Page 33 of Bride By Committee

His gamble paid off and she nodded, though her eyes remained filled with darkness. “Nine o’clock, Jones. And we’ll finish our discussion then.”

He wouldn’t let her get away with that one. “We’re a long way from finishing anything. We’ll continue our discussion then, not finish it.”

Her mouth twisted into a parody of a smile. “We’ll see.”

She disappeared into the house and Harry stood on the walkway staring at the tightly closed door. “You’re not going to stay closed for long, sweetheart. Iintend to see to that, personally. And that’s a promise.”

“So which rule are you going to demonstrate for Madison?” Aunt Dell asked her nephew. “I just can’t decide. Iwant to pick a special one, since she’s so special. But I can’t figure out which one that would be. How did you decide?”

Harley grinned. “Easy. I’m gonna draw a rule out of a hat.”

“Very scientific,” she approved. “Maybe we should suggest that method to Sunny for the rest of us, especially with so many rules to choose from.”

“You can do that right after I get mine out of the way.” He shoved his hand into a Mariners’ baseball cap and pulled out a scrap of paper. “The way I’ve got it figured, the sooner we trot Madison through the rules, the sooner I get my Beemer.”

“A BMW?” Aunt Dell’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “But, Ithought you were after a Mercedes.”

“Changed my mind.” He opened the paper and read it through. “Okay, this’ll be no sweat.”

She peered over Harley’s shoulder. “Which one is it?”

“It says something about working together and talking.” He laughed. “Man did I luck out. Talking is all Madison ever does. So all I have to do is get them working together and let her yak his ear off and that little red sports job is all mine.”

“Dearest? I’m not sure that’s quite what the rule means.”

He waved Aunt Dell’s uncertainty aside. “Relax. I’ve got it covered. I’m so positive this’ll work that Sunny can book the church on my matchmaking scheme alone. And why?” He slapped the cap on his head and grinned, bits of paper raining down around his ears. “Because Harley Sunflower, love expert, is in charge. That’s why.”

“Yes, dear,” Aunt Dell murmured. “In the meantime, the rest of us will hope your rule isn’t one of the more important ones.”

ChapterSix

Principle 6: How to Work Together as Partners…

Finances, Children, and other Important Discussions.

“Okay, I’m here,” Madison announced the minute Harry opened his hotel room door. She strove to keep her tone direct and to the point, without a hint of the emotional turbulence from their last encounter. In an act of sheer defiance, she’d even worn a brilliant red business suit the exact shade of yesterday’s sundress. “What’s the big emergency?”

Harry released his breath in a long, exasperated sigh. “And good morning to you, too.”

“Oh, dear. I’ve done it again, haven’t I?” When would she learn? Perhaps if she hadn’t been trying to pretend yesterday had never happened, she’d have remembered to utilize an ounce of common courtesy. “Good morning, Harry. How are you?”

“Fine, thanks.” He swung the door to his hotel room open in an exact imitation of the previous morning, though this time there was a knowing expression in his gaze—an acknowledgment of both the color she’d worn and the reason behind it. “Won’t you come in?”

Pasting a gracious smile on her face, she stepped across the threshold and turned to confront him. “So what’s the big— Oh, good heavens!”

Every thought in her head evaporated as she got her first good look at him. He stood leaning against his hotel door, the very picture of indolent masculine grace. Gone was the formal suit and tie he’d worn on previous occasions. Gone, as well, were the jeans and casual shirt. The neatly combed hair of a practical-minded economist had also vanished, along with every other guise of civilization. All that remained was a dangerous smile and a low-slung towel.

He folded his arms, drawing her attention to impressive biceps and an immense expanse of muscular everything—chest, arms, shoulders. How on earth had he stuffed all that into a suit jacket? It didn’t seem possible. Swirls of dark brown hair formed a perfect, rippled triangle across his chest and her gaze followed a thin rivulet of hair draining out of the bottom of the inverted pyramid. It trickled down his flat belly before disappearing into the towel and she had the craziest urge to follow that seductive path and see where it led. If it weren’t for the fact that the towel appeared to hang on his lean hips through sheer will alone, she might have turned thought to action.

Harry shifted his stance and the towel hitched downward another threatening inch. “When you focus your attention on something, you give it your full attention, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ido,” she responded absently. “I have excellent powers of concentration.”

“So I’ve noticed. May I suggest you shift that concentration elsewhere? Otherwise my attention will be focused on how quickly I can get you out of your clothes and into the nearest bed.”

Madison jerked her gaze upward. “What?”

He unfolded from his stance and approached. Somehow he managed to coerce all those muscles into working together in perfect coordination, each bunching and releasing in a fluid series of dips and swells. The sheer symmetry fascinated her. In that moment, she’d have given anything to have Harry spend the next couple hours in constant movement so she could analyze the amazing play of tendon and sinew. She wanted to learn his unique rhythm, to imprint and match it to herown.

---