No Place Like Home (3 page)

“
Do you mean to tell me he didn’t even think ahead far enough to buy you a ring?”

“
It was only Saturday night that he proposed, Emily.”

“
How awfully romantic of him to act so uncertain of your answer,” Emily drawled. “Or—on the other hand—how very practical of him to avoid the chance of being stuck with a secondhand diamond.”

“
Don’t be sarcastic. It’s foolish to buy a ring for someone without knowing what she likes.”

“
Oh? Do you mean to tell me you’re actually going to marry someone who’s never bothered to notice whether you prefer simple designs or clusters of glitter? If he has no idea what your taste in jewelry is, Kaye, doesn’t it make you wonder what else he doesn’t know about you?”

“
Emily, if you insist on twisting what I say, I’m going to stop talking to you.”

“
Sorry, Kaye. I’m in shock, that’s all. So the great man finally went overboard. Champagne and candlelight at Pompagno’s, right?”

“
Something like that.” Kaye was glad, when she thought about it, that Graham hadn’t waited for soft music and romantic candlelight to ask her to marry him. Pompagno’s had been crowded on Saturday night, and in those surroundings their private conversation would have stayed private for about fifteen seconds, she thought—approximately as long as it took for one person across the crowded room to jab another in the ribs and say,
I’ll bet Graham Forrest just popped the question!

“
And now you’re looking for a house. How domestic.”

Kaye refused to be ruffled. “We have to have a place to live, Emily. My apartment is certainly too small.”

“
No, I can see that would be a problem. It’s scarcely large enough for you and the cat.”

“
And Graham will want to entertain more, so we might as well buy a house right away.”

“
I suppose you’re right,” Emily said reluctantly. She came across to Kaye’s desk and gave her a hug. “Best wishes, and all that, you know. I truly do hope that you’ll be happy.”

“
I know, Emily. And of course I’ll be happy. We’re hoping to keep this a bit quiet for a while, though. We’d like to find a house, and set a date, and then make the announcement.”

“
As soon as you start touring houses in Henderson Heights, every one of the hundred thousand people in this city will know what you’re up to.”

“
I suppose you’re right,” Kaye said reluctantly. “But I think I’ll go first to the real estate agent here in the plaza. It should be a bit easier to keep it mum in a branch office, don’t you think? And it can’t be too hard to find what we’re looking for. We made a list yesterday. I’ll just give that to the agent, and she can eliminate the ones we wouldn’t be interested in. I won’t have to look at many houses, I’m sure, before I find the right one.”

“
Good luck,” Emily murmured. “When I was house- hunting, it never worked that way—but then I was on a budget. Everything I liked cost twice as much as I could afford.” She turned to the client who had just walked in and said, “Hello, Mrs. Meadows. How was the trip to Italy?”

The telephone rang, and the rush was on again. It didn’t let up till the lunch hour, and when Kaye finally left the building to go to the delicatessen down the street, it was with a sigh of relief.

It was always feast or famine in the travel business, she thought. Nevertheless, she liked it much better than the other jobs she’d had. Within the next few months, she hoped, she would be able to start guiding a tour now and then. Emily did regularly, and the owner of the business spent much of her time supervising groups. That was where the fun was, Kaye thought, not sitting in the office reading computer screens.

She paused outside the door of the real estate office. Lunch first, she debated, or this? It couldn’t take long to hand her list over and get the process started, and then she could go and eat her sandwich with a clear conscience. She pushed the door open.

A gorgeous brunette was at the reception desk, flipping pages in a thick album full of photographs of houses. Occasionally she read off an address. Sitting on the corner of the desk with his back to the door was a dark-haired man, notebook and pen in hand, writing down what the woman said. The brunette broke her page-turning rhythm, looked up at Kaye, and said with a smile, “May we help you?”

The man on the desk turned. “Oh, no,” he said when he saw Kaye. “Don’t tell me you’ve dented my car again.”

“
I certainly haven’t,” she said irritably.

“
Well, that’s good news. I got the estimates of the cost to repair the damage just this morning, if you’d like to take them to the insurance people.” He slid off the desk.

“
I thought you were going to do that.”

“
I could, but I assume that’s what you came in for. They’re in my office.” He strode off.

So he worked here, she thought, and wasn’t just coming in to check out a house for sale.

He had vanished across a big room, crowded with desks and file cabinets, and into a smaller office. Kaye decided that she could either follow him or stand there and scream in frustration, so she trailed across the big room after him.

He was already tugging a sheaf of papers out of the inside pocket of his overcoat.

“
The paperwork on your car is not why I’m here,” she said briskly. “I want to buy a house.”

“
Oh, in that case...” He pushed the papers back into the pocket and waved her to a chair. “What kind of a house? How large? What part of town? Do you have one to sell before you start looking for a new one? What sort of price range—”

“
You can’t be a very effective salesperson if you don’t listen to the customer,” she pointed out coolly.

He grinned at her and leaned back in his chair. “I’m all ears,” he said. “It’s just that I’ve found we get somewhere faster if I get some basic information from the client first, like what kind of neighborhood you prefer and whether you like old houses or new ones.”

“
I haven’t even said that I want to work with you, Mr.—”

“
If you don’t, why did you come into this particular branch office?”

“
Because I didn’t know you’d be here!” Kaye snapped.

His eyes, she noticed, were dark blue, and at the moment they were suspiciously bright. “I gave you my card.”

“
I lost it,” she admitted, finally. “I had no idea you worked here.”
Damn,
she thought.
Why did I have to lose that business card? It’s not like me to be so careless, and it’s dreadfully embarrassing not even to know his name!

“
Somehow,” he murmured, “that doesn’t surprise me. This is apparently not my lucky week. Fortunately, I am always up to a challenge. So tell me about the kind of house you want, Miss Reardon.”

“
I think I’d be happier working with someone who will take me seriously.”

“
Oh, when it comes to commissions, I take things very seriously,” he assured her. “If you’d like another copy of my card...”

She took the bit of beige pasteboard with reluctance. His name was Brendan McKenna, it said.
That figures,
she reflected.
He’s as Irish as they make them.
The dark blue eyes completed that improbable combination of black hair and fair skin that made the Celtic Irish so very attractive.

And I’ll bet he’s kissed the Blarney Stone a time or two as well,
she thought.
A woman of sense would walk out right now, Kaye Reardon, before he really gets warmed up.

On the other hand, she reminded herself, he had displayed not even a flicker of temper when she had banged up his car, and he had come back to help her get rid of the ice on her windows. If it hadn’t been for his assistance, she would never have made it back to her apartment in time to keep her date, and Graham would have gone off in a huff instead of proposing, and she wouldn’t be here looking for a house at all.

Perhaps Mr. McKenna deserves the benefit of the doubt
.

“
Why do I get the feeling,” he mused, “that there’s a piece of spinach stuck between my front teeth?”

“
What?”

“
It’s the way you’re looking at me,” he pointed out.

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Oh, please, don’t let’s start
that
again. If I’ve passed inspection, perhaps you’ll tell me about your house now.”

What difference does it make?
Kaye thought. Someone was going to sell her a house and collect the sales commission; why shouldn’t it be Brendan McKenna? It would certainly make up to him for the inconvenience she’d caused by battering his car. She passed her list across the desk.

He read the first line and his eyebrows went straight up. “
Five
bedrooms?” he murmured. “Do you run an orphanage in your spare time, Miss Reardon?”

“
My fiancé and I plan to have a family,” she said with composure.

“
I see.” It was perfectly bland.

“
A small family,” she said, and wished that her fair skin didn’t betray her embarrassment so easily. She felt as if her cheeks were burning. “But we need a guest room as well, and a sewing room, and...”

“
My job is to find the bedrooms,” he murmured. “It’s up to you how you use them.”

“
We’d prefer to locate in the Henderson Heights area.”

Brendan McKenna looked up from the list. “Are you certain you and your fiancé know what you’re doing, Miss Reardon? Most newlyweds buy a honeymoon cottage somewhere and fix it up.”

“
Mr. McKenna, my fiancé is Graham Forrest.”

He blinked once. Then he said, with a drawl, “Well, that does put a different light on matters.”

“
I thought it might,” Kaye murmured.

“
No wonder you’ll need a lot of bedrooms in a hurry. Someone has to eat all that baby food.”

Kaye picked up her handbag and rose. “I think perhaps it would be best if I went elsewhere, Mr. McKenna.”

“
If you don’t feel comfortable working with me, I wouldn’t dream of asking you to stay. But I think you should reconsider. I am just about the best real estate agent there is in this city.”

“
And modest, too, I see,” she said tartly. She put her handbag down.

“
At no extra charge,” he agreed. He looked down at her list. “Large living and dining rooms for entertaining—of course. A gourmet kitchen—that goes without saying; caterers are so hard to please these days. On a side street—for the children’s safety, yes. Family room, three-car garage, space for an office or study, and at least two wood-burning fireplaces... Tell me, Miss Reardon, don’t you want to specify which rooms the fireplaces should be in?”

Kaye refused to react to the sarcastic note in his voice. “Preferably, in the living room and the master bedroom suite.”

“
I see. Mr. Forrest has a thing about fire, does he? It would seem fitting.”

She glared at him. He looked innocent. “If you don’t want my business, Mr. McKenna—”

“
I never said that. I just meant that this may not be as easy as you seem to think.”

“
Mr. McKenna, we need a large house, in sound condition, in a good location. For someone with all the talent you’ve told me you possess, it should be no trouble at all.”

He smiled suddenly, and charm seemed to pour across the room towards her. “Let’s get started. You can read the multiple listing book while I make a couple of phone calls, and we can go look this afternoon.”

“
I can’t. I have to go back to work. In fact, I’m just on my lunch break.”

“
There’s one we can look at right now.”

Anxious, isn’t he?
Kaye thought.
He’s probably afraid that if I leave here right now, I’ll never come back. Well, perhaps this will be the right house, and we can all relax.
“Don’t you have other appointments this afternoon?”

“
Not a thing.”

That doesn’t sound like the best real estate agent in town,
she thought. She glanced at her watch. “May I use your telephone?”

“
To call Graham to see if he can join us? Sure.” He pushed it across the desk towards her.

“
No, as a matter of fact—to call the travel agency. Mr. Forrest has given me a completely free hand. He says since the house will be largely my concern, I should be the one to choose it.”

“
That’s gentlemanly of him,” Brendan McKenna murmured. “It will be largely your concern, will it?”

“
He is a very busy man.”

“
I’m certain he is.” It was agreeable and polite.

She felt somehow that she had lost control of the conversation, but before she could figure it out, Marilyn answered the telephone.

“
I’ll be here, dear,” she said. “Don’t worry about a thing. Emily told me your wonderful news, and if you want to look all afternoon, go ahead—you haven’t had a day off in weeks.”

Kaye was startled. She’d always gotten along well with Marilyn, but the woman had never been quite so effusive before.

Then, as she watched Brendan McKenna flip through the pages of his pocket notebook, things clicked into place.
Of course,
Kaye thought.
I’ll be in a position to steer all of Graham’s friends to Gulliver’s. That’s why Marilyn is so anxious for me to be contented just now.