Главная страница | Современные любовные романы | Practice Husband

Practice Husband
Judith McWilliams


WANTED: MARRIAGE-MINDED MEN Addy Edson was looking for a husband, and she knew just the guy to help her with her search. But what she hadn't expected were the warm, sensuous "practice kisses" that her childhood friend Joe Barrington was bent on giving her - or the way they made her feel… .Joe was more than happy to help Addy find a groom, especially since it meant the redheaded beauty would be practicing her sexy charms on him! But how could he convince her that a lifetime of happiness - and nighttimes of passion - could be found in his arms?







“What Did You Have In Mind For Us To Do This Evening?” (#u1a448db8-77a7-543e-8f58-ce4753b21563)Letter to Reader (#uf3a03e10-e68a-5893-bb33-b66a25eb312e)Title Page (#ud9786f3c-4e52-5407-9cd4-10fb470da046)About the Author (#u02433f32-4b1d-52b6-8c5f-1e8210a721af)Prologue (#u621c718a-41d7-5a85-81bd-f88cbaac66cf)Chapter One (#u5a55d7a6-684b-5c9d-93ce-650b22f10169)Chapter Two (#ua6f3f97b-b057-590a-bbd2-15cb59baf755)Chapter Three (#u049afc47-42d9-5301-bb5b-4563d0136b47)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


“What Did You Have In Mind For Us To Do This Evening?”

Joe felt a sudden shock of desire slam through him at the thought of what he’d really like to do with her this evening. He’d like to take her home and kiss her senseless. To strip that dress off her and run his hands over her body.

There was no reason why he shouldn’t kiss her. Kissing was a normal part of dating, and this was supposed to be a date.

He hadn’t spent so much time aroused since he’d been a teenager. And he was finding it a damned uncomfortable state to be in. At least when he knew that he couldn’t follow his desires through to their logical end.

“I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” He took refuge in a lie. “What would you like to do?”


Dear Reader,

I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting the next book from Mary Lynn Baxter—so wait no more. Here it is, the MAN OF THE MONTH. Tight-Fittin’ Jeans. Mary Lynn’s books are known for their sexy heroes and sizzling sensuality...and this sure has both! Read and enjoy.

Every little girl dreams of marrying a handsome prince, but most women get to kiss a lot of toads before they find him. Read how three handsome princes find their very own princesses in Leanne Banks’s delightful new miniseries HOW TO CATCH A PRINCESS. The fun begins this month with The Five-Minute Bride.

The other books this month are all so wonderful...you won’t want to miss any of them! If you like humor, don’t miss Maureen Child’s Have Bride, Need Groom. For brazing drama, there’s Sara Orwig’s A Baby for Mommy. Susan Crosby’s Wedding Fever provides a touch of dashing suspense. And Judith McWilliams’s Practice Husband is warmly emotional.

There is something for everyone here at Desire! I hope you enjoy each and every one of these love stores.






Senior Editor

Please address question and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo. NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie., Ont. L2A 5X3


Practice Husband

Judith McWilliams












www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


JUDITH McWILLIAMS

began to enjoy romances while in search of the proverbial “happily ever afters.” But she always found herself rewriting the endings, and eventually the beginnings, of the books she read. Then her husband finally suggested that she write novels of her own, and she’s been doing so ever since. An ex-teacher with four children, Judith has traveled the country extensively with her husband and has been greatly influenced by those experiences. But while not tending the garden or caring for family, Judith does what she enjoys most: writing. She has also written under the name Charlotte Hines.


Prologue

“Much as it pains me to admit it, Adelaide Edson, you have absolutely no calling to become a nun.”

Addy, well used to her aunt’s habit of speaking her thoughts aloud, ignored the comment and finished giving the DPT inoculation to the screaming toddler on the examining table.

“He’s in perfect health,” Addy said as she handed him to his young mother. “Bring him back in six weeks for his second set of inoculations. Sooner, if you’re worried about anything.”

“Thank you, Miss Addy. Sister Margaret.” The woman gave them a shy smile as she left.

Addy glanced around the empty tent in relief. “I was beginning to think we’d never get finished. I sure hope there’s some iced tea left in the cafeteria, because I’m dying for a glass.”

“What I want are a few answers,” Sister Margaret said as she helped Addy clean up the debris from the baby clinic.

Addy smiled affectionately at her. “Then why don’t you try asking a few questions?”

To Addy’s surprise, her aunt didn’t smile back.

“This is no laughing matter, Addy. If you don’t want to become a nun, what do you want out of life?”

“Aunt Margaret, I’m hot and tired and dirty and...”

“And avoiding my question,” Sister Margaret finished. “I’m serious. It’s long past time that you thought about it.”

“I will, just as soon as—”

“Now.” Sister Margaret’s voice brooked no opposition, and Addy gave in. There was no point in arguing with her aunt when she was in this kind of mood. It was far easier to go along.

“What do I want out of life?” Addy repeated the ques tion as she stared out through the open side of the tent at the small group of children who were playing in the scalding sun.

“Children,” Addy tried the word out and then repeated it when it sounded good. “Children. I want to have some of my own. Three, maybe four.”

Her aunt nodded. “That makes sense. One of the reasons you’re such a good pediatric nurse is the empathy you have for children. But I should point out that in order to have children you first need to have sex and for that you need a man.”

“Do tell.” Addy grinned at the elderly woman.

“It’s about time someone told you,” Sister Margaret said tartly. “What’s more, you’re not likely to find a husband in a refugee camp in Western Africa run by nuns.”

Addy felt her shoulders tense as the all-too-familiar feeling of inadequacy welled out of her subconscious. “I’m not likely to find one anywhere.”

“Nonsense!” Sister Margaret said bracingly. “A lovely young woman like you?”

Addy blew a damp strand of dark red hair that had escaped from her functional chignon out of her face and looked down at her rumpled uniform, which was liberally stained with the results of treating scores of children.

“Your partiality is overwhelming your common sense,” Addy muttered. “Besides, I may have spent the last four years in Africa, but if you remember, before that I was working in Chicago—a city with millions of men in it, and not a single one of them showed the slightest desire to marry me.”

“And whose fault was that? You were always so defensive about being a little plump—”

“Fat,” Addy corrected. “I wasn’t plump. I was fat.”

“Whatever!” Sister Margaret waved a dismissive hand. “The point is that you aren’t overweight anymore. There’s nothing to stop you from going out and grabbing a man to father those kids you want.”

Addy suppressed a sigh. If all she wanted was a walking sperm bank, then maybe her aunt was right. But that wasn’t all she wanted. She wanted more, a lot more. She wanted someone who was interested in her as a person as well as a sexual partner. She wanted someone to talk to, to share her hopes and fears with. To build a future with. A future that would last after their children had grown and left home.

Unfortunately, if she believed the letters she’d received over the years from her single girlfriends, men like that were scarcer than the proverbial hens’ teeth.

And even if by some miracle she did run across a man who fit her requirements, it wouldn’t do her any good. She wouldn’t have the vaguest idea how to go about attracting his attention. And that was the crux of her problem. She squarely faced the fact. She didn’t know. She didn’t know how to attract men, how to talk to them, how to relate to them on any level. She had absolutely no experience to fall back on. As far as she was concerned, they might as well be another species entirely.

“Good, then we’re decided.” Sister Margaret chose to take Addy’s silence as agreement. “You’re going to return home to Hamilton, find a husband and have some children to brighten my old age. Eastern Pennsylvania will be pretty, with fall coming,” she offered as an added inducement.

A reluctant smile flickered in Addy’s deep brown eyes. If only it were as easy as that. Of course, to her aunt, it probably was. Her aunt didn’t seem prey to the self-doubts that had always haunted Addy.

“I’ll make your plane reservations this afternoon.”

Addy blinked. “This afternoon! What’s the rush?”

“You aren’t getting any younger, and if you wait for a good time to go, you’ll never leave. This place is always in the middle of a crisis.”

Sister Margaret turned to leave and then stopped, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “I almost forgot why I came over here in the first place. A letter came for you in the mailbag.” She pulled a long white envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Addy.

Eagerly, Addy looked at the return address, hoping for a letter from a friend, and then grimaced.

“Bad news?” Sister Margaret asked.

“No, just old news. It’s from that law firm that wants to buy the property that Mom and Dad’s house sits on. Remember, I told you about their offer. They say they have a client that wants to build a factory or some such on it.”

“Are you still adamant about not selling?”

“Yes. I grew up in that house, and even though Mom and Dad are both dead and I haven’t lived there since I graduated from high school, I still think of it as home. And if I sell it, I won’t belong anyplace.” A feeling of panic swirled through Addy.

“All the more reason to get yourself a husband. People should belong to other people, not to a place,” Sister Margaret said as she left.

I should be so lucky, Addy thought ruefully, wishing she had inherited even a tenth of her aunt’s self-assurance.

She leaned back against the examining table and ripped open the envelope, extracting the single sheet of paper. As she’d suspected, it was another offer to buy her property, virtually identical to the ones she’d been receiving for the past eighteen months. The only thing that changed was the price they were offering.

Addy frowned as she peered closer at the scrawled signature at the bottom of the page. No, one other thing had changed—the signature. Instead of being signed by a lawyer named Blandings as all the other ones had been, this letter was signed by the president of the company who wanted her land, one J. E. Barrington.

“J. E. Barrington,” she muttered. Joseph Barrington? Could J. E. Barrington be her Joe Barrington? Not that Joe had ever been hers. In fact, when they were children, Joe hadn’t appeared to belong to anyone. She couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone attending a school function with him. Or standing on the sidelines during sporting events rooting for him. He’d always seemed to be alone, both physically and mentally.

But despite his aloofness, Joe had had a kinder side. A side Addy had discovered when she’d been in the second grade. She’d been standing on the playground after school crying because two boys from the fifth grade had taken her beloved doll and were beating its head on the pavement, saying that fat people didn’t deserve dolls.

As if in answer to her tears, Joe had emerged from the school building and come to her rescue. He’d bloodied the nose of one of her tormentors, chased them both off and then told her that crying never helped anything. Only action solved problems.

After the incident, Joe had taken to walking her home after school, which had effectively ended the vicious teasing she’d endured. Not only that, but she’d acquired a friend. A prickly one, but the fact that he had never once referred to her being fat had made him absolutely perfect in her eyes. Their friendship had lasted until he’d gone away to college and they’d lost touch.

She glanced back down at the signature. Could it be Joe? Had Joe managed to build up a company from nothing? It was certainly possible, she conceded. If ever there was a person who had the will to succeed, it was Joe.

Thoughtfully, she shoved the letter into her pocket. Instead of writing a reply turning down their offer as she usually did, she would go to see this J. E. Barrington in person when she got back to Hamilton, she decided. It would be interesting to find out exactly who he was.


One

“Progress rears its ugly head,” Addy muttered as she pulled into the parking lot of the company that was so determined to acquire her land. When she’d been in high school the whole area had been gently rolling pastureland.

Addy cut the engine of her new compact, which she’d picked up from the dealer that morning, and studied the ultramodern building for a long moment. Now that she was actually here, she was of two minds about going in.

She had very fond memories of Joe. In fact, the only fond memories of the entire male sex she had from school were of Joe. If he had turned into a ruthless, money-grubbing businessman, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Aware that she was being ridiculous, Addy unbuckled her seat belt and got out. Whatever Joe had become had nothing to do with her. She had enough problems of her own to worry about. Such as how she was going to find a man to build a relationship with.

Addy checked the front of her cream linen suit to make sure it was still spotless, hooked her brown leather purse over her shoulder and headed for the oversized double doors at the front of the building.

Pushing one door open, she stepped inside and glanced around curiously. There was a gorgeously dressed, perfectly made-up blonde sitting behind a reception desk, who made Addy suddenly feel dowdy.

The blonde gave her a practiced smile and asked, “May I help you?”

“Yes, thank you. I’d like to see Mr. J. E. Barrington.”

The blonde’s perfectly curved eyebrows lifted as if to say, “Who wouldn’t?” and asked, “You have an appointment?”

“No,” Addy admitted, “but since he’s been trying to buy my property for the past eighteen months, I assumed he’d be willing to see me if I stopped by.”

“I’ll check.” The blonde suddenly became brisk at the mention of the property. “What name should I give him?”

Addy beat down a childish impulse to say “Queen Victoria” and dutifully gave her own name.

The blonde picked up the phone, held a brief conversation with someone at the other end and then said, “Mr. Barrington can spare you a few minutes. Just go through there.” She pointed toward the door to her right. “Mr. Barrington’s office is at the end of the hall.”

“Thank you.” Addy smiled at the woman and, clutching her purse like a lifeline, headed down the hall. Despite her curiosity about Joe, she wasn’t looking forward to this interview. Whoever J. E. Barrington turned out to be, he still wanted her property and she still wasn’t going to give it to him. He’d probably get insistent, and when that didn’t work, he could well get sarcastic, and she hated dealing with sarcasm. It made her feel ten years old again. Overweight and unlovely and somehow not quite as good as everyone else. Almost as if she didn’t have the right to say no.

But you aren’t ten years old. You’re a very competent thirty-two. And you aren’t fat anymore either, she reminded herself, something that she found herself doing on an almost daily basis because, despite what her mind told her and her mirror showed her, she still felt fat on the inside.

At the end of the short hallway, Addy found herself in a reception area filled with comfortable leather chairs. Several doors led from it to what Addy assumed were offices. As she watched, one of them opened and a man in his late thirties wearing a well-cut black suit and a very conservatively striped tie hurried toward her.

“You must be Miss Edson?”

Not her Joe. Addy felt a flash of disappointment, the strength of which caught her by surprise.

“Yes, and you’re Mr. Barrington?”

The man smiled self-deprecatingly. “No, no. I’m Bill Bernette, Mr. Barrington’s executive assistant. Mr. Barrington’s office is through here.”

He lead her across the room. Knocking perfunctorily on the heavy oak door, he opened it and gestured Addy inside. “Mr. Barrington will be with you as soon as he finishes his call,” he whispered, motioning her toward a seat in front of the desk.

Addy sank down in the chair and glanced curiously at the man on the phone. A feeling of disorientation hit her as she recognized his face. It was her Joe! Her eyes swept over his short, inky-black hair, then skittered across the tiny scar high on his left cheekbone to land in the sparkling depths of his deep blue eyes.

She felt as if she’d suddenly been transported back in time at a dizzying speed, leaving her stomach behind. She watched as he nodded at her, his lips shaping a brief, impersonal smile. Didn’t he remember her? To her surprise, the idea hurt.

She remembered him. Her eyes focused on his mouth, tracing the firm contours of the dusky pink flesh. A shiver chased over her at the thought of pressing her lips against his. Of feeling them moving against hers. Of... Addy jerked her gaze away in a vain attempt to control her uncharacteristic thoughts. She watched as his hand impatiently tapped out a rhythm on the highly polished mahogany of his desktop. His long fingers were lightly tanned and the nails immaculately clean. She automatically looked for a wedding band, but didn’t find one.

Because Joe wasn’t married, or because he didn’t wear one? Addy felt a shimmer of uneasiness at her curiosity. Her intense reaction to him wasn’t like her, and it worried her. Jet lag, she told herself, dredging up the first excuse that came to mind and trying hard to believe it.

“Good God!” The exclamation cut through her thoughts and she glanced up, to find her gaze snared by the glittering sparks in his eyes.

“Addy? Is that really you?”

Addy winced at his incredulous tone. “Did I look that bad that you don’t believe the improvement?”

“Improvement?”

She stated the obvious. “I’m not fat anymore.”

He took her comment as an invitation to look at her, and Addy felt her skin tighten as his hot, blue gaze slowly wandered over her. She could feel her breasts tightening as his gaze lingered on them.

“No,” he agreed, “you’re not fat anymore.” His eyes narrowed. “In fact, you look downright skinny. What have you been doing to yourself?”

Addy blinked at his description. No one had ever called her skinny in her life. It wasn’t an idea she could relate to, so she ignored it.

“I’ve spent the last four years with a bunch of nuns trying to save the world,” she said self-mockingly.

“From what I’ve seen of the world, you’re lucky to still be in one piece. The world generally takes exception to being saved.”

“Not my part of it. I work with children, and they’re darlings no matter where you find them.” Her voice unconsciously softened.

“Teacher?” he guessed.

Addy felt a stab of disappointment that he didn’t know. A feeling that she told herself was ridiculous. She was nothing more than an old school friend. There was no reason why he should have kept up with her life. She hadn’t kept up with his.

“I’m a pediatric nurse-practitioner.”

“As well as the owner of a parcel of land that we need.”

His reference to her land brought Addy back to reality with a thump.

“We really need that land, Addy.”

“You really need that land,” she corrected. “I already have it, and I intend to keep it.”

Addy watched as his eyes narrowed, showing a line of fine wrinkles at the corners. As if he laughed a lot. Her gaze dropped to the firm set of his jaw, and she mentally rejected the idea. He probably just spent a lot of time outside in the sunlight.

“Addy, be reasonable.” His plaintive words echoed through her mind, dislodging old memories. He must have said those exact same words to her hundreds of times when they were children. The familiar sound of them served to dispel the strangeness of her reaction to him. Suddenly, he was simply Joe. Her childhood friend.

She grinned at him, inexplicably feeling carefree. “If memory serves me right, your idea of being reasonable means that I do exactly what you want.”

Joe shrugged, and Addy watched in fascination as his powerful shoulders moved beneath the perfection of his custom-tailored suit In some strange way, his highly civilized clothes didn’t make him seem civilized. They actually seemed to make him more ruggedly masculine, as if their purpose was to highlight the difference between the way he really was and the way he wanted people to perceive him.

“I really need that land Addy,” he said. “Our present plant has reached capacity, and we need to expand to meet the increasing demand.”

“Demand for what?” Addy asked, curious about what he did.

“Computer chips.”

“Oh,” Addy said, “You’re one of them.”

“One of who?”

“One of those fanatics who want to put computers everywhere. Do you know they’re even putting the blasted things in libraries?” she said in remembered outrage. “They’re getting rid of card catalogues and making you use computers, and half the time they don’t even work.”

Joe grinned at her, giving her a glimpse of his gleaming, white teeth. “You may look a lot different, but you haven’t really changed. You can still divert a conversation quicker than anyone I know.”

Addy felt her spirits rise at the warmth of his smile. A smile that was echoed by the sparkle of humor in his eyes.

“But the fact remains that I need your land.”

“I know you want it, but I want it, too. It’s...” Addy struggled to explain her feelings. “That house is all I have left of my folks. I grew up there. All my memories are there. If I sell it and you raze it, they’ll all be goue.”

“Your memories aren’t in the house, they’re in your mind. And nothing I or anyone else can ever do will destroy them. Be grateful you’ve got happy memories. to cherish.”

His voice took on a bitter tinge, and Addy suddenly remembered overhearing her mother and her friends whispering about the disgraceful way Joe’s mother drank.

“Why don’t you simply build your plant somewhere else?” Addy ventured. “I can’t own the only vacant tract in town.”

“Yours is the best,” he insisted. “The location is perfect. Every other site that’s available had big problems. Our engineers—”

Joe paused as his assistant stuck his head in the door and said, “You asked me to tell you when Hodkins over at the bank called. He’s on the line now.”

“Addy, would you mind waiting a minute while I take this call?” Joe asked as he reached for his phone. “It’s important.”

Deciding to take advantage of the interruption, Addy got to her feet. She needed to think about what Joe had said and she found it hard to do it when he was just a few feet from her. Somehow, the sight of him did strange things to her thought processes.

“Of course not, Joe. I promised a friend I’d drop by this morning, and it’s almost noon now.”

“But we haven’t reached an agreement.”

“I’ll give you a call this afternoon,” Addy said and then escaped. She had the feeling that people didn’t reach an agreement with Joe. They gave in to him. The very forcefulness of his personality would tend to wear down the opposition.

She gave the surprised-looking Bill a quick smile as she hurried down the hall, breathing a sigh of relief when she was out of the building. Kathy should be able to tell her all about Joe. Addy unconsciously sped up at the thought. Kathy had always known all the gossip when they were in school together.

“Addy!” Joe stuck his head out of his office and glanced around the deserted reception area.

“She went that-a-way.” Bill gestured toward the exit. “Would you like me to see if I can catch her?”

“Fat chance you’d have of getting her to do anything she didn’t want to. She was always the most aggravating, stubborn kid....”

Bill stared thoughtfully in the direction Addy had gone. “I don’t know about that, but she sure turned out spectacularly.”

A shaft of anger lanced through Joe at Bill’s bemused expression.

“Leave her alone!” Joe’s harsh command surprised them both. He hadn’t meant to say it. He’d thought it, but he hadn’t meant to say it.

“I’m trying to negotiate with her for her land,” Joe added, to rationalize his order. “I don’t need any complications from you chasing her.”

“It’s only a complication if I catch her.” Bill chuckled and then hastily sobered at Joe’s scowl.

Bill held up his hand in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry. I won’t make one move until after you’ve finished the negotiations. What about your phone call?”

“Dammit! I left him hanging when she bolted.” Joe hurried over to the phone. Addy was still the most aggravating woman he’d ever met.

“Barrington here,” he said.

“Good morning, Mr. Barrington. This is Sean Hodkins. You asked me to let you know when the bank reached a decision on the loan David Edwards applied for?”

You mean I bribed you to let me know, Joe thought cynically. “I take it you have news?”

“Yes, the bank turned him down. The loan committee felt that his company was already badly overextended, and that young Mr. Edwards didn’t have a viable plan for turning his family’s company around.”

Joe bit down on the sense of exultation that filled him. At long last, after years of waiting and planning, he was finally going to be able to exact revenge on the Edwards family for what they had done.

“You did as I asked?” Joe kept his voice level with an effort.

“Yes, sir. Exactly as you said. When Mr. Edwards came out, I offered him your business card and told him that your company was looking to invest excess profits and preferred to do it locally. I suggested he contact you.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he was glad someone was able to make a profit in business because he sure didn’t seem to have the knack.”

“Did he take the card?” Joe demanded.

“Yes, although he didn’t look at it. He just stuffed it into his pocket. Poor man, I’m afraid the committee’s rejection was a real blow to him.”

If so, it was one of the few blows that had ever landed in David Edwards’s charmed life, Joe thought grimly. But that was about to change. He was about to experience how the rest of the world lived.

“Wait until tomorrow and then give him a call and remind him of what you said,” Joe ordered. “By then he should be more receptive to the idea.”

“Oh, I will,” Hodkins said earnestly. “It would be a shame if the Edwards Corporation were to fold. Why, that plant’s been here since my great-grandfather’s time. And young Mr. Edwards seems like such a nice man.”

“Give me a call if you hear anything else.” Joe cut him off. He didn’t want to hear David Edwards’s praises sung. He knew better.

Joe hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair as a sense of satisfaction filled him. It had taken him his entire life to reach this point, but he was finally here. Within months, sooner if he were lucky, the Edwards Corporation would belong to him. His mouth tightened. As it should have all along.

And with Addy’s land... An unconscious smile curved his lips as he thought of her. Who would have ever thought that she would turn out as she had? Once in a while over the years he’d caught sight of a redhead in a crowd and he’d thought of her, wondering where she was and what she was doing. But never in his wildest flights of imagination had he ever thought that she’d look so infinitely alluring.

What would it be like to take her in his arms? he wondered. To kiss the soft lusciousness of her full mouth. To nuzzle her neck and to cup the weight of her breast in his hand. To...

No! With a monumental effort, he clamped down on the erotic images his mind insisted on playing. Addy was strictly out of bounds, he told himself. Anyone who had spent the last four years of her life helping out a group of nuns was not the type of woman who would be interested in an affair.

Addy was the type who would expect a declaration of undying love, followed by a marriage proposal. Something he had no intention of offering, because no matter how wild the sex was in the beginning, it invariably cooled, leaving a man trapped in a stale, boring relationship.

Far better to keep Addy as a friend. And she was his friend. The thought brought a feeling of pleasure in its wake. They might not have seen each other in years, but they shared a history that went back to grade school. Not only was she his friend, but he trusted her. In fact, she was one of the few people in the world that he did trust.

No, he repeated, Addy was his friend and sex would screw that up. Sex was easy to come by if that was all a man wanted. Friends were a lot more precious. He reached for the pile of papers he’d been working on with a feeling of anticipation that hadn’t been there before Addy’s reentry into his life.

“Addy?” A short woman in her early thirties peered out through her screen door. “Is that really you?”

Addy chuckled at Kathy’s incredulous tone. “Yes, so open the door and let me in.”

Kathy hurriedly shoved open the screen. “Sorry, I was kind of... How on earth did you lose all that weight?” she blurted out.

“It just kind of happened,” Addy said, as disconcerted by the sight of Kathy as her friend apparently was by her. Kathy had always been impeccably turned out in an appropriate outfit, whatever the occasion. Yet now she was wearing a pair of jeans that were frayed around the legs and a sweatshirt that looked as if it had been caught in the middle of a food fight.

Curious, Addy followed Kathy through the littered hallway into a bright, sunny kitchen. The source of the food splotches on Kathy’s clothes was immediately apparent. A toddler was sitting in a high chair, happily smearing what looked like applesauce into his brown hair.

Addy chuckled at his beatific expression. “That, I take it, is Jimmy?”

“The one and only, and don’t encourage him. His father already spoils him rotten. Have a seat.” Kathy shoved a pile of dirty laundry off a chair onto the floor.

Addy sat down.

“When did you get back?” Kathy demanded.

“Last night. Hi, Jimmy.” Addy smiled at the little boy. To her delight, he smiled back and tossed her a spoonful of applesauce. Fortunately, his aim wasn’t very good and it hit the table instead.

“You always did have a way with kids,” Kathy said. “Remember when our mothers would volunteer us to baby-sit in the church nursery? You could always get the screamers to shut up. Want some coffee?”

“No, I want some information.”

Kathy ducked as Jimmy again flung applesauce in her direction. “How about motherhood isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”

Addy laughed. “Few things are.”

“Marriage is.” Kathy’s face took on a dreamy cast. “Jim is a fantastic husband. Now that you’re home, we’ve got to find you one.”

“I’m willing to consider any and all offers.”

Kathy blinked. “What?”

“I said that I would like to get married, and I’m willing to consider all options.”

Kathy stared at Addy in suspicion. “Are you making fun of my match-making tendencies?”

“No, I’m hoping to use them. I’d like to have some kids of my own.”

Kathy glanced around the disheveled kitchen and shuddered. “On your head be it. How can I help?”

“Do you know any eligible bachelors?”

Kathy pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Let’s see. There’s Bart Dandridge, but I think we’d best stay away from him.”

“Why?” Addy asked curiously.

“One of the partners in Jim’s law firm handled his divorce and, according to him, Bart’s wife claimed he beat her up a couple of times. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but...”

“I’ll pass on Bart,” Addy agreed.

“There’s Tom, who’s a bachelor friend of Jim’s,” Kathy said slowly. “He’s pretty nice, but he does tend to drink a little too much. Jim had to represent him in a drunk-driving charge last month.”

“Forget Tom. I don’t expect perfection in a husband, but I do want sobriety.”

Kathy sighed. “Addy, you’ve left it till very late. The good ones have long since been snapped up. Although...” Kathy’s admiring gaze ran down the length of Addy’s trim figure. “You look a lot better than any wife I know. Including myself.”

“Thanks,” Addy muttered, squelching her instinctive urge to make a self-deprecating response.

“Tell you what, I’ll ask Jim when he gets home from work tonight. Maybe he can think of someone I can introduce you to.”

Jimmy suddenly tossed his bowl on the floor and started to howl.

“Be quiet, brat.” Kathy’s loving tone belied her words as she took a wet cloth and scrubbed the applesauce off him. When he was reasonably clean, she set him on the floor and turned back to Addy.

“It might help if I knew what you are looking for in a husband.”

Addy blinked as an image of Joe’s features floated through her mind No. She purposefully banished them. Joe was not husband material. At least, not for someone as inexperienced as she was. She ignored the irrational sense of loss that filled her.

“Well... He has to be willing to work and to like kids and to be clean. And a nonsmoker.”

“You forgot a good lover,” Kathy said. “Believe me, great sex can cover a multitude of other deficiencies.”

What kind of lover would Joe be? Addy wondered, and then flushed when she realized where her thoughts were headed.

“I wouldn’t know,” Addy said primly.

Kathy stared at her friend in shock. “Don’t tell me you’re still a virgin!”

“I’m never going to tell you anything about my sex life, because it’s none of your business.”

Kathy chuckled. “Ah, hit a nerve there, did I? Tell me, do you still know anyone from around here?”

“Just Joe.”

Kathy frowned. “Joe? Joe who?”

“Joe Barrington.”

Kathy’s mouth dropped open. “Just Joe! Are you out of your tiny little mind, woman? That man isn’t just anything. How on earth did you ever meet the town’s most eligible bachelor?”

“Is he?” Addy asked curiously.

“Is he what?”

“A bachelor?”

“Yup. No woman has ever managed to tie him down. And believe me, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Now, spill it. How did you meet him?”

“He rescued my favorite doll.”

“What?”

Addy laughed at Kathy’s confused expression. “I was in the second grade, and he must have been in about the fifth. It seems like I’ve known him forever.”

“Yeah, but that was then. This is now. Now, he moves in entirely different economic circles from the likes of you and me. His last girlfriend was some model who was regularly decorating the pages of Vogue.”

“What’s his present girlfriend do?” Addy tried to make the question sound casual.

Kathy shrugged. “According to local gossip he hasn’t replaced her yet. Of course I can’t guarantee it. Joe is not a man who socializes much. In fact, he doesn’t socialize with anyone around here at all. You might find that he doesn’t even remember who you are.”

“He remembered.” Addy felt a great deal of satisfaction at the words.

“You’ve seen him already?” Kathy asked avidly.

“That’s where I just came from. His company wants to buy my parents’ property.”

“Oh, so that’s it. I heard talk that he might be planning to expand. Are you going to sell to him, Addy?” Kathy suddenly looked serious. “The town could sure use the jobs. Too many young couples have to move away because there’s no work for them here. I...” she broke off as Jimmy toddled back into the room holding a can of soda that he was dribbling down the front of him.

“Blast his father!” Kathy muttered. “If I’ve told Jim once, I’ve told him a hundred times, not to leave half-empty cans of soda sitting around. Now I’ll have to give the little monster a bath.”

Addy got to her feet. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“You don’t have to go,” Kathy said. “It won’t take me long.”

“Thanks, but I still need to check with the realty company that handled the lease on the house for me while I was gone. I just wanted to touch base with you first.”

Kathy gave her a warm smile. “I’m glad you did, and I’m even more glad that you’re thinking about marrying and staying this time. I’ll give you a call later.”

“Thanks.” Addy picked up her purse and let herself out.

With a last wave at Kathy, Addy climbed into her car and headed toward the realty office, her mind full of what Kathy had said. So Joe was a bachelor, apparently one of the very few around. A sense of discouragement filled her, but she refused to allow it to grow. She’d known from the first that her goal wouldn’t be easily reached. Addy pulled into the turn lane and waited for the traffic to clear.

If only she had a little more experience at interacting socially with men. But wishing couldn’t change the facts. Her mirror might tell her that she was slender, but in her mind she still felt fat. Fat and unattractive. When a man tried to make small talk with her, she froze. She mumbled awkward comments at random and the man invariably drifted away to find someone easier to talk to.

But how was she supposed to go about getting experience talking to men? she wondered in despair. Most women learned the skill in junior high school. She turned left as the light changed.

What she really needed was a brother who could give her good advice on what men liked and didn’t like. But she didn’t have a brother. Or even a cousin. But there was Joe, she thought, as the memory of his championship of her during their school years came to mind. He had been very kind to her back then. But was he still kind? Kindness and big business seemed an unlikely combination.

Besides, he was a very busy man. That much had been obvious from her brief visit this morning. Why should he take the time to help her learn how to relate to men?

Because he wanted to buy her property! The need wasn’t all on her side. Joe wanted something too. He wanted her land and, while she really didn’t want to sell, Kathy was right. It was selfish of her to hang on to the past when so many people could benefit by her letting go.

She could offer to sell him the house if he would help her learn the skills necessary to get a husband. If Joe agreed... A surge of excitement filled her. It was certainly worth a try. After all, the worst thing that could happen would be that he’d say no.


Two

“Do you have a reservation, sir?” The hostess eyed Joe as if he were a particularly appetizing entrée.

“Yes. Barrington.” Joe glanced around the crowded restaurant looking for Addy, oblivious of the hostess’s interest. “I’m meeting a Miss Edson.”

“She hasn’t arrived yet.” The hostess became businesslike at the mention of another woman. “Should I show you to your table now or would you prefer to wait in the bar?”

“The table, please.” Joe followed the woman through the busy restaurant to a secluded table for two in one corner.

“Thank you.” Joe sat down facing the doorway and checked his watch. Addy had said she’d meet him here at eight, and it was just after that now. So where was she? Could she have changed her mind? He certainly hoped not. He needed her property, and he needed it now. But then his need had never been in question. Only her willingness to sell.

So what inducement could he offer her to part with it? He didn’t have a clue. Everyone else he knew responded to money. Offer them enough cash, and they caved in and did exactly what you wanted.

But Addy didn’t fit the normal mold. Money didn’t appear to hold the slightest fascination for her. According to what Hodkins over at the bank had told him, she hadn’t even touched the substantial amount that her parents had left her. Not even the interest on it. And her rushing off to Africa to do good works was further proof that she simply wasn’t motivated by conventional things. The women he knew were totally preoccupied with their own interests, not those of starving kids half a world away. No, Addy was definitely different.

He absently drummed his fingers on the pristine white tablecloth as he considered the situation. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t something that she wanted. It simply meant that it would be harder to figure out.

Unconsciously, his lips lifted in a reminiscent smile as the memory of her clutching a doll to her pudgy chest and smiling at him through her tears when he’d routed her tormentors all those years ago flickered through his mind. Poor Addy. She may have had loving parents, but in a lot of respects her childhood hadn’t been much happier than his.

She’d borne the brunt of her peers’ teasing because her body hadn’t conformed to what society said it should, while he’d been tarnished by his mother’s drinking. Not that it was his mother’s fault. Joe’s features momentarily hardened. It had been her lover’s fault. But the day of reckoning was coming, he promised himself. Very soon.

His eyes narrowed as a redheaded woman entered the restaurant, and Joe felt a curious sense of pride twist through him when he recognized Addy. Pride that Addy had turned out so well. So very well. The silky, emerald material of her dress clung lovingly to her slender curves, hinting at what it covered. His eyes lingered on the tantalizing swell of her breasts.

It was strange that she could look so overwhelmingly sexy without really revealing anything. Her neckline didn’t expose her breasts, nor was her skirt short. And yet, despite the lack of specifics, he could feel himself getting hard just looking at her.

With a monumental effort, he blocked out his response as he got to his feet. Addy was a friend, he reminded himself.

Addy felt herself tense as she noticed Joe’s expression. Was he annoyed that she’d asked him to meet her here for dinner? Had he had other plans that her request had interfered with? Such as a previous date? But if that had been the case, he probably would have said so, she decided. Joe had never been the least bit reticent about saying what he thought before.

“Good evening, Addy.” He held a chair for her, and she sank down into it.

“May I get you a drink?” the waitress offered.

“Addy?” Joe asked.

“A glass of iced tea,” she said, wanting to keep her wits about her. She was nervous enough about what she was going to ask Joe. It wouldn’t help anything if she were to muddle up her thoughts with alcohol.

Joe’s dark eyebrows shot up at her choice, but to her relief he didn’t say anything. He merely ordered Scotch and water.

When the waitress left, he turned to Addy and said, “The message you left said that you wanted to discuss my offer?”

Addy gave him a rueful grin. Whoever had said that nothing ever changed must have had Joe in mind. He was exactly the same as he always had been. No small talk. Just go right to the heart of the matter. Would he make love like that? The unexpected thought popped full-blown into her mind. Would he be a physical lover without spending a lot of time on talk? Would he...

Stop it! She hauled her imagination up short. It was no business of hers what kind of lover Joe was. And she didn’t want it to be, she assured herself. She had no desire to engage in casual sex and, while she was certain that sex with Joe wouldn’t be the least bit casual, it would be a disaster. At least for her. She hadn’t really needed Kathy to tell her that Joe was not a man who was interested in marriage. It was written all over him. Even someone as inexperienced as she was could tell that Business was Joe’s love. A woman would come in a poor second.

“Here you are.” The cheerful voice of the waitress as she delivered their drinks interrupted Addy’s thoughts, and she let them fade away.

“Well, you were saying?” Joe persisted when the waitress left.

“I wasn’t saying anything. You were demanding.”

“You were the one who asked me to meet you here. Why?”

Addy took a deep breath and mentally scrambled to marshal her thoughts. She was pretty certain that his first reaction was going to be negative. Nervously, she studied the firm line of his dean-shaven jaw. Very negative. Which was why she had asked him to meet her here. She’d figured that no matter how negative Joe felt about her proposal, he wouldn’t yell at her in a public place. Nor was he likely to get up and leave. Here, she at least had a chance of getting him to consider her proposal seriously instead of automatically rejecting it.

Joe studied the curious play of emotions flitting across her face. She was very nervous about something, which probably meant that he should be nervous, too.

“Just spit it out,” he ordered.

“It isn’t that simple.”

“Negotiations rarely are. But we’re never going to get anywhere if you can’t bring yourself to make me a counteroffer.”

“I need to explain something to you first.” Addy groped for words, wanting him to understand what she felt in the hope that he’d be more sympathetic to what she wanted.

Joe took a long swallow of his Scotch, studying her over the rim of the glass. “About what?” he finally asked.

“About why I came back from Africa. You see, my Aunt Margaret asked me if I wanted to be a nun.”

A nun! No! His mind totally repudiated the idea. Not his Addy.

Addy chuckled at his expression. “That was kind of my reaction, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a nun, it’s just that it isn’t right for me.”

Joe felt some of his tenseness dissolve at her reassuring words.

“But the question did make me examine what it was that I wanted to do with my life,” Addy continued. “Something I’ve never done before. I’ve simply sort of gone with the flow.”

“Like most people,” he said cautiously, wondering where this was leading.

“Yes.” She nodded in agreement. “Anyway, when I thought about it, I realized that it wasn’t really a what I wanted so much as a who. Or several whos.”

Addy leaned forward in her eagerness to explain, and Joe’s eyes were drawn to the neckline of her dress, which at that angle was giving him a tantalizing glimpse of the swell of her breasts. He swallowed and forced his eyes up to her earnest face.

“What whos?” he asked.

“A husband and kids,” she blurted out.

Joe’s eyes widened as the impact of what she was saying hit him with the force of a blow. She couldn’t mean that she wanted him to marry her, could she? A confusing swirl of emotions tore through him, the overriding one being panic.

“But I have a problem,” she continued. “Actually, I have several.”

“Such as?” he asked cautiously.

Addy absently tucked a wayward strand of hair that had escaped from her chignon behind her ear and said, “First of all, the small size of the pool.”

“The pool?” Joe tore his gaze away from the way the dark red curl was snuggled against her slim neck. What she was saying was difficult enough to follow without his getting sidetracked.

“Of eligible men to marry,” she explained patiently. “Most of the good ones are already taken. And I don’t have the—” she gestured ineffectually “—the ability to attract the few who are available.”

Joe allowed his eyes to roam down the length of her body. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” he murmured.

Addy swallowed, trying to ignore the way her skin prickled under his stare. “I’m not talking about grabbing their attention. I’m talking about maintaining it long enough for a relationship to develop. The plain truth is that eligible men make me tongue-tied. I know I’m not overweight anymore on the outside, but inside I still feel awkward and unattractive.”

Joe studied her, surprised by her admission, although he could certainly relate to it. He had more money than anyone in this damn town and yet he still felt socially inferior at any gathering.

“I have no experience with making small talk with men,” she plowed on when he didn’t say anything. “With the kind of sexual banter that every other woman I know seems to have learned in grade school. I don’t know what men like or how they think or what they expect from a date....”

“It can’t be that bad.” Joe felt an urge to comfort her. To put his arms around her and wipe away the uncertainty darkening her eyes.

Addy grimaced. “Do you know how many dates I’ve had in my life? I’ll tell you,” she rushed on before he could say anything. “Three. Exactly three. One in high school and the twit parked the car on the side of the road and demanded sex.”

“His technique left a lot to be desired, even for a high-school kid,” Joe said dryly.

“Technique nothing. He told me that anyone as fat as I was should be grateful to trade sex for a date.”

“The little bastard!” Joe felt a flash of anger at Addy’s bleak expression.

“Definitely. Anyway, I slapped him and walked home. My second date was during nurse’s training and all he wanted to talk about was his microbes. I doubt that I even registered as a woman to him. I was simply an audience who was too unsure of herself to tell him that I found him boring as the devil.”

Joe chuckled. “You said three. What about the third?”

“The son of a patient I nursed. His mother was an unstable diabetic, and he was divorced with two teenagers. one of whom was pregnant and the other one was strung out on drugs. He saw me as the answer to all his problems. A nurse to take care of his family.”

Joe shook his head. “The man was blind.”

“Desperate,” Addy corrected, “but what I was trying to make you understand was that I have no experience at dating. And if I’m going to have any luck at finding a husband, I’m going to have to get some.”

“What ever happened to looking across a room and falling madly in love?”

“I did that once,” Addy assured him seriously. “At a hospital dance. As usual, I was standing on the sidelines trying to pretend that I was waiting for someone who just hadn’t shown up yet. Then I looked over at the refreshment table and saw the most gorgeous man. Every hormone I had went into overdrive.”

“What happened?”

“I mentioned him to a girlfriend of mine later in the evening, and she said that he was a disbarred lawyer who was at the hospital doing community service that had been ordered by the court because he’d been convicted of embezzling funds from his elderly clients. That took the shine off my feelings.”

“I rather imagine it might. All right, I’ll concede that you have no experience at dating, but what does that have to do with your property?” Joe decided to risk finding out if he was the husband she had in mind.

Addy ran her tongue over her lower lip, took a deep breath and blurted out her plan. “I’ll sell you my property if you’ll let me practice dating skills on you.”

Joe blinked, taken aback. “Exactly what do I have to do?” he asked cautiously.

“Well... I thought... If we were to have some dates, then I could practice relating to a man. And you could tell me how men feel about various things. That way when I went out with a real candidate, I’d have some firsthand knowledge of how the male mind works.”

Joe stared down at his drink as he considered her crazy idea. But the more he thought about it, the saner it seemed. Addy had identified her goal, as well as what it was that was keeping her from reaching that goal, and she’d thought out a logical way to remedy her lack. Her reasoning was impeccable. What she really wanted was a combination brother and Dutch uncle. He glanced up into her soft, brown eyes, which were watching him hopefully.

He could help her, he told himself. It wasn’t as if she were trying to marry him. Which made sense because he’d always known that his main attraction for women was his money, and Addy didn’t care about money.

No, Addy wasn’t a threat to his blissfully single state. And she was his friend, he reminded himself. And while he didn’t have a great deal of experience with friends, even he knew that friends helped each other out. His eyes homed in on the soft, pink fullness of her lips. Would his tutelage include kissing her? The idea shook his composure.

Her land. He dragged his mind back to the central issue with an effort.

“It’s an intriguing idea,” he said slowly, “but there’s a problem from my perspective. I need your property now, not at some time in the future when you finally manage to lure some hapless male to the altar.”

Addy tried to ignore her sense of discouragement at his immediate judgment that it would take her a long time to find a husband, focusing instead on the rest of his words. “But if I sell you my home, then I won’t have any place to live,” she pointed out. “And—”

“Damn!” Joe’s roughly bitten-off expletive interrupted her. He was staring at a point over her left shoulder, an annoyed expression on his face.

Addy started to turn around to see what had caught his attention.

“Don’t look,” he ordered. “It’s Charlie Wheeling. Come on.” He stood up and held out a hand for her. “Let’s dance. Maybe he’ll take the hint and go away.”

Addy put her hand in his and stood up, suddenly full of inhibitions. “I can’t dance,” she hissed as he led her out onto the crowded, postage-stamp-sized dance floor. “I never learned.”

“You aren’t about to learn here, either. There isn’t room. Just follow me.”

Addy did as she was told, instinctively moving closer as he took her in his arms. The heat from his body reached out to engulf her, warming her flesh and softening her muscles. She felt pliable. As if she could mold herself to him. Another couple bumped into them and Joe gathered her even closer, cradling her protectively against him. Her breasts brushed against his chest, sending a tingling sensation shooting through her. She could feel the tips stiffening, and she had to fight an impulse to move closer to try to intensify the sensation.

Addy took a deep, steadying breath, but it only made matters worse. The scent of his cologne filled her nostrils. He smelled so good, she thought dreamily. Not overpowering, the way some men did, but subtle. As if he were hiding most of his personality from the casual observer. As he probably was, she realized with a flash of insight. Joe Barrington was a very private person. What would it be like to probe behind the face he presented to the world? The tantalizing idea caught her off guard and she stumbled, falling against Joe’s chest. It was like hitting a warm wall. There was no give to him anywhere. He must be pure muscle. What would he look like without his clothes on? The images that flooded her mind flustered her and she stumbled again.

Still, she decided she’d much rather Joe thought she was clumsy than so susceptible to his nearness. It was only propinquity, after all, she tried to tell herself. She’d been thinking about men and sex and marriage and children for over two weeks now, and Joe was an attractive man. A very attractive man. It was hardly surprising that she would react to being this near to him.

“Oh, hell!” Joe bit out. “Wheeling sat down at our table. Can you believe that? The jerk is going to wait for us.”

Addy glanced back at their table. The man seated in Joe’s chair looked pretty harmless to her. “Maybe he just wants to say hello?”

Joe gave her a cynical look that chilled her. “Charlie sells insurance, and he’s been after me to buy my liability insurance from him for months.”

“Tell him no and be done with it. As long as you keep avoiding him, he’ll hope you’ll eventually agree.”

“I did say no, the first time he asked, so now he’s switched his tactics. He keeps inviting me to things.”

Addy studied Joe’s annoyed features thoughtfully. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t throw off the past. Joe appeared to assume that a social invitation automatically came with strings attached. That no one could want him just because they enjoyed his company.

“Have you ever considered that he might simply want to get to know you better?” Addy suggested.

“No.”

“Well, consider it now.”

Joe narrowed his eyes, stared briefly at the ceiling and then said, “Okay. I considered it, and I still don’t believe it.”

“You’re far too cynical.”

“And you’re far too trusting,” he countered. “I suppose it comes of your being so hung up on religion. You’ve started to believe what they tell you.”

“I am not hung up on religion!” she objected. “I simply happen to believe in the value system that my particular religion espouses. And one of those values is that one should give the benefit of the doubt to people.”

“Hung up,” he repeated. “If you’d take a good look around you, you’d see that people aren’t very nice.”

“They are too! Most of them,” she amended.

“You need a reality check. Come on.” Taking her arm, Joe shepherded her back to their table.

“I’m going to introduce you to Charlie. That should be enough to convince even you.”

“Joe!” Charlie got to his feet as they approached and, giving them a wide grin, held out his hand. “My wife saw you when we came in and she told me that I should come over and invite you to a party we’re having this weekend. Kind of a coming-out party for her cousin Warren.”

“Where’s he been?” Addy asked cautiously, fearing the worst. She was fast coming to the conclusion that Joe had been right. Her gut reaction to Wheeling was distaste. He was simply too...something.

“Married. His divorce becomes final next week. So we thought we’d throw a party and celebrate his freedom. You’re invited too, Miss...”

“Edson,” Joe introduced her. “Addy, this is Charlie Wheeling.”

Charlie frowned at her. “I vaguely remember an Edson from high school, but you couldn’t be her. She was fat and...”

Addy stared at him as anger and embarrassment surged through her. She wanted to yell at him and run and hide at the same time.

“Oh, sorry. No offense intended...” Charlie stammered. “I didn’t mean...”

“I’ll get back to you about the party,” Joe said, cutting him off.

“Sure. Anytime.” Charlie hurriedly escaped.

“Yes?” Joe gave her a wicked grin. “You were telling me what a good guy he was.”

Addy sank down into her chair. “People who go around saying ‘I told you so,’ are universally disliked.”

“But at least they don’t get taken advantage of. Or insulted.”

“Maybe he didn’t mean to be insulting.” Addy tried to be fair, even though Charlie’s comment burned in her mind. “After all, I was fat in school. All he did was state a fact.”

“There are lots of facts that are better left unsaid, and one would expect someone his age to have figured that out.”

“It would have been nice. Who’s he married to?”

“The bleached blonde sitting beside him.”

Addy turned and looked to find a vaguely familiar woman staring at her. The woman smiled and waved, and Addy politely waved back as she tried to place her.

“When you knew her, she was Cookie Lawton,” Joe offered.

Addy’s mouth dropped open in shock. “That’s Cookie Lawton! She’s at least seventy-five pounds heavier than she was in school and she looks...artificial.”

Joe shook his head and gave her a mournful look which was belied by the twinkle in his eyes. “Shame on you. Taking pleasure in the fact that one of the social lions of your high-school class has gone to seed.”

“I wasn’t...” Addy began and then giggled enchantingly. “Yes, I was. If you only knew how many years I put up with her sly little digs about whales during gym classes, and now to find out that she’s overweight...”

“While you look like the embodiment of every man’s dream,” Joe finished.

Addy stared at him uncertainly, wondering if he was just saying what he thought she wanted to hear, or if he might actually like how she looked.

“As long as the dream doesn’t turn into a nightmare,” she finally said. “Now, about what we were talking about before Charlie interrupted?”

“Yes, nightmares and marriage do kind of go together.”

“Don’t be facetious,” she said. “I’m serious. Will you help me?” She held her breath, mentally willing him to do it.

Joe stared down into the melting ice cubes in his drink for a long moment and then said, “As I was saying, I need your land now.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Addy felt her spirits sink.

“There is a way around it, though,” he said slowly. “I live in the old Iverson place.”

“I think I remember it. Isn’t it that huge old Queen Anne place sitting on most of a city block over on North Washington?”

“That’s it. It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it, and I had it virtually rebuilt inside. There was also a housekeeper’s cottage in the back by the garage that was redone at the same time. But, since I prefer my privacy, I use a cleaning service and the cottage has never been occupied. You could stay there.”

Addy was taken aback by his offer. Apparently he didn’t think that she was enough of a threat to his privacy to matter. For some reason the thought rankled. Just once, she’d like a man to consider her a massive threat to his peace of mind. Someday, she promised herself. And accepting Joe’s offer was the first step on the road to that someday. She took a deep breath, trying to keep her focus on the future and not the past and said, “It’s a deal.”

“I’ll have my lawyers draw up the papers first thing in the morning, and you can stop by the plant about ten and sign them.”

Addy chuckled. “You mean, here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?”

“The sooner you sign, the sooner I can get started on the new plant,” he defended himself. “Also the sooner we can get started on your project.” His eyes narrowed, and he stared past her.

Addy, who was coming to recognize what she thought of as his thinking mode, waited.

“Maybe we ought to go,” he finally said.

“Go?” Addy frowned. “Go where?”

“To the Wheelings’ party. It’ll give you a chance to look over the competition.”

“How so?” Addy asked, not understanding.

“If the party is to reintroduce Warren to the social scene, then it makes sense that all the eligible women that the Wheelings know will be there.”

“Clever.” Addy gave credit where it was due. “But I would have thought that you already know the competition?” She couldn’t resist the gentle probe into his private life.

“I haven’t the time for parties. Nor the stomach,” he said bitterly. “You know damn well Cookie Wheeling would never have invited me if it weren’t for my money. She practically held her skirts away from me in school when I passed her in the halls so that I wouldn’t contaminate her.”

Addy felt her heart twist at his revealing words. Somehow, she’d never thought of Joe as caring what the others thought of him. But obviously she’d been wrong.

“Joe...” she began, not sure what she should say. What she could say. Only knowing that she wanted to ease his pain.

A wry smile curved his lips. “Please, spare me the consoling homily.”

“I wasn’t going to give you one. I was merely going to point out that people change. Everything changes.”

“Yeah, particularly my financial worth.”

“Quit harping about your money!”

“Why not, when it’s my major appeal to people?”

“And don’t talk in generalities! I could give a hang about your money.”

“Which makes you the exception that proves the rule.”

Addy shook her head in annoyance and gave up. He wasn’t going to listen to her. Maybe she could find some way of showing him. It would be a fitting reward for helping her.

“About the Wheelings’ party,” Joe persisted.

Addy bit back her instinctive refusal and tried to think. If she was going to find a husband, then sooner or later she was going to have to face the social scene. It might as well be sooner. And Joe would be there. Her spirits rose fractionally. She wouldn’t have to face the situation on her own.

“I think you’re right,” she finally said.

“I usually am,” he said with a smugness that made her smile. Joe was such a strange mixture. She had never really realized what a complex man he was. Getting to know him again was going to be an intriguing process.


Three

“Change is the essence of life,” Addy muttered to herself as she closed the back door of her parents’ home behind her and headed toward her car. Climbing behind the wheel, she turned on the ignition and pulled away.

Unable to resist the temptation, she stopped at the end of the driveway and stared back at the house. For a moment, an overwhelming feeling of grief filled her at all that she’d lost. Of the people who had lived there that she’d never see again. Then the feeling of intense sadness ebbed, leaving room for memories to surface. Memories of sitting beside her grandmother at the kitchen table and sneaking sips of her coffee when her mother wasn’t looking. Memories of her mother standing at the stove cooking supper while Addy perched on a stool and told her all about her school day. Memories of sitting on the old rocker on the front porch and waiting for her father to come home from work.

Addy closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of warmth and love that always came when she thought of her parents. It was a feeling she could call up anytime, she suddenly realized. The feeling was part of her. She didn’t need the house to bring it to mind.

Addy nodded decisively, feeling fractionally better about her decision to sell. It really was time to move on. She pulled out into the road. Would her children someday remember her with the same sense of happiness with which she remembered her parents? She pondered the unsettling idea as she covered the short distance to Joe’s plant.

The visitors’ parking spaces in front of the plant were filed, so Addy drove around to the back of the building and parked there. Making sure that her car door was locked, she started toward the offices, only to pause when she noticed a sign that said Nurse’s Office. Wondering what kind of facilities Joe provided for his workers, Addy pushed the door open and stepped inside.

She found herself in a starkly sterile room. The walls were painted an antiseptic white and an institutional light gray tile covered the floor. Except for six gray plastic chairs lined up against the wall, the room was empty. There were no magazines, no plants. Nothing to relieve the oppressive barrenness.

Addy shivered. It might be adequate for treating the body, but the room was a total flop at providing comfort to the senses.

Curious as to what type of person was content to work in these bleak surroundings, Addy walked toward the open door at the back of the room labeled Nurse. She was about to knock when she heard a sharp, feminine voice from inside snap, “No! It isn’t my job.”

The woman was answered by a softly apologetic male voice, “But I just want to know what to do about all the ear infections my son has.”

“My job is to treat accidents that occur in the workplace, not to be giving you advice on raising your kids.”

Addy frowned. What kind of nurse had Joe hired? Any professional worth her salt should be happy to pass on any health information that might help.

“Go see a doctor,” the woman continued, “and quit wasting my time.”

“I have.” The man’s voice sharpened. “But he just prescribes something and, when I try to get information, he brushes me off.”

Rather like the nurse here, Addy thought.

“That’s not my problem,” the woman said. “It’s time for my break.”

Addy hurriedly left, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. It would appear that there were some gaps in the health service that Joe’s company provided. And dangerous ones, too. Sometimes, information could be more important than a prescription—a fact that father had instinctively known. Not that his insight appeared to be doing him much good.

Addy frowned thoughtfully as she pushed open the doors to the factory’s main offices. She was at loose ends at the moment. She had intended to see if she couldn’t do some volunteer work for one of the various social agencies in town, but maybe she wouldn’t have to go that far. It appeared to her that there was real need right here for someone with her skills. The plant needed a children’s clinic. She could include regular checkups and classes dealing with various children’s health issues.

If Joe would let her do it. Reality put the brakes on her enthusiasm. He might not be willing to let her use the facilities of his clinic. He might not want to upset his nurse by bringing in someone else.

Addy chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. She didn’t know what he would say, but she did know that the very worst thing that would happen would be that he would say no. In which case, she wouldn’t be any worse off than she was. And he might well say yes. Joe was such a strange mixture of hardheaded cynicism and caring, it was impossible to tell what his reaction to her request might be.

“Ah, Miss Edson.” The immaculately groomed receptionist gave her a bright, professional smile. “Mr. Barring-ton said that you would be stopping by this morning. He said to send you right through to his office.”

“Thank you.” Addy resisted the impulse to check the front of her lemon-yellow shirt for dirt smudges. She wondered how long it took the woman each morning to achieve such polished perfection. It was probably an inherited trait, she thought glumly, like being born with musical ability.

Addy started down the hall, her footsteps unconsciously quickening at the thought of seeing Joe. She entered the reception area outside his office, pausing when she realized that she wasn’t the only person waiting.

There was a thin, harassed-looking man who appeared to be in his late thirties sitting in a brown leather chair. His head was bent, and he was staring fixedly at the design in the Oriental carpet. His shoulders were hunched defensively as if he were expecting a blow, and Addy’s soft heart was touched. Poor soul, she thought, and went over to sit down across from him, intending to distract him from his obviously unhappy thoughts.

“Good morning,” she said cheerfully.

The man jumped and gave her an uncertain smile.

“It hasn’t been, so far,” he muttered. He glanced worriedly at the door to Joe’s office and then down at his watch. “What time is your appointment with Barrington for?”

“Well, I don’t actually have one,” Addy said. “I’m just here to sign a few papers. Is he running late?”

“That’s one way of putting it. My appointment was for almost an hour ago.” He sighed despondently. “Which probably means that he isn’t all that interested in our meeting.”

“Not necessarily. Maybe he got an overseas call. Or maybe he spilled coffee all over his suit and he had to send it out to get cleaned and he’s waiting for it to come back.”

Which would mean that he was sitting there in his underwear, Addy thought, as her mind followed her nonsense through to its logical conclusion. What kind of underwear did Joe wear? The tantalizing thought drifted through her mind. Silk boxer shorts? Soft and smooth and eminently touchable? Or perhaps plain white cotton briefs that would fit snugly over his—

The man’s chuckle broke into her erotic thoughts, and she blinked, refocusing on the man.

“Thank you, Miss—” He paused expectantly.

“Edson. Addy Edson,” she responded, rather surprised at how easily she’d handled the move from stranger to introduced stranger. Of course, there was nothing even remotely sexual in their encounter, she conceded. But even so, any conversation with a man was good practice.

“I’m David Edwards.” He held out a hand, and Addy shook it.

“I—” he began and then broke off as the door opened and Joe appeared.

Addy turned, David Edwards forgotten at the sight of Joe.

He was wearing another of those impeccably tailored suits. Its pale gray material hugged his shoulders, subtly emphasizing their width. The pristine whiteness of his cotton shirt emphasized his light tan, and Addy felt her fingers itch with a desire to rub her fingers over his cheek to see if it was as smooth as it looked. She automatically clenched her fingers to try to dispel the urge, unsettled by the intensity of her physical reaction.

“Mr. Barrington,” David began, only to be cut off by Joe’s curt nod.

“Edwards,” Joe said. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“I don’t mind waiting, and you were here first.” Addy gave David an encouraging smile. If Joe didn’t put the man out of his misery pretty soon, she was liable to get to practice her CPR skills on him.

To her surprise, Joe scowled at her. “I’ll see Edwards after you.”

“That’s okay,” David assured her, and Addy, confused by the undercurrents she could feel but didn’t understand, followed Joe into his office.

Addy watched him curiously as he closed his door with a decided snap. “I really don’t have anything else to do.”

“He can wait.”

“But should he?” She probed Joe’s tense attitude.

“Have you got a hankering for the country-club set?”

“I am not a snob, but I’m beginning to have my doubts about you,” Addy replied, defending herself.

“Me!” Joe looked dumbfounded.

“You sound very much like a reverse snob,” she insisted. “Either variety is a pain.”

Joe pressed his lips together and glared at her. “You don’t understand.”

“That much is clear,” she conceded. “So explain.”

Joe shoved his long fingers through his thick, dark hair and finally said, “Do you know who he is?”

“He said his name was David Edwards. Isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Joe bit the word off.

“Is there supposed to be some special significance to his name?” she finally asked, thoroughly confused.

“You don’t remember the son of the town’s leading citizen?” he mocked. “He owns that huge, white, pillared place just south of town.”

“Oh, that Edwards.” Addy shrugged. “I don’t think I ever meet him before. Is he a competitor of yours?” she asked, trying to figure out why Joe disliked the man so.

“Hardly!” Joe’s tone was scathing. “He’s got no more business sense than you do.”

Addy looked down her nose at him. “There is no need to be so superior. For all I know I could have lots of business sense. I simply have no interest in finding out. And, besides, having business sense is not a measure of character.”

“I told you,” Joe said tightly, “he’s an Edwards.”

“So you did. What you didn’t tell me was why being born an Edwards should qualify him as a social pariah.”

Joe stared at her, his eyes narrowed to blue slits. Addy stared back, refusing to be intimidated by his forbidding demeanor. This was Joe, she reminded herself. Her old friend.

“Don’t get mixed up with the bastard,” Joe ordered.

“Chance would be a fine thing,” she said dryly.

“I saw the way he was looking at you,” Joe insisted.

“Like he’s just found a friendly face.”

“Well, he had,” Addy pointed out reasonably. “Why don’t you like the guy? Does he cheat on his income tax?”

“Can’t you just take my word for it?” Joe said in exasperation.

“No,” she said succinctly, feeling a strange exhilaration in arguing with Joe. “Part of relating to a man is learning how to have meaningful discussions. This is a meaningful discussion.”

Joe stared at her for a long moment as if considering his options, and just when Addy was beginning to think that he wasn’t going to say anything else, he dropped a bombshell.

“David Edwards is my half brother.”

Addy opened her mouth, closed it, swallowed and then muttered, “Run that by me again.”

“We have the same father but different mothers,” Joe elaborated.

Addy dropped into the chair across from Joe’s desk and simply stared at him, having a great deal of trouble taking it all in. “I never heard anything about it before,” she finally said.

“As far as I know, no one else knew. My mother went to work for Edwards right out of secretarial school, and he promptly seduced her into an affair. When she got pregnant a couple of years later, he broke the relationship off and abandoned her.”




Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.


Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/judith-mcwilliams/practice-husband/) на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.