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By the time she had eaten enough breakfast to suit him, he had their itinerary mapped out. "Remember my budget," she said when he enumerated the stores they would shop in.
"Maybe your boss will give you a raise."
She stopped on her way to his car and turned to face him. Her chin was stubbornly set. "Get this straight. Cage. I won't accept your charity."
"Will you marry me?"
"No."
"Then shut up and get in." He held the door of the Corvette open for her and she knew further argument was futile. She'd just have to put her foot down when it came to what she could buy and what she couldn't.
He had expensive taste and everything he liked was exactly what she would have selected had money been no object. "I can't afford this sofa. The other one costs half as much."
"It's ugly as sin."
"It's functional."
"It's hard and … boxy. This one has cushions a foot thick and is so comfy."
"That's what makes it expensive. Comfy and cushions aren't that important."
His grin was Satan-inspired and his voice was slurred with innuendo. "That all depends on what you're going to do on the sofa."
The sales clerk standing near enough to overhear snickered, but drew a serious face when Jenny turned around and glared at him. "I'll take the other one," she said with prim hauteur.
They had the same argument over the bed, chairs, a dinette, linens, dishes, pots and pans, even a can opener. In every case he urged her to pay a premium price for top quality merchandise. She was adamantly stingy.
"Tired?"
She was resting her head on the back of the car seat. "Yes," she sighed. "I'll probably never move from this apartment. I couldn't go through this again."
He laughed. "I've arranged for everything we bought to be delivered this afternoon. By nightfall that apartment will be like home sweet home."
"How'd you manage to get everything delivered today?"
"Bribes, threats, blackmail, any way I could."
He was smiling mischievously, but she believed him.
"That looks like my car!" She sat up straight when he stopped in front of her apartment.
"It is your car," Cage said nonchalantly as he assisted her out of the Corvette.
"How did it get here?"
"I had it towed." He opened the door of her compact and leaned down to fish the keys from beneath the floor mat where he had instructed the tow truck driver to leave them. He tossed them to her. "Frankly I think it's a pile of no-class junk, but I know you're attached to it."
She looked distressed. "Cage, I didn't want to take anything from your parents."
Placing his hands on his hips, he said, "For godsake, Jenny, they gave you this car as a present years ago. Why do they need three cars—theirs, Hal's, and yours—in their driveway when Mother rarely even drives?"
She marched toward the car and moved him aside so she could get in. "I'm taking it back."
He bent down and stuck his head in the open window after she had shut the door. "Then I'll be your only means of transportation," he reminded her in a singsong voice.
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sp; In weary surrender, she laid her head on the steering wheel. "That's blackmail."
