By Design Read Online Free PDF Page B

headed for the kitchen. “Ms. Reid,” Candace greeted the architect
formally.
    “Senator,”
Jameson replied, unsuccessful in concealing an automatic grin.
    Candace
momentarily thought her feet might have become rooted in the floor. Jameson’s
smile lit her from within, and Candace
was helpless not to react with a broad smile of her own. “Looking for more bird
motifs to torture me with?” she asked.
    Jameson
laughed. “No. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize dinner.”
    “I
see. So, the way to keep you focused is to feed you Chinese take-out?”
    “No,
I’m not that picky,” Jameson answered.
    “I
guess that explains your affinity for my kitchen,” Candace replied as she set
the bag on the table.
    “You
need anything from me?” Pearl asked from the doorway.
    “Not
at all,” Candace said. “Don’t you want to join us? I got chicken wings,” she
attempted to entice the older woman with a carton. “And fortune cookies.”
    Pearl
shook her head. “ No, thanks. I will leave
you two to your evening,” she said. “Go easy on that,” she warned Candace.
    “Worried
about my girlish figure?” Candace asked, pulling a bottle of white wine from
the refrigerator.
    “No,”
Pearl pointed to the bottle in Candace’s hand. “Worried Jameson will have to
carry your girlish figure upstairs when you finish that bottle,” she winked.
    Candace
pursed her lips. “Don’t listen to her,” she said to Jameson. “A glass of wine
and she thinks I’m an alcoholic.”
    “Ha!”
Pearl waved off the younger woman as Jameson listened
on . “Hardly. Watch her with that, Jameson. She can hold her liquor just
fine. Wine …. ”
    “Enough
of you,” Candace laughed. “That was one time and I was seventeen.”
    “Oh?
What about that time at your Christmas party when Rach …. ”
    Candace
made her way swiftly to her friend and covered Pearl’s mouth with her hand.
“Don’t you have some place you need to
be?” she asked.
    Pearl
shook her head when Candace removed her hand. “So eager for me to leave? I
thought you wanted me to stay and share your fortune cookies,” Pearl quipped.
Candace just chuckled. “Just watch her,” Pearl called back to Jameson as
Candace gently nudged her from the room. Pearl turned to Candace and kissed her
on the cheek. “Have a good night,” she said with a wink.
    Candace
rolled her eyes as Pearl headed out the door. “Incorrigible,” she mumbled as
she made her way back to Jameson. “So? Chinese food and Early American décor;
would you like some wine with that?” she asked the architect.
    “ Depends ,” Jameson answered.
    “On?”
    “How
heavy are you?”
    Candace
looked at Jameson in disbelief for a moment and then laughed. “I promise you,
Jameson; it will take more than a couple of glasses of wine for me to get
carried off to the bedroom.”
    Jameson
smiled. “I’ll make a note.”
    ***
    “What
do you think?” Jameson asked. Candace looked at the pictures on Jameson’s
laptop screen in amazement. Her inability to answer began to alarm Jameson. “If
you don’t like something…”
    “What?”
Candace jumped. “Jameson ….it ’s….I’m just
amazed that you were able to put this much together in such a short time.”
    “It’s
what I do,” Jameson said humbly. “You gave me a lot to work with and Pearl has
been immensely helpful.” Candace nodded silently. Jameson watched a myriad of
emotions flicker in the senator’s expression. “Candace?” she asked softly in
concern. Candace sighed. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
    Candace
released another small sigh and then looked at Jameson. The genuine concern
that reflected in the architect’s eyes touched her. Jameson held the senator’s
gaze firmly but compassionately, and
Candace finally smiled. “Nothing is wrong,” she said. “Pearl loves this old
place as much as I do,” she said.
    “I
know,” Jameson replied. “She loves you more.”
    “Yes,
she does,” Candace agreed. “She’s always been like