Fixed Up by Maddie Jane Read Free Book Online Page A

the last few women to clomp their way up the hall. Harper prepared to greet her final two students, eager to get things started.
    What she wasn’t prepared for was the sight of Luke Colton. She froze. What the hell is Luke doing here?
    That much testosterone in a room full of women did not go unnoticed. Every head swivelled to look at him. Several pairs of eyes lit up.
    â€˜Lu—uke?’ Harper said, her voice little more than a squeak. Had her constant thoughts of him conjured him to her? She cleared her throat, dragged her gaze to the two women standing before her. ‘You must be …’ It had only been a millisecond since she’d seen their names on her list, but her mind had gone blank.
    â€˜I’m Shelia and this is Joan. We’re here for the DIY class,’ the older looking of the two women said with a friendly smile. A smile just like Luke’s.
    â€˜You’ve come to the right place. Though I’m afraid this gentleman hasn’t.’ Harper looked deliberately at Luke now, giving him an exaggerated frown. She waited for him to say something. His smile radiated out at her, warming her and making her face flush. Could everyone see he made her nervous? Hastily she flicked her gaze back to the two women.
    â€˜Take a seat, ladies.’ Heavy emphasis on the ‘ladies’, but still no reaction from Luke, who should have been running screaming from the room by now, driven away by twenty pairs of staring female eyes. Yet he didn’t seem phased by the attention—or her purposely frosty tone.
    Joan moved to a vacant chair but Shelia stepped closer to Harper. Her voice was soft but firm. ‘You’ve met my son, Luke? I was so excited when he showed me the brochure for this class. I’ve always wanted to be more adept at DIY, but unfortunately I have a medical condition that doesn’t enable me to drive, so Luke kindly offered to be my chauffeur for the week. I hope you don’t mind him sitting at the back of the class?’
    What? Every muscle in Harper’s body screamed no.
    â€˜I’m afraid I can’t allow that,’ she said. ‘It will put the other students off. The whole point of this class is the male-free environment, which allows women to pursue new skills without the constraints they might normally experience learning through other channels.’ She sounded formal, like she was reciting her brochure. Looking round the class, she struggled to see agreement on the faces of the women. Come on, sisters, she thought. Doing it for yourselves?
    But all she could see was admiration, as they openly stared at Luke, two younger women with their tongues bouncing off the floor.
    Luke spoke for the first time. ‘I’m sorry if it’s a problem, but Mum has to follow the doctor’s orders. I’ll take my newspaper and duck up the back. You won’t even know I’m here.’
    Oh yes I will. He was impossible to miss and even more impossible to forget.
    â€˜How do the rest of you feel about having Shelia’s son here today?’ Harper asked, unable to even say his name out loud for fear she’d give herself away. She wore her stern teacher face in the hope they’d get the message.
    â€˜That’s fine’, ‘Okay’, ‘No worries’ echoed back from the class.
    Damn . Really? She threw her hands in the air and with a jerky nod in Luke’s direction indicated her reluctant assent. She’d rather pull out clumps of her own hair than teach with Luke in the room, she thought, as she beckoned Shelia towards the empty seat beside Joan. But if she threw Luke out on his jean-clad butt he might take his relatives—her paying clients—too.
    Holy crap it was going to be a long morning.
    True to his word, Luke ducked into the window seat off to the side, at the back of the classroom. With a deep breath Harper began her introduction. But it was very distracting. She could hear the