Linda Ford by Dreams Of Hannah Williams

doing?” He was obviously not amused.
    She tried to stop laughing, but the harder she tried the harder she laughed.
    He grunted and sat up. “Don’t tell me Luke and Sammy are up to mischief.”
    She shook her head. “Just me,” she managed to gasp as she sat up and faced him. Seeing the look of disbelief on his face, she again laughed.
    He looked from her to the top of the stairs then shook his head. “Why are you riding mattresses down the stairs?”
    She stifled her laughter. “It was unintentional, believe me. But fun.” She got to her feet and brushed her hands over her hair. She must look like a wild hooligan. But she didn’t care. For the past three days, she’d done nothing but work and worry about this hotel. In fact, in the month since she’d arrived, it had been nothing but work. Like Jake once said, being the boss meant never having time off.
    “Care to tell me what you were trying to do?” Jake asked.
    “I wanted to get this mattress downstairs so I could take it outside and air it.” She chuckled.
    He scowled, obviously still not amused.
    She tried again. “If I’d known it was so much fun, I’d have done it sooner.”
    Nothing but a frown. “Where’s Mort? Why haven’t you asked him to help you? Are you so set on proving how independent you can be that you’re willing to risk life and limb?”
    “Oh, come on, Jake. I didn’t get so much as a scratch. See.” She held out her arms and turned them over for his inspection. Ignoring his grunt, she chuckled. “I think God knew I needed to remember life is supposed to be fun. I was getting all caught up in work.”
    “How many mattresses are you planning to bring downstairs?”
    “Eventually all of them, but right now I’m concentrating on three rooms.”
    He headed for the stairs. “Show me which ones.”
    “No need. I can do it myself.”
    “You might not be so fortunate next time.” He continued up the stairs with Hannah at his heels.
    “Which rooms?” he demanded at the top of the steps.
    She indicated the ones. “I need to get the rooms ready to let out as soon as possible. Sooner, even.”
    He hoisted a mattress to his shoulders and edged his way out the door. “Seems you have a lot bigger problem than the mattresses.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “The hole in the middle of the dining room floor.”
    “I plan to close the room temporarily. Surely there will be those who would take the rooms at a reduced rate.” She counted heavily on it.
    “I suppose so.” He carried the mattress through the dining room and out the back door and propped it against the shed wall then headed back for the third mattress. She followed him.
    When he paused at the top of the stairs with the mattress balanced on his shoulders, she asked, “Sure you don’t want to try riding it down?”
    He shot her a look. “Not in this lifetime.”
    She followed him again. “It was awfully fun.”
    “I’ll take your word for it.” He propped the mattress beside the first, retrieved the one from the lobby floor, and then stood back and dusted his hands. “You didn’t say where Mort is.”
    “Doing his own thing, I suppose. I can’t expect him to work day and night.”
    “Either get him to take these back upstairs when you’re ready or wait for me.”
    She’d never planned to carry them up on her own, but his bossiness irked her, and she couldn’t resist letting him know she didn’t need him to run her life or her business. “And if you or Mort isn’t here? Do you expect me to drink tea and twiddle my thumbs until one of you returns? You’re sadly mistaken if you think I’m going to pretend to be a helpless female who flutters her fan and waits for a man to pick up her hankie.”
    They’d reached the dining room, and he jolted to a halt and studied her long and hard.
    She tore her gaze away. She’d been rude, and she tried mentally to justify her behavior. “What you don’t understand is I haven’t time to waste. The town council paid me