Married To The Man by Judith Arnold

Author:Judith Arnold [Judith Arnold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459277823
Publisher: Harlequin

CHAPTER NINE

LIKE EVERYONE ELSE in the plaza outside Faneuil Hall, Mark was transfixed by the jugglers. Clad in matching tuxedos, the man and woman tossed jokes to each other with the same agility as they tossed an array of objects back and forth: bright red cubes, black batons, silver hoops, green feather boas, witty punch lines. It was obviously a well-rehearsed act, the jokes and the juggling both dependent on precision timing. Mark was not a big fan of cutesy street performance art, but these jugglers were good.

He’d never actually explored the district of downtown Boston known as Quincy Market. He had assumed it was a gathering spot for tourists and the hoi polloi, an outdoor mall for people on the prowl or fools eager to part with great sums of cash at the pricy boutiques and gift shops that opened onto the plaza. In addition to the shops, the market featured numerous bars and outdoor cafés where the primary activity appeared to be ogling members of the opposite sex. Vendors sold all manner of kitsch—stenciled T-shirts, plastic flowers, phosphorescent costume jewelry—from wheeled carts and kiosks, among which were interspersed an assortment of mimes, break dancers, jazz musicians and these two spirited jugglers. Frankly, Mark couldn’t pinpoint a single aspect of Quincy Market that ought to have appealed to his refined taste, yet the sights and sounds and smells exhilarated him. The corny patter of the jugglers amused him. Perhaps his taste wasn’t so refined, after all.

The crowds unnerved him, though. How on earth was he going to find Clarissa in such a mob?

It had been her decision to meet him in front of the steps to Faneuil Hall—a historical landmark, the site of numerous protests against the British by colonists who counted among their ranks several of Mark’s ancestors. He doubted Clarissa, with her hodgepodge ethnic background, cared one way or another about Boston’s grand past. She’d probably chosen this site because it was a hangout for young professionals.

Well, Mark was a young professional, wasn’t he? Perhaps he was pushing the upper limit of “young,” but for heaven’s sake, he was entitled to chuckle at the antics of the jugglers and enjoy the balmy June evening along with scores of other Bostonians at the end of a working day.

But how was he going to find Clarissa?

It turned out that finding her was easy. As the jugglers began a routine that involved eight golf balls and a flurry of quips about birdies and bogeys, threequarters of the audience turned from the show en masse to stare at the lovely slip of a woman wending her way through the crowd toward Mark. He waved, she waved and many of the gawkers turned their stares to him.

His ego shouldn’t have entered into it, but it did. What a thrill to have so many men gazing at him in envy! Yes, he wanted to shout, the most beautiful woman in the Faneuil Hall plaza was with him! Eat your hearts out, suckers.

He immediately chastised himself.

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.