Pokrewne

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Bharti Kirchner [Mitra Basu M Tulip Season (retail) (epub) id
Blue Clay People Seasons on Afr William Powers
[Eric John Stark] Enchantress O Leigh Brackett
Amber Kell Banded Brothers To Enchant An Eagle
Connie C Scharon [Highland Le Enchanted Lover (epub)
Belgariad 05 Enchanter's End Eddings, David
Carol Lynne Seasons of Love 2 Summer
An excess of enchantments Craig Shaw Gardner
Blaze Ward [The Science Offic The Science Officer (epub)
Brandy Bruce Table for Two [HSNG 1088] (epub

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.She licked her lips.Was he the reason she’d been drawn back here? Was she supposed to meet him for some reason? Were they—nah.She added a few more chunks to the fire to distract herself from thinking along those lines, and got busy stacking the rest of the wood.Twenty minutes later, they had enough wood to last for at least two nights, stacked neatly beside the fireplace.Matthew was shaking the bark and snow off his expensive black coat and taking off his boots by then.At least he hadn’t dressed like a city slicker in a Porsche.He wore jeans, Timberland boots, heavy socks underneath them, a nice sweater over another shirt.The sweater was brown, the shirt, pale blue—at least that was the color of the collar.He hung the coat by the front door, next to hers, then carried his boots over to set them beside hers near the fire.She’d already swept up the trail of bark and snow after he’d unloaded the last armful of wood, and wiped the damp spots from the floor with a handful of paper towels.“Thank you,” she said.“You really didn’t have to do that, you know.I would have shown you around the house anyway.”“Oh, sure, now you tell me.” He took a seat on the hearth, where she’d been sitting earlier.She ran into the kitchen for the steaming mugs of cocoa she’d left out there, and brought them in.She handed him one and then sat down beside him.“So,” she said.“Grand tour begins in ten minutes.After you’ve had time to rest up, warm up, and drink your cocoa.” She took a sip of her own.“Meanwhile, tell me what a guy like you wants with a tumbledown old fixer-upper in the middle of the booming metropolis of Oswego, aka ‘Snowbelt Central.’”He sipped his cocoa as she watched his face.A face that seemed get more attractive every time she looked at it.Hell.He lifted his eyebrows as he licked his luscious lips.“This is actually good.”“You sound surprised.”He shrugged and sipped some more.“I buy lots of old houses like this one.They usually sell for exceptionally low prices, ’cause they don’t look like much.But if it’s structurally sound, and the only work it needs is cosmetic, I usually double my money.”She blinked.“Double? Really?”“Sometimes better.”She frowned, looking around at the house as she enjoyed her cocoa.“So what would you do to fix it up?”“It’s pretty much the same with every house.You slap on fresh Sheetrock, a couple of coats of paint, put some kind of flooring down, whatever looks good and costs least.Replace any windows and doors that need it.But only the ones that need it.You make sure the wiring and plumbing are up to par, maybe upgrade the heating system.Then you go to the outside, pop on some vinyl siding, hire a crew to spend a couple of days sprucing up the lawn, make sure the roof’s intact, and voilà.It looks like a brand-new house.”“And how long does all that work take you?” She was thinking in terms of years.He said, “Me? It doesn’t take me any time at all.I hire contractors to do it.A job like this one—maybe three months, tops.” He looked at her face and said, “Why are you frowning so hard?”She tried to ease the muscles in her face, which had scrunched up into what must be a fairly unattractive scowl.“It just sounds so…cold.So impersonal.I mean, do you even pick the colors?”“Of course I do.Siding’s white.Interior, eggshell.”“Blaaah!” She made the sound long and expressive and stuck out her tongue as she emitted it.“You, uh—have something caught in your throat?”“You know I don’t.God, the thought of this place—this place—of all places being sided in white and painted…I can’t even say it.”“Eggshell,” he repeated.“Or maybe ivory.”“It’s hideous.”“Well, I can see where the person who put up the lightshow from hell would see it that way, but really, plainly decorated places sell faster and bring more.”“Plain, maybe.Decorated? No.White siding and ivory paint do not count as decorating.”“Clearly not to you.” He nodded toward the window, where multicolored flashes were turning the glass pane and the snowflakes beyond it red, then blue, then green, then yellow.“Man, look at it snow.” She slugged down the last of her cocoa, and got to her feet.He did the same.“Well,” she said, turning, “where to begin.I guess you’ve figured out that this is the living room.”“Yes, that much is obvious.The picture window is going to be a selling point.”“Mmm.As would the plank floors.Dad was always going to sand them off and refinish them.Seven coats of poly, he used to say.He never got to it, but—”“Vinyl flooring would be faster.Probably cheaper, too.”“They’re maple,” she said.“Maple floors are rare.Probably would be another…selling point.”“It’s a thought.” He examined the wide, worn-looking planks that made up the floor at the moment.She ran her palms over the walls.“The Sheetrock does need replacing.But after sitting here unheated for so long—”“It’s to be expected.”“The sofa used to be here, by this wall.Most of the year there was a big old antique stand in front of that window, all covered in Mom’s knicknacks.But once Thanksgiving passed, we’d move the table out, and that’s where the Christmas tree went.”She turned.“There was a chair there, another one here, love seat over there.And the mantle was cluttered with pictures of my mom and dad and Aunt Sheila and Noelle and me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]