Four Brides by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2020-03-25T12:02:50+00:00

* * *

At five-thirty, as promised, Carol arrived at Clark’s office. Mrs. Derby, who was cleaning off her desk for the night, glanced up and shared a conspiratorial smile with her.

“Everyone else has left for the night,” she whispered.

“Go on home, Mrs. Derby,” Carol said. “I’ll make sure Clark leaves at a decent hour.”

The other woman beamed. “I know you will.”

Carol wasn’t convinced she had as much influence on Clark as Mrs. Derby believed. He revealed all the signs of a workaholic; even his mother had said so during Thanksgiving dinner two weeks earlier. It would take a lot more than a gentle prod to distract him from his mission.

Right now he was sitting in front of a computer, fully involved with whatever he was doing.

“Clark,” she said softly from behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder, and when he saw her, he frowned. “What are you doing here?” Not exactly the warmest of greetings.

It was all she could do to keep from glancing over her own shoulder and asking Mrs. Derby for the answer. As it was, she caught sight of the older woman giving her an I-told-you-so look on her way out the door.

“It’s quitting time,” she said.

“I know.” He returned his attention to the monitor. “Had we planned to meet?”

“No...not really.”

He glanced up at her. “Is everything all right?”

She faltered, unsure how to respond. This wasn’t going well.

“Carol?”

“Everything’s wonderful,” she said too quickly. She had his full attention now, when she was least prepared to deal with it.

He studied her, then blinked. In that split second she realized what must have been behind Mrs. Derby’s concern. Something must have gone wrong with the software. Without leaking delicate information, the woman had been attempting to tell her that something was wrong without letting on exactly what it was.

In his effort to discover the solution, Clark had driven himself to the point of exhaustion. He desperately needed a break. Then and only then would his mind relax enough to release the solution. And there was one. Carol believed that with all her being. For every negative there was a positive, for every push a pull. She’d seen it happen time and time again.

He undoubtedly knew that, too, but being the intense individual he was, he didn’t have the patience to wait for the answer to reveal itself. He wanted a solution, and he wanted it now.

“How about dinner?” she asked, saying the first thing that popped into her head.

“You buying?” he joked.

“No, cooking.” She had carefully budgeted every penny over the holidays, and she had no choice. She mentally reviewed the contents of her cupboards, and she groaned inwardly while plastering a smile on her face. She had no clue what she could possibly prepare that didn’t come out of a can.

“You cook?”

“I’ve been known to,” she said.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Nothing special. I guess I just don’t want to be alone tonight.” She lowered her eyelashes for fear he would see through her scheme to drag him away from the office.

Perhaps he wanted to believe her.

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