Free Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard

shows I'll TiVo and watch on Sundays, but for the most part I don't bother. That doesn't mean I'm willing to fight Wyatt for use of the television whenever I do want to watch something, and even less does it mean I'm willing to give up those few shows. Not that he needs to know how little I watch; it's the principle of the thing.
    "All right," he said grudgingly, because after all fair is fair. "Though I'd rather have you with me."
    "We'd have to watch what I want to watch half the time."
    And what a disaster that would be. He knew it as well as I did. After a pause he abandoned that idea and gave in. "Which room will you use? One of the upstairs bedrooms?"
    "No, because then I'd have to redo it again and move everything in a few years when the kids get their own bedrooms."
    His expression didn't soften, but it filled with heat—the I-want-to-get-you-naked kind of heat, not the mad kind. "There are four bedrooms," he pointed out, thinking of the process of making babies to fill those bedrooms.
    "I know. We'll have the master, we'll have two kids—I'm not ruling out three, but I think probably two—and we'll have a guest bedroom. I'm thinking the living room will work out best. Who needs a formal living room? Oh, and I'll need to redo all the window treatments. No offense, but your taste in window treatments sucks."
    The hands were back on his hips. "What else?" he asked in a resigned tone.
    Huh. He was giving in easier than I'd thought. Took some of the fun out of it. "Paint. Not that you weren't smart to go with neutrals, since decorating so isn't your thing," I added hastily. "It's just that decorating is my thing, so now you can relax and leave all those decisions to me. Trust me, a little color on the walls will do wonders for the house. Plants will, too." He had no houseplants, a point I'd already made. How could any sane human live without houseplants?
    "I've already bought you a plant."
    "You bought me a shrub . And it's planted outside, where it belongs. Don't worry, you don't have to do anything with the plants, other than move them where I tell you to move them, when I tell you."
    "Why don't you just put them where you want them and leave them there?"
    Was that a male point of view, or what? "Some I will. Some I'll put outside on the porch during warm weather and only bring them in for the winter. Just trust me on the plants, okay?"
    He couldn't see how I could do anything sneaky with plants, so grudgingly he nodded. "Okay, we can have a few plants."
    A few? He was so clueless. I loved him anyway.
    "And some rugs."
    "I have carpeting."
    "The rugs go on top of the carpeting."
    He shoved his hand through his hair in raw frustration. "Why in hell would you put a rug on top of carpet?"
    "For looks, silly. And there should be a rug under the breakfast room table." The breakfast nook floor had the same tiles that were on the kitchen floor, and they were cold. A rug for there would be one of my first purchases. I smiled at him; smiling didn't hurt. "That's it." For now, anyway.
    He grinned suddenly. "Okay, that sounds fairly painless."
    A horrible suspicion began to form. Had I been played? Had he been messing with me? Now, as a general rule, at least half of what I said was because I enjoyed messing with him, pushing his buttons and trying to get a rise out of him, but that's part of the fun of dealing with a man as alpha as he was. Trust me on this. Teasing Woody Allen wouldn't be half the thrill that teasing, say, Hugh Jackman would be.
    But just because I enjoyed pushing his buttons didn't mean turnabout is fair play.
    "Have you been talking to Daddy?" I asked suspiciously.
    "Of course I have. I know I'm taking on a big job, marrying you, so I'll take all the expert advice I can get. He told me to pick my battles, not to start feeling territorial over crap I don't really care about. As long as you leave my recliner and television alone, I'm okay."
    I didn't know whether to sulk or feel relieved. On the one hand,