Wedding Series Boxed Set (3 Books in 1) (The Wedding Series) by Patricia McLinn Read Free Book Online Page B

lined up overnight qualified as above and beyond the call of good customer service. She decided to quell him with a single syllable. "Oh?"
    "Particularly that part about the email and then notifying your office." He sounded singularly unquelled. "I thought we could meet for lunch and discuss the whole thing then, say about one -"
    "I'm sorry, lunch won't be possible." Not if she hoped to catch up with yesterday's leftover chores.
    "You've got to eat. All I'm saying is spend that time with me. And, of course, going over these files."
    "I don't eat lunch." Now why had she said that? There were certainly times she'd skipped the meal to finish work, but she'd also had her share of business lunches. She was reacting almost as if she were afraid of Paul Monroe. Ridiculous.
    "You don't eat lunch? Well, no wonder you're thin. I tell you, Bette, my mom would definitely worry about you."
    "It's very kind of your mother to be concerned." What a damn fool thing to say. His mother didn't know of her existence. She was becoming a blithering idiot. "But I must go now. I'll wait for your decision on those files, Mr. Monroe. Goodbye."
    She hung up before she could hear any answer, then stared at the instrument as if something might leap out of it to snatch away the final shreds of her composure.
    Jerkily, she picked up a pencil and rammed it into the small sharpener from her drawer.
    Why did she react that way?
    All right, Paul Monroe made her a little nervous. Yes, she felt an attraction to him, although clearly nothing serious, since she had a firm fix on the man's faults. Even though that eye-dancing smile could make the clearest of faults a bit fuzzy around the edges. But she hadn't turned him down because of that . . . exactly.
    She'd turned him down because she had a lot of work and he'd disrupted her schedule yesterday. It was only logical to make up the time today.
    Refusing his invitation constituted an ordinary, reasonable business decision.
    Then why had she just methodically sharpened her pencil to exactly half its previous length?
    Never mind that. She was working on the computer anyway. As soon as she got her thoughts in order.
    She felt flustered because Paul Monroe was not an ordinary, reasonable business associate. No wonder she had an odd reaction - he was odd.
    Satisfied with that analysis, Bette turned to her delayed tasks from the day before, and tried to concentrate.
    All day she tried.
    An annoying anticipation edged into her afternoon, lifting the edges of her concentration and peeling it away like a label coming unstuck.
    By six-fifteen she had sharp, but rather short pencils, and had accomplished little else.
    At the opening squeak of her office door, she jumped, a hand to her heart. Her pulse burst into a sprint, then slowed. Only Darla. She frowned fiercely.
Only Darla?
Exactly whom had she been expecting?
    "Bette? Are you all right?"
    "Yes, I'm fine. What is it, Darla?"
    "There's someone here -"
    The door swung wide and there he was, grinning and sending her pulse off in double time.
    "Hi, Bette."
    Darla looked over her shoulder, then back at Bette. "Do you want me to . . .?" She let the words trail off, and Bette could tell Darla didn't want to do anything, that she approved of Paul's presence in her boss's office.
    Bette felt ganged-up on - Paul Monroe, Darla Clarence, and her own heartbeat.
    "It's all right, Darla. Thank you."
    She waited until Paul moved into the room and Darla closed the door. That gave her a chance to prepare a cordially businesslike scold. "Paul -"
    "Don't apologize, Bette."
    Her prepared words vanished. "Apologize!"
    "Yeah, I understand about lunch. Some people get uptight about keeping to a schedule. They just can't help it."
    "Uptight." She forced the word through clenched teeth.
    He went blithely on.
    "I realized I shouldn't have pushed about lunch. But now that you've had all afternoon to catch up -" he hesitated just long enough for her to remember how abysmally she'd failed to use the