The Cinderella Deal - Jennifer Crusie [45]
“I know she’s not nuts,” Art said shortly, and turned away from him to talk to Daisy. “Keep coming to the clinic. You’re really good at exercising the animals. They like you.”
“Oh, good.” Daisy beamed at him. “I have so much fun there.”
She’d flashed her megawatt without thinking, and Art smiled back, mesmerized. Linc scowled at Art, so she grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the street.
“I’ll come by for Jupiter this afternoon,” she said to Art. “Come on, Linc. Your pulse rate’s dropping.”
“Who is that guy?” Linc easily kept pace with her as she ran down the street.
“He’s the vet.” Daisy puffed hard as she ran. “You know, I think I’m getting the hang of this.”
“I don’t like the way he looks at you. Stop smiling at him.”
“Hey.” Daisy frowned as hard as possible while panting her lungs out. “He’s my friend.”
Linc snorted. “He wants to be more than your friend.”
“What do you care?”
“We just got married four days ago. It looks bad.”
“Wait a minute.” She stopped suddenly, and he had to turn around and jog back to her. “I called the university Friday and you were out for lunch. With Caroline.”
“So?”
Daisy put her hands on her hips. Part of the Cinderella deal was that they played fair. “So if you can have lunch with Caroline, I can exercise dogs with Art.”
Linc scowled. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because Art wants to exercise a lot more than dogs with you.”
“And Caroline doesn’t with you?”
Linc waved that away. “That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll say no.”
“Will you?”
“Yes.” He looked insulted. “Hell, yes. We’ve only been married four days. What kind of creep would I be if I cheated on you already?”
Already? For some reason this conversation was not turning out the way she’d planned. “So when are you planning on cheating? In June?”
Linc turned suddenly wary, as if he’d seen where things were going and didn’t like it either. “I don’t know. I’m not, I guess. Why are we having this dumb conversation?”
“Because you won’t let me exercise the animals at Art’s.”
“Then go,” he snapped. “I don’t care. Just stay away from Art.”
Daisy stuck her chin out. “I intend to. I have enough problems living with one man who doesn’t even notice that I’ve redecorated the entire downstairs of his house—”
“What?”
“—I don’t need to start sleeping with another one.”
She took off running down the street, and he watched her before he followed.
She’s right, he thought as he steadily gained on her. What she does is none of my business as long as she’s discreet.
But if he touches her, I’m breaking his fingers.
After Linc left, Daisy walked through the downstairs, studying the colors and the values and the proportions of everything she was doing, trying to make sure it balanced, that it was interesting and new and different without being so far out that it humiliated Linc. The living room, dining room, and hall were done, but she wasn’t happy with them.
“It’s ordinary,” she told Julia on the phone. “It’s very pretty, but it’s ordinary. Daisy Flattery wouldn’t live here.”
“That’s because you’re pleasing Linc. Get some paint, go in there, and please Daisy. What have you painted on canvas lately?”
“Nothing. I’ve just done walls and furniture.”
“Well, there you are. Do some canvases for the walls. Better yet, do some canvases for you.”
Daisy thought about it. She was tired of walls and patterns; it was time to get back to stories. “You’re right. I’ll lock the bedroom doors so all that these people will see upstairs is the bathroom. Everything else is done down here except for the kitchen. Maybe I’ll go crazy in the kitchen. And I’ll do some collages. There’s a great secondhand place near the college that has a box full of lace and embroidery I could use to do a collage for the hall. And I’ll paint. I’ve got a lot of stories I’ve thought of here that I want to paint. This is a wonderful place. You’ve got to come stay soon.”
“I will,” Julia said. “How’s Linc?”
“Fine. He seems happy and his book is going well.”
“I mean, how are Linc and you?”
Daisy thought about their morning jogs.