An Unlikely Match Read Online Free PDF Page B

Willows?” he asked carefully.
    Ellie blinked and frowned, shaking her head. “I never met him before that night. Why?”
    “I’m just trying to understand the overall situation.”
    “But I’ve told you what happened.”
    “You put forward a supposition,” he pointed out, “but you’ve as good as said that you don’t really know what happened.”
    She slid to the edge of her seat and laid a hand on his desktop beseechingly. “Look, however it happened, it wasn’t malicious.”
    Asher beetled his brow. “And how do you—”
    “It just stands to reason,” she said too quickly. “I mean, it’s not as if we have enemies.”
    “Then who set the fire, Ellie?”
    “I don’t know!” she shot back. And she didn’t. Not for sure. “No one! It was an accident.”
    “Did you arrange that fire to promote a romance between our relatives?” he demanded.
    She gasped. He suspected her? Here she was trying to protect his beloved but harebrained sister, and he would put the blame on her? Indignant, she rose to place both hands on his desk. Leaning forward, she brought her face close to his, so close that she could smell the minty freshness of his breath. “I had absolutely nothing to do with that fire!”
    “Nothing?” he asked skeptically.
    “Zip,” she declared flatly, punctuating her denial with taps of her forefinger against his blotter. “Nada. Nil. Zero. Zilch. I didn’t set it! I didn’t cause it! I didn’t have anyone else do it! I didn’t know it was going to happen. I still can’t believe that it has!”
    After a very long moment, Asher relaxed back in his chair. “I had to ask,” he said, as if that excused all.
    Sighing, Ellie dropped her head. He believed her. Hebelieved that she had nothing to do with the fire, and in that moment, fool that she was, that was all that mattered.
     
    Asher still had serious questions, but he felt sure that whatever had happened, Ellie had not purposefully caused the fire at the Monroe house. Deeply relieved, he smiled. She blinked and smiled back. For a long moment he couldn’t look away. Then another thought came to mind. Though she might not have been responsible for the fire, she was certainly guilty of meddling in other people’s lives.
    “So you didn’t start the fire, but you’re not above using it for your own purposes,” he accused, frowning.
    She dropped down onto the edge of the chair again. “My grandfather taught me that God doesn’t let anything into the lives of His children without a reason, and getting together two people who care about each other seems like a pretty good one to me.”
    “Please,” Asher scoffed. “Odelia and your grandfather haven’t had feelings for each other in fifty years.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “Even if they did have feelings for each another, I would discourage them from entering into a relationship at this late date. It isn’t sensible.”
    Ellie gasped. “You can’t be that cold!”
    That, surprisingly, stung. Coldness was what his ex-wife, Samantha, had accused him of when her tears had not moved him. Perhaps if she had not employed them after making angry demands, he would have been more amenable. Perhaps she wouldn’t have left him then. Perhaps his wouldn’t have been the first divorce in his family. He blocked further thoughts on the matter.
    “I’m simply pragmatic,” he refuted, keeping his voice level. “Two people the age of your grandfather and my aunt ought not become entangled romantically. It’s just not wise, fiscally, emotionally or in any other way.”
    Ellie narrowed her wide, violet eyes at him. “Just because they’re older, you think they don’t deserve to be happy? How hard-hearted can you be?”
    Asher felt his temper begin to spike. “I never said they don’t deserve to be happy.”
    “Just that they should ignore their feelings for each other!” Ellie exclaimed.
    “You don’t know that they have feelings for each other any more than I know they