Will You Marry Me?

Mindy had known that this day was coming. Watching helplessly as Tiffany's scrawny frame was loaded into an ambulance, she mentally kicked herself. She should have done something sooner about Fat Off and its side effects. If anything happened to Tiffany, she'd never forgive herself.

"Excuse me," she told Tyler. "I have to leave."

"What for? Tiffany's on her way to the hospital! We should all go there and wait to hear what's wrong with her."

"Tyler, I'm not related to Tiffany. You go and let me know how she is. I'm going to hunt down my boss and make him give me some straight answers for once."

"Bernard Morton won't be at the office now."

"I'm going to his apartment," Mindy said grimly. "I'm sure he's there."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Mindy shook her head. Tyler's heart was in the right place but she knew that having him along when she confronted Bernard would be like having a yapping puppy along when she confronted a grizzly bear. Not a good idea. "That's all right. I think it would be better if I talked to him alone."

Ten minutes later Mindy parked her ancient Mustang next to Bernard's shining red Audi. Hurrying up the sidewalk, she impatiently rang Bernard's doorbell. A second later, his voice came over the intercom."Yes?"

"Mr. Morton--Bernard--it's Mindy. May I come up?"

"Of course." Bernard buzzed Mindy up. She hurried to the elevator, tapping her foot impatiently as she went up to Bernard's penthouse apartment. "Well, well, well," Bernard said when he opened his front door, "what an unexpected pleasure."

In spite of her anger, Mindy noted how amazingly attractive Bernard looked that evening. Why couldn't her boss look like Elmer Fudd instead of Warren Beatty? It would be so much easier to be angry with him if she wasn't so attracted to him. "This isn't a friendly visit," she informed him, forcing herself not to notice the velvety undertones in his eyes.

"Then what is it?"

"I want to know everything that you know about Fat Off."

Bernard's velvety eyes cooled considerably. "What are you talking about?"

"Fat Off. Kutrate Kemical's miracle weight loss spray. Somehow that little twit Tiffany got her hands on a can of it and she's wasting away to nothing. Tonight she fainted into a bowl of guacamole."

Bernard led Mindy into his living room. Sitting down on his couch, he linked his hands behind his head. "Her blood sugar was probably all screwed up. I have no doubt that she was abusing Fat Off."

"So what's going to happen to her now?"

"How should I know?" Bernard patted the spot next to him. "Sit down and we'll talk about side effects."

The man was a total pig and Mindy was disgusted with herself for wanting nothing more than to join Bernard on his silk covered couch. "Will Fat Off kill her?"

"Of course not. At least, I don't think so...probably not."

"But you don't know for sure?"

"Look, Mindy, I don't know what that dopey teenager's been doing with my spray. If she's in the hospital she'll be fine. She'll probably turn out to be a great guinea pig for us and we didn't even have to pay her. Win-win for us, I'd say."

"Do you ever listen to yourself?"

"All the time. I think I'm fascinating."

"Why did I bother to come here? Why did I think I'd ever get a straight answer out of you?" Mindy turned to go. Before she had her hand on the doorknob, Bernard materialized at her side.

"You came here because you don't want a straight answer out of me. You want a straight question."

"What?"

"A few months ago I asked you to be my mistress and you acted like I asked you to pitch a tent in field of poison ivy. Now I'm asking you another question: will you marry me?"

Mindy felt her heart stop. "Marry you?"

Bernard grinned, a rakish smile that pretty much answered his question for her. "Why not? I dig you and you dig me."

Good heavens. She had just been proposed to by someone who talked like he was in an old Steve McQueen movie but to her amazement, Mindy's mouth was moving without her permission. "I think I'd like that," she told him, conveniently forgetting about all the lies Bernard had told her, Fat Off and her boyfriend Tyler.

Bernard moved in to kiss her. "I thought you would too."