Promises in the Night: A Classic Romance - Book 2 by Barbara Bretton Read Free Book Online Page B

and Larkin stifled a sigh. He had been working for her for two months now, and if anything, his shyness had grown more pronounced.
    “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be in the front office.” She turned to leave and bumped into Patti, who stood in the doorway, toweling off her rain-soaked red hair. “What’s the big attraction here this morning?” Larkin asked with a chuckle. “I thought I was the only one crazy enough to get here early.”
    “Believe me, it’s not by choice.” Patti waved at her brother. “We’re reading auras this morning. The seer is due in at eight forty-five.”
    “I was just about to hang up my raincoat and have some coffee.” Larkin motioned toward Gordon. “I asked your brother but he turned me down.”
    “That’s my little brother. Always a slave to duty.” She slung the towel over her shoulder. “I’m the sensualist in the family.”
    Larkin laughed. “Believe me, I know, Patti!’
    “Speaking of sensuality, how did it go last night?” Patti followed Larkin across the hall to the bathroom.
    “So that’s why you came in early,” Larkin said as she hung her raincoat over the shower rod. “You want to pump me for information.”
    “Listen, I nearly called you again last night,” Patti said as they went back to the reception area and she poured them each a cup of coffee. “I figured if I didn’t get to you early, I’d never get any of the juicy details.”
    “What makes you think there are any juicy details?”
    “Quit being so evasive. What was he like?”
    Larkin wrapped her fingers around the steaming cup. “Wonderful,” she, said, taking a sip. “Absolutely wonderful.”
    Patti’s blue eyes widened. “He was? A blind date that wasn’t a total disaster?” She staggered across the room and slumped against the edge of the receptionist’s desk. “Call 911,” she gasped. “I think I’m going into cardiac arrest!”
    “You really should consider show business, Patti. You know very well I was talking about the coffee.’
    “You’ve destroyed my last vestige of hope,” Patti said sadly. “I figured if anyone on earth would have a great blind date, it would be you.”
    “I hate to destroy your illusions,” Larkin said, “but I was home by ten o’clock?’
    “That bad?”
    “Let’s just say it wasn’t a five star evening.”
    “How many stars was it?”
    Larkin headed back toward her office, with Patti right on her heels. “I don’t know why you’re so nosy, Franklin,” she said over her shoulder. “Your own social life could keep Masters and Johnson busy well into the next century.”
    Larkin pulled open the drapes in her office and looked down at the almost flooded parking lot.
    “What was his name?” Patti made herself comfortable on the leather sofa adjacent to Larkin’s desk.
    “Howard.”
    Patti made a terrible face. “Why are all blind dates named Howard? I suppose he wore bifocals and had bad breath.”
    Larkin settled down in her chair. Her toes sank into the thick silver carpeting. “Actually, he was quite nice looking,” she said, enjoying the look of surprise on the younger woman’s face. “About six feet tall, light hair, blue eyes.”
    “No bifocals?”
    “Twenty-twenty vision.”
    “Did this Howard have the IQ of a raisin?”
    “Afraid not. He has a master’s in business from Creighton University.”
    “What about his breath?”
    “I didn’t get close enough to find out.”
    “I’ve been engaged to worse men than that.”
    Larkin took a long sip of coffee while Patti fidgeted on the sofa. “I never said anything was wrong with him.”
    “Then why were you home by ten o’clock? Unless...” Patti’s grin was wicked.
    “We said good-night in the driveway and I went inside alone. Get the picture?”
    “No, I don’t get the picture. If he wasn’t stupid or ugly or psychotic, what was the problem?”
    “There was no problem, Patti. We had dinner together and that’s it. Sharing poached fish doesn’t