Page 40 of Quinn, By Design

“It’s not an execution, is it?” She lifted one hand toward her throat, then let it drop. An expression of confidence or because her coat was buttoned so high, she couldn’t reach her pearls?

“I’m probably projecting. Kate’s pissed off at me for skipping a party a few weeks ago.” He’d finished the Huon table that night. In hindsight, his last financially sane decision.

“I could give you a few shifts at the shop, hone your interpersonal skills.” She made him sound like an unpolished schoolboy. Based on Monday morning, she’d be right.

“Pass.” He banged a fist on the steering wheel, punctuating his idiocy. “I thought you might cancel tonight.”

“Why?” No reason she should make this easy for him.

“Because I was an eejit on Monday talking about a cooling-off period. I hurt you.” He’d hated the idea he’d joined a long list of inconsiderate boofheads who’d either abandoned or hassled her. “I like you, and I don’t want to mess that up.”

“I was hurt.” She flayed him with his own words. “But I like that you like me. I like you too.” She sighed, and the air in the cabin of the truck calmed. “I missed being in the workshop. Can I come back tomorrow?”

“I’d like that.” He stepped out of the ute, aware she slid to the ground on her side. Friends. He should be happy with that, but knowing she liked him gave his ego a boost that carried to the part of his body not ruled by his brain.

“Welcome.” Liam and Kate answered the door together, the brightly lit hall behind them sending its own welcome. Liam’s arm rested lightly around his wife’s waist.

“Hello, Kate; hello, Liam.” Lucy offered a bottle of merlot. “Goodness, you brothers do look alike.”

“I’m the handsome one,” Niall offered.

“That makes me the smart one.” Liam leaned forward to take Lucy’s hand and draw her into the hall. “Come in. Let me take your coat.”

Lucy shucked hers. She’d replaced the unrelenting black of her usual outfits with wide-legged, teal trousers and a grey sweater. The scarf Niall had given her replaced her gran’s pearls tonight. Knotted at the base of her throat, the loose ends lovingly curled around her breasts. An image of her sitting naked on his Huon table, her legs demurely crossed to one side to preserve her modesty, flashed into his mind. Her back was straight, her smile mischievous, and the scarf was draped so that two stripes of colour covered her nipples, emphasising the lush curves of her breasts.

“I’ve got to make some last-minute changes, so you’ll have to excuse me for a minute.” Liam backed down the hall.

“Niall, why don’t you show Lucy around before Anna arrives.” Kate made the explanation.

“Ididn’t know Anna was coming.” Niall stressed his ignorance, wanting no new misunderstandings with Lucy tonight.

“A late addition. She’s got someone she ‘wants us to meet.’” Kate spoke in a whisper dripping with intrigue.

“That must be a first?” Niall grinned.

“It is. And if you tease her, I’ll kill you myself.” Kate shooed them away. “I need to add some settings to the table.”

“Come on, Lucy. I’ll show you around and fill you in. The Quinn and Turner twins together is a baptism by fire.” His mind raced. Kate would feign labour pains before she’d let Anna ambush him about the exhibition tonight.

“I expected it to be harder to tell identical twins apart.” Lucy studied Niall’s face.

“Liam could tell Kate and Anna apart from the moment he met them. Different clothes help, hairstyles, things like that,” he said. Lucy looked different tonight, a woman comfortable in her own skin. “You’ll see when you meet Anna.”

“Show her the nursery,” Kate’s retreating figure instructed. “In case you’ve forgotten, it’s the second door on the left.”

“Does this room open onto the garden?” Lucy bolted into the room immediately to their right and headed toward the double French doors.

Most women Niall knew would have been in the nursery in a heartbeat. Kate’s enthusiasm made talk of babies an easy topic for the dinner table. His brother changed direction mid-sentence if Niall asked about Kate’s health, how Quinn Junior was travelling, or how the nursery was coming along. Women seemed to have a second sense about these things, yet Lucy was hell-bent on getting into the winter garden.

Sensor lights lit the tiny space. Maidenhair jostled with bird’s nests, stag and elk horns. Niall had helped choose the plantings, native Australian rainforest species that thrived in this dark side passage. Moss-covered sandstone paving stones interspersed with baby’s breath lined the space, and the sound of trickling water came from a pond at the far end. Decorative tiles hung like outdoor paintings. Kate had tucked her arm in Niall’s one day to tell him the story of each one, mementoes from her honeymoon.

“This is lovely.” Lucy turned to him, a relaxed smile curving her mouth. He was starting to wait for her smiles and learn what might elicit one. “Who’s the gardener?”

“Both of them. They need green around them,” he replied. Green suited Lucy. She connected to the natural world through colour. “Cam said you took over as gardener when your gran died.”

“I discovered gardens when I moved to Gran’s.” Lucy took the bench seat facing a window into the dining room, where Kate was adding settings to the table. “You seem very close to Kate as well as your brother.”

“I am.” He linked his fingers with hers. “The scarf suits you.”

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