I stared at him wide-eyed.
“I plan on you spendin’ lots of time here, Neely Kate. I want you to be happy. So we’ll set it up how you like it. Now come see the rest.” He ignored a back door and headed through an open doorway into the entry hall. We walked past a powder room to a door that opened to a room lined with built-in bookshelves.
Jed moved to the center of the empty room. “Witt’s better with the mechanics and I’m better with numbers, so I figure I can set up an office here to do the accountin’.”
“I can help,” I said. “I was almost an accountant. It can help pay off the car.”
“You know I don’t expect or want you to pay off that car.”
“I know, but I still want to help. I do the books for Rose, you know,” I reminded him.
He grinned and moved closer to me, pulling me into his arms and smoothing the hair from my cheek as he stared lovingly into my face. “I have so many hopes and dreams for us, it scares me, Neely Kate.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that, so I kept silent.
“That’s why I bought this place. It’s secluded, and no one knows I own it. I bought it through a dummy corporation. It’s the only way I know to truly protect you when we’re together, because I’m still worried that after all this Kate and Hardshaw business goes away, my enemies will see you as a way to hurt me.”
“I’m a big girl, Jed. Remember me and Muffy got me free from that guy this afternoon. But I’ll promise you I’ll be more careful in the future, okay? I’ll be on the defensive.”
“That’s no way to live either, Neely Kate,” he said with pain in his eyes. “All because of me.”
“Hey,” I said, lifting my hand to cover his on my cheek. “You’re dealin’ with my nonsense and I’m dealin’ with yours. It’s a fair deal.”
He looked unconvinced. Then again, so was I—but I wanted to believe it anyway.
I gave him a warm smile. “Show me the rest of the house.”
Grinning, he took my hand again, leading me out into the hall and up the staircase. There were three bedrooms upstairs, although he was sure there had been four at one time, with one of the rooms stolen to make a large master bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet on one side of the house, and two much smaller bedrooms and a very outdated bathroom on the other side.
We saw the smaller bedrooms and bathroom first, and then Jed showed me his simple bed and dresser in the master.
“My stuff doesn’t work here,” he said. “Maybe you can help me with that too.”
I laughed. “Seems like you’ll have me redoin’ your whole house.”
“You don’t have to,” he said, “but I know how much you love decoratin’ and that you don’t get a chance to since you’re livin’ in Rose’s house.”
His comment made me feel ungrateful. I loved living with Rose, and she refused to let me pay rent saying she’d be no better than a slumlord if I worked for her and paid rent, to boot. Rose would likely let me do anything to her house, but it was her house, so I’d never try to change it. “Rose is very sweet to me.”
“I know she is. Rose has a heart of gold, but as you can see, my house is in desperate need of fixin’ up and I’m terrible at it. I can’t help thinkin’ you’d love to help.”
I grinned. “I would.”
His face lit up. “Then it’s settled, but tonight is about you and me. Do you still want that shower?”
“Do you mind?”
He gave me a sly look. “Actually… I prefer it. I wasn’t plannin’ on pickin’ you up until eight, so I need the extra time while you’re in the shower.”
“There are more surprises?”
“A few more. Why don’t you head into the bathroom and take your shower, and I’ll grab your bag and put it on the bed. You come down when you’re ready, but I’ll need at least twenty minutes, so you can even take a bath if you like.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you up to, Jed Carlisle?”
“You’re gonna love it.”
“How dressed up should I be?”
“Wear something that makes you feel pretty.” Then he gave me a quick kiss and headed out the door.
I turned around in the room, wondering when he’d packed up his apartment and moved it here, especially since he said he’d closed on the house yesterday and we’d made our impromptu trip to Little Rock in the afternoon. He was right that his simple contemporary bedroom furniture didn’t go with the house, but the white walls weren’t helping. All it needed was a warmer paint color, some curtains, and some homier furniture and bedding.
Grinning ear to ear, I walked into the bathroom and took in the slightly dated double vanity, shower, and deep jetted tub. I eyed the tub longingly and decided that I’d take Jed’s suggestion and enjoy a bath. He’d brought my toiletries that I’d kept at his place, and I wondered how he’d gotten everything moved and unpacked. I suspected he’d taken a lesson from Skeeter Malcolm and hired people to do it. Then again, Jed didn’t have many material possessions, so it wouldn’t have taken much time.
The problem with the bath was it left me with too much time on my hands to think about things, and I kept seeing the faces of the two dead men. I relived my near-kidnapping, and in the end, I was making myself more anxious, not less. My phone was on the ledge, so I picked it up and turned on some music, hoping it would distract me.
After fifteen minutes, I grabbed a towel to wrap around myself and opened the door to the bedroom, where I found my suitcase lying on the bed. I pulled out a lacy pink dress, clean underwear—also lacy pink—and my makeup bag, then carried them into the bathroom. After I reapplied a light layer of makeup, I dressed and examined my reflection in the full-length mirror in the nearly empty walk-in closet.
I’d never worn this dress before, but I looked like a combination of sweet and sophisticated, and I almost changed my mind about wearing it. Would Jed like it? It was a lot dressier than I usually wore with him, but he’d originally told me to dress up, so I ultimately left it on. I rolled my hair into a French twist, then added a light coat of lip gloss, slipped on a pair of nude-colored heels, then headed for the bedroom door, nearly thirty minutes after Jed had left me to go work on his next surprise.
“Jed?” I called out down the stairs.
The bathroom door across the hall opened, and Jed walked out wearing a light blue dress shirt, dark gray dress pants, and a light blue silk tie. The most dressed up I’d ever seen Jed was in a short-sleeved button-up shirt and jeans, so the sight of him caught me off guard. He was freshly shaven, and he must have taken a shower because his hair was still damp. His eyes darkened even more when he took me in, and he closed the distance between us stopping about a foot from me.
“You’re beautiful, Neely Kate.”
I smiled up at him. “You clean up pretty nice, yourself.”
“You ready?” he asked as he reached out his hand.
I didn’t know what he had planned, but if it was with Jed, I would go with him just about anywhere. “Yeah.”
We walked down the stairs hand in hand while I held on to the railing. Jed kept stealing smiling glances at me. Butterflies filled my stomach, and I wondered how I could have worried if he was considering breaking up with me. It felt foolish and juvenile, and I realized that all my previous relationships had been shallow, and now I had the chance to have something real and meaningful with Jed. Something I’d never shared with anyone else.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, he led me through the living room and empty dining room to the kitchen, where something smelled delicious.
“If you cooked dinner, showered, and changed to look this good, then you are one amazing man,” I teased.
He laughed. “I had the food delivered.” Then he walked to the back door he’d bypassed before and opened it, revealing a covered porch. The ceiling was strung with white string lights, and a small round table was placed in the middle, set with a white tablecloth, two white plates, and empty wine glasses. “This is what I was working on.”