Page 32 of Bride By Committee

Her jaw tightened. “If you’re referring to my job—”

“That’s part of it. There’s also my job.”

Comprehension dawned along with a hint of guilt. “I remember you mentioned that this was a working vacation. I’ve kept you from work, haven’t I?”

“Yes.” But not the way she meant. “And until I’ve completed this latest assignment it wouldn’t be appropriate to begin an affair with you.”

Her lashes flickered in reaction and she slanted him a quick glance. “An affair seems a bit… precipitous. We haven’t known each other for very long.”

“I agree.” His mouth twisted. “That doesn’t seem to stop us, does it?”

He saw the denial building in her expressive eyes. Then her breath released on a sigh of surrender and she shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense, does it?”

His laugh held a hint of irony. “I think it makes perfect sense. We’re attracted to each other. Ijust don’t understand why you’re so determined to fight the idea.” He took a wild guess. “Are you worried about commitment?”

She didn’t duck the question as he’d expected. “That’s part of it.”

Now they were getting somewhere. He’d try taking it one step further and see what happened. “Are you afraid to commit? Or afraid I won’t?”

“Both.” She fumbled for her purse and reached for the car door handle, distancing herself from him physically as well as emotionally. “I have to go.”

He reached out to stop her. “Madison—”

She threw him a quick, wary look over her shoulder. “I’m afraid of how vulnerable it would make me. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes. It also raises a number of others. Why do you think commitment makes you vulnerable?”

“Because I watched what committing to a man did to my mother.”

She opened the door and escaped the car. Her hair had begun to dry, springing about her face in a dark halo of ringlets, but the rain remained unrelenting, dragging the spontaneity from the carefree curls. He thrust open the driver’s door and went after her. He was soaked again in seconds. Not that he gave adamn.

“What happened to your mother?” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the unceasing thrum of the rain. “Why does a commitment make you vulnerable?”

She turned and ran barefoot toward her front porch. She’d only ascended the first two risers before facing him. She was as drenched as he was, her once-perky dress the only splash of color in a world washed gray and dismal. The brilliant red had faded to a pale imitation of its former glory and clung in shapeless folds. Worse, her expression reflected the vulnerability she feared so much. More than anything he wanted to gather her close and offer the sort of comfort she’d no doubt reject.

“Madison, answer my question. What happened to your mother?”

He sensed it was sheer pride that kept her standing on the steps, astubborn refusal to give in to the temptation of either tears or flight. “She loved my father.” Madison’s hands clenched at her sides as she fought for control. “She committed herself to him, every bit of herself.”

“And their marriage fell apart?” It couldn’t be that simple.

“It did more than fall apart. It was taken apart piece by piece until there was nothing left of my mother.”

He pushed harder, sensing he wouldn’t be given another opportunity to learn about her past anytime soon. “What happened, sweetheart? Who took the marriage apart?”

“My father!” she shouted, her anger punching a hole in her protective barriers. “My practical, logical, accountant father. He promised to take care of my mother. And instead he destroyed her. Idon’t want that to happen to me. Idon’t want a practical, logical man in my life. Idon’t want a man who can take apart my life with such deliberate precision.”

“I’d never do that!”

Heaven continued to unleash its torrent of rain, agray curtain of water dropping between them, separating them, covering them, parting them. It was nature at its most elemental, pelting with unrelenting force onto their heads and shoulders. Madison crept backward up the steps toward the porch.

“You won’t hurt me because I won’t let you,” she called over the pounding of therain.

“Sweetheart—”

“I have to go. One of the Sunflowers phoned while we were at the park. Someone needs me.”

I need you, he almost said. “Okay, fine. I’ll see you tomorrow at your office. We’ll continue our discussion then.”

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