What a Westmoreland Wants - By Brenda Jackson Page 0,33

to his for her to sit in. Once she had taken her seat, he took his and smiled over at her before calling the meeting to order in a deep, authoritative voice.

She couldn’t help but admire how efficient he was and had to remind herself several times during the course of the business meeting that this was the same Callum who’d managed her brother’s sheep farm. The same Callum who would turn feminine heads around town when he wore tight-fitting jeans over taut hips and an ultrafine tush, and sported a Western shirt over broad shoulders.

And this was the same Callum who had made her scream with pleasure last night…in his car of all places. She glanced over at his hand, the same one whose fingers were now holding an ink pen, and remembered just where that hand had been last night and what he’d been doing with those fingers.

Suddenly, she felt very hot and figured that as long as she kept looking at his hands she would get even hotter. Over the course of the hour-long meeting, she tried to focus her attention on other things in the room like the paintings on the wall, the style of window treatments and carpeting. Given the chance, she would spruce things up in here. Unlike the other part of the office, for some reason this particular room seemed a little drab. In addition to the boring pictures hanging on the walls, the carpeting lacked any depth. She wondered what that was all about. Evidently, no one told the prior interior designer that the coloring of carpet in a business often set the mood of the employees.

“I see everyone continues to do a fantastic job for me in my absence and I appreciate that. This meeting is now adjourned,” Callum said.

Gemma glanced up to see everyone getting out of their seats, filing out of the room and closing the door behind them. She turned to find Callum staring at her. “What’s wrong? You seemed bored,” he said.

She wondered how he’d picked up on it when his full attention should have been on the meeting he was conducting. But since he had noticed…

“Yes, but I couldn’t help it. This room will bore you to tears and I have a bucket full of them.” She glanced around the room. “Make that two buckets.”

Callum threw his head back and laughed. “Do you always say whatever suits you?”

“Hey, you did ask. And yes, I usually say whatever suits me. Didn’t Ramsey warn you that I have no problem giving my opinion about anything?”

“Yes, he did warn me.”

She gave him a sweet smile. “Yet you hired me anyway, so, unfortunately, you’re stuck with me.”

Callum wanted nothing more than to lean over and plant a kiss firmly on Gemma’s luscious lips and say that being stuck with her was something he looked forward to. Instead, he checked his watch. “Do you want to grab lunch before we head over to the house you’ll be decorating? Then while we eat you can tell me why you have so many buckets of tears from this room.”

She chuckled as she stood up. “Gladly, Mr. Austell.”

Nine

“Well, here we are and I want you to tell me just what you can do with this place.”

Gemma heard Callum’s words, but her gaze was on the interior of a monstrosity of a house. She was totally in awe. There weren’t too many homes that could render her speechless, but this mansion had before she’d stepped over the threshold. The moment he’d pulled into the drive way, she’d been overwhelmed by the architecture of it. She’d known when she’d originally seen the design of the home on paper that it was a beauty, but actually seeing it in all its grandiose splendor was truly a breathtaking moment.

“Give me the history of this house,” she said, glancing around at the elegant staircase, high sculptured ceilings, exquisite crown molding and gorgeous wood floors. And for some reason she believed Callum knew it. Just from her observation of him during that morning’s meeting, she’d determined that he was an astute businessman, sharp as a tack, although he preferred sporting jeans and messing with sheep to wearing a business suit and tweaking mission statements.

Over lunch she’d asked how he’d managed to keep up with his business affairs with Le’Claire while working for Ramsey. He’d explained that he had made trips back home several times when his presence had been needed on important matters. In addition, the cottage he occupied in