The Sometime Bride

really had been gone awhile. And now, she thought, looking down at her watch, since it was Sunday there wasn’t much she could do about the phone calls. Well, there was computer work to do. And, she could check up on the stock reports, compose some letters.
    Carrie plopped down in her chair, the brilliance of an idea hitting her. He hadn’t mentioned it in days. But then again, in spite of her deepest desires, Carrie hadn’t exactly been spouting picket fences either. Mike was just the sort of man to give up his dream for the woman he loved. But what he still didn’t know was that in love, all things were possible.
    “Mary,” she said, calling out to her secretary. “Do we still have that old file on the Caymans?”
    “Acquisition proposal?” Mary called back.
    “That’s the one.” The thick one that contained all that research Mary’d done on property availability and Mom-and-Pop investment opportunities.
    “Yes, ma’am. Got it around here somewhere. Though some of that information is bound to be dated.”
    “How long will it take you to correct that?”
    “About twenty-four hours,” Mary said, carting the heavy file over to Carrie’s desk with a smile.

Chapter Sixteen

    Mike strode purposefully into his broker’s office, a broad smile on his face. “Colleen,” he announced. “I’m getting married.”
    Colleen raised her eyebrows above the listings she was perusing but didn’t look up. “That’s nice.” She laid down the papers and pulled a pen from her desk drawer. “Mike,” she said, circling a few of the real-estate offerings detailed before her. “These are the ones I want you to call on first.”
    Mike stepped forward and snatched the stack off her desk. “Colleen! Didn’t you hear me? I said—”
    Colleen cocked her head to the side and called out in a big, bellowing tone that attracted the attention of two agents working at the copier, “Call a news conference! Send out the releases! Mike Davis is getting married…”
    He glared at her.
    “Again,” she finished more quietly.
    The other agents, a man and a woman, both junior colleagues of Mike’s, went back to work with respective shrugs.
    “Listen, Mike,” Colleen said, clearing her throat and looking combative. Her eyes were an icy blue that matched the color of the glasses’ chain around her neck. Glasses, Mike had noticed, she never seemed to wear but often seemed to look for. “Your little absences last week put us in quite a pinch here. You owe Megan and Kurt over there, and owe them big-time for picking up your slack.”
    Mike sank down in the chair opposite her desk, figuring now might not be the best time to ask for a raise.
    “You don’t watch yourself, young man, you’re going to be out of a job.”
    Oh no. That would be even worse than failing to secure a promotion. Mike gave a pleading smile and strove to look humble. “I’m so sorry, Colleen. Really, I am. But the thing that came up last week was—unavoidable.”
    “Unavoidable for five days running?”
    “No, I came in on Friday.”
    Colleen squinted.
    “For half a day,” Mike said, hanging his head.
    She sat there waiting like a Mother Confessor.
    “Listen, Colleen. Haven’t you ever been in love? I mean, really in love?”
    “Yes,” she answered flatly. “But apparently not as many times as you have.”
    Mike leaned forward and accepted the real-estate listings she was extending in his direction.
    “The top ones first,” she said. “They need screening for an out-of-town client. And since not all of them came with pictures—”
    “No problem,” Mike said, standing. “I’ll get on it right away.”

    Carrie had tossed and turned all night, excited at the prospect of her new project. But was she really doing the right thing? What if Mike hated the idea or resented her getting involved in his professional life? Unasked, no less.
    Carrie looked in the mirror and tugged at her cheeks, dismayed to see the puffy bags under her eyes didn’t dissipate. Maybe she should just ask him. Flat out.
    But no. That would completely ruin the surprise. Carrie had seen the way his eyes had sparkled at the mention of moving to the Caymans. Once, she was certain, that had been his goal. But now, with her in the picture, could it be he was planning to put it aside? He hadn’t even mentioned it since that early conversation back at the inn. Maybe he thought the idea wouldn’t appeal to her.
    Carrie considered how awful it would be to have something,