Loe raamatut: «A Whirlwind...Makeover»

Chapter One

The man was a god.

Not with a capital G of course, but unquestionably one of the Almighty’s finest creations. Maddie figured that if angels walked the earth, they would look like this guy: tall and muscular with thick blond hair and the broadest pair of shoulders this side of heaven.

Yup, the man was a god all right. And he was headed her way.

“Maddie, let me introduce you to our newest addition,” said her boss. “Colton Hartley, meet Maddie Sinclair.”

Her face froze. Her mouth went dry. Maddie forced her tongue across her suddenly stiff lips in hopes of coaxing them to smile.

“Nice to meet you, Colton.” Her normally low voice sounded lower still and her greeting was the scratchy croak of a groggy bullfrog.

He didn’t seem to notice. He smiled, a perfect toothpaste-ad smile, and Maddie felt the room brighten and the temperature soar. Her heart did a flip-flop. He extended his hand. “Great to meet you.”

She shook his hand. Too late she realized where all the moisture from her mouth had gone. Her hand practically dripped clammy sweat. Colton was too much a gentleman to wipe his hands on his slacks.

“Maddie,” her boss, Jack Benson, was saying, “it’ll take Colton a while to learn the ropes around here. I wondered if you’d be willing to act as his guide for the next couple of days. To make certain he settles in.”

She nodded. “Sure.” Willing? Major understatement. She was willing all right. To be his guide, his slave, the mother of his children. Whatever.

She was so willing that her head continued to bob the affirmative like one of those tacky ceramic dogs people put in the rear windows of their cars.

Time to get a grip on herself. After all, Colton Hartley was only a man, albeit a perfect specimen. She stilled her bobbing head and smiled. “I’d be happy to help.”

Jack grinned. “Great. I’ve got some stuff I need to get done this morning, so I’ll let you take over from here.” He clapped Colton on the shoulder. “I’m leaving you in good hands.”

Jack winked at Maddie behind Colton’s back and walked away.

Bless Jack’s devious heart. He was always trying to jump-start her social life. Correction. To jump-start her social life would require that she had one. Which she did not. Yet.

“Where to first?” she asked Colton. “What have you already seen?”

“Nothing. You were the first stop on the tour.”

Double blessings on Jack. “Then we’ll start at the front door. Let me introduce you to our receptionist.”

It was encouraging to know that Maddie wasn’t the only one stricken with idiocy when face-to-face with Colton. Crystal, the cute little blond receptionist, was clearly awed.

“Wow,” she said in a breathless voice after Maddie had performed the introductions. “Wow.”

“Nice to meet you, Crystal.”

Crystal wasn’t quite the clod Maddie had been. She was stunned, but not so shaken that she forgot the basics of flirtation. Easily a foot shorter than Colton, she lowered her chin to look up through her eyelashes at him.

Nice trick, Maddie thought. She wouldn’t be opposed to trying it herself, but at five-eleven there were precious few men she could look up at.

“Welcome to Cue Communications,” Crystal purred.

Maddie saw his smile widen in appreciation and two dimples appeared in his chiseled cheeks. Uh-oh. Afraid she’d lose him before she’d won him, Maddie hustled Colton along to the second point on the tour.

A familiar sense of pride filled her as she led him down the plush gray-carpeted hall. Cue Communications, with its sleek Art Deco décor was the top advertising agency in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Once a dining-room-table enterprise of two visionary young men, Cue now comprised the entire thirty-second floor of the prestigious Tower Building in downtown Fort Worth.

“This is the graphics department. Nick Hodges is our art director.”

Nick stepped away from the table where he was constructing a storyboard. “Hi. What can I do for you?”

Colton stuck out his hand. “Colton Hartley. I just signed on with Cue. Molly here is showing me around.”

“Maddie,” she corrected.

“Right. Maddie,” he said, with the briefest glance toward her.

Nick and Colton spoke for a few minutes about advertising and music and football. Maddie couldn’t tell by the conversation whether Colton knew what he was talking about, but it was obvious he was a natural schmoozer. He had Nick eating out of his hand in no time.

“I’ll let you get back to work, Nick. Molly and I should continue on the grand tour.”

“It’s Maddie,” she said.

He looked startled, then apologetic. “Sure. Sorry. See ya around, Nick.”

Maddie took him to the big conference room at the far end of the hall where they held staff functions and important client meetings. She took him to the production rooms and introduced him to the people on the creative team.

Wherever they went the response was the same. Colton Hartley knocked them dead. Every square inch of his perfect six-foot-three-inch frame oozed charisma. He had only to smile at the ladies and talk sports with the men, and they were putty in his well-manicured hands. If the man ever decided to try his hand at politics, no office in the land would be out of his reach.

Even more amazing than his power over humankind was the fact that he was currently assigned to Maddie’s care. Maddie could hardly believe her luck. The couple of days they would have together while he became acclimated to the firm would surely give her the inside track. Working side by side, he’d recognize her charm and intelligence and fall under her as-yet-undiscovered spell.

Whoa, girl. Maddie mentally halted her galloping imagination before she had them married with two kids, a dog and a mortgage.

First things first. She had to get him away from the crowd currently fluttering around him like moths to a porch light so she could get in some quality one-on-one time with him.

“I think you’ve seen all the highlights,” Maddie said. “Are you ready to head back to your office?”

Colton looked up from his throng of admirers. “Sure.”

Colton had been given one of the coveted offices with a window overlooking downtown Fort Worth. Unlike Maddie’s cramped office with scarcely enough room for a desk and credenza, Colton’s office was furnished with a large desk, two credenzas and a cozy grouping of two high-back leather chairs separated by a small round table.

As Colton sat at his desk, sunlight streamed through the window to bathe him with a golden aura. Maddie scooted one of the heavy chairs up close to his desk and sat. She allowed herself a moment to admire his now-radiant beauty before getting started.

“I don’t know if Jack spoke with you about our current bid to retain the Swanson Shoes account?”

Colton smiled and lifted the manila folder from the center of his desk. “We discussed it briefly. He gave me this file to review.”

“Oh.” Drat. She’d wanted to be the one to introduce him to the situation. To dazzle him with her insight.

Colton flipped open the file and began to read.

Maddie shifted forward to rest her elbows on the desktop and propped her chin in her hands to watch. He was magnificent. His heavily lashed blue eyes darted across the typed notes. As he turned the page he reached a long-fingered hand to his mouth. When he absently stroked his lower lip with his fingertip, Maddie sighed.

Colton looked up as if surprised she was still there. “Don’t let me keep you,” he said. “I’ve got it from here.”

Her heart sank. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and stood. “This report seems pretty thorough. I’ll call you if I have any questions.”

She couldn’t very well stay after he’d so obviously dismissed her. She stood. “If you’re sure…”

He smiled. “I think I can handle it.” He walked around the desk and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for this morning’s tour, Mandy. I really appreciated it.”

She didn’t correct him. She couldn’t. She could hardly breathe. Not when he was smiling as though she was the most important person in the world.

Dazed, she moved toward the door. Before exiting, she paused to say, “I’ll come by your office about noon to show you where everybody goes for lunch.”

He’d already reseated himself and was studying the report. He didn’t look up. “Fine.”

Maddie floated to her office and closed the door to day-dream in privacy. There was no way she could concentrate on the Swanson Shoes account when she had a lunch date with the most beautiful man in the world.

At 11:45 a.m. Maddie grabbed her purse from the bottom drawer of her file cabinet and headed to the ladies’ room for a little prelunch primping. Her conscience nagged her about quitting work so early, but she silenced it with the knowledge that she hadn’t accomplished anything all morning anyway. Who could concentrate on clients when the man of her dreams occupied the office three doors down?

She had the elegant gold-and-ivory powder room to herself. She stopped in front of the first sink under the lighted wall-long mirror and got started. From the large black leather tote bag that did double duty as her purse she pulled out a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. After a thorough scrubbing she gargled a mouthful of the mouth-wash she carried for emergencies.

As she rinsed the residue down the drain she studied her reflection. For a change, her long curly hair hadn’t escaped the two dozen pins and half bottle of hair spray that secured it to her head. It didn’t look great, but it was neat, so she opted to leave it alone.

She wasn’t a big makeup enthusiast so all that was left was to reapply her lipstick. She carefully filled in her upper and lower lip with the tube of rosy-pink gloss she found wedged in the bottom corner of her bag. She smacked her lips together and stepped back from the mirror to get the full effect.

Hmm. No point in kidding herself. Miss America she wasn’t. Unlike her five-foot-three-inch blond sister, who’d had the good sense to take after their beautiful petite mother, Maddie was the spitting image of her dad.

Her smile faded. Though he’d been gone five years now, the still-sharp pain of losing him brought tears to her eyes.

Her dad had been a great big teddy bear—the classic gentle giant. He had stood an impressive six and a half feet tall and weighed in at 290 pounds. Though his size had certainly attracted attention, it was his kind heart and easy-going nature that had endeared him to everyone.

Maddie liked to think she’d inherited his character traits—his incurable optimism and ability to see beyond the surface to the beauty beneath—but she fervently wished that she’d physically favored her mom.

Inner beauty was a fine thing, but it was external beauty that snared the men. It was great to have people say she was the nicest person they knew, but she’d cheerfully forgo the compliment just once for an honest-to-goodness date.

Maddie returned her gaze to her reflection and purposely stretched her mouth into a wide smile. She had a date now—in a manner of speaking. Colton Hartley, advertising executive extraordinaire, was hers for the next hour.

They didn’t have much time. She needed to strategize to make the most of every minute. She’d take him down to the cafeteria on the lobby level. They’d sit at one of the small square tables that lined the far wall of the room. Preferably one tucked behind a potted plant.

She closed her eyes to complete the fairy tale. Without the distractions of fellow employees, they’d talk about themselves and the incredible good fortune that had brought them together. Colton’s beautiful blue eyes would look into hers and he would see her as no one had seen her since her father had been alive. As a rare treasure worthy of love.

Maddie’s heart hammered against her ribs as she reached up to knock on Colton’s door.

“Come in.”

Maddie took two steps into the room that now smelled faintly of his cologne. “Ready to eat?”

He looked up from the notes he was making in the Swanson file. He smiled, his perfect teeth blindingly white against his tan. “You bet.”

He was even better looking than she remembered. She stifled a sigh. “Great. Let’s go.”

It took nearly ten minutes to make the five-second walk to the elevator. It couldn’t be coincidence that every female employee, and a few males, just happened to pop out of their offices at the exact moment she and Colton passed. Though she couldn’t avoid stopping and chatting half a dozen times, she refused to lose sight of her objective. Colton was hers and hers alone for the next hour.

She could have wept with relief when the elevator doors whispered shut on just the two of them.

“Cue Communications is such a friendly place,” Colton said as Maddie pushed the down button.

The man had a gift for understatement. Co-workers mobbed him like groupies around a rock star. “So I’ve noticed.”

He inclined his head to her and smiled. “I appreciate you going to the trouble of showing me around, though I’m sure I could have found the cafeteria on my own.”

“No way.”

Colton’s eyes widened a fraction at the steel in her voice.

She tried for the lowered-chin, look-up-through-the-eyelashes approach. “What I mean is, there’s no way I’d desert you on your first day. I’ve got Cue’s friendly reputation to live up to.”

His face relaxed into a heart-stopping smile. “That’s real nice.”

The elevator doors opened onto the lobby, now crammed with people. Darn. She shouldn’t have waited till straight-up noon to take him to lunch. The cafeteria served good food and was a real favorite with the office-building crowd. They were all here today.

Maddie and Colton fell into the lineup of about twenty people waiting to pick up trays and make selections. She did some hasty calculations. At the rate things were moving they’d have only forty-five minutes sequestered at their table. Only a fool would waste these precious moments in line. And her daddy didn’t raise no fool.

“So, Colton,” she began. “How did you end up at Cue?”

A cute, size-four redhead standing two people in front of them turned at the sound of his name. “Colton? Colton Hartley?”

His handsome face lit up in recognition. “Paige?”

Their warm reunion carried them all the way to the tray and silverware pickup.

“It’s great seeing you, Paige,” Colton said as he pocketed the slip of paper she’d handed him with her phone number on it. “I’ll give you a call and we can get together.”

Maddie didn’t allow her heart to sink. After all, a man like Colton Hartley didn’t reach this stage in his gorgeous life without acquiring a few female friends. Just because their greeting seemed a tad overwarm to Maddie didn’t guarantee that Paige meant anything to him.

“So what’s good?” he asked Maddie, the first time he’d spoken to her since her brief introduction to the red-haired interloper.

“Everything.” Maddie had her eye on the warming tray stacked high with crispy chicken-fried steaks. Yum. A glob of mashed potatoes and cream gravy alongside would make the perfect lunch.

Colton looked down the length of the serving island, considering the options before picking up a chef’s salad and plunking it down on his tray.

“Is that all you’re having?” Maddie asked as they inched their way toward the golden chicken-fried steaks and steaming gravy.

“Yeah.” He motioned toward the steaks and delicacies beyond. “If you eat all that heavy stuff for lunch it doesn’t take long before the pounds start adding up.” He patted his rock-hard stomach for emphasis.

Maddie thought about her own not-so-rock-hard stomach and suddenly the chicken-fried steak didn’t look so good. She snatched up a green salad and a paper container of diet dressing instead. She sped by the freshly baked pies before temptation could destroy her fragile newfound willpower.

After paying the cashier for their food, Colton and Maddie paused to scout the crowded room for a table.

“I think I see a table over there,” Maddie said, pointing to the far wall. She squinted to be sure. “Can you see it behind the palm?”

“Lead the way.”

Trays in hand, they forged a path through the occupied tables.

“Hey, Colton, over here.” A preppie-looking guy waved at them from his table some ten yards away.

“Okay with you?” Colton asked, lifting a muscular shoulder in the direction of the caller.

Her heart slipped a few notches. “Sure.”

With Colton now leading, they threaded their way to the table, trays lifted high to keep from bumping into diners. Maddie hung back to allow Colton time to make introductions.

“Good to see you, Colton.” The preppie clapped Colton on the back. “What brings you to our little corner of the world?”

The predominately female group seated around the rectangular table greeted Colton like a visiting celebrity. Or a god. A woman skinny enough to shop in the preteen department patted the empty seat next to hers. “Come sit here.”

While they fussed over Colton, Maddie did the math. One preppie, one accountant type, five skinny hussies and one delectable Colton. Eight bodies. Table for eight.

There wasn’t room for her.

Maddie stood several inconspicuous steps from the table, waiting for Colton to notice her predicament. Once he saw she was still standing he’d insist they drag an extra chair up to the table for her.

She waited.

When one minute had lapsed into two and he still hadn’t looked up from his friends, Maddie knew she’d been forgotten. She couldn’t blame him. Who wouldn’t forget their own name in the midst of all that adulation?

Not wanting to embarrass him or herself, Maddie backed up in retreat. As she slowly moved backward, a stupid smile plastered on her face, Maddie didn’t notice the abandoned chair blocking the aisle. Inching along, her leg caught the chair rung and she knew in that awful moment that to cap off her humiliation, she was going to fall.

“Whoa.” A deep voice rumbled in her ear as strong arms came from behind to steady her.

Her heart seemed to stop. Her stomach did a long, slow slide. It took Maddie a second or two to realize the hideous downward pull of gravity had been broken. She wasn’t going to fall. She’d been saved.

Balance restored, Maddie turned, tray in hand, to thank her rescuer.

Dark eyes, the color of the richest chocolate and tinged with amusement, met hers. “You okay?” he asked.