Read Deadly Décor (A Caprice De Luca Mystery) for Free Online

stars lined up in their favor? But Seth didn’t elaborate. In fact, he looked serious for a moment, but then the expression passed.
    “I’ll line this with those rugs you stacked in the garage.”
    “A towel on top,” she reminded him.
    “A towel on top. That garage is going to look like Shasta’s own apartment soon. A good thing, too. After her pups are born, she’ll need one.”
    Marcus had given her the rundown on everything she’d need in order to care for Shasta and deliver the pups. He was going to help with some of it. He knew a client who could lend her the right size whelping box, where the pups would be born.
    She and Seth had moved any tools that could fall over and hurt Shasta into the shed in Caprice’s backyard, where she kept her mower, a small hand tiller, and a step ladder. Caprice had some extra feeding dishes on hand, and she had laid down a place mat and put two bowls on it. Then she arranged a couple of old throw rugs and tossed toys onto them.
    “This probably isn’t how you expected to spend your night off,” she said to Seth, as they started for the garage.
    On the way home, he’d stayed in the truck with Shasta while Caprice had run into the discount store for an extra supply of paper towels, a collar, a leash, and a few dog toys. For the time being, she’d bought food from Marcus that was good for a pregnant pup. Tomorrow she’d visit Kismet’s pet store, Perky Paws, to purchase a dog bed and other supplies for when Shasta came into the house.
    “Maybe not exactly how I’d envisioned it,” Seth agreed.
    “Would you like a glass of wine? We could sit out on the porch for a while.”
    Even though the garage was cooler than the rest of the house in the summer due to its thick, cement-block walls and shaded windows, she wanted to make sure the cocker felt safe before housing her there for the night.
    “I’ll pass on the wine. Just in case I get a call. But soda would be good. Sitting on the porch with you sounds even better.”
    She liked the fact that Seth could roll with the punches. With his career, he had to be an expert at doing that.
    Once they were settled on the porch, Shasta lay near Caprice’s foot. Next to Seth on a vintage fifties-style robin’s-egg-blue glider, Caprice sipped her soda, then set it on a table beside the glider. Night fell with the swiftness of a thief stealing the summer day.
    As Seth leaned over to kiss her, Caprice couldn’t imagine a nicer way to spend the evening.
     
     
    Baroque Bedazzle wasn’t a common theme for a home-staging, but then Caprice’s themes were sometimes very uncommon. She strove for high-end unique, and her clients knew it. That’s why she had succeeded where others hadn’t—why the houses she’d staged sold so quickly. Her open houses brought in home buyers from York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Gettysburg, and now even as far as New Jersey and New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Her reputation was gaining steam, and she just wanted to keep a level head about it all.
    At this Sunday open house, she had to keep her mind on what she was doing. It was hard to forget about last Sunday, when she and Seth had settled Shasta in and stolen time together. Yet by the end of the evening, she’d had the feeling Seth was holding back. She didn’t know why. Maybe they’d fallen into their relationship too quickly.
    But she shouldn’t borrow trouble. Maybe he was just putting on the brakes and was cautious, like she was, because past relationships hadn’t worked out . . . because they both wanted something more than an affair. She fervently hoped so. However, she’d had only a hurried phone call from him this week, and she was feeling . . . insecure.
    Eliza, who was dressed in a purple-satin, dressy lounge outfit, sidled up to Caprice as guests began flowing through the double doors. “You’ve gotten their attention,” she said in a low voice that included a bit of surprise that irked Caprice.
    Of course she’d gotten their