Page 3 of Bride By Committee

She groaned. “This is not my day.”

“Nor mine,” agreed a rich, masculine voice from the back of thecar.

The sound startled her. She’d been so preoccupied with her book, she hadn’t even realized there was anyone else on the elevator with her. “You’d think in a brand-new office building they’d have elevators that work properly,” she ventured.

“Conversely, the very fact that it’s brand new may be why the mechanics are off. They haven’t had an opportunity to fix all the bugs.”

Madison’s frown returned. “The elevator wasn’t even going the right way.”

He took a moment to digest that. “Elevators only go the wrong way when you don’t pay attention to which direction the arrow is pointing.”

It was a reasonable if unpalatable observation. She hadn’t been paying attention. Nor was it the first time she’d taken unnecessary detours on an elevator—or in life, for that matter. She’d have to make a note to pay closer attention. No doubt it would join all the other notes, each with a similar message. It wasn’t really that she didn’t pay attention. The truth was she had phenomenal powers of concentration. Unfortunately, she tended to ignore anything that didn’t directly relate to the task at hand. Whatever happened to be her current concern received her full focus.

Emergency lights came on with a wasplike buzz, coating everything in a jaundiced shade of amber. Madison turned to address her companion-in-disaster just as a loud pop echoed in the small confines. An ominous sizzle followed and the emergency lights faded.

“I hope you’re not the screaming type,” the mansaid.

“Certainly not,” she retorted, firmly ignoring a warning prickle of nervousness. “I’m the most practical person in my entire family.”

“Depending on the family, that might not be saying a whole hell of a lot.”

Maybe if she listened very carefully to every word he said the nervousness would vanish. Now what was his last comment? Something about her family and a characteristic that would be laughable if she weren’t so on edge. “You’re right about that. It’s not saying a lot. To be honest, my family consists of the most impractical individuals ever assembled in one group.”

“Unfortunate.” He paused a beat. “Please tell me you’re not like them.”

Focus! “Not in the least.” It would take more than a dark, suffocating elevator to disconcert her. Alengthy stay might do the trick, but she could handle… oh, say… one or two minutes without losing it. Five, if pushed.

“Excellent. Now that we’ve established that you don’t intend to scream or faint—”

“I never said a word about fainting,” she corrected. “I just said I wasn’t the type to scream.”

A heavy sigh issued from deep within the car. “Are you prone to fainting?”

“No.”

“Excellent. Now that we’ve established that you won’t scream or faint, perhaps we can find a phone to call for help.”

“That might be difficult since I can’t see a blasted thing.” How many minutes had passed? Two? Three? Her hands closed into fists. That gave her a whole one hundred and twenty seconds—if she were lucky one hundred and eighty—to get out of her predicament. Plenty of time to escape their prison before something unpleasant happened. “I don’t suppose you have a cell phone on you? Mine stopped working in the middle of my last call.”

She heard him shift in the darkness, afaint patting sound suggesting he was checking his pockets. “I must have left it in my hotel room. I’m not sure it would even work in here.”

“The way our luck is running, probably not. How about a flashlight? Two-way radio?” Desperation was definitely kicking in. “Rappelling equipment?”

“Sorry. Left all that in my Superman cape.”

The comment provided a much needed distraction. He sounded like her uncle, Daniel, who suffered from a severe Superman complex. Though he didn’t carry it so far as wearing tights and a cape, he did get into trouble rescuing “damsels in distress,” most of whom didn’t want to be rescued. Fortunately, the lawyer she had on retainer gave a discount for volume usage. With her family, that proved a distinct advantage.

Madison swallowed hard and forced herself to follow the conversational gambit. “At least you have a Superman cape. I’ve found it’s rare in this day and age.”

“Let’s just say I didn’t have any choice in the matter. There’s got to be a phone here, somewhere.” She could hear him make his way across the car toward the control panel. “If I can… Got it.”

She gave him a full two seconds to take care of the problem. Ample time, in her opinion. “Well? What are they saying?”

“Nothing, yet.”

Silence reigned for an additional eight impossibly long seconds. If her knees hadn’t locked up on her, she’d have crossed the car and snatched the phone from him and taken care of the situation herself. “When are they going to get us out of here?”

If her impatience annoyed him, he didn’t let on. “No time soon. The phone’s dead.”

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