Bait & Switch Read Free Page B

room. He snatched it up, relieved it had a cordless handset.
    “Excuse me,” he said again, then ducked into the half-bathroom in the hall and locked the ornate door.
    She immediately pounded on it. “You’re acting strange even for you, Cary!”
    He navigated the discarded clothes and towels Cary had left scattered throughout the bathroom, sat down on the closed wooden lid of the toilet and realized he didn’t know Cary’s cell number by heart.  
    “Cary. Did you hear me?”
    “Mitch. Call me Mitch,” he corrected absently as he hurriedly punched in the numbers of his home telephone.
    Even when he wasn’t impersonating Cary, he never used his given name of Grant. Mitch liked the old-time actor who’d been the source of their names. His mother’s sense of humor, he could do without.
    The blonde pounded louder. “What are you doing in there?”
    “I’ll be just a minute.” Mitch listened to the phone ring at his Atlanta apartment, then figured he better embellish his answer. “Nature calls.”
    “You’re not calling nature on that telephone,” she yelled back. “What do you think I am? An idiot?”
    “Of course I don’t think you’re an idiot,” Mitch answered just as Cary picked up the phone.
    “I don’t think I am, either,” Cary said. “But thanks for the vote of confidence.”
    “I wasn’t talking to you.” Mitch wondered how much the blonde could hear through the door. “For you, I’d use stronger language. Like inconsiderate and irresponsible.”
    “What’d I do now? And why are you whispering?”
    “Come out of there this instant,” the blonde demanded loudly.
    “Who’s with you?” Cary asked.
    Mitch gritted his teeth to keep from yelling. “That’s what I was going to ask you.”
    “How would I know? I’m in Atlanta, bro. I can’t see who’s yelling at you.”
    “She’s yelling at you . Except she doesn’t know I’m not you, and I don’t know who she is.”
    Three quick raps sounded on the door. Mitch held the receiver out so his brother could identify the voice. “This hiding in the bathroom won’t work,” the blonde yelled.
    “Almost through,” Mitch called back. He brought the receiver back to his ear and asked in a soft voice, “Did you recognize her voice?”
    “You’re hiding in the bathroom?” Cary asked.
    “Never mind that. I need to know who this blonde is and why she’s yelling at me.”
    “What’s she look like?”
    “She’s gorgeous. About five feet six with short blonde hair and freckles.” Mitch thought. “Oh, yeah. She drives a horse and carriage.”
    “That has to be Peyton, although I wouldn’t call her gorgeous.” Cary sounded thoughtful. “Attractive, for sure. But not gorgeous.”
    “Who exactly is Peyton to you?”
    “My girlfriend,” Cary answered.
    Mitch’s stomach fell so hard he thought it would hit the floor. It couldn’t be. The delectable blonde couldn’t belong to his brother.
    “You said you didn’t have a girlfriend,” Mitch protested. Cary especially hadn’t said he had a girlfriend who looked like the embodiment of everything Mitch wanted in a woman.
    On the other end of the line, Cary grimaced. He should have told Mitch about Peyton. Then again, he couldn’t be expected to think of everything. The woman was so unpredictable, he never knew what she’d do next. He’d guessed Splitsville, but there she was in his home.
    “I didn’t think I’d still have a girlfriend after I failed to show up for dinner with the Ayatollah and his Mrs. last night.”
    “The Supreme Leader of Iran?”
    Cary laughed. “The Ayatollah McDowell. Her father. He’s the city solicitor, which is what they call a district attorney in Charleston. Peyton wanted me to make a good impression.”
    “No wonder she’s so angry.”
    “That’s my best guess,” Cary said. In the background, he could hear more pounding. He had to say one thing for Peyton. She would never drop dead of a heart attack because she bottled up her