Simply Sexy (Simply 5)

She didn’t understand why. “Something wrong with what Emma writes?”

“It’s just an unusual slant for a newspaper to take.”

She nodded. “I thought so, too, the first time I heard about what Corinne was doing with the Times.” During their initial conversation, Corinne had explained her vision of using the paper as a means to bring the town together. She believed that in today’s world, people needed more warmth and compassion, and less harsh reality.

Under her leadership, the Times would advertise where people could meet. Men and women would learn how to relate to one another better when they did mingle at a social event. While the paper would still be reporting some news, the focus would be on people. Listening to Corinne’s excitement, Rina knew she’d found a place to call home.

Colin folded his arms over his chest. “So how did you come to work for Corinne?”

“Hors d’oeuvre?” An elf stopped by with a tray in hand.

The delicious aroma tickled her nose, but Rina was more interested in her conversation with Colin than with the food on the plate. “No, thank you.”

Colin shook his head and the woman in green took her leave.

“You were telling me about how you came to work for Corinne?” he prompted, the moment they were alone again.

“Oh, it’s a long story. Basically, my parents knew hers, and older people like to talk about their children.” She shook her head. “So I heard about Corinne taking over her husband’s paper, thought my writing would interest her and I called.”

“You pursued your goals,” he said with approval. “Did you always want to be a writer?”

She shook her head. “No, I took the long route. I used to be a legal secretary. The hours were decent, the pay was guaranteed and so was the overtime. It covered the bills, but I’d always been more a people person than someone who liked being holed up in an office.”

“That much I can believe.” His warm gaze met hers, mesmerizing her so much it was hard to believe they were still at a party surrounded by people.

She tipped her head to one side. “I’m hoping that’s a compliment and not a dig at my curious nature.”

“I admire you, Rina.”

The husky tone in his voice sent shivers of awareness down her spine. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“And your writing…”

“I always took notes, wrote stories. Anecdotes.” She shrugged, remembering. “After I got married, I had a lot of free time to fill pages in a journal.”

At first, she’d used her new surroundings and her husband’s new friends as subjects. She’d been amused by the for-show marriages she’d witnessed and enthralled by the real relationships, like her parents’, that had lasted for years. Her observations had become humorous slice-of-life stories that kept her busy while home alone.

“You stopped working?” he asked, apparently truly interested in her past.

Why wouldn’t he be? She was equally interested in his. “My husband wanted to give me the life he thought I always wanted. But staying home and spending money I hadn’t earned, well, that just wasn’t me.”

But to please Robert, she’d eventually accepted the lifestyle. After all, most women would have traded anything to be in her position, or so she’d been told at the going-away party the other secretaries had thrown on her last day of work.

“I can’t see you staying at home and eating bonbons, either.”

“What can you see me doing?” She wondered how he viewed her.

He shrugged. “A headstrong, determined woman like you? I can see you dissecting what men want.” His lips twitched in a wry grin. “The question is whether you’ll get it right.”

“You’re just worried I’ll get inside your head.”

“You already came close. I read your first article.”

“And?” she asked, knowing that right or wrong, his opinion was important to her.

“You made some very valid points. Men are visual animals. We see, we react.”

“Basic chemistry.”