Mission: Marriage. Hannah Bernard

I do the right thing, do you think?” Lea whispered. “It’s pretty unlike me to approach a stranger like that. He probably thinks I’m nuts. I mean, I think I’m nuts to have done that.”

      What had induced her to be so impulsive? Excitement of the moment, probably. Compared to the stunt Thomas had pulled in the restaurant, it hadn’t seemed so far out to enlist his help. Not until she’d seen the astonished—and alarmed—look on his face when she’d told him what she needed.

      She could feel Uruk’s body vibrate with the purring. The fluffy white fur on her belly was softer than anything in the world. Except perhaps a baby’s downy hair.

      “Sometimes, Uruk,” she whispered, “a woman has to do what a woman has to do. We have a mission, and we’re going to get there. And anyway, it doesn’t matter what Thomas thinks of me, does it? Not at all. He doesn’t matter at all, does he? He’s just the means to an end.”

      The cat purred on and refused to take sides. Lea sighed and rolled on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

      If only his eyes weren’t quite so blue.

      CHAPTER THREE

      “DON’T ask,” were the first words out of Lea’s mouth when Anne yanked the front door open the following afternoon. She’d promised her friend to drop by after work and give a report on how last night’s date had been. She’d be needing an apology instead. Where had they found that guy? Thanks to them, she’d had to do all of today’s calculations at the office through the depressing mist of a hangover.

      Then she noticed that Anne’s brow was thunderous, an aura of disapproval radiating from her. She was even tapping her foot. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re scowling at me.”