Snowbound, page 11
part #3 of Discovered by Love Series
Unexpectedly, his smile flashed. “I figured talk was cheap. I insulted your work and your reputation with what I did. It’s one thing to say you’re sorry and another to show you’re sorry.”
Meg blinked at him. “I don’t understand.”
He cleared his throat. “After losing the bid, I realized that I was tired of working so hard to please everyone around me. I wasn’t doing my best work—no, don’t protest, we both know it’s true—and that was partly because I was designing for my anti-father. He wasn’t pleased with me for not fighting for this job, and he let slip that you were actually going to get the position at Klein. He literally changed their minds for them. It wasn’t because I deserved it at all.”
Meg could only stare in shock. Sure, she’d thought that more than once, but it was one thing to throw bitter imprecations at a rival and another to hear it come out of his own mouth.
“So I quit.”
Her eyes went wide. “You what?”
“I quit. I finished up my projects at Klein. And I went out on my own. That’s why I’m here.” He cleared his throat. “I’m here to offer you a job. No, not a job, a partnership. I’m hoping you’ll become one half of the newly formed Arete Architecture. Arete means—”
“Excellence, I know,” she said, staring at him. She couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “I would have thought you’d go with McKenzie.”
He threw her a wry grin. “This name has given me nothing but trouble. I think it’s time to do something different.”
“But . . . why? Why are you coming to me now?”
“Because you are literally the best architect I know. NCO has been underutilizing you for years, and you still haven’t gotten that promotion you deserve. And I know that once this house is finished, you’ll have made a name for yourself and you can pick your projects. I’m just hoping that you’ll bring that name over to my company. Our company. You’ll be a partner. You’ll make your own rules, control your own destiny . . . but with half of the risk of doing it by yourself.”
Meg had no idea what to say. This was the last thing she’d expected out of his mouth, but she couldn’t deny the satisfaction it gave her to hear him finally acknowledge what she’d accomplished. “Can I think about it?”
“Of course. Take as long as you need. The door is always open.” He cleared his throat. “I also wanted to ask you another question, and I’m hoping you don’t have to think about this one for as long.”
“Oh?”
He took another step toward her, held his hand out like he wanted to take hers, and then dropped it just as abruptly. “Will you go out to dinner with me this weekend? I feel like we’re far overdue for celebrating your success.”
“And your new company.” Now a teasing note crept into Meg’s voice. “Is that that only reason you want to take me out?”
“There’s a lot of reasons, but let’s start with that, shall we?”
She heard the echo in his words of what he’d said to her last time, flushed a little at the recollection of what had preceded it. She might not be able to give him an answer to his first question right now, but the second took no thought whatsoever. “I’d love to.”
“Good.” Now he did reach for her hand and lifted it to his lips, the brush against her fingers making her body thrill to his touch as avidly as it ever had. As he held her eyes, the first fat snowflakes began to fall from the sky, dusting their hair and shoulders and melting on their clasped hands. “We probably should be going. We know how fickle the weather is, and we don’t want to get stuck here.”
A smile tugged up the corners of her lips. “I could think of worse things.”
Two years later
“I told you it would be better this way. Didn’t I tell you it would be better this way?” Declan grinned at Meg, and she wrinkled her nose in response.
“Yes, yes, you’re brilliant. What would I do without you?”
He moved to her side where she sat at her desk and dropped a light kiss on her lips. “I somehow feel like you’re less than sincere with that praise, but I’ll take it anyway.”
Meg smiled at him and grabbed hold of the front of his sweater to pull him down for another kiss, which he willingly obliged. When they’d decided to renovate her house shortly after their wedding, both to complete the restoration she’d intended when she purchased it and to make it the headquarters for Arete Architecture, she’d agreed to let him take point on the project. He had the most experience in traditional vernaculars, and he was the one who was most excited about the original details they unearthed when they began their careful demolition. But she had held onto her initial insistence that the attic space was far too cramped and dark to make a decent office for the two of them.
Now, looking at the results—the airy gabled roof with a new set of historically accurate windows on both the front and back to let in light and air—she couldn’t deny that he’d been absolutely right. It was the cozy artist’s garret she’d never known her heart secretly wanted, layered with a warm mishmash of antique furnishings that made her feel like she was working in an old library and not her own home. Since they’d moved into the renovated space two weeks earlier, she’d barely left this room except to sleep.
Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. They’d spent a fair amount of time christening their new master bedroom too, but it was reasonable to say the design she fought tooth and nail the entire way was her favorite spot in the house. And not the least because it was the space she shared with her new husband and business partner.
It was hard to believe how completely her life had changed in less than three years from a snowbound weekend with a man she thought she despised. It hadn’t taken long for them to work through their past misunderstandings and move forward with a relationship, but it had taken considerably longer for her to move on from her job.
Declan had been right—after the photos of her redesign of the Gratz house hit all the right periodicals, she was suddenly deluged with new clients and NCO Architecture, once an unknown “boutique” firm, was suddenly a major player. It was still hard to believe that she had anything to do with that. Nelson had immediately promoted her, as well he should have, but he balked when she talked about a future as a managing partner of the firm. It was a fairly easy decision from there to join forces with her soon-to-be husband.
“I got the specs for the Rizowski project today,” she said, spinning in her chair to pull up the email she’d just received. “We’re going to have our work cut out with them. They want a full-depth basement and won’t take no for an answer, but the soils report suggests it’s a bad idea. They keep insisting that we need to find a way.”
Declan bent down and placed a kiss on the side of her neck exposed by her upswept hairstyle. “So we find a way. Or talk them into an attic.”
She shivered, a smile coming to her face, but she refused to let him off this easy. “They saw one of those TV shows where they excavated an old Roman bath in the basement and thought that was exactly what their own place needed.”
“Mmm.” Declan took a finger and slid aside the neck of her sweater to press a kiss to the top of her shoulder. “Yes, clearly everyone needs a Roman bath in their home.”
“You’re trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?”
She cocked her head as if she was thinking, but really it was to give his lips better access. “I’m considering it.”
“Would it help if I told you something?”
“Told me what?”
He gestured toward the wide window, where the threatening gray sky had finally begun to loose its moisture in a steady stream of fat, fluffy snowflakes. “The forecast is for a blizzard. We might not be able to leave the house for an entire weekend.”
Her smile widened to a grin. “That sounds terrible. I can’t imagine how we’ll pass the time, can you?” She let him pull her to her feet and kissed him full on the mouth. Then she whispered in his ear, “Do you want to light the fire or should I?”
He grinned back in equal anticipation, but then his expression sobered. He reached up to brush a stray lock of hair away from her face, his touch at once comfortingly familiar and wondrously new. “You know, I almost didn’t drive up to Vail that day we got snowed in. I knew it was probably going to be bad and I could get stuck up there. I had just about talked myself out of it.”
In almost three years, Declan had never spoken of this. She pulled away a little to look into his face, surprised. “Then what changed your mind?”
He smiled slightly and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I thought ‘what would Meg do in this situation?’ And then I figured that whatever happened, even if I was snowbound, at least I would be with you.”
Also by Carla Laureano
CLEAN CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
The Discovered by Love Novella Series
Jilted
Starstruck
Snowbound
Sunswept
INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE
The MacDonald Family Trilogy
Five Days in Skye
London Tides
Under Scottish Stars
The Supper Club Series
The Saturday Night Supper Club
Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe
The Solid Grounds Coffee Company
Provenance
INSPIRATIONAL FANTASY
The Song of Seare Series
Oath of the Brotherhood
Beneath the Forsaken City
The Sword and the Song
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
Also by Carla Laureano
Carla Laureano, Snowbound
