Free The Things We Do for Love by Margot Early Page A

married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and she changed her mind.”
    “Really,” murmured Jonathan, with mellow interest. “Beforehand?”
    “No. Well, I mean, before she married him. Before sheactually got there. He’d gotten there, though. I sort of wondered if that was a last dig at him, you know. The total humiliation.” She frowned, trying to imagine herself acting that way. “But probably not. She probably just realized she was doing the wrong thing.” She squinted at Jonathan and was very careful not to sound hopeful. “Are you having doubts?”
    He made a face. “Something like that. I just find there are more women I want to know better.”
    “You may not be a candidate for marriage,” Mary Anne said without thinking. “Ever,” she couldn’t help adding. Then immediately she backpedaled. “Of course, you’ll always get to know other women—just not in the same way. I just mean—” Good grief, she was stammering. But she couldn’t help thinking of her own father, her own mother, the pain her mother had endured—and probably still endured because of the antics of Jon Clive Drew. “Not everyone’s cut out for marriage,” she finally said.
    “It would kill her,” he said.
    “No,” Mary Anne told him. “It won’t kill her. But it is insulting. I mean, to—” Stammering again. Her own heart knocking. Come on, Mary Anne, even if he decided he did like you, he’s already pretty much said he’s not sure he’s ready for commitment. And talk about being on the rebound.
    Not to mention that, at this moment, he was engaged to another woman.
    “I’m not sure she’s—” He seemed to be hunting words.
    “Yes?”
    “I think she may be…a little…narrow, for me.”
    Mary Anne would have seconded that sentiment heartily just a week before. But now, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she was leery of doing so. Perhaps itwas simply that, failing to win Jonathan through skullduggery, she now wished to use only the most honorable means to gain his love. Which was pretty wild thinking, considering that until the past few days he’d never seemed to acknowledge her as a sexual being.
    “Is it going to be a problem for you,” Jonathan asked suddenly, “working with Corbett? I mean, you’re going to do it, aren’t you?”
    “Why would it be a problem?” Mary Anne studied Jonathan’s expression while she waited for his answer.
    “Well, he clearly thinks you’re something special, but I’ve always had the feeling that he doesn’t really ring your chimes.”
    “Pushes my buttons, more like,” she muttered.
    He grinned. “Noticed that, too.” He bit his lip. “It’s partly her friends. I don’t get them. You know?”
    “You don’t…understand them?”
    “I guess so. I mean, they’re all treating this like a royal wedding, and they’re talking about what kind of house we’ll live in and where our children will be christened, and it’s not relevant to me. I wouldn’t have thought Angie was that way.”
    “I don’t think she is,” Mary Anne admitted truthfully. “I think she’s got something to her.”
    “Maybe you could befriend her,” he suggested. “If you’re seeing someone, we could double up sometime. Go to dinner. Have some beers at my place.”
    Mary Anne wanted to get down on her hands and knees and pound the floor. No! No! No! All this was because he wanted her to make friends with Angie? God. How pathetic her hopes seemed now. She said, “I wouldn’t mind spending time with the two of you,”hoping that her tone clearly conveyed it would never happen. “I’ve got to get to the recycling center before it closes. See you later.”
    Jonathan seemed to read her feelings. He nodded mutely.
    Outside the office, Mary Anne leaned against the brickwork and groaned aloud.
    Myrtle Hollow

    “W E NEED THE phone books back.”
    We.
    David Cureux’s eyes quickly surveyed the area. Leaves falling on the cabin roof and over the grass, which couldn’t be