A Wife by Accident Read Free Page B

band looped with shiny diamonds, and all at once it was as if her senses came sailing back to her. She touched the ring gingerly and jumped as if the metal had shocked her, but then Gary slid his hand over hers again.
    “You may kiss the bride,” the minister finished.
    Gary turned Hayely around to him, tucked his finger underneath her chin and raised her face to his. Darn if she wasn’t prettier than he remembered. Those glossy grey eyes full of fear and uncertainty made him want to gather her into his arms and apologize for ever meeting her. But Hayely came complete with other distractions that interested him more at the moment. Her red rose petal lips begged to be kissed and he lowered his mouth dutifully to hers.
    •
    Hayely wasn’t prepared for the jolt that leapt through her body. She’d been kissed before, longer and more passionately than this and by men she’d actually known for more than a few days. But this kiss, this delicate brush of Gary Tarleton’s lips against hers, sent a shock through her. Consorting with the enemy, came the sudden thought.
    “I’ll see my way out,” the minister said as he pushed his little round glasses higher up on his nose for the second time. “I can see you two want to be alone.”
    “You do that,” Gary answered without breaking the contact his gaze had found with Hayely’s . Her lips were only inches away. If he wanted to, he had the perfect excuse to kiss her again before she slipped away into business partner status again.
    Hayely waited until the man with his little round glasses had disappeared through the doorway before she took a step back from Gary.
    “What exactly was that supposed to be?”
    Gary’s eyebrows rose at the angry tone in her voice. “It’s traditional to kiss the bride. The minister would have wondered if we hadn’t.”
    “Well, my lips weren’t part of the deal.”
    “A believable, make-believe wife is,” he countered with a lopsided grin.
    “Yeah? And how believable is a groom with three days worth of stubble and a T-shirt?”
    “ Charlie’ll show you the ropes,” he called as he turned and walked abruptly out of the house.
    Hayely felt something akin to bewilderment as Gary left. Downright rude. That’s what he was. One minute he was kissing her, the next minute annoying her—and then suddenly she was watching the door shut directly behind the seat of his jeans.
    Charlie rested his hand on her shoulder and brought her back to the present. “Ready to get to work?” he asked.
    She nodded. “I think that would be best.”
    “Great.” Charlie smiled. “Let’s start with the tour.”
    Charlie led Hayely around the first floor of the mansion. She lost count of how many rooms there were, but she distinctly remembered an exercise room, library with shelves built from floor to ceiling, an amazing blue-tiled indoor swimming pool, and a kitchen loaded with shiny, copper-colored appliances that any world-class chef would drool over …
    They took the winding staircase to the second floor where Charlie said the bedrooms and bathrooms were. Every word he spoke echoed back to them. Gary’s room, an enormous master bedroom, had only a mattress placed flat on the floor, but the possibilities were endless.
    Hayely could imagine a set of gossamer, cream-colored curtains flowing against the ornate glass doors that opened up onto a high balcony. Not too frilly, but not so masculine as to weigh down the atmosphere. The adjoining bathroom with its round black marble tub was distinctly male, though. It screamed for thick terrycloth towels with a GT monogram embroidered in gold at their ends. She knew just where to buy those.
    “So what do you think?” Charlie asked with an eager tone in his voice.
    “I think I’m going to have the best time decorating this place. What’s my budget?” For the first moment in the past few months, she was actually looking forward to something in her life. It was enough to almost push the earlier part of the