Spring River Valley: The Winter Collection (Boxed Set) (2 page)

He dragged his gaze away from Harper and looked around the room. The place was dazzling. According to the paperwork he’d found, the Fireman’s Dinner had minimal decorations. These were lovely, and not too wedding
-like to be out of place.

“Hmm. Uh, Harper? Can I ask what you’re going to do with the centerpieces?”

“She made them herself, you know,” Audrey offered.

“Yes, Elaine mentioned that. You’re very talented. You seem to have an eye for design.”

She turned to eye him sidelong. “Thanks. We were going to bring them to the hospital. They always accept flowers for the lobby.”

“Ah. That’s…a great use for them, but…would you consider a deal?”

She raised a golden brow. “I guess?”

“How about we keep the centerpieces? We can use them this evening
, and I’ll refund half your deposit. I know that’s probably not as much as the flowers cost, but it’s the best I can do, and it’s for the Firemen.”

The two women exchanged a glance. Audrey shrugged.

“That would be very considerate of you, Mr. Addison. Thank you.”

“Grant. Please. Thank
you
. These are really very nice. In fact, one of the ideas I had for the New Year was to offer more services to the guests, like decorating. This would be a great way to introduce that service. Do you have a business card? I’d be interested in seeing some of your other designs for our upcoming events.”

“Well, I don’t really
—ugh.” Her reply cut off abruptly, seemingly by Audrey stepping on her foot. “I don’t seem to have any of my cards with me right now.”

“We’ll get you one. We’ll drop it off later this afternoon,” Audrey said. Harper nodded uncertainly.

“Great. I’m glad something positive could come from this. Come to my office and I’ll write you a check. We’ll call it payment for the centerpieces.”

“Okay. Sure.”

Audrey nudged Harper forward, and she followed him across the room, her booted footsteps falling into sync with his as they traversed the dance floor. Grant hoped he’d done the right thing. He really wasn’t looking to be the hero, just to avoid an already devastated bride crying her eyes out in his main ballroom. And if he was lucky, the centerpieces would draw some attention tonight. He couldn’t charge the Firemen for them, but with city officials on the guest list, there were bound to be people interested in catering other events. The better the place looked, the more chance they’d be able to make bookings and keep profits rolling in. Two birds, one stone, and he’d put a smile on a beautiful woman’s face. Not bad for a first day on the job.

“My foot still hurts, you know.” Harper glared at Audrey over lunch at Colette’s Pub. She was lying, of course. In her well-padded snow boot, a truck could have run over her foot and she wouldn’t have felt it, but it was the principle of the thing.

“Oh, quit whining. I did what needed to be done.”

Harper suppressed a laugh and tried to feign indignation. “Quit whining? A few hours ago you felt sorry for me. Now I should quit
whining
?”

Audrey leaned over the small table,
gesturing with a dill pickle spear. “Did you
see
him?”

“Who?”

Audrey sighed dramatically. “Grant Addison. Tell me you didn’t notice he was drop dead gorgeous.”

She had. Oh, had she. The crisp blue business shirt and navy power tie hadn’t fooled her. The corporate uniform hadn’t done much to hide his broad shoulders and muscular arms.
His eyes were a shade or two darker than her own, but deep and mesmerizing. His confident smile had put her at ease even though she’d sensed he was reluctant to return her deposit and she’d been mortified by Audrey’s brashness. “Yeah. So?”

Audrey pointed her pickle at Harper. “Don’t do this to me. Admit he was hot.”

“Okay. He’s hot. So?”

“Really? You didn’t see it.”

“See what?”

“The way his eyes lit up when he saw you. He couldn’t stop staring at your mouth while you were talking. He had that dazed expression guys get when they’re imagining a woman naked.”

Harper’s face heated, but she resisted the urge to plaster her iced tea glass to her burning cheek. This was January after all. “He was not picturing me naked. Get real, Audrey. I was wearing an igloo. He’d have to have Superman’s X-ray vision to picture me naked in that damn coat.”

“Please. Men don’t need super powers for that
, and trust me, he was daydreaming.”

“So explain to me again why you threw me at him? And in case you haven’t met me, I’m not a…a centerpiece designer. I don’t have a business card because I don’t have a business. ”

“How often have you talked about wanting to quit the accounting firm and have a design business? You’re good at it, and you enjoy it, and here’s a chance to do that. He might hire you. How cool would that be?”

Harper leaned back in her chair. “Let’s see, me designing wedding centerpieces and party favors reminiscent of the ones I just almost threw out for my own wedding that never happened because my fiancé left me—”

“It won’t all be weddings. You heard him. Tonight it’s firemen. Hunky firemen.”

“He didn’t invite me to the party. He invited my centerpieces. So while
they
might get a date with a hunky fireman, I won’t.”

“You’re missing the point.” Audrey sighed and plopped her pickle on her plate. “It’s a door opening. A new opportunity. You need to move on to something new.”

“This sounds more like moving on to some
one
new, which I’m not ready for.”

“I didn’t say marry the guy. But he obviously likes you. He broke his own rule for you, he had you locked in his sights like a deer in the headlights
, and he was drooling a little bit.”

“Oh
, be serious.”

“I am. If there’s one thing I can tell, it’s when a guy is interested. Just make up a business card on your computer, drop it off this afternoon
, and see if he calls you, which he will. I know he will. Then you do some work for him and see how things progress.”

“Mixing business with hanky panky, is that what you’re suggesting?”

“Damn right I am. You need it.”

“I need a machete. When can we go get the machete?”

Audrey leaned in again. “Harper, baby, stop thinking about killing ‘Badly Bradley’ and live in the moment.”

“You were the one who suggested the machete
, and I wasn’t going to
kill
him. Much.” Harper studied the remains of her chicken sandwich and thought about what her friend was suggesting. She liked her job at Marchand Vaughn, but she loved being creative. The centerpieces had been her project over the Christmas holidays, and she’d reveled in choosing the candles and the silk flowers and creating the wreaths and shopping for the shimmery snowflakes. She couldn’t deny she’d dreamed about having her own business and spending all day submerged in glittering crystals and beads and rose petals and creating beautiful things that would make people stop and sigh when they saw them. Would a few side jobs really hurt? It would certainly help her recoup her losses on the wedding, along with the sale of her engagement ring, which she planned to look into this afternoon as well.

“All right. I’ll bring him a business card. But I’m only doing it for the chance at some spare cash. I’m not looking for a rebound guy.”

Audrey shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“I can’t do that to someone. Just because Brad screwed me doesn’t mean I should screw someone else.”

A wicked smile crossed her friend’s lips. “So don’t call it screwing.”

“You’re terrible.”

“‘Sadly Bradley’ is terrible. I’m pragmatic.” Audrey reached for the check. “When you start making big bucks in the centerpiece business, you can take me out to lunch.”

“Deal. After shopping we can swing by my place and make up a card and be back to TF before the Fireman’s dinner starts.”

Audrey cringed. “I can’t. I have a date for dinner.”

“Another one? You didn’t tell me this. Who with?”

Audrey sighed. “A guy I met at the gym. His name is
Jim
, believe it or not. He works for the trucking company.”

“Where is he taking you?”

“Some French place in Belvedere, then we’re going to a movie.”

“Call me first thing tomorrow with deets.”

“The way things have been going for me, I’ll probably be calling you by ten tonight.”

“So you had a couple of bad dates. Quit whining.” Harper grinned. Audrey’s dating adventures of late were legendary. In the past year she’d probably gone on a dozen first dates, each one a bigger disaster than the last.

“Really? You’re going there?”

“All I’m saying is, as long as you follow the checklist
, you should be fine. One, does he own a goat? Two, do the local cops know his driver’s license number by heart? Three, does he live with his mother? Four, is his name Norman? Five, does he carry around X-rays of his intestines?”

“Jim is good on four out of five. I don’t know where his mother lives, though.”

“Check that and get back to me.”

Audrey dropped some cash on the table
, and they struggled themselves into their coats for a foray into the icy wind. “Look, if I could meet a guy like Grant Addison, I wouldn’t need to go on all these ridiculous dates.”

“You did meet a guy like Grant, today in fact. Why don’t you ask
him
out?”

“
Because he was drooling over you, blondie. I never felt more like chopped liver than I did in that hall today.”

“Oh come on. He was nice to you.”

“But he was hot for you. Trust me. I know these things.”

“I’m not going to have sex with him.”

Audrey pushed open the door of Colette’s, the cold air sweeping her comment back at Harper as they left. “Famous last words, my dear.”

* * * *

Five hours of staring at contracts and ledgers and spreadsheets had left Grant’s vision blurry and his back stiff and hunched. The somewhat timid knock on his office door at ten after four gave him the perfect excuse to drag his butt out of his chair and stretch for a bit.

He opened the door to Harper Shaw’s
summer-blue eyes and hopeful smile, and all the aches he’d accumulated from a day of grueling paperwork seemed to melt away. “Hi! I wasn’t expecting you back.” He clamped his jaw shut a second after the thoughtless comment left his mouth.

Her expression froze. “You weren’t? I thought—”

“No…yes. I mean, I got the impression you really weren’t all that interested in my offer. Your friend seemed more enthusiastic. And I see she’s not with you.” He was grateful for that. The taller penguin had a sort of mama-bear attitude that made him, frankly, a little nervous.

“Ah, well, Audrey doesn’t work on the centerpieces. She just…consults.”

Good
. “Come in, take off your coat. Can I get you some coffee?”

“No, I’m fine.” Harper sashayed past him and gratefully shed her voluminous coat, revealing the figure he’d guiltily been wondering about all day. He tried not to look too closely at her smooth-fitting jeans and the
low-cut burgundy sweater that clung nicely to her upper curves. This was a business meeting, not a date, so he didn’t dare notice the cool air of his office had an effect on her nipples which were just visible against the stretchy knit of her top.

Fortunately she distracted him by handing him the business card she’d fished out of her purse. The plain white card said HARPER SHAW DESIGNS above a local phone number and an address
on the other side of town. The fine print at the center of the card read:
Flower arrangements, wreaths, and centerpieces for every occasion.

“Thank you. If anyone asks about the decorations tonight, I’ll tell them you made them and that your services are available for other events.”

“Sure.” She shrugged, seeming unsure of what to do next. “You should know, I work days. This is a side job for me.”

“I understand. Our events are mostly on weekends and booked well in advance.”

“Okay, then. I guess that’s all you need really?”

She smelled a little like the
candles from her centerpieces, and he wanted to ask what the fragrance was. Instead he floundered for something to keep her here a moment longer.
Poor girl
, Elaine’s voice said.
Jilted bride
.

And I’m thinking about hitting on her. Bad form, Grant.
“Actually, I had an idea this afternoon. Next weekend, we’re having a small expo here. A couple of vendors are coming with cake samples, dresses, etc. How would you like to showcase some of your pieces? It would be a great way to impress potential customers.”

“Cakes and dresses? Like wedding cakes and wedding dresses?”