A Wife by Accident Read Free

from K. L. Mark Enterprises, and actually find a job she enjoyed. Who knew? Maybe she was fated to become an interior designer and this was the universe’s way of showing her. And all it would take was six months of acting like Gary Tarleton’s wife. How bad could that really be?
    With a tremble, she took a roller ball pen from her purse and signed her name plain as day in indelible blue ink.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Two
    Hayely put the key Gary had sent her into the lock of his front door. She didn’t think anyone was home yet—the place was far too quiet. She’d driven around the block several times before finally working up the courage to turn into his long, winding driveway.
    The address matched the one on the note he’d sent, but she must have made a mistake somewhere along the line. This creation of light grey stonework and colorful stained glass wasn’t a house; it came closer to being a castle, one with so much land behind it that she knew she was entering a kingdom.
    Hayely walked up the grand cement stairs and gave the key a firm twist . To her amazement, the big wooden doors yawned open at her touch. She walked in and shut the doors behind her with a thud and click that echoed through the empty foyer.
    “Anybody home?” she called and was greeted only with the sound of her own voice coming back to her. She wondered where anyone who lived in a place like this usually went on a Saturday morning. Probably on a jet tour of Europe, she supposed.
    There wasn’t a stick of furniture as far as she could see. An enormous staircase spiraled upward in front of her and the marble floor of the entryway made her afraid to step on it. There wasn’t so much as a throw rug or a leafy green houseplant to decorate the place. She kicked her shoes off to the side. She hoped more than anything that she wouldn’t be expected to do all the housekeeping, too.
    “It’s no wonder he needed a decorator,” she whispered to herself as she craned her neck back to look up at the high ceiling.
    “It’s high time, too. The place has been empty a couple of months now. We’d both like to stop eating off of cardboard boxes.”
    “I didn’t think anyone was here.” Her hand flew to her chest. She turned to see a slender man with striking auburn hair leaning against the wall underneath one of the massive stained glass windows. He gave her a pleasant smile, a genuine greeting without hesitation.
    “I’m Charlie,” he said as he shook her hand. “I sort of help Gary out with things. He told me to expect you. The uh—minister should be here any time now. Guess I’m the witness, huh?”
    Hayely swallowed hard. “I imagine it’s better just to get it over with.” She reminded herself that she had entered a business deal—a very lucrative one if she could just get through the next few minutes. She shook her head at her own thoughts. What had she expected anyway? Flowers, gifts and a reception? A honeymoon with champagne and chocolates? Not in her lifetime, she’d bet. And especially not in this strange situation she’d managed to get herself into.
    Charlie looked at her with sympathy. “I tried to talk him out of this, but it’s really the only way we could come up with.”
    “The only way for what? I know why I’m here. I just don’t know why he is. I don’t even know who he is for that matter.”
    “You don’t know who Gary Tarleton is? Don’t you ever read a newspaper or turn on the local news?”
    A peculiar twist caught Hayely’s insides. Maybe she was biting off more than she could chew. She could live on macaroni and cheese, have the telephone turned off, sell those diamond earrings she’d gotten three birthdays ago—she might be able to make monthly payments that way.
    “I just moved here to Nevada a few weeks ago. Am I supposed to know who he is?”
    Charlie studied her for a moment and made a surprised sound high in his throat. “No, I guess not.”
    They turned toward the sound of the front door opening