Sleepless in Savannah Read Online Free PDF

other things when I return."
    "Right."
    Sophie hugged Jazzy good-bye, then breezed past Lance, trying desperately not to brush against his broad chest as she squeezed through the small doorway. It didn't work. Her breasts rubbed his chest and her thigh met his jeans-clad leg, sending heat bolting through her like a lightning rod. "Oh, and see if you can enlarge this doorway. It's entirely too small for this house."
    Especially with you in it.
    Lance's muscular hands wrapped around the edge of the clipboard. "All right, we'll talk when you return."
    "Great." Sophie smiled brightly. "That is, if I'm not too exhausted. I may need a day or two to recover. A weekend with Rory in Cancun is bound to wear me out."
    His smile faltered slightly as she sailed out the door, and she hoped his mind had started spinning with the implications of her comment.
    Let him think she was having a wild love affair, for all she cared. The camera footage that would air next week would corroborate her story.
    And she would never admit any different.

Chapter 3

     
    After Sophie left, Lance studied her list. The two-story Victorian house had been built in the 1800s and was supposedly haunted, although he didn't believe in ghosts. It still had much of the original plumbing and wiring, along with the original wood floors, crown moldings topping the ten-foot ceilings, and fretwork on the wraparound front porch. The dining room still boasted velvet wallpaper in a French design, but it was peeling and faded, and the entire house needed painting. Although the kitchen needed modernizing, the previous owners had installed central heat and air, which would eliminate one major cost, and the wood stove in the kitchen and fireplace in the den and all the bedrooms probably offset high heating bills. When Sophie wasn't using a room, she could simply close it off.
    But once he ripped up the chipped bathroom tiles, he might find damage to the subflooring. He was glad she'd picked tiles and left them for him. And if the stains on the kitchen ceiling were what he thought, Sophie might need a new roof. He'd get his men over as soon as possible to replace it.
    At least she'd gotten the house for a song. Many of the older homes in the historic district had fallen into more serious disrepair, and had been auctioned off. There were also special state-funded incentives for buyers to renovate the houses with stipulations that the owners adhere to the guidelines issued by the Historical Society.
    He jotted down questions to ask her when she returned and sketched out the general plan, then decided to walk through the rest of the house before he tackled the bathroom. With Sophie out of town, he might go ahead and tear out the back doorway. He could finish repairing it before she returned, alleviating the need for her to spend the night in the house without being able to lock the doors. Of course, he'd stay over so he could keep an eye on things. The last thing he needed was for Sophie to be robbed because he'd left her place open. Or for that psycho cat of hers to escape and get hurt.
    The phone rang and he hesitated, wondering if he should pick it up. It might be Reid.
    No, Reid would call his cell phone. It had to be Sophie, and he was not her answering machine.
    Three rings, four, and then the message machine picked up. "Hello," Sophie said in that sultry voice that drew his insides into a knot. "You've reached Sophie Lane. I'm sorry I can't come to the phone, but you know the drill; leave a message."
    He told himself to leave the room and not listen, but his feet refused to cooperate. Seconds later another woman's voice echoed over the line. "Sophie, hon, this is Deseree. I saw the 'Dating Game' show, and man, what a catch you found in that jock. You were smart not to choose that dud bachelor number two. Did he have some awful answers or what? He must have crawled out from under a rock."
    "I was faking it," Lance muttered.
    "Anyway, I can't wait to see the footage of the date