Diamond (Rare Gems #2)(32)

His car came to a smooth stop and he got out before the driver could help him. Thad saw her standing next to a very late model two door that looked like it might have been red at one time but was now a sort of puke brown. Walking up behind her, he noticed that she had on a short skirt and a blouse that showed more curves than he wanted others to see. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her to him, and she looked up at him.

“I’m not cleaning this place. It will take me a week just to get from one end of the house to the other with a map.” Kissing her seemed the best way to end her panic, and he took her into his arms.

Thad was thinking how difficult it would be to take her against her little car when he heard someone pull up behind them. When Diamond growled low, he nearly told her to forget the house and find a dark area where he could take her when they turned to look at Mr. Beck.

“Big isn’t it?” Neither of them said anything to the man, and he nodded. “Well, let’s go inside shall we?”

~~~

The house was much bigger on the inside than it looked on the out. And she was absolutely in love with it. There were rooms as big as her dorm room in college and some as big as her dorm house. Diamond wandered into the main hall and looked up at the spiral staircase. She was trying to figure out if she wanted to venture that far when Thad came up behind her.

“Going up?” She didn’t answer him. “We can simply tell him we want it sight unseen if you want.”

“Did you see the size of that dining room? We could entertain a small country in there.” He nodded at her shoulder, and when his arms wrapped around her waist, she stood still. “I like the house, but I don’t know if we need this much.”

“I’m just glad to hear you say we don’t need it. And as much as I hate to bring this up, with money comes the added responsibility of entertaining clients. I’ve not had to do much of it in the past simply because I didn’t want to, but with you I’d really like to show you off. And you love the house.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “What?”

“You want to show me off? Not as a wolf, right?” He smiled at her and she shook her head. “I’m going to be a real embarrassment to you if someone expects me to be something spectacular. I’m just Diamond Erickson, registered nurse.”

“Head nurse. And so you know, to me you’re pretty close to spectacular.” He kissed her on the nose and took her hand. “Come on, Robert is getting antsy. Let’s have a look at the other floors before he begs us to have a look at the sub levels again.”

She’d nearly fallen over when she’d gone down to what she’d thought of as a basement. It was anything but a basement. It was a huge ballroom complete with its own kitchen and semi-truck entrance for bringing in food. She had walked into the large room complete with tables and chairs that had been left behind and were part of the house, as was all the furniture, and stared open mouthed. Robert had told them that they could seat three hundred guests inside and an additional one hundred when the side doors to the patio were opened.

In addition to the ballroom there was a conference room that could seat as many as fifty and as few as ten that had a large smart board, stereo system, as well as large picture windows that ran along one entire wall that had a view of the woods and lake behind the house. There was even an entrance to the sub levels that could make it so that no one had to enter through the main house to get inside.

The main level of the house was no less impressive. The main entryway was domed with oak beams and arched doorways. The chandelier was as big as her car and probably weighed more. When it had been turned on by Robert, it sparkled around the large room so brilliantly that she was reminded of a Christmas tree. Three doorways led out into the three different parts of the main house.

The right led to a large office library. The shelves were stocked full of old and new books the banker had told him were just too valuable to let go at auction. But if they decided to buy the house, they, too, would be part of the entire house. As was every room in the house, this one was fully furnished. The desk alone could serve as a massive bed if they could find a mattress large enough.

The left side of the hall opened into a large sitting area. Robert had called it parlor, but she thought of it as a reception area. There were small sitting areas spread out over the large room, which boosted three fire places and four of the biggest doors she’d ever seen. They spilled out onto the deck that surrounded the entire side of the house.

The middle door opened into an expansive staircase. It was as wide as twenty feet and branched off into three areas when you got to the first landing. They hadn’t gone up there yet, but she’d been told what she’d find. The branches led to the separate wings of the house that spread out from the house, making a half circle around the deck and pool that could be accessed by any of the lower rooms, including the kitchen.

“Want to go up?” Did she? Not really. She’d already fallen in love with the house, and the upstairs was just going to be more of the same. Diamond knew that he could well afford the house, but what happened when he decided to move back to Texas? She didn’t think she’d be able to afford the electric bill, much less the house payment. She followed him up the stairs.

There were six bedrooms to the left, all of them with a private bath as well as closet spaces large enough to hold the entire inventory of a store. She walked along the middle bedroom and ran her fingers over the beautiful chest of drawers that was between two large windows across from the bed. Diamond looked at Thad when he cleared his throat.