An Engagement in Seattle - Debbie Macomber [93]
“This morning I talked with the man who’s so earnestly seeking a wife,” Becky announced. “Chase Goodman agreed to an interview and…”
Chase Goodman.
Lesley didn’t hear a word after that. His face appeared on the screen and he squinted into the camera and said he only had a limited time in Seattle and wanted to be as straightforward as he could.
Straightforward. He’d misled her. Talk about being unethical; why, he’d…he’d kissed her. He’d held her in his arms and… Mortified, she raised her hands to her face. She’d so desperately wanted to believe in Chase, but he was like all the other men she’d known. He was just like her father, who’d cruelly deceived her. Just like Tony, who’d broken her heart. Never again would she make herself vulnerable. Never again would she be so naive as to trust a man.
Never again.
“Your next appointment is waiting,” Sandra Zielger, the attractive middle-aged woman Chase had hired that morning, announced. He’d been interviewing women all afternoon.
The first one who’d come was a pleasant woman a few years his senior who worked as an executive assistant for a big manufacturing company. She was congenial, well-educated and professional. When Chase asked her why she wanted to marry him and move to Alaska, she said she was ready to “get out of the rat race” and take life at a more leisurely pace. She’d been divorced twice, with no children. After ten minutes with her, Chase knew a relationship between them wouldn’t work. He wasn’t comfortable with her the way he was with Lesley.
The second interview turned out to be with a female plumber who’d been working in construction. She’d been out of work for three months and was looking for a change of scene. The first thing she asked was whether he wanted to sleep with her to sample the goods before making his decision. Even before he collected his wits enough to respond, she’d unbuttoned her blouse, claiming she didn’t mind a little kinky sex if that interested him, but she wasn’t overly fond of whips and chains. By the time he’d ushered her out the door, Chase felt shaken.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he’d placed the ad, but it wasn’t this. He was looking for a woman with a generous heart, one with pluck and spirit. A woman with depth and sensitivity. A woman like… Lesley.
He rubbed the back of his neck, closed his eyes and sighed.
He tried phoning Lesley just to calm his nerves, but she wasn’t home. He didn’t leave a message.
By four, Chase had talked with so many women that their names and faces and stories had all started to blend together. Not a single one had strongly appealed to him. He couldn’t meet with these women and not compare them to Lesley. They seemed shallow by contrast, frivolous and, in some cases, reckless. There were a couple he might’ve liked under other circumstances, and he’d kept their names and phone numbers, but not a single woman to compare to the one he’d met yesterday, quite by chance.
He glanced at his watch and knew he wasn’t up to interviewing another woman. The suite he’d rented at the hotel was packed with applicants. Word had gotten out that he was in the process of talking to prospective brides and they were coming in off the street now. Sandra Zielger seemed to have her hands full, and seeing that, Chase intervened, escorting the husband-seeking women from the room with promises of another day.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Sandra said, pushing her hair away from her face with both hands. “You should’ve brought some of your bachelor friends with you.”
Chase closed his eyes and expelled a weary sigh. “How many women did we see?”
“Twenty.”
“That’s all?” He felt the panic rise. He’d spent nearly an entire day meeting with women, and he’d hardly made a dent in the crowd.
“I take it you’re finished for the day?” Sandra asked.
Chase nodded. He needed space