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Embarrassed, Gemma dropped her fists.

“We want to furnish a whole house today,” Colin said. “Free delivery, right?”

“Of course,” the woman said, smiling. “Where do you want to start?”

“Couch,” Colin and Gemma said in unison.

As the saleswoman started walking, they followed. “Leather or fabric? Rolled arms or straight? High back or low?”

“Fabric, rolled, high,” Gemma said.

At the same time, Colin said, “Leather, straight, low.”

“Ah, newlyweds,” the woman said. “Well, come on, I’ve had a lot of experience at settling arguments.”

Neither Colin or Gemma corrected her impression that they were newlyweds.

“Hungry?” Colin asked as he pulled one of two big sandwiches from a paper bag. On the way back from the warehouse, they’d stopped for them. He’d texted Luke from the restaurant, so when they got back, Luke and Rams were waiting. The three men carried in the king-size mattress and springs Colin and Gemma’d brought back in the truck.

“You and I could have carried them,” Gemma said to Colin.

“Thanks, but no,” he’d said.

Gemma trailed behind the men with bags full of sheets and towels. She pulled off tags and put them in the washer while the men set up the bed.

Luke and Rams left as soon as the bed was on the floor, so Colin and Gemma were now alone, standing at the counter in the kitchen.

“Ravenous,” she said. She took her sandwich and a bottle of water and went to sit on the pretty rug in the living room.

When Colin appeared, he had a cold bottle of champagne and two glasses. “Rams le

ft this and said it was from Tess. What did you do to make her like you so much that she sent champagne?”

“Rams said it’s because Mike likes me.”

“That would do it for Tess. She thinks quite highly of her brother.” Colin bit into his sandwich. Chewing, he picked up his bottle of water. “To more days like this one,” he said.

“Truthfully, I’d rather spend four hours in the gym,” she said.

“Me too,” he said, and they looked at each other and smiled.

Between them passed images of the day. There’d been a lot of laughter as they tried to envision how the furniture would look in the house—and they’d been equally bad at it. Their saleswoman, Mrs. Ellis, thirty years in the business, was used to couples like them, so she showed them how to measure and plan the arrangements in each room.

It took an hour or so for them to get the hang of what they were doing, but soon they’d adjusted and slid into a comfortable camaraderie. They were both good at compromises, and besides, as Gemma said, it was Colin’s house. When Mrs. Ellis said that Gemma would be living there too, they hadn’t corrected her. Instead, they’d looked away for a moment, then they went on as though nothing had been said.

The only time they halted was when they came to the third bedroom. The second had been easy, as they’d made it into a guest bedroom with twin beds.

“How about a baby’s room?” Mrs. Ellis said.

Both Gemma and Colin had stood there, staring at her in silence.

“It does happen,” she said, laughing. When they still said nothing, she said, “All right, we’ll just leave that room empty for now.”

Throughout the day, Gemma had been acutely aware of Colin’s presence—and of the constant mention of their having a future together. When they started to buy a bedside table, Mrs. Ellis asked who slept on which side. Who liked to read in bed? Did they watch TV at night?

Gemma and Colin kept up the charade that they’d been a couple for a long time, might even have been recently married.

But every time the saleswoman mentioned something that hinted at their physical togetherness, Gemma and Colin had looked at each other. At first their glances had been shy, but as the day wore on, their eyes lingered. When Mrs. Ellis talked of a child’s room, Colin had taken Gemma’s hand in his and held it for a few moments.


Tags: Jude Deveraux Edilean Romance