Page 41 of Two Hearts' Ploy

“My place is only about ten minutes away from here,” he said, giving her a side glance from behind the wheel of his truck as he drove from the Dragonfly Pointe Inn parking lot.

“I’m definitely curious,” she admitted, as he headed along an access road that apparently wound around the lake. It was a beautiful evening, and not only were several fishing boats scattered along the shoreline, but a couple of speedboats were also pulling skiers near the public beach, which was located on another part of the lake, closer to town.

“This is Stone Lake,” he said only minutes later, when they crossed over a long shiny bridge. “My place is the one with the boathouse that juts out over the lake.”

“You have boats?” she asked.

“I do. A fishing boat and a cruiser, although my dad uses the fishing boat more than I do. I need to warn my family about the added security I guess, in case they come around when I’m not home.”

Soon, Jeff was pulling into the driveway of a beautiful four-story home that was set back off the road amidst a grouping of pine trees and oaks.

“I didn’t expect it to be so large,” she admitted. “I love your color choices, with that smoky blue-gray and navy trim and shutters.”

“Thank you. I’ve got this thing about white – I really don’t like it – which is why the white walls throughout the house are really starting to bug me,” he confessed.

She grinned. “While I’m staying here, I might be able to help you with that. I’m a pretty decent painter, like I told you. In fact, I did a lot of painting techniques at my beach house. Home improvement projects relax me. And I can even get a little practice on my vocals in while I’m at it.”

When he pulled up to the front door on the lawn, she laughed.

“We can walk in through the front door so you can get the full effect of a nearly empty house. I haven’t tried to establish much of a lawn, if you’ve noticed. That’s a project for next year. There’s a lot of shade and tree roots, so grass is kind of hard to grow.”

“Wow,”was all she could say after Jeff unlocked the beautiful wooden door, motioning her into a grand entrance. “I guess the word that would fit the place best is charming, Jeff. Look at all the whimsical woodwork.”

“All refinished. I had a heck of a time finding replacement pieces for where it was damaged and had to have it specially made,” he confessed. “It took me three years to get everything to the point where I could actually consider it a home.”

But Wren had moved on into the kitchen, amazed by all the modern conveniences incorporated into the design.

She grinned. “You even have a pot filler. You did all this yourself?”

“With some help from my family. I grew up doing this kind of work, so it comes pretty easy for me.”

“Deep turquoise cabinets,” she murmured. “I love the color. Somehow it fits. I absolutely love that set up in the living room too with that massive fireplace.”

“I did redo that. It was originally created with incredibly ugly butterscotch-colored bricks. I used river rock down below for the family room fireplace, but the living room felt like it needed a more formal look, so I used natural stacked limestone.” He looked at his watch. “Well, I’d better show you the bedroom so that you can get an idea about what you’ll be requiring. It’s about a twenty-minute drive to the home store from here.”

Ten minutes later, she was staring around the bedroom in awe. She’d never met a guy with such exquisite taste in furniture. The bed set was beautiful, and she could see herself sitting at the vanity, putting on makeup.

“This furniture is amazing, Jeff. You need some lighting,” she observed, noticing there wasn’t even anything overhead.

“I’ve got some lamps that I’ve picked up here and there. They’re in the other bedroom. Let’s see if there’s anything that would work for you. They have some pretty decent lamps at the home store though. I’ve picked up a few things there for the basement.”

“I love this rug that you have in here,” she said, pulling out her phone and taking a quick photo, doing the same with the four-poster bed and even the vanity.

Jeff led her to the other end of the hall, where he had quite a few interesting items tucked away.

“These porcelain lamps would work great,” she murmured, her eyes lingering on the painted floral design.

“The wiring seems to be in great shape, so I thought they’d work, but there was no use putting them in the room if you didn’t like them. You might be staying here for as long as a couple months.”

“I wonder.” Wren picked up one of the lamps, carefully peeling away the felt attached to the bottom. “Jeff. These are Limoge. Do you have any idea about what they’re worth?”

He shrugged. “I got them for a song at an auction. I liked them, so I bid, but I don’t think I spent more than fifty for the pair.”

She snorted. “Try anywhere from five hundred to five thousand apiece. I bet the people handling the auction didn’t know what they had.”

When Jeff went quiet, she gave him a side glance and had to laugh at the expression on his face, his jaw dropped open wide.

“You’ve got a good eye.”

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