Page 23 of Bride By Committee

He’d have to persuade her to see the advantages of a friendly compromise. Having one person always in charge, always the winner, wasn’t the sort of affair he had in mind. It didn’t make for a healthy work environment. Nor did it make for a healthy relationship in the bedroom—at least, not in his bedroom.

She poked her nose around the edge of the menu. “We’re both too busy with work for a personal involvement.”

He took the menu away from her. “If I can find time, you can. I’m sure Sunny will be happy to arrange with the other Sunflowers for you to have a few days free.”

“Not a chance. My job is to take care of them and I refuse to shirk my responsibilities.”

Enough was enough. They’d danced around the issue long enough. “So far all you’ve given me are excuses. There’s something else going on, Madison. Some hidden factor I’m missing that affects this equation. You like being in control and you’ve made practicality the standard by which you measure everything. Why is that? I’m guessing that you’ve chosen this particular path for one of two reasons—either something happened to you, personally, or something happened to your family.” Her reaction warned that he’d struck a nerve. “Which is it?”

The change in Madison was startling. All emotion vanished from her expression. Her eyes lost their dark luster, turning flat and remote. And an unnatural calm settled over her. Even her wayward curls stilled, as though leeched of their life’s energy. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she blatantlylied.

He leaned toward her, pinning her with his gaze. “What the hell is going—”

“Are we interrupting something?” Sunny chose that moment to sweep down on them. She dropped a quick kiss on her granddaughter’s cheek and another on Harry’s. “Sorry we’re late. But once we explain, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

“You’re not interrupting a thing,” Madison hastened to reassureher.

“Sure they were,” Harry corrected, giving her a final, warning glance. They’d put their discussion on hold for now. But they would finish it—and soon. “I suspect we’ll forgive them once we hear their news. What’s up, Dad?”

Bartholomew grinned. “Congratulate us, Harry. Sunny’s agreed to be my wife.”

“Attention, everyone.” Sunny called her family to order. The din from a dozen chattering Sunflowers faded. She peered through her reading glasses at the paper she held and nodded briskly. “All right, my dears. Here’s the latest update on the marriage project. You’ll be pleased to know that our plan has been set in motion.”

“How did she react to your engagement?” Aunt Dell asked. “Was she as pleased as the rest of us?”

“I think pleased might be a wee bit of an overstatement. But don’t let that worry you. She’ll come around in due time.” Sunny paced in front of her relatives. “Now I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and I’ve come up with the perfect way to implement our plan.”

“I’m happy to help any way I can,” Daniel stated, “so long as it doesn’t involve anything illegal. Madison says our lawyer isn’t very happy with me, so I’d better keep a low profile. No helping. She was very specific about that.”

“Not to worry, Daniel. I’m fairly certain we can do this without breaking too many laws. At least… They’ll only be teeny tiny laws.”

“What do you need us to do?” Harley frowned. “It’s not going to cost a lot of money, is it?”

“No, my boy. My plan will only take time and a bit of creative thinking.” She waved a paper in the air. “This is a sign-up sheet, everyone. Each of you has to pick a rule from The Principles of Love, one you think suits you best. Your job will be to demonstrate it for Harry and Madison—involving them in the course of the demonstration, of course. I’ll go first so you get the idea.”

“Which rule are you choosing?” Rosy wanted toknow.

“I’m fairly certain Harry’s already taken care of the first three all on his own. So I’ll be generous.” Sunny made a slashing notation on the sheet. “Not only will I reinforce those, I’ll throw in the fourth rule, no extra charge.”

“We have a serious problem on our hands,” Madison announced.

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

“Oh, right.” There were times when fixating on a particular problem or goal could generate a certain social awkwardness. This was one of them. “Good morning, Harry.”

He swung the door to his hotel room wider. “Won’t you come in?”

“Thank you.” She crossed the threshold and turned to confront him. The sight of his business suit brought a frown to her face. “Oh, no. This will never do.”

“What’s wrong now?”

“Are you working today?” She hadn’t anticipated that and should have. “Do you have an appointment with this group you told me about?”

“I was going to make a preliminary call, yes. But it can wait if you have something more important in mind.”

That cheered her up. “Excellent. The first thing we’ll need to do is get you out of this.” She circled behind him and stripped off his suit jacket, tossing it over her shoulder. “The tie will have to go, too.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “First explain what’s going on.”

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