Free Patently in Love by Rhoda Baxter Page A

gent the whole time. We talked.
He's so NICE. And so grown
up--especially after Ashby and his mates! Apparently, Marsh's parents died when
he was 21 and his sister was 13. So he's had to look after his sister all that time.
She's at uni now. She lives in the flat with him during the holidays.
I found
out he was single, by the way. He's had a disastrous relationship fairly recently
and has been single ever since. (:-)?
Jane
    ##
    From: Polly
To: Jane Porter

So, did you pull? Are you
going to see each other again?
    ##
    From: Jane Porter
To:
Polly
No, didn't pull. I thought for a
moment that he was going to kiss me... but then he didn't--well, he kissed me
on the cheek, but I don't think that really counts. He did promise that he
wouldn't try anything when he first invited me to his flat. I guess he was
keeping his word.
Of course, now all I can think about it what it would
have been like if he DID actually kiss me.
I have a huge pile of work to do,
but I can't concentrate. Aaargh!
    ##
    From: Polly
To: Jane Porter

Hang on, hang on. He's
good looking, he's charming, he can cook, he's single. He lives with his sister.
AND HE DIDN'T MAKE A MOVE ON YOU.
Are you sure he's not
gay?
    ##
    From: Jane Porter
To:
Polly
NO. At least, I'm pretty sure he's
not. His last relationship was with a woman in the office...
And he isn't
camp.
    ##
    From: Polly
To: Jane Porter

Not all gay men are camp,
you know.
There's one sure way to tell. Does he fold his clothes up neatly,
or just throw them on the floor?
Pol
    ##
    From: Jane Porter
To:
Polly
If I knew the answer to that, we
wouldn't be having this conversation.
I have a plan. I'm going to ask him
out for dinner. To say thank you.

Chapter 9
From: Marshall Winfield
[email protected]
To: James Edwards

Help!
My life has
suddenly gone wrong. In order of increasing importance:
1. I have 4
working days before I have to give Susan my opposition draft. I've been
wracking my brains to come up with some decent arguments. I have a few, but
no really good prior art document to hang it on. The ones I have are, at most,
tenuous.
2. I have three patent drafts due in by next week. I'm going to
have to phone at least one client and ask for a time extension. I hate doing that.
It looks really unprofessional.
3. Stevie's dating some prat who keeps
borrowing money off her. When I try to tell her so, she gets annoyed with me.
I thought she was supposed to grow out of the whole 'you're not Dad' thing by
now.
4. Last, but not least, I think I'm in love with Jane and I can't ask her
out because she's a work colleague. I know Keith is already trying to put the
oar in with the partners. I can't give him more ammunition. I'd like to keep
away from Jane, but it's a bit difficult when I work with her every day. She's so
damn lovely, I can't concentrate on my work.
Just shoot
me.
Marsh
    ##
    From: James Edwards

To: Marshall Winfield

Sounds like a mess all
right.
Can't help you with the time management issues. I'm sure you'll cope
with your usual style.
I'll see if Lou has any ideas on how to help with the
Stevie situation. Perhaps a quiet woman to girl chat.
Regarding Jane...it's
never a good idea to date work colleagues. You know that better than most.
How MUCH do you like her?
Jim
    ##
    From: Marshall Winfield

To: James Edwards

I like her a LOT! Can't
concentrate on work when I know she's in the office, day dreaming about
weddings and house with picket fence type like her. It was all I could do not to
kiss her last night.
And in a weird way when