AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s wrong with planning first?”
“You’re making it more complicated than it needs to be.” He lifted the wide, flat headboard and placed it against the wall. “Is this where you want it?”
“A little to the left.” She waved him to the side. “No, back to the right a touch. There.”
He set the piece down, then returned to the stack of timbers and selected the largest. “This goes at the foot of the bed.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.” He lifted the board with a grunt, swung it about, and positioned it parallel to the headboard. “Hold that in place.”
She sounded skeptical. “So you’ve done this before. Assembled beds.”
“Loads of them.”
“Loads of them? When and where was that?”
He gave a strangled groan of impatience. “Just trust me, Mary. I have it all under control. This won’t take but a few minutes.”
One hour later
Mary pulled to a standing position and massaged the wrenched muscle at the small of her back. “It’s still not right. That one doesn’t go there.”
“Yes, it does.” As she stood observing, Sebastian tried once again to shove the wooden tab of one rail into the slot carved into a leg.
“See? It doesn’t fit.”
“It will fit. There aren’t any other pieces left that it could be.”
“It’s probably one of the pieces we’ve already used. It could be anywhere.” She gestured at the half-finished bed frame. “Or maybe the right piece was never here to begin with. This was why I wanted to make a plan, you know.”
He gave her a look. “Don’t be that way.”
“Don’t bewhatway? Right?” She huffed a breath, blowing a wisp of hair off her cheek. “There’s nothing else to be done. We’ll have to take it apart and start over.”
He swore with passion. “We are not taking the thing apart. And this piece does fit.” He glared at the wood, as though he could force it into submission through the sheer power of masculine brooding. “I just need a mallet.”
“I thinkIneed a mallet,” she grumbled.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she chirped with bright innocence. “I’ll find you that mallet straightaway.”
Two hours after that
Mary sat in the corner of the bedchamber with her knees hugged to her chest.
With a grimace of effort, Sebastian gave the bed-key one final twist to tighten the ropes.“There.”
Mary watched as he dragged the freshly stuffed mattress tick onto the frame.
She would have offered to help. But by this point, she knew better than to touch—or even breathe on—his work in progress. And God forbid she make a helpful suggestion.
He stood back, straightened, and used his sleeve to wipe the sweat streaming off his brow. “Finished.”
She stared at the bed, biting her tongue.
“Well…?” He propped his hands on his hips. “I told you I’d have it put together.”
