Sweeping The Bride Away. Michele Dunaway
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.
“Cassidy, I need a key,” he called up the stairs.
“Dan, give Blade your key and the alarm code.”
“Are you sure?” Dan called.
“Yes,” Cassidy shouted back. Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key chain. He removed a key from the fob and passed it to Blade.
“The code, too?” Dan called.
“The code, too,” Cassidy said, and Blade heard her feet on the hardwood stairs. “He’s licensed and bonded,” Cassidy said, adjusting an earring as she entered the kitchen.
Blade’s heart skipped a beat. He’d been wrong. She wasn’t just pretty. She was gorgeous.
Lingerie models couldn’t hold a candle to her. His eyes drank in the way the red slip dress curved over her figure to layer just above her knees in small, loose ruffles.
Blade wondered what was wrong with Dan.
He wasn’t even looking at Cassidy, but rather the afternoon daily.
Was the man blind? Maybe he needed to have his glasses checked.
For if Cassidy were Blade’s fiancée, he sure wouldn’t be treating her this way. No, he’d never complain if she’d forgotten the time, especially if she greeted him looking like that and wearing only a silk robe. He’d be thinking, the heck with the Schmidts. They could eat by themselves while he and Cassidy made passionate love upstairs.
Or that short dress would just lift up, and he would lean her back on the kitchen island and see whether lace or silk was hiding underneath.
Instead Dan was now checking his watch.
Blade shook his head, clearing his erotic and disturbing thoughts. Cassidy’s choice of a husband was her problem. He just didn’t think she should be settling, as Clara had tried to do.
What he had to do, though, was check his lust for her. That was his problem.
He had to admit it; he lusted for her. He had from the moment she’d sent the peanuts flying across his bar. But he knew his lust would be just a temporary phase he’d go through. He’d given up phases long ago; he could outlast this one, too. As a grown man he knew that you didn’t get everything you wanted.
She