Page 32 of Married at Midnight

The word stopped him. He turned back toward her.

She gave him an apologetic look. “We only have an hour before the painters arrive. If you drive, it might take the whole hour to get there.”

He laughed as he changed directions, heading for her gold MINI Cooper parked on the street. “You aren’t the first person to tell me that. Don’t worry. My car can go a lot faster, just not on city streets. The new artificial intelligence we’re working on with Microtech will have us speeding along city streets just like all the other cars.”

“When that happens,” she said, getting into the driver’s seat, “then we’ll take your car. Until then, hop in.”

Connor folded himself into the passenger seat. “Your car is actually smaller than mine.”

“Yeah, but mine costs about a million dollars less.” She started the engine and merged into traffic.

More like sixty million, but he didn’t want to correct her. Continuing his research and development would be impossible without Microtech’s additional $1 billion in support.

Ellie drove through the city and down to the industrial area of Seattle to a commercial paint store located along Fourth Avenue. Once in the store, she headed for a long row of paint chips and started selecting various shades of pink. “The Historical Preservation documents made it clear that in order to honor Grayson House’s history we can’t change the color of the house. We’ll have to stick with the original colors of pink and white.”

“Who knew there were so many restrictions,” Connor said, studying all the pink paint chips in Ellie’s hand.

“When dealing with a city’s history and a dedicated landmark, lots of other people can get involved. We’re lucky we aren’t really changing anything, only fixing things up, or we’d never get the house done on time.” Ellie moved on to the white paint chips.

He frowned. “Why don’t you simply pick a pink one and a white one, and we’ll call it good.”

Horror reflected on her face. “Are you kidding? This is a huge task, picking just the right shade of pink and white. The colors will look different in the sun, or when the sky is gray. We must pick exactly the right ones.”

Connor screwed up his face. “Really? They all look the same to me.”

He realized his mistake too late. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to the paint-mixing counter nearby. She laid each chip down on the beige laminate surface. “This pink has a hint of brown in it. While this pink is more of a salmon color. This is a ballerina pink, while this one is a flamingo pink.”

Next she laid down the white paint chips. “All these whites are different as well. There are blue whites and gray whites and even whites with a hint of pink.”

She drew one of the pinks down in front of the others, then drew a white paint chip beside it. “Here are the paints that match—Chantilly Lace for the white and Light Coral Sunset for the pink.” She turned to him. “What do you think?”

“I think you don’t need my help,” he replied.

Surprise danced across her face. “Sure I do.” She gathered all the unused chips back up and handed them to him. “You get to put these away while I figure out the interior colors. It would be a big help. Please?”

Connor stared down at the chips in his hands. He thought about all the times he’d given similar menial tasks to his staff members in their robotics lab. He never realized how stark the words sounded without the addition of the “please” at the end. “It would be my pleasure. I might actually learn something about color.”

Twenty-five minutes later, all the paint chips were back in place, and Ellie had selected and ordered several other colors for the various rooms around the house. The delivery team would bring the paint to the house later that afternoon.

Back in her car, Ellie and Connor headed for Grayson House. “I know hanging out in paint stores is not your usual style. Thanks for coming.” She smiled apologetically.

He shrugged. “Paint stores aren’t my usual hangout, but look what I found.” He pulled a paint chip from his pocket.

“The color of the front room? Caliente red?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“I never imagined I’d care what color the next car we build would be, but I’m really excited about this color.”

She laughed. “Good heavens, what have I done?”

Connor grinned. “Created a monster, I suppose.” Impulsively, he reached over and brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. It was something a lover might do.

Her eyes flared with desire a heartbeat before she turned back to the road. “You’re not a monster. You’re my temporary husband.”

Her words made him feel a little dizzy. “Ellie,” he said. When she glanced his way, he gave her his most dazzling smile. “There are things in our lives that are temporary, but some things are also very real. I’ll show you just how real tonight.”

“What do you have planned?”

“I’m not going to spoil that surprise. When it’s time, you’ll see.”

While Connor and Ellie were out of the house, George pretended to be a worker and slipped inside. Impersonating someone else was as natural to him as breathing. What wasn’t so familiar was playing the role of matchmaker. What was taking Ellie and Connor so long to get together? Connor had found the sheet music about falling in love he’d left on his previous trip to the house and had acted on it by singing the song to Ellie. Ellie had no doubt found the flowers. What more was an Elvis to do besides serenade them himself?

George released a frustrated sigh. He’d try something else, one more time, before he’d give in to more drastic measures.

Without a doubt, he knew Ellie and Connor were attracted to each other. So what was holding them back from a true and lasting commitment? Silently, George crept up the stairs to Ellie’s bedroom. If flowers and music hadn’t worked, then maybe this next gift would.

Time was running short.

Viola needed a miracle, and by all that was holy, he and the rest of the team would give her one.