Nine Months Part 3 (36 Hours) by Beverly Barton

Author:Beverly Barton [Barton, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

In the days following her father’s surgery, Paige and Jared settled into a routine. They worked together at the office every day as employer and employee. In the evenings Jared helped Paige at The Dollhouse, and they often ordered takeout for dinner. And at night, they slept in each other’s arms. They had become friends as well as lovers. But two words were never mentioned. Love and marriage.

They spent Thanksgiving Day with her parents. Everyone stuffed themselves with Dora Summers’s scrumptious Southern food, the four men completely wiping out the savory corn bread dressing.

Paige marveled at the way Jared seemed to enjoy being a part of her family. Her parents had welcomed him warmly, treating him as if he were a third son. Jared and seventeen-year-old Austen became fast friends, and by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, Jared had won over Bryant.

Paige and Jared didn’t discuss the future beyond Angela’s birth and the spring grand opening of The Dollhouse. Instead, they lived in the present.

Paige knew that they couldn’t go on this way indefinitely—pretending everything was all right. Even though they lived together as if they were husband and wife, they were no closer to marriage than they’d been three months ago. And she wondered how much longer she could go on hoping that Jared would learn to love her.

She knew he still wanted to marry her, but true to his word, he didn’t ask again. He understood that she would never marry him without love. Why was it so difficult for him to love her—Paige Summers—just the way she was?

Without telling Paige, Jared hired Marcy Dailey’s rival to decorate the house for Christmas. When the man showed up, Paige promptly dismissed him and confronted Jared.

“I don’t want some interior designer decorating my house for Christmas,” Paige said. “This is my house, isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s your house, honey. I just thought hiring someone to decorate would make things easier for you.”

“Well, your family probably always hired someone to put up a Christmas tree and hang garlands and prepare the food.” Just the way he’d hired someone to decorate Angela’s nursery! “But in my family, we do it ourselves!”

Jared gave in to her wishes without a fight and insisted she spare no expense in decorating her house for the Christmas season. That’s the way he kept referring to the log cabin—as her house. A couple of times he called it our house, then quickly corrected himself. She wished the cabin was their house, that they could create a real home for Angela.

Huge pine-and-holly wreaths hung on the double front doors. Pine boughs tied with Yuletide green-and-gold plaid ribbons decorated the den, where Paige had placed a nut-garland swag across the fireplace. A three-foot, fresh-cut pine tree, decorated with country craft ornaments and multicolored lights, took a place of honor on the side of Jared’s gigantic oak desk.

In the living room, Paige had used red velvet ribbon to accent the pine-and-holly garland draped over the top and down each side of the massive rock fireplace.

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