A Bride at Last Read Online Free PDF

were looking up. And he needed all the optimism he could muster.
    “So what did you want to talk to me about?”
    Clint took a breath, trying to find the right words, reminding himself that he was the general manager and protecting the newspaper was his first priority, not furthering his personal relationship with his editor. He rested his arms on his desk. “I wanted to ask you about an article on Skyline Contractors that I found in the computer archives. It was under your byline, but obviously not ready for press yet. Is it news?”
    Nadine’s face hardened and Clint sighed. “I got some information from a former employee about some discrepancies in their accident reports…” she said slowly.
    “Who verified it?”
    “A former employee who used to drive Cat for them. Of course, the operative words are ‘used to.’ He heard a few things he shouldn’t have, repeated them to me and now he, too, is a former employee.”She leaned forward. “Trust me, Clint. This is a story and it’s good.”
    “I don’t want you to write the story.”
    “If you want to pull rank on me, Clint, that’s fine. But before we go any further, I want to talk to the editors of other papers in the organization. They have as much a stake in this fight as we do. You know they’ll take my part. I have to run this story.”
    “Skyline will kill themselves in the long run. Do you really think they need our help?”
    Nadine held his gaze. “Well, it seems to me to be a good cause, so I say why not?”
    Clint knew she was right, but he also knew that he had to make sure she wasn’t setting out stories just for the sake of antagonizing a company that had their lawyer’s number on speed dial “Why not? Because this time they might take us to court, for one reason.” He pulled back his frustration. The newspaper business was a tough go and he was thankful for the loyal readership and the comfortable living he was making. He wanted to keep it that way.
    Nadine shrugged. “Their lawyers make a lot of noise, but they always back down when we respond.”
    “Have you talked to anyone who works for Skyline now?” he persisted.
    “C’mon Clint. The management likes me as much as you do.”
    Her comment hit him, hard. “What do you mean by that?”
    Nadine shrugged, not deigning to reply, looking anywhere but at him.
    He got up from his desk, puzzled that she should think that, and wondering if maybe that wasn’t the key, the true reason she kept herself at such a distance from him. “Why would you think I dislike you?”
    As he came to stand beside her, she stood as well, looking up at him, her dark eyes wide.
    He remembered the smile she had given him just a few moments ago, wondering what she would do if he touched her cheek, if he ran his fingers through her hair as he always wanted to, if he…
    “WordCo is on line two for you, Mr. Fletcher.” Sharlene’s voice on the intercom pierced the heavy atmosphere. Clint blinked, Nadine took a step back.
    “Well, I’d better get going. You look pretty busy,” she said with a short laugh. She picked up her knapsack, slung it over her shoulder and left.
    Clint turned back to the phone, frustrated and angry at the intrusion. He punched the button and answered curtly, “Hello.”
    “Hey, Clint. Don Pederson here. How are you?”
    Clint sighed at Don’s fake friendliness. Sounds like a salesman, he thought, even though Don wasn’t selling. He was buying, and what he wanted to buy was Clint’s small string of newspapers.
    “You actually did it?” Donna stabbed her French fry in the ketchup with a grin. “My pure, unadulterated friend actually fibbed to her grandmother?”
    Nadine blew her breath out in a sigh and leaned her elbows on the pink tabletop of the Downtown Deli. “I had to. First it’s Patrick Quinn last night for tea, then Dr. McCormack tonight for supper.”
    “Dr. McCormack?” Donna grimaced and shook her head. “He’s about fifteen years older than us and, while I