Read Online Welcome to Serenity by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online

asked worriedly.
    “You say self-confidence,” she teased. “I say arrogance.”
    “I’ll work on that,” he promised.
    “We’ll see.”
    “Hey, I’m all for self-improvement, especially if it means you’ll eventually say yes to having dinner with me.”
    “Self-improvement should be its own reward,” she said.
    “Good night.”
    “Do you need a lift?” he asked hopefully.
    “No, thanks. I have my car.”
    “Then, can you give me a lift?”
    “What about the car in which you just offered to drive me home?”
    He shrugged. “I’ll get it tomorrow.”
    For the first time all evening, she laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”
    He shrugged, unrepentant. “You’re not the first person to tell me that this weekend.”
    “Apparently the women in your life are all on to you.”
    “The other one was my mother,” he admitted.
    “Well, I rest my case. She would definitely know.”
    She climbed into her sporty little convertible, gave him a jaunty wave and drove off, leaving him in her dust. Being rejected by Jeanette Brioche was getting to be a little hard on his ego, which of course only made him more determined to win her over. He had a hunch he knew the rules of this game far better than she did and, in the end, he never lost. Not when something mattered to him. Despite knowing that the Christmas committee would throw him into contact with the elusive Jeanette, Tom had hoped Howard would back off for a while. Unfortunately, when he arrived at work on Monday morning, it rapidly became evident that this was one area in which the mayor was highly efficient. Tom’s secretary beamed at him.
    “The committee’s waiting for you in the conference room,” Teresa announced. “I’ve had coffee and doughnuts brought in.”
    Tom frowned at her. “What committee? I don’t have a meeting on my calendar for this morning.”
    Her smile never wavered. “Oh, dear, I must have forgotten to make a note of it on that calendar you insist on keeping yourself. It’s on the one I keep.”
    “What committee, Teresa?” he repeated impatiently.
    “Christmas festival, of course. I know Howard discussed it with you. He asked me to set it up.”
    Sneaky SOB, Tom thought uncharitably. And as for Teresa and her annoying tendency to take orders from people like Howard Lewis, she did know more than anyone else about how this place operated. He needed her. Otherwise his career in public service in Serenity was going to be very short-lived. That might make his folks happy, but he didn’t want his career to falter even slightly because he’d offended a knowledgeable secretary within his first two weeks on the job.
    “Okay, give me a quick rundown on the committee members,” he said, grimly determined to see this through. Once it was over, perhaps he could reconsider whether he was at all suited to a life of public service, after all. It had sounded darn noble once upon a time, but that was before he’d been confronted with making decisions about hanging snowflakes on the town green or whether Santa’s chair needed to be repainted with gold and adorned with glitter or whatever other little crises this committee dreamed up to waste his time. He was pretty sure nothing like this had ever been mentioned in any of his public-administration courses. And he definitely hadn’t run into this sort of thing during his tenure in the planning and finance departments of the other towns in which he’d worked. He listened as Teresa described the makeup on the committee. In addition to Howard and Jeanette, the other two members were Ronnie Sullivan, who owned the hardware store on Main Street, and Mary Vaughn Lewis, the president of the chamber of commerce.
    “You’ll want to watch out for Mary Vaughn,” Teresa added. “She’s bound to make a play for you. It’s what she does.”
    Tom appreciated the warning, though he couldn’t help wondering if another woman’s interest might be just what he needed to spark a little life into the