Hard and Fast
That’s what I’m trying to do.” She looked pointedly at him and then the passenger door.
    “It’s early still. You don’t want to leave. And I have a few questions for you.”
    “I don’t have any answers for you.” That she could say with total honesty.
    He continued like he hadn’t heard her. “Do all women want to get married? Do you want to get married?” His expression was curious and maybe mildly puzzled.
    Imogen was confident he was actually asking a genuine question, because he had asked her that once before, at Tamara and Elec’s wedding. Clearly the issue of marriage and why women wanted it was weighing on him. Maybe it was the age. Men and women reached thirty and everyone around them seemed to think they either should be married or should be trying to get married. Imogen wasn’t opposed to marriage, per se, but she definitely wanted to hold out for her version of Mr. Right, so Ty’s question immediately brought to mind Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing .
    “‘Not till God make men of some other metal than earth,’ ” she quoted to Ty.
    Ty looked at her blankly. “What?”
    Imogen had always loved Beatrice’s witty replies to prying and often insulting questions, so she continued to use her words, getting into the monologue, despite the clear incomprehension on Ty’s face. “‘Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I’ll none.’ ”
    “It sounds pretty when you say it, but I have no clue what the hell you’re talking about.”
    “It’s Shakespeare,” she said.
    “Well, I was pretty sure it wasn’t Kenny Chesney. Still doesn’t tell me what it means, though.”
    Imogen shifted in her seat, her damp sweater and hair uncomfortable, her attraction to Ty McCordle even more so. He didn’t look annoyed with her, just bewildered and, maybe, a little amused. She really didn’t understand what he was doing sitting in her car, but since he was there, she figured she might as well enjoy the picture of manly perfection he presented, even if he had put his shirt back on.
    “Beatrice is telling her uncle she will get married only when God makes men out of something other than dirt.” A little harsh perhaps, but having briefly tried online dating, Imogen could see where she was coming from.
    “Ah. A man hater.”
    That took Imogen aback. “Man hater? I don’t think that’s entirely true.”
    “Of course it is. She is lumping all men together, calling them all dirt, not giving any guy a chance. And probably walking around with a sour look on her face all the time and a big old chip on her shoulder, so she gets negative attention from men, which in turn pisses her off more and convinces her that her theory is right.” Ty nodded. “Man hater.”
    Imogen was speechless for a second, horrified at the realization that while Ty’s explanation was simplifying the situation, he might actually have a point. Beatrice had a wicked tongue and was almost always on the attack.
    “I think you’ve just shattered my entire perception of Much Ado About Nothing .”
    “I wasn’t trying to shatter anything. But it’s pretty obvious the chick is bitter because guys aren’t knocking down her door.”
    “How do you know they aren’t knocking down her door?”
    Ty gave her a long look of disbelief. “Come on. If they were, she wouldn’t be so bitchy. Am I right? She’s spending Saturday night with her BFF instead of getting some action, right?”
    “Well, it’s usually her cousin, actually. And you have to consider the context. A woman at the time couldn’t just sleep around without serious consequences.”
    He scoffed. “Yeah, like that ever stopped anybody. Just ask any senator.”
    Imogen laughed. “True.” Then since she was curious and he didn’t appear to be leaving her car at any time, she asked, “But why are you asking about marriage in the first place? Are
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