Page 17 of Bride By Committee

“You deceived me. You let me ramble on and on about the book and my grandmother and all sorts of personal details without once warning me that I was making a total fool out of myself. How could you?”

“You weren’t being foolish, merely a concerned and loving granddaughter.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared down his straight, unbroken nose with an air of detached calm she could only envy. “I was also trying to keep you from having hysterics.”

“I’ve never had hysterics in my life.”

“You can thank me for that,” he had the nerve to retort. “I kept you distracted discussing The Principles of Love. If I’d told you my full name, you wouldn’t have been willing to speak to me and I’d have had the devil of a time getting your mind off our predicament.”

“Isn’t that wonderful?” Sunny interrupted. “They’ve been discussing the principles, Bartholomew. Isee romance in their future.”

Madison bit off a scream of frustration. “You do not see romance in our future, Grandmother. Those stupid principles don’t work. We’re living proof of that.”

Sunny’s face crumpled. “Oh, dear. Are you certain?”

Why did she always do that? Madison wondered in despair. At the first hint of adversity or criticism, her grandmother wilted like a flower. If Madison didn’t know better, she’d have thought it was deliberate. “I’m sorry, Sunny. But the first principle is ‘Sometimes it only takes one look…’ Harry and I never even saw each other until a few minutes ago.” She shot Harry an infuriated scowl. “And once I did, Irealized a relationship would never work. He deceived me about his appearance. He pretended to be a lamb.”

“Funny,” Harry muttered. “I seem to remember warning you that I was intimidating. Lambs are not intimidating.”

Sunny’s anxious gaze shifted between them. “But you two did sit in there and talk, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes—” Madison confessed.

“And you were attracted to each other, weren’t you?”

Madison hadn’t seen the question coming and a fiery blush bloomed across her cheeks.

For some reason that cheered Sunny right up. “Silly girl. Itold you the principles worked. You and Harry are proof positive, just as Bartholomew and I are. Ihave an idea. Why don’t the four of us get together for dinner tonight? Seven, at House Milano. I’ll give Joe Milano a call and arrange for a private table.”

“You can order lamb chops,” Harry offered helpfully.

“Wait a minute,” Madison protested. “How can you say the principles work? What are you talking—” But Sunny and Bartholomew were already halfway across the lobby.

Harry unfolded from his stance by the elevator and snagged her arm. “She’s talking about the second principle. If you’d read more than three pages of the book, you wouldn’t have walked into that one.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask. What’s the second principle?”

“‘The voice of love can win the most stubborn heart.’ We may not have seen each other, but we did talk.” He slanted her a grim look. “In fact, all that talking led to far more interesting pursuits. Thanks to that blush—not to mention a kiss-swollen mouth and a hint of whisker burn—they know it, too.”

“I can’t help blushing. It’s not something I can control.” She fingered her lips. “And if I have a swollen mouth and whisker burn, it’s all your fault.”

“I realize that. And you’re welcome, by the way.” He continued smoothly on before she had a chance to express her annoyance. “I also realize that if you could control any or all of those things, you would.”

“Is that a crack?”

“Yes.”

She considered pursuing that line of attack, then decided her energy was better spent on other, more immediate concerns. “I don’t think we need to worry. They’ll give up this nonsense once they see we’re not interested in each other.”

“And what makes you think we’re not?”

She brushed that aside with a wave of her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. Afew brief minutes of indiscretion on a stuck elevator does not make for a romantic relationship. I’d even go so far as to say a stolen kiss or two was obligatory. But it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“Funny. Iseem to recall discussing an affair.”

Another surge of uncontrollable warmth washed across Madison’s cheekbones. She really would have to find a way to curb that tendency. “Piffle. You were discussing,” she retorted. “I was refusing. And now that I’ve had an opportunity to see the error of my ways, as it were, I’m absolutely, positively refusing.”

“You can’t refuse. We sealed our agreement with a kiss.”

“Agreement?” She whipped around to confront him and discovered she had to look a long way up. Strange that the shoulders she’d found so comforting such a short time ago now appeared so intimidating. Not that she’d allow herself to be intimidated. Not a chance. That was for presidents and CEOs and owners of multi-trillion-dollar companies. But not her. “I most certainly did not agree to any such thing.”

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