The Right Twin For Him (O'Rourke Family 2) by Julianna Morris Page A

to,” Maddie said, then realized how wistful she sounded. “I mean, he’s aninteresting person. He seems so easygoing and all, but…”
    “But that isn’t all there is to him,” Stephen finished.
    She heaved a sigh. “No, it isn’t. I should have told Patrick I was already having doubts about marrying Ted when I found him with the punch girl. Then he wouldn’t have felt sorry for me or think he had to give me a job.”
    “I doubt it would have made any difference,” Stephen said, patting her hand. “And don’t worry about the rest. I have a feeling you’re just what the boy needs.”
    “I’m not interested in him that way,” Maddie denied hastily. “Not romantically or anything. Besides, if Beth turns out to be my sister, then Patrick will sort of be like a brother.”
    “Right. Sort of like a brother.”
    She looked at him suspiciously. “Are you laughing at me?”
    “Certainly not.”
    “I don’t know why not, everyone else does.”
    Stephen let out the chuckle he’d obviously been suppressing and motioned toward the office. “Let’s get started. I’ve got an idea that having you around is going to make the day go a lot faster than usual.”
    Several hours later Maddie was studying the Federal Communication Commission’s rules on broadcasting when Patrick stuck his head inside the door.
    “Settling in?” he asked casually.
    “I’m learning what you can, and can’t, say on radio,” she murmured, still distracted by the legal mumbo-jumbo she’d been trying to digest. “Stephenthought I should know more about it before I start making pitches to customers. I had no idea there were so many rules about talking.”
    “As if you could keep your mouth shut about anything. We’ll never be able to put you on the air. Who knows what might come out.”
    “Go away.”
    Patrick grinned, enjoying the faint pink staining Maddie’s cheeks and throat. “It’s lunchtime and I own the station. I can pretty much hang out wherever I want.”
    “Well I’m busy, and Stephen isn’t here. He said he needed to meet with some clients, but it might have been all my questions that drove him away.”
    “He can take care of himself.” Patrick glanced around, noticing most of the surface space had been cleared of files. Since the ad office was notoriously messy, Maddie had to be responsible for the general cleanup.
    “It looks good in here. I haven’t seen the tops of these desks in years.”
    She shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Stephen said to do whatever I wanted. I’m not done yet.”
    Patrick looked around again, realizing one reason the room looked bigger was that the furniture had been rearranged. Maddie might be ditsy, but she was a hard worker. “Who moved the desks and bookshelves?”
    “Me.”
    “Maddie,” he exclaimed, horrified. “You could have hurt yourself. Why didn’t you call me?”
    Her eyelids swept down, concealing her expression. “I’m not helpless. I just pulled and nudged thingsaround to where I wanted them. The loose papers and files and stuff are in boxes in the closet—I’ll sort it out later.”
    Boxes? This was going from bad to worse as far as Patrick was concerned. “Would your father have let you do all that heavy work?” he demanded.
    “No, but Dad is old-fashioned.”
    “So am I.” It occurred to Patrick that he wasn’t being politically correct, but the idea of Maddie trying to strong-arm those heavy old desks appalled him. “Don’t do anything like that again.”
    “You hired me to do a job.”
    “I hired you to work on promotions and sell advertising, not to be a furniture mover!”
    Maddie just blinked at him, a tangle of emotions in her golden-brown eyes. He didn’t have a clue what might be going on inside her active brain. For someone who didn’t seem to have brakes on her tongue, she could be damned incomprehensible.
    “And if you get hurt, Beth and Kane will never forgive me,” he added lamely.
    She was silent a moment