Say It with Roses. Devon Vaughn Archer

what was necessary for the interview. So why not return the favor?

      “All right,” she said, meeting his gaze. “I’m sure you know all the dirty details of my ex, Anderson, calling off our engagement, only to wind up marrying your sister.”

      “Actually, I don’t know the dirty details of it,” Stuart pointed out. “Just the basic facts. As I understand it, your relationship with Anderson ended well before Holly ever came into the picture.”

      “That’s true,” Madison confessed as she took a sip of wine. “I honestly never thought I’d ever see Anderson again until I found out he was dating Holly. Before that, I only had the memories of him backing out of an engagement so he could ‘find himself.’ And then, there he was....”

      “It must have really thrown you for a loop.”

      “That’s putting it mildly.”

      “And you came here because you couldn’t deal with—”

      “No,” Madison cut him off. “I came here because I was offered a good job and a chance to start over. In my heart of hearts, I was over Anderson the moment he walked out on our future. While it may have taken a period of adjustment when he resurfaced, I am over it now. And I don’t blame Holly for any of this.”

      “You sure about that?” The one thing he did not want was to see her and his sister at odds for the rest of their lives. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

      “I’m sure,” she responded. “She was entitled to find love whenever it found her, which happened when Anderson came into her world. Yes, it did mean that our friendship suffered a bit, naturally, but I really want Holly to be happy and her marriage to work.”

      “Maybe you should tell her that sometime,” Stuart said.

      “I already have,” Madison said. “But I’ll do so again, so that we’re clear on it.”

      He nodded, happy to hear her say that. Though he completely understood her position on this whole situation, Stuart also believed Holly missed the connection with her friend and would welcome the opportunity to jump-start things.

      Beyond that, he was intrigued by the woman sitting before him now that he had begun to peel away the layers of defenses she had built around herself.

      “So when will this feature appear in the magazine?” he asked, getting back to more comfortable territory.

      “The May issue,” Madison told him, “which actually comes out next month. I’ll run it by you before turning in the final draft.”

      “Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll be sure to post info about it to my fans on Twitter and Facebook. They usually love these kinds of things.”

      “I think it’s more like they love their writers and whatever comes with the territory.”

      Stuart laughed. “Yeah, that, too.”

      Madison chuckled.

      She asked a few more pointed questions about his career, developing plot ideas and upcoming books before they ended the interview.

      It surprised Madison that she had felt so comfortable talking to Stuart about herself. Was it his ability to draw that out of her? Or was it something else?