Read Online Twisted Arrangement by Mora Early - Free Book Online Page A

hard work didn’t sit well with her image of Josh as the Wealthy Playboy. Several things about him didn’t. It made her uncomfortable. She kept shoving those thoughts into that locked room along with the voice that kept insisting there was more to him.
     
    “The hard work has all been you,” she replied, not meeting his eyes. This was something she usually said to her rich employers. They liked to be told something was all their doing. “You know,” she rushed ahead, changing the subject. “Several of the foods you’ve selected, like the brie with the thyme honey, are potentially going to leave guests with sticky fingers. Are you concerned about your things getting ruined?”
     
    He shrugged. “Not really. I’ll have anything of real value locked away. The rest I can replace.”
     
    “L-locked away?” Her heart did a somersault. “That’s a good idea,” she said faintly.
     
    Josh nodded, rolling the wine stem between his fingers. “Martin pointed out the possibility of another kind of sticky fingers when hosting so many people in the house. So all the priceless stuff that’s in potential danger will get put away, and all the non-essential rooms will be locked up. Most of them are already locked anyway when not in use.”
     
    “Well. . . .” Emma cleared her throat. “Good, then. I’m glad we got that cleared up. Now, we—” Her phone chirped, making her jump. Her acrobatic heart didn’t calm down when she saw Todd’s number displayed on the screen. Her eyes flew up to Josh’s, but luckily he was perusing her clipboard. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.”
     
    Josh nodded and gave her a go-ahead wave. She scurried several steps away from him and pressed the phone to her ear. “This is not a good time. I’m at work .” She stressed the last word, hoping her brother would understand that she meant ‘Joshua Owens is standing right here’.
     
    “Ems,” Todd began, but she bulldozed right over him.
     
    “We do need to talk, though. Come by the house tonight. There’s been a . . . development.” Emma cut a quick glance at Josh, but he was on his own phone now. She hadn’t heard a ring, so he must have called someone. That was good; it meant he wasn’t listening to her.
     
    “Emma!” Todd’s voice was sharp, jerking her attention back to him.
     
    “What?”
     
    “I can’t come to the house tonight,” he said, and Emma could hear the slightly disgruntled pout in his voice. She knew that tone. Todd was upset she wasn’t paying more attention to him. But she was as nervous as that proverbial cat in the room full of rocking chairs. She didn’t want to be talking to him with Josh so nearby.
     
    “Oh, for God’s sake, are you pouting now? Fine. I’ll come see you. Where will you be?”
     
    Todd sighed. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m in the hospital.”
     
    “You’re . . . what?” Her heart stopped all its acrobatics, seizing in her chest. “What happened?” Her mother died in a hospital, though she’d been too young to remember it. Their father, too, was rushed from the scene of the accident only to die in the hospital a few hours later. Emma really didn’t like hospitals.
     
    “I’m fine, Ems. I promise.” The petulance vanished from his tone now. Todd knew how she felt, because he felt the same way. “It’s just some minor cuts and bruises. But they want to keep me overnight for observation, because I hit my head. That’s all.”
     
    Tears pricked her eyes. “I’ll be right there.”
     
    Todd was still talking, but Emma hung up. She turned back to find Josh still on the phone, engaged in a heated argument. She shifted impatiently from foot to foot, listening to him berate whoever was on the other line.
     
    “Look, I don’t care if he’s the Prince of Persia. You tell him he’s signed a contract and I’m holding him to it. If he tries to weasel out of it, I’ll have him in court for so long his great-grandchildren will still