind the building facing the next street.”
And Edee Cutt was a tenant. He’d avoided thoughts of that building for that reason, though it was his choice of all the buildings available.
“Are you kidding?” J.T. squirmed as his reaction to his tour of that building washed over him. No doubt, the Beasley building was the centerpiece of downtown area. That’s why his heart had pounded when he toured inside with the realtor. “That’s a two story building—”
“The second floor loft doesn’t count.”
“And you know this because?” That loft that teased his imagination since the moment he walked in the front door of the Beasley building.
Twirling the pencil, Sam shrugged. “I looked at that building before I bought this one.”
“And?” J.T. pressed for facts, not trusting the nonchalant reaction from his friend.
Sam’s mouth twisted as he lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. “No elevator to the second floor was a drawback, but basically, the building was more space than I needed.”
“Well, there you go. All I need is office space.”
“You’re a contractor.”
“You’re a…what do you call yourself, anyway?” J.T. shifted in the chair, and leaned back.
“Arborist, for now,” Sam laughed, “but I’m not into building projects. You are.”
“Ah…you want to stick me with a white elephant!” J.T. joined Sam’s laughter.
“You could renovate the extra space and rent offices—”
“Whoa—hold it right there!” J.T. squared his shoulders. “I build things…I’m not a rental service.”
“The realtor can handle the rental side of things for you. You would have space for your office, and space to rent. Maybe even install an elevator, turn the loft into an art gallery…or a condo.”
A bark of laughter escaped J.T.’s lips. Sam made it sound so easy…so attractive. What if coming back wasn’t the right thing to do. What if he bought the building and then wanted to leave town, fast? What if he couldn’t get his mind off Edee Cutt? “For someone not interested in buying a building, you certainly gave this one a lot of thought.”
Sam squared his chin. “Just since you came back to town.”
Another bark of protest escaped J.T.’s lips. “You sound like you’re campaigning.”
“I…guess…in a way, I am.” Sam glanced around his office. “I want to keep Redbud from dying like so many small towns.”
Sam’s words slammed J.T. with a wallop that sent him on an emotional trip to their past, except this time, Sam had passed him a baton that came with a hefty price tag.
And he didn’t mean just money.
Buying the Beasley building meant investing himself in this project…his time and efforts to preserve the town he called home. He wanted that, he had admitted as much, but after his run-in with Edee Cutt, he was having second thoughts.
Her furious brown eyes had fueled a fire in his gut, and stirred his curiosity. Why she would go to the trouble to wear fake glasses? But her instant assumption that he would hurt that stray dog nagged at him. Edee Cutt was new in town, yet she had a less than flattering opinion of him. Which made him wonder, how would the people who remembered his past react to news he was settling in Redbud?
But Sam was right.
So, like the many times in the past when Sam had tossed him a pass, J.T. stepped up to make the final play. “I guess I need to go see the realtor.”
***
When Edee stepped in the quilt shop at five till four, the bell over the door jangled like the bracelets on her arm. She almost hadn’t come, but after wrestling with piles of old files, and her unsettling encounter with J.T. Knight, she needed a break.
She remembered the concern in Pauline’s eyes and decided to come. She wanted to make a place for herself in Redbud, and she appreciated the friendliness behind Pauline’s gruff manner.
Joining a sewing circle was a good way to meet people. She could sew a straight line, though she hadn’t planned to join a group just now. But worry over finding clients and jumping at every noise to look out the window to see if J.T. had returned for the dog was giving her a headache, and she decided to join the group and worry later.
She needed to build a client list for her web site design business and meeting people at the quilt shop would be a good start.
She loved Redbud and the house at number six, Willow Avenue, but everything had changed so fast, her head was spinning. It was no wonder she had a headache. Maybe coming to the quilt shop would help her sort out the answers.
The first thing that caught her eye when she stepped through the glass door of the shop was a pair of stuffed cows. About two feet tall, with matching outfits, a dress for the girl and coordinated plaid pants for the boy cow, they were too cute to miss.
Made of black and white spotted fabric, reminding her of her cat, Albert, Edee couldn’t resist touching them.
“Do you like cows?”
Caught daydreaming, Edee whirled to face the woman at her side and smiled when she saw the amusement sparkling in her green eyes. “I do when they’re wearing cute outfits like this.”
“And there’s no risk of stepping in cow patties?” The sandy-haired woman grinned. “Hi, I’m Ellie Gra-oops!” Her laugh tinkled. “Sometimes I forget. I’m Ellie Oglethorpe. Welcome to Redbud.”
Edee grinned, liking Ellie’s friendly greeting. “I’ve heard about you.”
“I’ve heard about you, too,” Ellie’s laughing glance darted to the blue and white dress Edee wore, “but that’s part of the fun of living in a small town, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know.” Edee glanced the group of chattering women. Obviously, a discussion on her choice of clothing had preceded her. “I guess I’ll find out.”
Ellie studied the group with a fond expression. “They’re sweethearts. Just remember, half the town’s business is decided when this group gets together.”
Brows arched high, Edee asked, “And the other half?”
Her green eyes dancing with humor, Ellie laughed. “When the men show up for quilting sessions, we’ll listen to their opinions.”
Joining the laugher, Edee realized she hadn’t felt this happy since her grandmother funeral. She turned back to the display.“I’d like to make these cows.”
“When you get settled in, we’ll pick fabrics for the clothes. You’ll love making the outfits. It’s like sewing for dolls.”
“Speaking of dolls,” Pauline Morgan appeared at Ellie’s elbow. “Who do you think will be crowned Strawberry Princess this year?”
“Strawberry Princess?”
Pauline’s glance swept over Edee, making her wish she could take back the blurted words as the woman’s lips tightened in displeasure.
“We have a Strawberry Festival every year. It’s only a month away. As a new business owner in town, I expect you’ll want to volunteer to help.”
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning, the door of the office creaked open and Edee’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw the man standing in the doorway.
A wide grin covered J.T. Knight’s handsome face.
A nervous giggle bubbled in her chest, almost escaping before she clamped her lips. It wasn’t fair. With worries keeping her awake most of the night, she felt like a storm cloud this morning, while J.T looked as sunny as the April day.
Edee held back a flood of words. She wanted to scold him for startling her, but it was her fault she hadn’t oiled the hinges. She wanted to babble an apology for over reacting about the dog yesterday, but his easy confidence glued her tongue to the roof of her mouth.
What had she been thinking?
Any sane person could see the good humor sparkling in his eyes and know J.T. Knight wouldn’t hurt an animal. But his over-whelming masculinity and the devil-may-care expression in his eyes made her mind go blank.
That was her only defense for her actions yesterday. She hadn’t been thinking!
Remembering his reaction when he found out she was wearing fake glasses added to her unease. Clamping her mouth shut to keep from babbling out of nervousness, Edee sat there and stared at him like a dog eyeing a juicy bone.
“Morning, ma’am,” he said, studying the room, and barely looking at her. His intense interest in the structure made it clear this call had nothing to do with the way her body tingled when he was close by. “Are you open for business?”
With sun from the window dancing on his hair and making it glow, J.T. glowed like a new penny. His eyes sparkled with life, and the blue T-shirt stretched over a broad chest giving the impression of power as he strolled toward her desk.
“Yes!” Edee lifted a hand to her racing heart, but her bracelets jangled so much she dropped her hand to her lap. She had expected to run into him again. In a town the size of Redbud, it was inevitable. But she hadn’t expected him to appear in her office, especially after their exchange yesterday.
A Bride For Mr. Right (Redbud Romance Book 2) Page 3
