A Match Made by Cupid (Harlequin Special Edition) by Tracy Madison Page A

believe she’s putting herself through this already.”
    “Putting herself through what? She seemed happy and excited.” Jace closed the distance between them and took a seat in the other chair.
    “Love,” Melanie said with an extra-large helping of venom. “Not only is it the theme of our article, but it’s the theme of my mother’s entire life. A life that she’s spent searching—” Then, as if realizing she’d said more than she intended, she clamped her jaw shut. Hard.
    Jace stared at her while warring with himself. Push Melanie into sharing whatever was going on in her head, or keep his mouth closed? If he could get her to open up anywhere, it would be here, in a place where she felt comfortable. And she was obviously distressed. He’d like to think he could be of help. On the other side of that, it should be up to Melanie to decide where—if anywhere—this conversation should go.
    Every one of his muscles thrummed with the potent need to do something . But he didn’t know what something was the right something. What was his goal? Getting information or helping Melanie feel better? Both if possible, but if he were forced to choose? The answer hit him like an arrow to the chest.
    Going on instinct, he said, “Mel? What do you need from me right this second?”
    “I don’t know,” she said in a fatigued, almost wooden voice. “I’m tired, I guess. Worried.”
    “Should I leave?” He certainly didn’t want to, but he would if she answered in the affirmative. Even so, he was already planning what lame excuse he’d use when he called her from home to check in. Sleep would be impossible unless he knew she was okay.
    “I don’t know,” she repeated. “I guess we could talk about work.... No, I don’t want to talk about work. I just… Damn it! I feel like I’m the mother here, the way I worry about her.”
    “You love her,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you worry?”
    “She just keeps making the same mistakes, over and over.”
    “Do you want to talk about that? I’m happy to listen.”
    Heaving another breath, Melanie shook her head. “I really don’t.”
    “Okay,” he said. “We don’t have to talk at all, Mel. We could eat some dinner, watch an hour or two of mindless television, and call it a night. Or I can leave. Whatever you want.”
    She bolted to her feet. “Oh, no. Dinner. It has to be ruined by now.”
    “So we’ll make something else. No biggie.”
    He was all set to be shown to the door, but instead she nodded. “All right. Dinner and TV. I’m surprised you don’t have something better to do tonight. None of your ladies are waiting by their phone for a call?”
    “At the moment, the only ladies in my life are my mother and sister-in-law,” he said quietly. “Are you ever going to—” He stopped, shook his head. Now wasn’t the time. “No one is waiting for me,” he finished. “So let’s see about the food.”
    The spaghetti was trashed. They settled for burgers, which Melanie topped with all the fixings. A salad appeared seemingly out of thin air, and Jace’s entire contribution to the meal was opening a bag of potato chips and pouring each of them a glass of wine.
    Plates in hand, they retraced their steps to the living room and found an atrociously bad horror movie to watch. Not many women appreciated the glory of a bad horror film, but Melanie did. Something that both surprised and pleased him. They batted comments back and forth about the far-fetched plot, subpar special effects and off-the-wall dialogue. Other than that, though, they didn’t attempt to hold a conversation. It was easy and relaxed, almost jarringly so.
    At the end of the evening, when it was time to head out, he said, “So, tomorrow. I have some research planned for the morning. I’m going to call Kurt and let him know we won’t be in, that we’re working in the field. That way, you can stay here tonight to talk with your mom, and we can meet up sometime tomorrow afternoon. Does that