Flirting with Disaster Read Free Page A

think once we clear out and give her some breathing room, she’ll make the right decision.”
    Maggie saw the trap at once. If she did what she wanted to do and hung around here wallowing in self-pity and Häagen-Daz ice cream, they’d worry, but they’d let her do it and they wouldn’t think any the less of her, because they loved her. But in her heart, she’d see herself for the ridiculously self-indulgent idiot she was being.
    She’d lost a man. So what? Warren wasn’t the first and undoubtedly he wouldn’t be the last, despite her current vow to avoid all males from here to eternity. Leave it to a man as sneaky and surprisingly insightful as Cordell to appeal to her floundering self-respect.
    â€œOkay, okay, I get it. Tell me again about this stupid project,” she said grudgingly.
    Cord, bless his devious little heart, bit back a grin. “We’re going to be building a house for someone who needs one. The church’s congregation got the idea, a benefactor donated the land, and the preacher asked me to put together a volunteer construction crew. We’ll be working mostly on weekends, since that’s when people are available. Dinah and her mama are in charge of raising money for whatever building supplies we can’t get donated.”
    â€œWhat do you expect me to do?” Maggie asked suspiciously.
    â€œWhat you’re told,” Dinah said with a glint of amusement in her eyes. “Same as me. It’ll be a refreshing change for us. At least that’s what Cord says. We’ll be hammering and painting right alongside everyone else.”
    Maggie turned her gaze on Warren. “And you?” she asked.
    â€œThat’s up to you,” he replied. “I said I’d help, but I’ll stay away if you want me to, Maggie. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
    Maggie wasn’t sure Warren had any essential skills for building a house, so sending him away might not be much of a loss, but why bother? Maybe it was time to show all of Charleston that she was holding up just fine after her broken engagement. It was past time she held her head up high and behaved like the strong, independent woman she’d always considered herself to be.
    â€œDo whatever you want to do,” she told Warren with as much indifference as she could muster.
    â€œThen you’ll help?” Dinah asked.
    â€œI’ll help,” Maggie agreed. “If I don’t, who knows what sort of place you’ll build? Everyone knows I’m the one with taste in this crowd.”
    â€œWe’re building a three-bedroom bungalow with the basic necessities for a single mom with three kids,” Cord warned. “Not a mansion. Let’s not lose sight of that.”
    â€œYou’re building a house,” Maggie retorted emphatically. “I’ll turn it into a home.”
    But just as she uttered the words, Maggie spotted the satisfied glint in Dinah’s eyes and wondered if she wasn’t making the second mistake she’d made that day. The first had been opening the door to these three.

2
    T he blessed ceiling fan was making so much noise Josh couldn’t even hear himself think. Normally that would be downright terrific, but he was sitting on the edge of his motel-room bed, facing down his boss and his boss’s drop-dead-gorgeous wife, who was trying valiantly to pretend that this sleazy dump was a palace. They all knew better.
    Josh raked a hand through his hair and tried not to stare at Dinah Davis’s elegant, long legs. Dinah Davis Beaufort, he reminded himself sternly. He had a hunch if his gaze lingered one second too long, Cord would punch him out and forget all about whatever scheme had brought the two of them over here at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning.
    Which might not be a bad thing, Josh realized. He didn’t like that matching gleam in their eyes one damn bit.
    â€œWhy exactly are you