Sweeping The Bride Away

“Sure,” Cassidy said in resignation, giving Lillian a smile and a nod. Anything to get Lillian out of the house.

The last thing Cassidy needed was Lillian scaring off the contractor. She’d done enough damage with the city inspector.

“Excellent. I’ve also booked the church for 3:00 p.m., June 10. An afternoon wedding is best, and your rehearsal dinner is the night before. I’m still choosing the location. I can’t decide between The Ryan Room or Gillamaine’s.” Lillian stopped to draw a rare breath. “We also have a private appointment tomorrow evening at Monica’s Boutique to find you an appropriate wedding dress.”

“I thought I’d wear my mother’s dress,” Cassidy said. “It’s in a box in the attic, and…”

Lillian’s mouth dropped open in surprise and she looked as if Cassidy had grown another head. “That won’t do, dear, especially with your parents getting divorced. Heavens, no.” Lillian shook her head vehemently. “Tomorrow evening at six. We’ll be the only ones in the shop. I’ll pick you up at five. You know how traffic can be.”

Cassidy gave Lillian another smile and nod before panic struck. Was that a truck pulling into the driveway? It was. Not good. Somehow Cassidy managed to usher Lillian to the door and got her through it. “See you tomorrow, Lillian.”

Cassidy leaned back against the door and took a moment to sigh with relief. Home safe.

“Oh, you must be the contractor,” she heard Lillian say.

Nope, out at third. Cassidy threw open the front door and walked out. The Ford 350 truck now sitting in her driveway looked as if it had known better days. Red with faded black lettering on the passenger side door, it proudly proclaimed to be from J & B Construction.

“You are the contractor, right?” Lillian asked.

“That would be me, ma’am.”

Great. Lillian was already engaging the contractor in conversation. Did the infernal woman ever stop talking? Cassidy bit her lip and sped up. Wearing heels didn’t help.

Worse, once again she’d had a mean thought about Lillian. That was so unlike herself. She usually had such good manners and polite thoughts.

And just when had the front walk gotten so long? Finally Cassidy reached the back of the truck. The contractor had his back to her, with Lillian facing him. He stood about six-six and had a nice posterior. Great, Cassidy thought. One night with Sara and now she was looking at everyone.

Cassidy paused just a moment, turning around to take a second look at something she’d at first only caught in the periphery of her eye.

Just what did that homemade back license plate say? Power Strokers do it better? Dear Lord. Don’t let Lillian see that.

“What’s that license plate mean?”

Too late.

“It’s the engine. Ford has a diesel power stroke.”

Cassidy saw Lillian nod as if she understood. “I see,” Lillian said. “But shouldn’t you have a real license plate?”

“Trucks over a certain gross vehicle weight don’t need back plates. We pull trailers.”

“Oh. So that plate really isn’t a sexual thing at all.”

“Uh, well,” the contractor began.

Cassidy rolled her eyes and stepped closer. Time to interrupt before someone got himself in deep trouble with the matriarch of the Houston morality police. “Hi, I’m Cassidy Clayton. I believe you’re looking for me.”

As he turned around, she gasped. He wasn’t supposed to be here. Jake had said…

Mistake number five didn’t look surprised to see her. Instead he gave her a wide smile.

“Hello again,” he said. “I’m here to do your work.”

LILLIAN GLANCED over her glasses, her gaze speculative. “You two have met?”

“Yes,” he said, his gaze never leaving Cassidy’s.

“No,” she said, wrenching hers away.

Lillian’s head turned from one to another as if she were watching a championship Ping-Pong match. “So which is it?”

“No, we haven’t met,” Cassidy inserted quickly. She gave the man a wide smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She had never thought she would see him again! After all, wasn’t he a president? He really was a one-man, well, a two-man operation. After talking to a receptionist, and then Jake, she’d hoped otherwise.

“We just talked on the phone today. This is my contractor, uh…” After rolling his name on her tongue all day, now she couldn’t get his name out.

“Blade,” he finished smoothly, returning her fake smile with an infuriatingly real, and extremely sexy, one of his own.

“Blade,” Cassidy repeated. She shot him a warning glance and hoped the man had enough brain cells upstairs to figure out what she meant—keep quiet.

Seemingly satisfied with the explanation, Lillian broke into a small smile. “So, you’re doing all the repairs on Cassidy’s house?”

“That’s what I intend on doing,” he replied. His tone insinuated to Cassidy that there might be more to his plan. Cassidy shifted on her feet.

“Oh, good,” Lillian said, seeming not to notice the sexual undercurrents as she warmed to a topic she knew way too well. “Cassidy needs to get rid of this house quickly. Thank goodness it closes in two weeks. I mean, you heard why she has to sell it didn’t you? Her philandering father left her mother for a younger woman and…”

Great. One more complication to her already hectic life. Now the infernal contractor, Blade—she got his name right this time—knew her personal business. First things first. Time to get Lillian moving toward her own home.

“I doubt he really cares about my parents’ problems, Lillian,” Cassidy said. Relying on her training as an image consultant, she froze her smile in place and hoped that Lillian would get the subtle message. Instead Lillian looked confused.

Cassidy wanted to scream. Did no one around her understand body language? This was her career, and she was good at it. Somehow she managed to keep her voice calm. “I’m sure he’s on the clock, and I’m sure he wants to go home soon. I’ll see you at five tomorrow.”

“Five,” Lillian repeated. She let her gaze rove over Blade one last time. Cassidy bristled. Did every woman stare at him like that? Then Lillian straightened as if the moment hadn’t occurred and gave Cassidy a stern look of warning. “We need to be on time tomorrow. Monica’s is open only to us, so don’t forget. Five.”

“As if you’d let me forget,” Cassidy said under her breath after Lillian slipped through the gate in the hedge between the two side yards.

His voice was right by her ear. “So I take it that’s the infamous mother-in-law-to-be.”

“That’s her.” Cassidy whirled around and found herself facing Blade’s chest. Whoa. She took a step back “Would you care to explain what you are doing here?”

“I’m the contractor.”

Why did he upset her equilibrium so? “Yes, well, your card said you’re the president.”

He grinned, and Cassidy wished she’d never called him. “Oh, that’s a little joke Jake and I have. We own the company together. He’s also a president. But I can assure you, I’m a contractor.”

She struggled to regain control of the mess she was now in. “Well I can see that. You have a truck, and you’re dressed in—”

“They’re called carpenter whites. Whites for short.”

Cassidy swallowed. Never had a pair of dirty white pants and a dirty white T-shirt looked so good. They hinted too well at what lay beneath. And just when had he gotten so tall? And his chest so broad? She gathered her wits, and rallied.

“Well, why didn’t you say something on the phone when I called?”

His greenish-blue eyes twinkled, drowning her. “And ruin the surprise?”

She found a life preserver. “I don’t like surprises.”

His cheek dimpled as his smile curved upward. “I do, especially when it was a phone call from you. Imagine you calling me, especially after insisting you didn’t need my help last night. I thought you’d just throw my card away.”

She had, but she wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction of knowing that.

His voice washed over her. “Ironic isn’t it, how fate works?”

“Look, this is a business arrangement.” She stressed the word business.

He shot her another infuriating grin, as if he knew exactly what she was really thinking. “Never said it wasn’t.” He sobered his expression for a second. “Look, do you want me to do this work or not? Or would you rather hire someone else?”

Cassidy drew herself up. As if she could find another contractor on this short notice, and he knew it. After all, she only had ten business days until closing. “Fine, then. Come inside and I’ll show you what that infernal city inspector is referring to.”

With a huff she turned and walked toward the house.

IT WAS ALL BLADE COULD do to stop from humming to himself. He’d made one change to Jake’s misguided plan.

He’d borrowed one of his foremen’s trucks for the occasion, and from the expression on Cassidy’s face, it had been worth it. While Jake wanted him to reveal who he was, Blade didn’t. Why spoil her preconceived notions? No, his plan of appearing like the everyday Joe that Cassidy had pegged him for had gone off perfectly.

Blade grinned at his success. Earlier that day he’d considered Jake’s suggestion of driving his own truck, but the more he thought of it, the more he had decided not to.

She already thought he was just a blue-collar workingman. While Blade had a diesel Ford 350 himself, he knew it didn’t look like what Cassidy thought a contractor’s truck would look like, not with leather seats and being loaded with every known option.

Besides, she’d never believe his truck cost almost as much as a Corvette.

So, instead he had borrowed Frank’s truck, and of course, the forty-year-old Frank had been only too happy to exchange his work truck for Blade’s new BMW convertible, which, too, had cost a few hundred less than Blade’s truck.

“I’ll even take the wife on a date,” Frank had said with a grin. “I’ll tell her I sold the truck. It’ll pay her back for my license plate.”

Blade had laughed. Everyone knew Frank’s wife was a practical joker, and she’d gotten him the plate as a gag gift for his fortieth birthday.

Blade snapped to attention as Cassidy began talking. “This is the first predication,” she said as she came to the front steps. “He said something about needing some new boards, plus he wanted the entire front porch painted.”

“I saw that on the fax you sent,” Blade said. He reached into the pocket of his pants. “I brought it with me.”

Cassidy’s lips thinned into a slight smile. “You’re so efficient.”

“That would be me,” he replied, ignoring her slight sarcasm. Heck, he’d be a mite upset if someone had just pulled this surprise on him. However, he rationalized, he was going to fix her house, so in the end that made it all okay. And despite how pretty she was, he wasn’t going to hit on her the way she obviously thought he was.

His gaze scanned the porch. She did need a few new boards, but nothing really major. “Why don’t you show me the rest?”

“Front door needs painting,” Cassidy said as they walked through it. “All the windows need to have working sashes. Something about the springs being broken. When the city inspector lifted the one in the bay window, the whole window fell out.”

Blade nodded. “That’s not difficult. I know where to get the parts.”

“Good.” And with that, Cassidy was on a roll. Twenty minutes later Blade was certain of two things. One was that the city inspector had been overzealous in citing things that he really didn’t need to have cited. The other was that Cassidy Clayton had grown up with every possible advantage in life.

His bedroom, which he’d shared with his two older brothers, would have fit in the master bedroom closet. The master bathroom of the house, which needed all new plumbing fixtures, was bigger than the living room and kitchen where he’d grown up.

Sure he had a house about the same size now, but he’d worked and sweated for every brick. Cassidy had simply been born into it.

“That’s all of them,” she said. “Think you can have all this work done in a week?”

Blade stared at her. She’d pushed her hair behind her ears and was peering earnestly up at him. Darn, but she was pretty.

“I’m going to have to work nights to get these all finished,” he said. Where those words had come from, he would later decide that he didn’t know. They’d just slipped out. He was the boss. He could do what he wanted, and he could work days.

“You want time and a half?” She seemed shocked.

“I didn’t say that,” he replied, trying to backtrack. “Jake gave you our bid already for all hours worked. No matter what time of day, fixed hourly rate. You only have about twenty hours of work.”

“So what’s the catch?”

Was there a catch? He thought about it a second and dismissed what Jake wanted him to do out of his head. “No catch. It’ll take me about four days of about five hours each. I’ll get here at four and leave by nine.”

She frowned. “Look,” he said, “That’s the best I can do. I’ve got other jobs in the queue, as well, and somehow I’m going to have to balance everything. So I won’t get here until four. But I will get your predications done and have them done before your deadline.”

The thought of him in her house at night seemed so… “I sometimes have to work at night,” Cassidy said, pushing thoughts of Blade in her house at night out of her mind. That was not a path she should tread. He raised an eyebrow, encouraging her to explain, and she felt the need to. “I’m an image consultant, and depending on the day I attend dinner functions and…”

Suddenly he didn’t want to hear about her social life. He cut her off. “If you aren’t here to let me in, then I’ll need a key and your alarm code.”

He almost wanted to laugh at her horrified reaction. “We are licensed and bonded, ma’am.”

“Cassidy,” she corrected automatically. She hated being called ma’am. It made her feel old.

“Cassidy.” He rolled her name on his tongue and decided that he liked it. “Well, Cassidy, since I’m here, shall I get started?”

Her mouth puckered. “You’re starting the job tonight?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Is there a problem with that? I’m already here, and I need to make a list of stuff I need. Plus, you don’t have time to spare.”

He was right.

Cassidy gulped and tore her gaze off Blade’s chest. Last night Sara had said something about stroking it and discovering if his chest was smooth or covered with dark whirls of hair.

If he took off his shirt when he worked in the Texas heat she’d know.

Whoa! Wait right there. Those were not thoughts she should have. Think of Dan, think of Dan.

Oh, God. Dan. He’d be over in less than an hour to take her out to dinner. He had some clients to impress. That meant she needed a shower, and she needed to redo her makeup and…Then again, she also needed to have her predications fixed. What was it Blade had asked?

Normally she wasn’t so scatterbrained. Maybe it was the stress of everything. Her parents had dumped the selling of the family home and moving the few belongings they wanted to keep into her lap.

“No problem,” she said after finally remembering his question about whether he should get started tonight. “Just stay on the first floor.”

The last thing she needed was for him to be in her bedroom. Thankfully that had been one room that hadn’t needed any repairs.

“I’ll try,” Blade replied, his gaze sweeping over her.

“See that you do,” she said, suddenly feeling the need for a long, cold shower. She now knew the truth. She couldn’t blame her physical reaction to him on beer.

Turning, she disappeared up the stairs. She had the distinct impression that he stared at her legs the whole time.

Chapter Three

As Cassidy walked away, Blade let himself take a long look at her legs as she walked upstairs. Nice and slender. He liked that. A lot.

Too bad he couldn’t let himself really like her. Liking Cassidy would be a mistake. She was engaged, and he, unlike Jake, didn’t tread on another man’s domain.

But he could look. That was acceptable, no harm done, and it could be his job perk.

Jake could get Lillian as the job perk. That would serve him right.

Humming to himself, Blade began an inventory of what materials he would need in order to do the work. About a half hour later he looked at the long list he’d made and compared it with the city inspector’s predications. He frowned. He’d missed something.

Blade shook his head as he realized what it was. How had he missed something so obvious? He needed ground-fault interrupters for one of the guest bathrooms upstairs.

He thought for a moment, trying to remember how the house had been wired. Newer homes often had one GFI circuit breaker that had all the outlets wired to it. Older homes often had individual circuits and each receptacle needed a GFI.

He strode toward the back staircase. He’d just have to go test them and see. It would only take a second.

Blade paused on the upstairs landing, but he wasn’t interested in the original Monet hanging on the wall. Instead, it was the muffled sound of water that had caught his attention. Cassidy was in the shower.

He stood there a moment, unable to stop from visualizing the rushing water streaming down her back, over her breasts and down her legs. He shook himself. That job perk vision was off-limits. He moved down the hall and into a spare bedroom. This had to be the right one. He’d just check the outlet and be on his way….

He paused, stricken, remembering that Virginia Woolf line, “People shouldn’t have looking glasses in their houses.”

For it was true.

For there, reflected in the mirror, he could see Cassidy, clear as day, through the shower door.

God, she was gorgeous. The steam hadn’t yet covered the see-through glass, giving him a perfect glimpse of her high, firm breasts. And her legs…his mouth dried as she worked a mesh sponge over her body. His earlier fantasy about her legs had been nothing compared to the reality.

The reality was much better.

He stood, transfixed, as if someone had frozen him in time. Her voice drifted into his consciousness. She was singing some old Madonna tune about being a virgin touched for the very first time.

He attempted to move his feet. He wasn’t a Peeping Tom. He didn’t look on unknowing women, especially engaged ones. His feet refused to budge.

Another part of his anatomy was refusing to follow directions, as well, and Blade swallowed a groan. He had to admit the truth.

Despite himself, he wanted this woman.

Damn it, man! A voice cut into his brain, overriding the desire paralyzing him. You know better than this! First off she’s engaged, and most important, she’s not your type.

The sound of Cassidy turning off the water jolted him to action. He fled before she could see him.

Quickly he headed down the back stairs. The GFIs could wait until tomorrow. He’d just bring a half dozen and be on the safe side.

He could replace all of them if need be. He jerked a hand through his chestnut-brown hair. Why hadn’t she been using the master bathroom? After all, she was alone in the house.

Dumb mistake, Blade, dumb. He strode through the kitchen so fast that he almost didn’t see the smaller man standing in front of him.

“Hey.”

“Sorry.” Blade checked his movements in order to stop from body slamming the man by accident.

“Who are you?” The man looked surprised, and he drew himself up. At five foot eight he failed to dwarf or intimidate Blade’s six-foot-six-inch frame.

“Contractor,” Blade said, irritated with the question and the man’s obvious ease in Cassidy’s kitchen. So this was the beloved fiancé.

The man brushed a piece of lint from his perfectly tailored suit. “Contractor? Cassidy hired a contractor?”

Did the man not know what his fiancée did? “She did. Can’t you tell by the whites and the tool belt?”

The man frowned, as if trying to remember something. Finally he spoke. “Why does Cassidy need a contractor?”

Blade wondered if the man was dense. Maybe he should have body slammed him, but he doubted that would have knocked any sense into him. Besides, didn’t people in love share everything? Have discussions?

Then again, it had always been one-sided between him and Clara. He’d never really shared anything with her, and he’d almost married her, which would have been totally unfair. She was now blissfully happy with someone else.

“Cassidy needs a contractor to fix her home predications, the violations the inspector cited.”

“Predications.” The fiancé mulled that over for a moment. “I guess she did tell me about that.”

For a moment Blade felt sorry for Cassidy, especially if this was her ideal man. “I’m starting work today, Mr….” He paused to let the fiancé fill in the blank.

The man blinked, and Blade wondered if his mind really was a million miles away. “Oh, yes. I’m Dan. Dan Morris. I’m Cassidy’s fiancé. I live next door.”

Blade already knew that.

“Well, Dan Morris, I’m Blade Frederick. The contractor.”

“Um, yes. We’ve established that.”

“Exactly,” Blade said, taking control of the conversation. “I’m fixing her home predications. Since it’s such short notice I’ll be working nights to get the job done. She does have four pages of predications you know.”

“Yes, I guess she does.” Behind his wire-rim glasses Dan blinked again. “She did tell me, it’s just that I’ve been busy working on a new exhibit at the museum. I’m trying to get a life-size dinosaur skeleton, like Sue at the Field Museum in Chicago, only much better. It would be the highlight of our new wing and—”

“Dan!” Cassidy stood in the doorway wearing a silken robe that knotted at her waist. Her blond hair hung loosely around her shoulders. “I thought I heard your voice. What are you doing here already?”

Dan frowned. “I’m picking you up. We’re meeting the Schmidts for dinner. You couldn’t have forgotten. You know how important this is, and you never forget anything.”

“No. Of course not.” Cassidy shook her head, sending the damp strands flying. The action caused Blade’s breath to lodge in his throat. “I didn’t forget. It’s not until eight.”

“No, we’re meeting them at seven. Cass, love, you did forget,” Dan chided. At Dan’s response, Blade decided Dan really was the absentminded professor type who fit in well at a museum.

“I guess.” Cassidy ran her fingers through her hair, causing a lump to form in Blade’s throat. She was too pretty. “I’ll just go get ready. I’ll only be a moment.”

“We can’t be late,” Dan told Blade as Cassidy darted back upstairs. “The Schmidts are important investors, and I’m hoping that they’ll contribute generously to the new wing we have under construction. In case you haven’t gathered, I’m the curator for the science center that’s being expanded downtown.”

“That’s nice,” Blade said. That had been another job J & B Construction had lost out on to D. W. Braun.

“Yes. Cassidy knows how important financing is to the various exhibits. I’m trying to convince the Schmidts to donate a large sum of money. It won’t look good if we’re late.”

“I said I’ll be ready,” Cassidy called down the stairs.

Hearing her voice made Blade wonder what Cassidy saw in Dan Morris.

The man was boring. Couldn’t she see she was settling? He’d been bored with Clara, and she with him. Clara had just been there, almost like a doormat. She had been a constant in his life, someone safe and secure. It had been almost too late when he realized that both he and Clara deserved more, and that settling for safety didn’t mean you’d found love.

With Clara there had been no passion, and after last night and their verbal sparring, Blade knew Cassidy had loads of passion.

Couldn’t Dan see that? The image of Cassidy in the silken robe was already imprinted on Blade’s libido, and knowing what was under it made the illusion of covering it even more seductive. Way past time to get out of here.