Page 50 of Bride By Committee

Principle 9: Sex is Good…

Making Love is Better.

The setting sun had just kissed the Olympic Mountains when Madison entered Harry’s high-rise hotel. She took the elevator straight to the top and walked to the door of his suite.

Her palms were damp from nerves and she brushed them against her thighs. She should have changed before coming. Her salmon-colored suit jacket and skirt, which had been crisp and jaunty this morning, had definitely wilted. But as much as she’d appreciate any excuse to turn tail and run, she couldn’t. She owed Harry better thanthat.

Not giving herself time to reconsider, she balled up her fist and banged on the door. It opened before she could do more than take a single, steadying breath.

Harry stood there and he didn’t appear happy. She couldn’t decide whether the unnaturally rumpled state of his hair tipped her off to that fact, or if it was the way his tie hung slightly askew. Or maybe it was the steam pouring out of his ears and the half-crazed expression in his eyes that clued her in. Yeah, that was probablyit.

“Lady, you are in one hell of a lot of trouble,” he announced. Snatching her into his arms, he carried her over the threshold, slamming the door behind them with a single savagekick.

“Have you lost your mind?” She struggled in vain against his unyielding strength. “Put me down!”

“Have I lost my mind?” The question rumbled through her, reverberating with anger and frustration and— And could it be fear? It didn’t seem possible considering the source. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“What are you talking about?”

He strode into the living room and dumped her onto her feet. Then he seized her purse and briefcase from one of the chairs and shook them at her. “I’m talking about these. You left them at Bradford’s when you bolted. As soon as I realized you’d forgotten them, Iscoured every inch of the city looking for you. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been, imagining you wandering around trying to find a way home without money or a cell phone at your disposal?”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “I called a cab.”

Her explanation did little to appease him. Tension crackled like electricity, filling the air with threat. “And you paid for that how?”

She wouldn’t let him browbeat her. Planting her hands on her hips, she faced him down. “I have a tab with all the local companies. Aunt Dell gets lost so often it seemed like the most logical solution to the problem. Not that this is any of your business. In case you didn’t notice, I’m a grown woman, Harry. Ican take care of myself.”

“If today’s an example of you taking care of yourself, Isuggest you reevaluate your criteria.” He paced in front of her, the words exploding from him. “What the hell were you thinking, Madison? You’ve never gone longer than two minutes without a cell phone glued to your ear. No one at the office knew where you were. The Sunflowers were in a flat-out panic.”

The Sunflowers or Harry? She didn’t have the nerve to ask. “I guess I should have called you, but I needed time to think.” She slipped further into the room. If she gave Harry a wide berth it wasn’t deliberate, she told herself. There were just certain parts of the room she felt more comfortable occupying, all of which kept her as far from a pair of unsheathed claws as possible. It certainly had nothing to do with the tension clinging to him, or the way he paced in perfect imitation of a caged lion. “And I did phone Rosy. Itold her to let you know that I’d be over later this evening. Ican’t help it if she kept the information from you.”

His strides ate up the generous-sized room. “Remind me to have words with that girl.” He stabbed the air with his finger. “And not just about her lack of communication skills. She’s pushed me as far as I intend to be pushed today.”

Madison regarded him warily. “What else has she done?”

“Aside from failing to pass on your message, she broke into my hotel room and redecorated the place.”

He swept his arm toward the dining room. From where she stood, Madison could see that the table had been set for two, crystal and silver gleaming, blood-red candlesticks awaiting the strike of a match. Instead of the floral centerpiece that had been there on her last visit, an oddly shaped bush squatted in the middle of the table. Okay, so Rosy probably shouldn’t have entered without permission, but this didn’t look too terrible. Certainly not anything to get annoyed about.

“You might be right about my family trying their hand at a little matchmaking,” Madison conceded. “I guess Rosy decided to set the stage once she found out I planned to drop by.”

“You think?” He thrust a hand through his hair. “She also brought dinner.”

“And that’s a bad thing, Igather?”

“You tell me. Apparently dinner in Rosy’s world consists solely of chocolate, honey and whipped cream.”

“Oh, dear.”

“With instructions.”

Uh-oh. “Instructions?”

“How-to instructions,” he clarified. “According to Rosy, Ineed educating on the proper way to—how did she put it? Oh, right. ‘Successfully install my hard drive.’ And just as a side note, you can forget about setting her up with Kent. If you think I’m going to let her anywhere near him, you’re crazy. I’m not about to have him corrupted by that sex-crazed lunatic. He’s a nice kid. You should read some of the kinky stuff she put in that message.”

Madison blushed. There were a few facts about her cousin she’d rather not know. “Harry—”

“I’m not finished. Not by a long shot. Not only did she arrange for our dinner, but she put things in my bed.”

---