The Reluctant Heir

“Until ten seconds ago I wasn’t sure you were coming because, clearly, you are unfamiliar with how a phone works.” When she started to interrupt, he held up a hand to stop her. “My point being, if I had known I would have had the cottage cleaned and aired out. Since your arrival is a surprise, and a welcome one so don’t get all grumpy on me, I thought we could wait in the house while I have the place readied for you.”

“First, I did call you.”

She had to be kidding. “Ten minutes ago, from the front gate, but go on.”

“Do you want me to text you a message right now?”

That tone. She was messing with him. No question.

“I can imagine what that message would say.” But it was tempting to let her try. Everything she did and said intrigued him, made him want to know more.

That time she did smile. Even let it linger. “Second, I clean for a living. I can handle the cottage... I want to handle it.”

Maybe it would make her feel closer to her father’s memory, but the idea still struck him as wrong. He wasn’t hiring her. He was trying to help her, though it was pretty clear she planned to fight him with every ounce of life inside her. “You’re not here to work.”

“I actually am.”

Damn, she was exasperating and he kind of loved that about her. Not many people outside of his family challenged him. Most bought into the supposed power behind the Jameson name, which was why he sometimes used a fake last name. He wanted people to know him for him, and that included her. “I mean, for me. You don’t work for me.”

“You gave me the speech about how no one would bother me. I don’t want people skulking around the cottage.”

He wasn’t the type to be knocked speechless but he didn’t have a comeback for that one. “Skulking?”

She shrugged, looking disinterested...except for the way she twisted her coat in her hands. If she tightened that death grip even a fraction she’d likely rip the material. He found her reaction interesting. Here she was, all cool and annoyed on the surface. Underneath it looked like something very different was happening. Maybe it was the stress of being back or that stupid envelope. Part of him hoped she was fighting off the same attraction that threatened to overwhelm him.

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