An Unexpected Match by Corbit Dana

Author:Corbit, Dana
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2009-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Haley bustled around the living room in Matthew’s house nearly a week later, making sure everything was perfect. All the other rooms had been tidied, the table had been set and dinner such as it was, would be going in the water once it boiled.

A smile settled on her lips as she pictured herself wearing high heels and a frilly apron over her dress as she handed Matthew his slippers and newspaper when he came though the door. She could do the June Cleaver thing, right? But the fantasy crumbled as soon as Haley touched the rocker/recliner that moved to reveal a bunch of rubbery legs from dolls peeking out from under it.

She crouched and started pulling dolls, clothed in party dresses, from beneath the recliner-turned-dollhouse.

“Elizabeth,” she called out to the child she’d just heard on the stairs. “Someone forgot her dolls in here. Do you know who that someone might be?”

“Me.”

Haley was reaching to see if there were any stragglers still beneath the chair when the splashing sound of water boiling over filtered in from the kitchen. Standing, Haley brushed her hands off on her un-June Cleaver-esque jeans. She jogged into the kitchen. She pulled the pan off the stove just as Elizabeth sprinted into the room.

“Miss Haley, the water’s boiling over.”

“I can see that.”

The water would need to be cleaned up from the range’s drip pan later but for now she still needed to cook dinner, so she placed the saucepan under the faucet to refill it.

Haley sighed as she returned to the living room. She wasn’t anywhere near the 1950s TV character that had set an unattainable image for housewives. Haley’s hair wasn’t properly coiffed, her fuzzy slippers didn’t give even an extra quarter-inch of height and her cooking wasn’t close to gourmet. She did, however, have something in common with Barbara Billingsley, the actress who portrayed old June: they were both playacting.

Haley shook her head. No one actually still wanted a life like that, anyway, did they? “When did I become so un-PC?”

“What’s PC?” Elizabeth asked from the other room.

“It stands for ‘politically correct,’” she answered.

“Oh.” Elizabeth didn’t sound all that interested in the subject.

Haley hoped the child wouldn’t press for a more detailed explanation, not when Haley was so busy getting her head on straight over other matters. She had no business daydreaming about Matthew Warren and his daughter as if they could become some quaint little family or something. Her relationship with Matthew was employee to employer. If she was blessed to become Matthew’s friend, as well, that would be great, but it wasn’t the most important thing. Caring for Elizabeth was.

Even that was only temporary.

Haley’s heart squeezed over the thought as she glanced at the child sitting on the floor. Elizabeth was already playing again with the dolls she was supposed to be putting away. How could Haley bear to ever leave that sweet little girl or the child’s father, who needed Haley more than he realized?

Matthew had asked her to commit for only thirty days, and they were already into the third week of their agreement.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.