Wedding His Takeover Target by Emilie Rose

scheme was the U.S. flag in its triangular glass and dark cherry wooden case sitting on a desk in the corner.
    He wouldn’t have pegged her as the patriotic type.
    A picture frame rested on each bedside table. Henry and a woman, presumably Colleen, smiled in the photo Gavincould see from his position by the door. The angle of the other concealed the subject. Intent on seeing who else Sabrina kept by her bed when she slept, he stepped deeper into the room.
    Sabrina moved between him and his goal. “The broken window is in my bathroom. That way.”
    Rather than reveal his curiosity, he headed in the direction she indicated. She followed him. Her bathroom seemed to shrink in size with the pair of them in it. They stood within touching distance, and he was tempted to reach out and stroke the smooth, flushed skin of her cheek. But she seemed on edge. There was a time to make a push for the finish line and a time to maintain the current pace. This was the latter.
    Rather than moving in for kiss number two prematurely and risking spooking her, he scanned the work space. A white claw-foot tub with brass feet sat in one end of the room. His mind instantly filled with images of Sabrina naked and wet with her damp dark curls streaming over the rounded tub edge as she waited for him there. His heart pumped faster.
    Hoping to derail the train of heat steaming south, he averted his gaze to the vanity which, like her bedroom, lacked the clutter of makeup, perfumes, toiletries and junk the women he’d known in the past deemed necessary for life.
    She pointed to the window. “I’m not sure what broke the glass. A bird, maybe. I didn’t find one outside.”
    A diagonal line, patched with wide clear tape, split the pane. But her rushed speech interested him more than the cracked glass. Why was she so uneasy around him if not for the sexual chemistry? She might deny it, but she felt it.
    â€œShould be a simple repair. I’ll talk you through it.”
    She backed a quick step. “No. Go ahead. I’ll leave you to it.”
    He caught her hand and she gasped. “I thought you wanted to learn how?”
    Her gaze flicked to his, then away. A line formed betweenher brows. She tugged at her hand and he let her smooth fingers slide through his. The rose of her cheeks darkened. “I—I need to start lunch.”
    â€œThis will only take a few minutes. We can remove the sash and work inside rather than tackle the job from outside. It will take a couple of extra steps, but you can handle them.”
    â€œI’ll learn another time, and I’ll close the door to keep the cold air from sweeping into more than this room.” She left hurriedly, the door snapping close behind her.
    More curious now than ever, Gavin let her go. There was no doubt his touch affected her as strongly as hers did him, but she was resisting. The question was why?
    He quickly finished the simple job, then gathered the broken glass and tools and returned to her bedroom, determined to see whose face she looked at when she laid in bed.
    The photo frame was gone. Sabrina must have moved it.
    What did she have to hide? It was imperative that he uncover her secrets and get on with his plan.
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    Sabrina tried to be as quiet as possible while washing the lunch dishes, but no matter how hard she strained, the men’s voices didn’t carry clearly enough from the living room for her to make out their words.
    Eavesdropping! How low was she going to have to go to get rid of Gavin Jarrod?
    She shouldn’t leave Pops alone with him, but until she made sense of her jumbled thoughts, she had no choice, and washing up was her first break away from Gavin’s intense scrutiny since he’d returned from fixing her window.
    Having him in her bedroom had felt like an invasion—but in an agitating way, not a repulsive one. Her skin had flushed and her pulse and respiratory rates had increased.
    Only because you