Her House Divided (Beach Haven Book 1) Read Free

to her standards. She actually bounced a quarter on the sheets to make sure they were tight enough."
    Tara wondered about his parents, wanting to ask him why he had been raised by his Grandmother. But she decided that now was not the time. "Shall we go in?"
    He nodded.
    Tara took her time getting out of the vehicle, reflecting that giant SUV's were definitely not the vehicle of choice for people recovering from major surgery. Or for anyone under six feet tall, for that matter. She slid her feet down to the running board and awkwardly grabbed for the handle with her left hand.
    Ethan was suddenly there, guiding her. "Careful," he warned her. "That first step is a doozy."
    "Thank you," she murmured. She caught her breath when his large, warm hands encircled her waist. It took every ounce of strength not to lean in closer and drink in his clean, masculine scent—a scent so different from Randy's overpowering cologne and aftershave—
    At the thought of her ex-fiancé, Tara straightened and looked at the house. Without another word, she turned on her heel and headed toward her new home. No matter how wonderful Ethan smelled, she was not going to think of him as anything other than the obstacle that stood between her current run of hard luck and her one chance at owning her own home. She wasn't going to be distracted by his charming smile or sparkling blue eyes.
    Oh, for goodness sake! She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity and focused on navigating the three steps onto the front porch. The white wicker rocker beckoned to her, but she refused to give in to the urge to sink into it. It had already been a long day, and she was incredibly tired, but she refused to let Ethan Davis know that.
    She used her new house key to open the heavy glass door, expecting to be greeted by a musty, empty smell; she knew that the house had been closed up a few months ago, when the elderly woman had been forced to move into a nursing home after a stroke. Surprisingly, though, the house actually smelled clean and fresh.
    Ethan laughed at the look on her face. "I made sure the house was cleaned once a week," he explained. "Just because Grandma was in a home, there was no excuse to let  her  home fall apart."
    "Tell me about the house," she prompted.
    Grudgingly, he guided her through his grandmother's home, showing off the spacious living room and newly updated kitchen. "I did the work myself over the past couple of years," he said. There was a note of pride in his voice, but also a hint of something else – shyness, perhaps? Maybe modesty was a better word for it. She sensed that he was not the kind of man who liked to boast about his work. "Grandma said she didn't need all of it, but I just hated to see her struggle with that old stove and dishwasher. She wouldn't let me do it all at once, so I had to do it bit by bit over the years."
    She suddenly realized that she had no idea what Ethan did for a living. She was on the verge of asking that very question when he opened the door to the master bedroom, and the words died on her lips.
    It was quite simply the most beautiful room she had ever seen. It was dominated by a large four-poster bed that had been made up with an antique-looking quilt in hues of blue and gray. The creamy white walls were decorated with cross-stitched and needlepoint pictures of seagulls and beach scenes, while one entire wall had been given over to curtain-draped French doors. When Tara opened one of those doors, she stepped out onto a small shady patio that was surrounded by rose bushes in enormous concrete pots.
    "Beautiful!" she breathed.
    "And you haven't even seen the master bathroom yet," Ethan told her.
    "If it's got a claw-foot tub, I may just think I've died and gone to heaven," she said. At the look on his face, she gave a small cry and hurried as fast as her aching body could move toward the bathroom. Sure enough, there was an old-fashioned claw-foot tub and shelves lined with thick, plush blue towels.
    Tara