by Shirley Jump
She thought of the cookie crumbs. The daisies. The picnic. The rain storm. Then she glanced in the mirror on the wall, and saw a woman who made her living creating happy endings, and had to make one of her own.
What was she waiting for? Was she going to be at her thirty-second wedding, still alone, still wishing she’d gone after what she wanted?
The only way to get to the right pond is to take the risk and cross the street.
Even if she didn’t know what waited for her on the other side of the street. Or if he still wanted her. But if she didn’t do it now, she’d always regret not acting, and Marnie Franklin was tired, dog tired, of living with regrets. If there was one thing her father’s death should have taught her, it was that life was short. Her mother had moved on and found happiness in her golden years. What was Marnie waiting for?
Marnie drew in a deep breath, then strode across the room, over to the newly married couple. “Congratulations, you guys. I hate to leave, but I really have to go.”
Janet pouted. “Can’t you stay a little while longer? I really wanted to introduce you to my mom. And I have three single cousins who could use your help. They’re like an advertisement for a lonely hearts club.”
How tempting it would be to retreat to that default position of work, instead of risk. For a second Marnie considered it. After all, what difference would a day make?
No. She’d wasted enough days already. She shook her head, and gave Janet a smile. “Have them call me tomorrow. Right now, I have to go. I have a very important match to go make. This one needs...my personal touch.”
Janet took her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Good. Because no one knows what’s right for another’s heart like you do, Marnie.”
Even her own, she thought, as she waved goodbye and hurried out the door of the ballroom. The need to be out of here, to be across town, filled her, and she couldn’t move fast enough. Her heels slowed her steps, and she kicked them off, gathering them up by the straps and running barefoot across the tiled lobby. Once outside the hotel, she raised her arm to call a cab, when that familiar silver sports car glided into the spot beside her. Dare she hope?
The window on the passenger’s side rolled down. “I really need to take you shoe shopping.”
The deep voice thrilled her, lifted her heart. He was here. Had he read her mind? Or did he have business inside the hotel? She bent down and saw Jack’s familiar grin in the driver’s side. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing Cinderella before the clock strikes midnight.” He leaned over and opened the door. “Do you need a ride to the ball?”
“Actually, I’m leaving the ball,” she said, then got inside the car and shut the door. “I was going to go look for the prince. But it appears he already found me. How on earth did you do that in a city this size?”
“Bloodhounds.” He grinned. “No, I’m kidding. You wouldn’t talk to me. I got desperate. So I bribed your sister to tell me where you were.”
“You bribed Erica?”
“It’s amazing what kind of information a chocolate cupcake can buy.” Jack chuckled, then put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. A light rain started up, casting the city in shades of gray, and reminding Marnie of that afternoon at the jazz festival. “If you hadn’t come out of that wedding, I would have ended up making quite a scene.”
“Oh, really? And what would you have done?”
Jack turned into an empty parking lot, stopped the car and turned to Marnie. The rain fell faster now, pattering against the glass, the roof. “I had it all planned out. I was going to march in there, daisies blazing—” he reached into the back seat and pulled out a huge spray of white daisies “—and tell the entire world that I loved you.”
Joy bubbled in her heart. Once, those words would have filled her with fear, but no more. She’d almost lost him, and that realization had woken her up to the fact that she took this chance now, or lost it forever. She thumbed in the direction they’d just come. “You know, we can always go back.”
“Maybe later,” he said, then put the daisies on the dash and pulled her to him. “After I’m done kissing you.”
She put up a hand to stop him. “Wait. I need to tell you something first.”
He drew back, hurt shimmering in his eyes. “Okay. Shoot.”
“I told you that you weren’t facing your fears, when really, I should have said that to myself. It’s just that finding out all that stuff about my father, just kicked me in the gut, and so I retreated to my default position.” She let out a gust. “I buried my head in the sand, which is exactly what I blamed my parents for doing for years. Ironic, isn’t it? That I did the very thing I hated?”
“Sometimes we repeat what we know, even if we don’t realize it at the time.”
“I put off confronting you and told myself it was because I didn’t want to hurt my mother. But really, I was afraid of looking at me. At how I was starting to feel for you, and how much that scared me. I let what happened with my father be the reason to avoid a relationship with you because I was damned afraid of letting go.”
“And now?”
“Now, I...” She paused, and the smile inside her heart made its way to her face. “Now I just ditched my clients because I wanted to run across town and tell you how I felt.”
When he returned the smile, that zing ran through her, faster and more powerful than ever before. If she’d been a matchmaker with a client, she would have told the client to listen to that zing. To follow its lead. Because it always led to the heart’s true desire. She raised her lips to Jack’s. “I’m falling for you, Jack. You came into my life with a bang, and scared the hell out of me because you kept trying to get me to let my hair down, to be spontaneous and fun and unfettered.” She laughed again at the word he’d used to describe her.
He brushed her bangs away from her eyes with two gentle fingers. “You are damned sexy that way, you know.”
“Oh, really?” She grinned, then released her curls from the clip that held them in place. Her crimson hair cascaded onto her shoulders.
Jack let out a groan and pulled her closer. “We have got to get out of this car and behind a closed door, because I am not making the same mistake I did in the parking lot.” His blue eyes darkened with desire and he leaned toward her.
“Wait. There’s one other thing.” She bit her lip and feigned a serious look. “Before you and I go any further, I wanted to set you up on one more match.”
He groaned. “Marnie, I don’t want to—”
“She’s a redhead. Who loves daisies and has this silly habit of naming the flowers she receives. She loves jazz music and peanut butter cookies, and doesn’t mind running through the rain, even if she often wears completely impractical shoes.” Jack grinned and leaned in closer, but Marnie put up a finger and pressed it to his lips. “I have to warn you. She’s complicated and scared as hell of having her heart broken. But that hasn’t stopped this reluctant Cinderella from falling in love with a prince in a silver sports car.”
“She sounds like the perfect match for me.” The words danced across her fingers, followed by a quick, light kiss. His blue eyes lit with a teasing light. “Though she may want to think twice about getting tangled up with that prince. He’s a business owner who’s writing a book in his spare time. A guy who has made a few bad choices, but is doing his damnedest to make up for them. And before you get too sold on him, you should know he hates romantic comedies but loves action movies.”
She shook her head. “Oh, that could be a deal breaker.”
He chuckled, then drew Marnie into his arms. “Maybe we’ll just watch the news instead.”
“Or,” she said, and a delicious smile curved up her face, “we could stay in bed and not watch anything.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.” Jack kissed her then, a deep, sweet, tende
r kiss that soared in Marnie’s veins and filled her heart to the brim. She’d taken the risk, and found exactly what she was looking for on the other side—
Her own happy ending. And as she kissed Jack, the rain fell and the city rushed by in its busy way. But inside the car, the world had slowed to just the two of them, and the match made in heaven.
* * *
Three months later, Marnie and Jack stood at the thirty-second wedding of the year, and by far, the biggest success story for Matchmaking by Marnie. From the minute she walked down the aisle, between Dan and Helen, Jack hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Marnie. She had to be the most beautiful bride he’d ever seen. She had her hair down, that riot of red curls a stark, sexy contrast to the simple satin sheath dress she wore.
“I love you, Mrs. Knight,” he whispered in her ear. They were sitting at the banquet table, with her sisters on either side, while several dozen of their friends enjoyed the food and music. It had been a simple wedding, held outside on the grassy lawn of a country club, with white table and chair sets and a small portable dance floor. Beside them was a small pond, with a pair of ducks making lazy circles through the water. Nothing too fancy, nothing too elaborate. But a day he knew he’d never forget. The summer sun shone over them, like it was smiling down on their happiness. The weatherman had predicted a storm, but so far, everything had been perfect.
“I love you, too, Mr. Knight.” She grinned up at him, and Jack thought there was no sight more beautiful in the world than his wife’s smile. His wife.
He didn’t know if he’d ever get used to how amazing that sounded. He hoped not. He owed that cab driver a thank-you for being a distracted driver that night.
“I hope you’re ready to dance tonight,” Marnie said.
“Always, if it’s with you. Though it depends on what you’re wearing for shoes, Cinderella.”
She chuckled, then lifted the hem of her dress to reveal very sensible and very comfortable decorated tennis shoes. They’d been studded with rhinestones and featured lacy bows. He laughed. Leave it to Marnie to surprise him, even today.
“I didn’t want anything to spoil our wedding,” she said.
“Nothing would spoil today, not even a freak winter storm,” he said, then kissed her. She curved into his arms, a perfect fit. She had been, from the first moment he met her.
“Oh! My! God! You guys are the cutest couple ever! I can’t believe you invited me to your wedding!” The high, loud voice of Roberta carried across the lawn, rising several decibels above the music and the murmurs of the guests. Jack and Marnie laughed, then turned toward her. She sent them a wave, then got back to shimmying her bright pink clad self with Hector on the dance floor. The couple had been together for several months now, and had even talked about marriage. A miracle, in Marnie’s eyes.
“I think she’s finally found her match,” Marnie whispered to Jack. “I owe you big time for introducing them. I was worried I’d never find a match for Roberta.”
“Oh, and I intend to collect on that debt. For the rest of our lives.” He leaned in and kissed his wife, while guests clinked their glasses and cheered them on.
The DJ shifted the music from a fast song to a slow, romantic song. Couples began to head for the dance floor, including her sisters and their dates. Jack put out his hand for Marnie.
There was a rumble, and an instant later, the skies opened up, dropping a fast, furious, soaking summer storm. Guests began to run toward the building, shrieking in the rain, and hurrying to keep from getting wet. The dance floor emptied out, the DJ pulled the plug and dashed inside, yelling that his equipment would be ruined. Even Roberta and Hector made a fast break for the cover of the country club. But Marnie stayed where she was with Jack.
“Don’t you want to get inside?” he said.
She shook her head, even as little rivers of water ran down her cheeks and arms. Her dress was already plastered to her body, but she didn’t seem to care. “They say that a little rain is lucky on your wedding day. And I want to make sure we have all the luck we need.”
“Oh, Marnie, we already do,” Jack said softly and drew her to him. “We have each other.”
They kissed again, while the ducks quacked and the rain fell and the world around them dropped away. They kissed until the storm abated and the sun came out again, as if giving their marriage its own blessing. They kissed, and for the first time in their lives, Jack and Marnie put their faith in happily ever after.
* * * * *
Boardroom Bride and Groom
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EXCERPT
CHAPTER ONE
CAROLYN DUFF HAD made one major mistake in her life—a whopping cliché of a mistake in a Vegas wedding chapel—which hadn’t, unlike the commercials said, stayed in Vegas.
It had followed her back here—and was working in an office just a few blocks down the street. All six-foot-two of him.
Most days she forgot about Nicholas Gilbert and concentrated on her job. As an assistant city prosecutor she barely had time to notice when the sun went down, because her days tended to pass in a blur of phone calls, legal precedents, Indiana case law and urgent e-mails. Her calendar might have said Friday, her clock already ticking past five, but still Carolyn stayed behind her desk, finishing up yet another flurry of work, even though tomorrow was the start of the Fourth of July weekend and the courts would be closed until Tuesday.
For Carolyn it didn’t matter. An internal time bomb kept ticking away, pushing her to keep going, to pursue one more criminal case, to see the prison bars slam shut once more.
To know she’d done her part again.
And yet it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.
Carolyn rubbed at her temples, trying to beat back the start of another headache before it got too intense. Then she set to work, working on a negotiation for a plea bargain with a local defense attorney who thought his client—a petty thief—merited merely a ninety-day jail stint and a small fine. Carolyn, who could see the future handwriting on the wall, one that upped the ante to a felony charge—B&E with a deadly weapon—wanted years behind bars. The presiding judge, however, wanted a fast resolution that would clear his docket of one more hassle. He’d given the two attorneys the weekend to find a middle ground.
Mary Hudson popped her head in the door. Her chestnut pageboy swung around her chin, framing wide brown eyes and a friendly smile. “Everyone’s gone home,” said the paralegal. “Tell me you’re taking the holiday weekend off, too.”
“Eventually.”
Mary sighed. “Carolyn, it’s a holiday. Time to party, not work. Come on, go out for drinks with me. I’m meeting some of the girls from the other attorneys’ offices over at T.J.’s Pub.”
“Sorry, Mary. Too much work to do.”
“You know what you need?” Mary crossed to the coffeepot on the credenza, adding some water from a waiting pitcher, then loading in a couple of scoops of coffee from a decorative canister, intuitively reading Carolyn’s late-afternoon need for another caffeine fix. “A killer sundress and a sexy man—one always attracts the other.”
When it came to fixing Carolyn up, Mary was like a persistent five-year-old wanting candy before dinner—she’d try every tactic known to man and wasn’t above shameless begging. To Mary a woman without a man was akin to a possum without a tail—a creature to be pitied and helped.
“I don’t need a man, Mary.” Though the l
ast time Carolyn had gone on a date...
Okay, so she couldn’t think of the last time she’d gone on a date.
Speaking of dates and men—the image of Nick sprang to mind, and a surge of something thick and hot Carolyn refused to call desire rose in her chest. What was it with that man? He’d been a blip in her life story, and yet he’d always lingered in the back of her mind like he was the one chapter in her life she wished she’d never written but couldn’t forget reading. Well, she certainly didn’t intend to check that book out of the library again. She already knew the ending.
One crazy weekend. One reckless decision. Four days later it was over.
Mary leaned against the mahogany credenza, arms akimbo, waiting for acquiescence. “Okay, so I can’t get you to leave early, but you will be at the fund-raiser for the Care-and-Connect-with-Children program, won’t you? These kids are all so needy, Carolyn. I’ve seen their files. Foster kids, kids living below the poverty level—they run the gamut. And don’t worry about having to get too involved or hands-on. We have a lot of activities planned to keep the kids busy all day, partly to give the foster parents a break, too. It’s pretty overwhelming, taking in strangers.”
And overwhelming for the children, living with strangers, but Carolyn didn’t say that. She kept her past to herself. When she’d left Boston three and a half years ago, she’d also left those memories behind. “I promise, I’ll be at the picnic on Saturday. But I don’t need a new dress. I can wear the one I wore to the office summer party last year. No one remembers what anyone wears at these things, and I can go stag because I am perfectly capable—”
“Of taking care of yourself,” Mary finished on a sigh. “Yeah, I know. So are hermit crabs, but you don’t see them smiling, now, do you?”
“They’re crustaceans, Mary. I don’t think they have smiles.”
“Exactly.” Mary nodded, as if that validated her point.