An Engagement in Seattle - Debbie Macomber [108]
“Good.” He was exhausted to the bone.
“I’ve got appointments starting first thing tomorrow morning. Are you sure you’re up to this?”
He nodded, although he wasn’t sure of anything. He could hardly keep the faces and the stories straight.
Sandra hesitated. “Has anyone caught your fancy yet?”
Chase chuckled, not because he found her question amusing, but because he was susceptible to one of the most basic human flaws—wanting what he couldn’t have. He wanted Lesley. “The woman I’d like to marry is in love with someone else and won’t marry me.”
“Isn’t that the way it generally works?” Sandra offered sympathetically.
“It must,” he said, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles. He wasn’t accustomed to so much sitting and was getting restless. The city was beginning to wear on him, too, and the thought of his cabin on the tundra became more appealing by the minute.
“Is there one woman who’s stuck out in your mind?” He motioned for Sandra to sit down and she did, taking the chair across from him.
“A couple,” she said. “Do you remember Anna Lincoln and LaDonna Ransom?”
Chase didn’t, not immediately. “Describe them to me.”
“LaDonna’s that petite blonde you saw yesterday evening, the one who’s working in the King County Assessor’s office.”
Try as he might, Chase couldn’t recall the woman, not when there’d been so many. There’d been several blondes, and countless faces and little that made one stand out over another.
“But I hesitate to recommend her. She’s a fragile little thing, and I don’t know how well she’d adjust to winters that far north. Seattle’s climate is temperate and nothing like what you experience. But…she was sweet, and I think you’d grow to love her, given the opportunity.”
“What about Anna Lincoln?”
“We chatted for a bit before the interview and she seemed to be a nice girl. Ambitious, too. Of course there was the one drawback.” Sandra shrugged. “She’s not very pretty, at least not when you compare her to a lot of the other women who’ve applied.”
“Beauty doesn’t count for much as far as I’m concerned. I’m not exactly a movie star myself, you know.”
Sandra must have felt obliged to argue with him because she made something of a fuss, contradicting him. By the time she’d finished, she had him sounding like he should consider running for Mr. Universe.
“At any rate, I liked Anna and I think she’d suit you. If you want I’ll get her file.”
“Please.”
Sandra left and returned a couple of minutes later with the file. Chase was reading it over when she said good-night. He waved absently as he scanned the application and his few notes. There wasn’t a picture enclosed, which might have jogged his memory. The details she’d written down about herself described at least twenty other women he’d interviewed in the past few days.
He set the file aside and relaxed, leaning back in his chair, wondering if Anna’s lips were as soft and pliable as Lesley’s, or if she fit in his arms as though she’d been made for him. Probably not. No use trying to fool himself.
He reread the information and, exhaling sharply with defeat, set aside the file. At the rate things were going, he’d return to Twin Creeks without the bride he’d come to find.
“Lori?” Lesley was so excited to find her friend at home that her voice rose unnaturally high.
“Lesley? Hi.”
“Hi, yourself. I’ve been waiting to hear from you. We were going to get together this week, remember?”
“We were? Oh, right, I did say I’d call you, didn’t I? I’m sorry, I haven’t had a chance. Oh, Les, you’ll never guess what happened. Larry asked me to marry him!” She let out a scream that sounded as though she were being strangled.
“Lori!”
“I know, I’ve got to stop doing that, but every time I think of Larry and me together, I get so excited I can hardly stand it.”
“You haven’t been dating him that long, have you?”
“Long enough. I’m crazy about this guy, Lesley, and for once in my life I’ve found a man who feels the same way about me.”
“Congratulations!” Lesley put as much punch into the word as she could. She was thrilled for Lori, and wished her fellow