by Louise Clark
Make Time for Love
Forward in Time, Book One
Louise Clark
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright Louise Clark, 2012, 2018. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-64457-010-4
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Reader Invitation
Claim Time for Love
Purchase Claim Time for Love
Also by Louise Clark
About the Author
Chapter 1
Faith Hamilton stared into the empty office and tried to figure out what to do next. She needed the occupant, a computer genius by the name of Cody Simpson, to abandon the work he’d been hired to do and help her keep the office computers in working order. So far that hadn’t happened, which was why she was standing in the doorway to his office on a mission to convince him that when she called with a problem, he needed to snap into action.
She looked around. The hallway was still, the office definitely empty. There was no point in sticking around. She’d have to leave a note asking for a meeting and hope that Cody saw it and responded. Not that she expected him to. He never reacted to her telephone messages. Why would he pay attention a written note?
She hadn’t brought a pen or paper when she came up to his second floor fortress from the first floor bullpen where she managed the company’s office staff. She hoped she’d find something on his desk.
She stepped into the doorway.
A rustle of sound behind her alerted her that she was no longer alone moments before an amused male voice said, “Hey good-looking, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
The voice was a rich, silky baritone. Faith felt heat creep into her face and flush her features. She turned slowly, knowing who was in the corridor behind her and absolutely furious at what he’d said. “Well, well, well, it’s Cody Simpson. You don’t answer your voicemail.”
He grinned at her, unrepentant. “I try not to.” Several inches taller than Faith’s leggy five-nine, he was able to look down at her.
That annoyed her, as did her appreciation of his looks. His face featured blue eyes fringed with black lashes, a straight nose, and a wide sensual mouth. His body wasn’t too shabby, either, with a lean, muscular build that wouldn’t go away. When? She thought. When did he have the time to keep his body in shape? As far as she knew he spent most of his waking hours at a computer.
She raised her brows and said in the coolest voice she could muster, “Have you heard about Sue’s accident?”
Sue Green was the company’s computer troubleshooter. If an employee had a problem that couldn’t be fixed by a simple restart, Sue emerged from her second floor office to do a house call. Sue was a wonder with computers. She’d coax and caress, talking to them in husky, silken tones while her fingers played the keyboard. There was hardly a machine she couldn’t fix and Faith was convinced it was because she seduced each and every one of them.
Sue reported to Cody Simpson and she thought he was the best boss in the world. Faith thought that was probably because Cody paid little attention to Sue or the tasks she performed and let her manage her time in her own way.
His very engaging smile faded. “Yeah, I heard. Tough luck. Some drunk ran a red and slammed into the side of her car. She’ll be okay, but for now she’s got broken ribs, lacerations, and internal bruising. She feels pretty miserable.”
Surprise made her say, “You talked to her?”
He raised black brows in an expression of surprise, as if he wouldn’t consider any other course of action. “Of course. I called the hospital as soon as I heard.”
Embarrassed color washed Faith’s cheeks. Though Sue didn’t report to her, she was always friendly and Faith enjoyed working with her. She should have checked on Sue herself. That was a mistake and she hated making mistakes. It didn’t matter that Sue reported to Cody. Faith made a mental note to send Sue some pastries from the café where they often went to have coffee together. Sue swore the cinnamon buns were the best in town and ate hers with an almost sensual appreciation. She’d enjoy the treat.
Cody’s marvelous blue eyes narrowed, then suddenly he smiled in a mischievous way that hinted at naughty behavior to come. Faith was still trying to figure out exactly what that look signified when his hands caught her around the waist and he picked her up as easily as he would a ten-year-old child.
She shrieked. “What are you doing?”
Those marvelous blue eyes of his still wickedly amused, he spun her around, then put her down a couple of feet away. “You were blocking the doorway to my office,” he said, as if manhandling a woman was an everyday occurrence. “Come on in.” He sauntered through the door, obviously expecting her to follow.
Faith considered her options. Cody Simpson might be gorgeous to look at, but someone needed to talk to him about his social skills. He couldn’t go around calling a co-worker ‘good-looking’ then pick her up as if she was a cute little pet. Come to think of it, someone ought to tell him that voice and e-mail had been invented to make communications easier, not to shut them down completely.
Which brought her back to why she was standing in his doorway. She’d come with a problem. If she refused to talk to him now and stomped off in a huff, she’d never get an answer from him because she’d have to start voice and e-mailing him again and he didn’t answer his voicemail or e-mail messages. Which was why she’d come up here in the first place.
Swallowing her annoyance, she strolled into the office, her gaze sweeping the room in what she hoped was a coolly critical way. “Not too shabby,” she said, aiming for just the right amount of disdain. It wasn’t easy.
The office was big, far bigger than Faith’s. In fact it was the size of the executive offices and had a view of the Charles River, with the city of Boston beyond. She coveted the office for its size, its view and for the appealin
g way it had been decorated. The furniture was gorgeous, solid mahogany that gleamed deep molten russet in the sun. A Persian rug woven in rich tones of sapphire, ruby, and gold disguised the beige industrial carpet that covered the floor in all of the offices. There wasn’t a file cabinet to be seen, but there were three computers and they were all on. Clearly, the office was a reflection of Cody’s position in the company.
The company was Networking Innovative Technologies, or NIT for those into acronyms—which seemed to be just about everybody in the high tech world. Just under a year ago it won two substantial contracts and obtained a government grant to support its innovative research. It soon became evident that the original staff didn’t have the time or experience to deal with all the work the contracts brought in. New employees were hired, including Cody Simpson, Director of Network Services, whose job was designing the software for the new technologies. The specialized software Cody created was essential to the success of NIT. Faith figured that he could pretty much ask for whatever he wanted and he’d get it. A big fancy office was just the tip of the iceberg.
Another hire was Ava Taylor as COO, and Faith’s boss. Ava was a detail and procedure oriented person, and she was the reason Faith was standing in Cody Simpson’s office now.
Cody glanced around the office as if seeing it through Faith’s eyes. “Thanks.” He headed over to one corner where a small bar fridge sat. Perched on top was a coffeemaker that produced individual cups. He pushed a cup beneath the spigot and loaded a pod then set the machine going. “Want a coffee? Or a pop?” he asked as coffee gushed into the cup.
Faith leaned against the doorjamb and tried hard not to be jealous. The personal coffee machine was strictly against regulations. Ava had decreed that all NIT employees use the coffeemaker in the lunchroom for their caffeine intake. Supposedly that was to ensure people from different departments got to know each other and to generate a sense of belonging to the organization. Faith figured it allowed Ava to tally how many cups of coffee each individual drank and the cost to the company. Cody’s personal coffeemaker indicated that either Ava didn’t journey up here much or he was too valuable to NIT to force him into the mold the rest of the staff was expected to fit.
The small bar fridge, which presumably held the pop, was another no-no. Faith shook her head, a little resentful of his successful flouting of the rules Ava had imposed. Cody must have thought that she was responding to his offer, for he shrugged, pulled the cup from the machine, and sauntered over to his desk. There he leaned against the edge, which put him with his back toward the window and gave him an advantage, for the mid-day sun was streaming over his shoulder into Faith’s eyes.
As she stationed herself so that she no longer longer looked directly into the sunlight, she couldn’t help but notice the way his position drew the fabric of his jeans tight against his muscular thighs. She swallowed and resisted the urge to sigh in appreciation. Cody Simpson might be great to look at, but so far he had proved to be a real pain to work with. Something she’d be well advised to remember.
He gestured to an over-stuffed chair covered in cream-colored leather that would be suitable for an upscale living room. “Have a seat.”
“No, thanks.” The chair would put her back in the sunlight’s path. Besides, she was here to do battle and that was better done on her feet. “If you haven’t heard my voicemail,” she said, “did you by chance read my e-mail?”
He stared over the rim of his cup as he sipped, his blue eyes glazed in thought. Then, quite suddenly, his brilliant gaze focused on Faith’s face. “The network problem.”
Well, that was a positive sign. “That’s right. But the glitch seems to have spread. Now Angela’s terminal is completely frozen.” Angela’s computer problems were a regular issue and Sue swore they could be sorted out by Angela herself if she was given time, responsibility, and a bit of tech training. Sue had confided to Faith that when she’d suggested to Ava that the clerical staff be empowered in this way, Ava shot the idea down. So Sue continued her regular visits down to Faith’s area. With Sue gone it was now Cody’s turn to sort out Angela’s glitch.
His eyes lit up and he looked intrigued by the idea of a frozen terminal for a brief moment. “Really? That’s odd. Are you sure it isn’t operator error?”
“Angela’s pretty competent. She believes it’s in the software. Or perhaps in the computer itself.”
Cody put down his mug. “Okay. I’ll get on to it.”
Surprise flickered through Faith. She’d expected a hard fight. After all, Cody hadn’t responded to any of the phone messages she’d left, or the e-mail’s she’d sent. It shouldn’t be this easy. Still, she might as well be gracious. Maybe Cody Simpson was one of those people who liked to have face-to-face communication before he acted. No harm in playing along. She smiled at him. “Thanks, Cody. I appreciate this.”
He raised black brows. “No problem. Remind me tomorrow, okay?” His eyes gleamed. “Come up and visit again. I can’t guarantee I’ll be any better at listening to voicemail tomorrow.”
Feeling as if she’d just had all the air punched from her lungs, Faith said faintly, “Tomorrow?”
“Yeah. It’s lousy timing, but I think I’ll be able to break long enough to fix the problem. Should only take fifteen minutes or a half-an-hour and I can manage that.”
“Tomorrow isn’t good enough!”
“It’s the best I can do.”
He sounded disgustingly cheerful about it. “You just spent fifteen minutes talking to me! If you’d listened to your voicemail you could have used this time to come down and fix Angela’s problem.”
“If I hadn’t discovered you hovering outside my office when I came back from the operations center I would have been working on my own projects. I wouldn’t have had fifteen minutes to spare. Besides, if Angela is as experienced as you say she is, she can probably fix the problem herself.”
“That’s not her job!” The certain knowledge that there was nothing she could do to force Cody Simpson to do what he was supposed to do had her voice rising.
“It’s not my job either,” Cody said, sounding perfectly justified and annoyingly calm.
“It is while Sue is ill!”
He picked up the coffee cup again, holding it in both hands. “You’ve been talking to Ava Taylor.”
There was something in his voice that warned Faith there was more to come. A coldness that had her saying warily, “I report to Ava.”
He contemplated the interior of the coffee mug for a minute. When he looked up those marvelous warm blue eyes of his had cooled to the pale, chilly blue of polar ice. “Let’s get this straight. My job is writing software and developing the network protocol for this company. If I have time I will pitch in for Sue while she’s off, but that’s it. I’ll help if all other attempts to correct the problem have failed, but I am not the company’s computer troubleshooter.”
Faith’s temper rose. It wasn’t her fault that Ava had decided differently. She hated conforming to regulations that she didn’t think made sense and she really hated being in the position of defending them. It made her grumpy, if not downright snarly. She had to get out of here before she said or did something that would make working with Cody Simpson impossible. She stomped to the doorway. There she stopped and turned back to face him. “A lot of good you are. So what am I supposed to do when problems come up?”
“Cope,” Cody said.
“Jerk,” Faith retorted, completely forgetting her good intentions. She slammed the door as she left and hoped that the force would be enough to shake the illegal coffeemaker off its perch on the equally illegal bar fridge.
Chapter 2
What a day! Faith pushed open the front door of her home. Located in Lexington, one of the suburbs in the greater Boston area, the house was nearly two hundred years old. Designed in the traditional gracious New England style, with a white clapboard exterior and black shutters on the sash windows, it was an inviting remnant of a time long past. She stood for
a moment listening to the quiet and appreciating the stillness before she entered the beautifully proportioned hall. She tossed her keys on an antique half table in the Chippendale style that sat against the robin’s egg blue wall, then slipped out of her shoes. The smooth old hardwood floor was cool under her feet. Her tension eased immediately. She dropped her purse beside the table, then ran lightly up the wide staircase to the second floor.
The house was located on what had once been the extensive farm of Andrew Byrne, a well-to-do and influential landowner prominent during the Revolution, and one of Faith’s ancestors. The nineteenth century equivalent of an in-law suite, the house had been built in 1815 for his widow, Mary Elizabeth, in a wooded area that had been one of Andrew’s favorite places.
The economic and social changes of the twentieth century had forced Faith’s family to sell off Andrew’s land, piece by piece, as Boston grew and the suburbs sprawled away from the center of the city, until all that the family owned was this old dower house and the main house, located more than a mile closer to the centre of Lexington. When Faith was growing up, her grandparents had lived in the old farmhouse while her parents, Chloe and Daniel, lived in the dower house with their two daughters, Faith and Elizabeth. When Faith’s grandparents died, Chloe and Elizabeth had moved into the old farmhouse, leaving Faith in the dower house.
Faith quickly changed into a t-shirt and light pants that hugged her hips. She often came home tired at the end of the day, but not only had this day been busy, it had been emotionally taxing as well. First there was her argument with Cody Simpson. Then, when Cody Simpson refused to help out, Angela decided she might as well try fixing her computer glitch. She fiddled happily for a while but somehow deleted her printer protocol, making her computer problem worse. At that point Faith decided she couldn’t leave Angela to solve the problem alone. Between them they found the cause and corrected it, but the cost had been two hours of frustration and a lecture from Ava Taylor when she noticed Faith working on Angela’s computer.
