Mastering control over her emotions, she strode confidently up to him, and said, "Hello, Greg. Kind of funny, us meeting this way again after all of these years, huh?"

He nodded, and a small smile crossed his face.

"I swear I had no idea you worked for him when I asked him to do the work on my house. But everyone I talked to advised me that the only design house to use was Dormande's ... it wasn't until I had met with him that he told me the name of his top designer. I would never have knowingly put you into such an awkward position. You know that, don't you?"

She nodded back at him. "I figured. We've managed to live and work in the same city for seven years, and avoid each other. If all you wanted to do was see me again, you wouldn't have gone through all of the expense of buying the single most desired piece of real estate in the city ... you would have just called, right?"

He nodded as if that thought had never occurred to him. He decided against telling her of the many nights he had had to force himself to go to bed, or he had had to drink himself to oblivion rather than call her, to beg for a minute of her time. Those had gotten fewer and farther between as the years had passed. No need to even mention them now.

She looked toward the front door longingly before she turned to speak to him again.

"I just want to make one thing clear up-front, okay? This is strictly business between us now, right? I'm going to have to ask you a whole lot of personal questions over the next few months, to find out just what you want your dream house to be like. I'm not prying; I'm doing my job, as the Monsieur trained me to do it. And the more you share with me, the easier it will be for me to design your house to reflect you ... to be a place of solace and comfort for you. That's what we specialize in at the House of Dormande. That's what you are paying us the big bucks for, right?"

He nodded solemnly at her. "That's what I was told I could expect from you." He cleared his throat. "I mean, not from you, you ... but from your design house. I realize it may feel odd for us at first, but I hope you can work through that, and make my house what I want it to be."

She nodded back at him. "Just business, until the house is done, okay? Deal?"

He nodded again. "Deal. We don't need to shake on it or anything, do we?"

She smiled and shook her head. "No. I trust you."

He almost said something dangerous to her about trust, but decided it was not a good idea when they were both on their best behavior.

He turned and walked toward the front door, and opened it. "Then come on in, and have a look around. I can walk through it with you until about four ... then I have to get going to meet with a client. Any rooms we don't get into by then, can be tackled later."

She preceded him into the house, turning to ask him, "Where did you want to start?"

He cleared his throat again. "I figured that as long as the master bedroom, the master bathroom, and the kitchen were first, I could live with the rest of the house being a mess until you get to them. Of course, I expect you to re-do all of the rooms before you are done."

Her eyes lit up with excitement. "I was hoping that you would say that! I've only seen photos of the insides of some of the rooms. I can't wait to see them all, and to start making them into the show-pieces they should be!"

She looked at him conspiratorially. "This place is the challenge of a lifetime ... you do know that, don't you?"

He laughed. "And who better to bring it back to life than the best designer in the city, huh?"

She smiled at him. "Then let's get into that master bedroom and get going! I can't wait to get started!"

There was an awkward moment as they both realized what she had said, and what other meanings her words might have had for them in the past. Mastering control over himself with great difficulty, Gregor led the way up the main staircase, grateful for the fact that since she was behind him, she wouldn't see the noticeable bulge in his pants.

Rosa followed behind him, berating herself for not being more judicious in her choice of words.