Page 8 of Reckless Harmony

She frowned. “I knew that plumber was useless. I’ll find another one right away, sir. My apologies.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” he said.

She returned to her seat and glanced at her laptop. “Your coffee is on your desk. You have a noon call with Jian to discuss overseas sales and a meeting with James at three this afternoon. Otherwise, your schedule is open.”

“Thank you, Hollis,” he said. “Have I told you lately that the office would fall apart without you?”

“Untrue,” she said, but a faint look of pleasure crossed her face. “Your coffee is getting cold.”

He grinned and headed toward his office.

CHAPTER 5

“Are you sure I can’t get you something to drink? We have tea and coffee, or if you prefer something cold, there’s iced tea or soda.”

Rayna used the wrench to make one final turn on the pipe before sliding out from under the sink. She climbed to her feet and dropped the wrench in her toolkit as she smiled at the pretty church secretary. “I’m finished, actually.”

“Oh, really? That didn’t take long at all.” The secretary gave her a pleased look.

“Just a small leak that replacing a section of the pipe solved the issue,” Rayna said.

“Great, well, thank you so much. If you want to give me your invoice, I’ll get it to our accountant for payment.”

“Sure.” Rayna studied the secretary, her gaze dropping to the woman’s bare left hand before deciding to go for it. They needed more bachelorettes, and Zuri had been handling the lion’s share of the work to find them. It was time for Rayna to do her part.

“Hey, uh, Nora, was it?” Rayna asked.

“Nola,” the receptionist said.

“Right. Nola. Sorry. Weird question, but are you single?”

Nola blinked at her, one hand reaching up to clutch the neckline of her cardigan together. She looked to be about Rayna’s age and was very pretty, but she certainly dressed the part of a church secretary with her dowdy cardigan, ankle-length skirt, and a shirt that buttoned up to her neck.

Oh, please, like you’re any fashion expert, girl.

Her inner voice made a good point, but while Rayna didn’t have a clue what the latest fashions were, she also didn’t dress like she was sixty-five years old.

Unkind.

Seriously unkind, and Rayna inwardly scolded herself fiercely as Nola said, “Um, why?”

“I run an animal rescue called Little Whiskers Rescue,” Rayna said.

“I know,” Nola said. “You helped one of our parishioners, Mrs. Garrety, find a new home for her cat when she had to go into assisted living last year.”

“Ah, okay. Well, anyway, we do fundraisers throughout the year, and one of the fundraisers we’re doing this year is a bachelor/bachelorette auction, and we’re looking for a few more bachelorettes.”

Nola’s hand tightened on her cardigan. “You want me to be a bachelorette?”

“Yes,” Rayna said.

“But why?” Nola looked herself up and down. “I look…bad. No one would bid on me.”

More guilt rushed through Rayna, and she said, “You’re gorgeous, and you’d have so many bids.”

“What…uh, what happens if someone bids on you?” Nola asked.

“They win a date with you. What you do on the date is up to you. If you decide to do this, I’ll get you in touch with Zuri, who’s running the auction. She’ll get all of your pertinent information, and you can let her know what you’re offering as a date activity.”

---