Page 44 of Bride By Committee

“Of course not! He rakes in a bundle every time you do.” This wasn’t getting them anywhere. “How many rules do we have left to choose from?”

Daniel pried open the book and flipped through the pages. “Not many. Something about perfection and—” He broke off with a blush. “Oh, my.”

“Sex,” Rosy guessed, grinning in satisfaction. “Perfect. Ican do sex.”

“I did not hear that!”

“Sure you did. You just didn’t want to.” She leaned forward and patted Daniel’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. You won’t have to lift a finger and I’ll even give you partial credit.”

“Please, Rosy. I’d really rather you didn’t involve me at all. Not if it’s about—”

“Relax. This is gonna be lots better than jail. You’ll see.” She glanced down the hallway toward Madison’s office with a sly smile. “It’ll sure as hell be better than a desk, which I’m hopin’ those two will find out real soon.”

Chapter Eight

Principle 8: Perfection doesn’t exist.

So, what’s really important toyou?

“Stop being so stubborn, Madison.”

“Stubborn?” She glared at Harry. “You have a lot of nerve calling me stubborn. We went over Harley’s portfolio three days ago. Why are we doing it again?”

“I still have some questions about his IRA.”

“It’s a standard retirement account, Harry. There’s nothing the least questionable about it.” She planted her hands on her hips and regarded him with acute suspicion. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were stalling.”

“Explain.”

He folded his arms across his chest and fixed her with his best I’m-the-terror-of-the-business-world-and-you’d-better-start-trembling look. He also liked to chop up his words into hard demanding nuggets whenever he hoped to rattle her. On the whole it was quite unnerving. Perhaps it had something to do with his impressive height or the even more impressive shape stretching his suit to the limits.

Not that any of that actually succeeded at unnerving her. Good heavens, no. She knew better than to allow such ridiculous tactics to work. Men like Harry Jones needed someone capable of standing up to them. And she was the perfect woman for thejob.

She shook Harley’s file under his nose. “You’ve gone over every portfolio, account, and record that I have in this office. Now you want to start at the beginning and do it all over again?” She slapped the file onto her desk. “There can only be one explanation.”

“Which is?”

“You’re stalling.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Gee, Idon’t know, Harry.” Exasperation edged her voice along with a healthy dose of sarcasm. “I don’t suppose it has anything to do with keeping me from interfering with Sunny and Bartholomew’s engagement?”

He lifted a single eyebrow, another of his cute little gestures. Actually, she found it irritatingly endearing. More often than not it expressed an element of wry humor. And more often than not she ended up dissolving into laughter. Maybe that’s why he did it. He seemed to like her laugh, atender light filling his hazel eyes. She frowned. When had they developed such an intimate understanding of each other? She suspected it originated the day he’d held her in his arms while she’d told him about her childhood.

“I’m shocked. You weren’t planning on interfering with your grandmother’s engagement, were you?” he asked.

“Of course not.” At his continued silence, she shrugged, compelled to honesty. “At least, not much. Ijust want to make sure they’re not rushing into anything.”

“That’s what I thought.” He picked up the folder she’d discarded. “Shall we take another look at your cousin’s investments?”

“Not a chance. Not when there isn’t any point. I’ve done an incredible job these past four years. Admit it, Harry.”

“You’ve done an incredible job.”

“Then we’re through?”

The tender light she’d noticed earlier warmed into something more passionate. “Not by a long shot. There’s still a lot left for us to accomplish.”

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