Free Patently in Love by Rhoda Baxter Page B

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Tags: Romance, Contemporary Romance, England, Patents

I'm with her--outside of
work, I mean--I feel like everything is just...right. Which is odd, since I've
only known her for about a week.
Marsh
    ##
    From: James Edwards

To: Marshall Winfield

Sounds like you've got it
bad.
So, ignoring it and getting on with life isn't an option
then?
Assuming the answer is no, why not wait until after the partner's
meeting. Then ask her out. You'd have to keep things discrete, obviously. Set a
few ground rules etc. But there's no reason why it shouldn't work that
way.
Jim
    ##
    From: Marshall Winfield

To: James Edwards

That's a good idea. Why
didn't I think of that??
    ##
    From: James Edwards

To: Marshall Winfield

Because this love stuff is
turning your brain to cheese.
I was like that when I first met Lou. Luckily,
I was a student back then and didn't need to do much thinking.
Jim
    ##
    From: James Edwards

To: Marshall Winfield

>> It was all I
could do not to kiss her last night.
Hang on, what happened last night?
Why did you fail to kiss her?
My secretary tells me that Jane got mugged
last night. What's going on exactly?
Jim
    ##
    From: Louise Edwards
To:
James Edwards , Stevie
Winfield
So, our Marsh has
fallen for someone.
Hurrah! About time too.
From what Jim says, she
sounds like a nice girl --not like that bizarre Dominique woman. What did he
see in her?
Yes, we must persuade him to do something about
it.
Lou
    ##
    From: James Edwards

To: Louise Edwards
, Stevie
Winfield
Dominique was a
force to reckoned with. Once she set her sights on Marsh, the poor man didn't
have a chance.
I hate to burst your bubble ladies, but I think Marsh is right
about not dating work colleagues. It would be best if he did nothing about it
until AFTER the partner's meeting. He has worked very hard for this company
and deserves a bit of recognition. It would be a shame to throw it away because
of a girl.
Jim
    * * * *
    Jane looked through Marsh's door. He was frowning at a patent and scribbling notes
in the margins. She knocked.
    He looked up and smiled. "Come in. How are you feeling today?"
    "I'm fine, thanks." She went in, but didn't sit down.
    "What can I do for you?" He looked back to his work, as though anxious to get back
to it.
    Jane fidgeted with the sleeve of her blouse. "I wanted to thank you for everything
yesterday."
    Marsh waved her thanks away. "Don't worry about it. It was nothing."
    "No, It wasn't nothing. So... can I buy you dinner? To say thank you."
    Marsh appeared taken aback. "You don't have to do that."
    "I'd like to."
    He appeared to study the paperwork in front of him. "Um..."
    He was going to refuse, she could tell. She had been wrong about how he felt and she
had been so certain. "It's no big deal. You don't have to." She started to back away.
    "Oh no." He looked up again, his eyes flicking to the doorway behind her. He
lowered his voice. "It's just not a good idea to mix work and fun..."
    Jane could feel that her face was bright red now. "Right."
    "But," he said quickly, "as you say, it's just dinner to say thank you, right?"
    Jane held her breath.
    "So, that sounds fine. When did you have in mind?"
    "How about Friday night?" That way, if things went really badly, they wouldn't see
each other until after the weekend.
    Marsh pulled his diary towards him and leafed through. "Um... the week after would
be better for me. How about Wednesday?"
    "Sure. Next Wednesday then. Great."
    "Hang on, I'll just write it in." He scribbled in the book. "There, you're in the diary
now. So it's official."
    "Well, I'd better get back to work I guess."
    "I'm looking forward to it." His