She's No Angel Read Online Free Page B

challenge was difficult to miss. He had no idea what had sparked her sudden disdain. No, that wasn’t true, it was the same reaction they’d been getting from the moment they’d submitted the plan.
    And maybe if he’d been 100 percent happy with that plan he might not have jumped into an automatic defensive posture. But he wasn’t happy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do about it. At least, not yet.
    The tension between them crackled. Blood chugged thickly through his veins. His voice was low with warning when he said, “I’m the architect on the project, Ms. Harper.”
    Lexi’s eyes widened. “Then perhaps you should go back to the drawing board, Mr. Newcomb, because those plans suck.”
    Without waiting for his response, Lexi pushed away from the table. “Forgive me for leaving, but I have an early morning.” Her pointed gaze found his. “Making chocolate.” She rounded the table, pressed a kiss to her dad’s cheek and then did the same thing to her mom’s.
    She stopped to grab the heels she’d abandoned in the corner. As they dangled from her outstretched fingers, she paused in the entrance to the kitchen. “I’m sorry about your shoes.”
    Brett seriously doubted she actually meant it.
    * * *
    A N HOUR LATER the bottom of his pants brushed stiffly against his calves, rigid with dried sugar and chocolate. The inside of his shoes would never be the same. Hell, even his toes were sticky.
    Brett grimaced as he opened the front door to the inn. Getting out of these clothes was all he could think about.
    Mrs. McKinnon stuck her head out of the office. “Oh, you’re home.” Calculating eyes beneath droopy lids swept him from head to toe, missing nothing.
    “What happened to you?” she asked, finally abandoning her hidey-hole. Fisted hands landed on her hips and she glared up at him. Brett guessed she was in her late sixties, and as far as he could tell, she ran the place entirely by herself.
    He’d never known his grandparents, one set died before he was born and the other hadn’t cared that he existed. Mrs. McKinnon didn’t quite fit the picture of a grandmother that he’d always had in his head. She was disapproving.
    “Nothing.”
    “That’s not nothing.” She pointed at his feet. “Those shoes are ruined.” She clucked her tongue and transferred the glare from his offending footwear. “You’ll be lucky if the pants aren’t, too. Take ’em off.”
    Brett blinked. “Excuse me?”
    “Take ’em off.” She snapped her fingers and rolled her finger in the air so he’d hurry up. “I’ll have them cleaned and pressed for you in the morning.”
    It was already well past nine. “They’re dry clean only.”
    “You don’t think I can manage to take care of a single pair of pants?”
    “No,” he protested, not entirely sure why the thought of insulting her bothered him. He didn’t know this woman from Adam. Besides, “I’m not taking my pants off in the middle of your foyer, Mrs. McKinnon.”
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, why ever not? I promise you don’t got nothin’ I haven’t seen.” Her mouth twisted and her already wrinkled face creased even more. “’Sides, I don’t want you tromping through my nice clean place trailing Lord knows what behind ya.”
    “The chocolate’s dry.”
    “Chocolate?” she asked, her eyes sharpening. “How’d you get chocolate all over your pants?”
    Brett gave up. He’d intended to keep the incident to himself, realizing that exposing Lexi to gossip wasn’t the best way to win points with her—or the mayor. But protecting her from embarrassment wasn’t worth arguing with Mrs. McKinnon.
    “Lexi Harper dumped a bowl of some chocolate thing on my feet.”
    The wheezing cackle startled Brett. Taking a huge step forward, he started to whack Mrs. McKinnon on the back, afraid she was choking to death, until he realized she was laughing.
    Swiping at the corner of her eye she said, “Priceless. They’ll get a kick out of