What a Woman Gets by Judi Fennell Page B

And not shut, as in, she wasn’t going to say anything nasty, but shut as in preventing her bottom jaw from dropping. She was worried about
one
square foot? Liam probably had four thousand of them himself—and that was just the front yard.
    â€œThis is yours?” she finally had to ask him, not taking her eyes off the beautiful landscaping. She hadn’t known what to expect on a maid’s salary, but it certainly hadn’t been this. Tree-covered except for a small clearing that was lit as if from a beacon, with a lily pad pond in the center and stone-carved benches around it, with an old-fashioned water pump used as a fountain, and a beautiful array of annuals at the pond’s edge, the place actually looked like a fairyland. Titania would have a blast curling up by the rocks. “Are there fish in there?”
    Liam nodded. “Koi. I have a few that are over a foot long.”
    â€œWow. I’m impressed. Koi need just the right touch to live so long.”
    Seemed to be a metaphor for her life.
    Liam drove over a narrow arched stone bridge, then circled around to the left, going behind the A-frame cabin-like structure with a front wall of windows that reminded her of the penthouse. The difference was (a) it wasn’t owned by her father and (b) it was in the middle of nature, not above it. She’d always wondered about people who liked to live above nature. Who thought looking down on it was so much better than living within it. After all, a patio-sized waterfall couldn’t even begin to compare to the beauty of Liam’s oasis and its gurgling water pump, or the butterflies flitting among the flowers, and the dragonflies hovering just above the surface of the pond with their wings humming in the silence.
    It was so peaceful. So beautiful. A place where someone could go to escape the stresses of the day and just relax.
    â€œSomething wrong?” Liam’s voice had a sharp edge to it. “I know it’s not the Ritz or the Hilton or anything like that, and the water’s dirty, and the bugs are buzzing around, but this place suits me. I like sitting on the bench and watching the air bubbles on the surface from the fish, or the frogs jumping to catch the insects flying by. Or the occasional plop as one jumps in.”
    â€œSounds peaceful.”
    â€œIt is. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a little solitude in nature.”
    It was a hell of a lot better than solitude in her gilded cage. She was going to like it here.
    Titania squirmed around in her lap, put her paws on the door by the window, and started yipping.
    â€œAw, look. She wants to play.”
    â€œShe’s not going to keep up all that yapping, is she? She does go to sleep at some point, right?”
    â€œOf course she does. She’s just excited right now.”
    â€œWhat about accidents? I spent too much money on the flooring to be her potty-training service.”
    â€œTitania’s been housebroken since the day after I got her. You don’t have to worry about a mess.”
    â€œOh, I wasn’t worried, since you’ll be cleaning it up.”
    â€œWell, of course I will. She’s my dog. I clean up after her.”
    Liam pulled into the garage and was around to help her out of the passenger side before she’d gathered Titania and the rest of her things.
    â€œPut her down. She might as well learn the place from the get-go.” Liam set Titania on the floor. It was so strange to see her little dainty dog in Liam’s large, strong hands. It reminded her of an Ann Geddes photo with a baby cradled in its father’s hands.
    Whoa. She was being way too fanciful here. Liam was just trying to help and she was the one weirding the situation out with her stupid imagination.
    Save it for the artwork, Cassidy.
    Exactly—Uh oh. Her art. The furniture. It was in the warehouse that she—fortunately—had leased in her own name. The rent was paid up to the end