Page 12 of Bride By Committee

“I see.” She paused. “Thanks, Harry.”

“Anytime.”

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve concluded that being claustrophobic isn’t the least practical.”

He allowed himself the briefest touch, aquick reassuring stroke across her temple. Soft curls twined about his fingers in a welcoming caress. “I’m sure you’d control it, if you could.”

“You may not have noticed, but my name’s not practical, either.”

Reluctantly, he untangled his fingers from her hair. “Maybe you take after the Sunflower side of your family a little more than you thought.”

“Don’t try and cheer me up.”

Interesting. “Would you like to be more like them?”

“Some days. Being practical all the time can be tough.”

“It’s a heavy responsibility,” he agreed.

She turned into him, inching closer. “Sometimes being practical can mean you aren’t able to take people’s feelings into consideration.”

An odd note had entered her voice, the tone haunted by the ghosts of sad memories. “I doubt you’d ever do that,” he said in an attempt to comforther.

“Sure I would. I’d do anything and everything necessary to protect my family, even if it meant occasionally hurting their feelings.”

“And why is that?”

“Because they love me even though I’m like my father.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

She didn’t answer for a long time. And then she said, “It’s a very bad thing.”

Hell. “Madison—”

“It’s okay, Harry. Don’t mind me. Idon’t usually dump on total strangers. Ithink it’s because we’re trapped and it’s dark and my emotions are all mixed up. And maybe it’s also because my family is going out of their way to be frustrating these days.”

“In what way?”

Somehow his fingers had become entangled in her hair again. This time he didn’t let go. “Oh, my grandmother’s fallen for this guy who thinks he’s a love expert. They’ve been conducting an affair over the internet and now they’ve decided to meet. My uncle Daniel is being sued by a woman for being too helpful. And I have a cousin who calls every day with one emergency after another. The latest one is that he needs a new Mercedes.”

“That’s an emergency?”

“It is for him.”

“And you take care of all these problems?”

Her head dropped to his shoulder. The fit was sheer perfection. “It’s my job. Fortunately, Ihave an assistant to help me. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“She’s a Sunflower.”

“I gather her idea of assisting differs from yours?”

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