Mandy Makes Her Mark Read Free

switching his accessories to match the gowns. An easy shoot for Tad, something Mandy hoped he was grateful for.
    Lark softened considerably when Mandy offered a five percent discount above and beyond the reduction in rates made possible by Luna’s attrition.
    â€œI’m sure you’ll be very pleased with Sylvie,” Mandy said, as the meeting concluded. “She is, ah, very talented.”
    Lark merely grunted. “I’ll show myself out.”
    Once he was gone, Mandy sank back in her chair, letting out a faint moan. Ordinarily she was on edge around Tad, who had to be one of the gloomiest men she had ever met. His long silences and glowering expressions were bad enough; the fact that they paradoxically stirred something animal and untamed in Mandy only made things worse. The only thing that prevented Mandy’s mortification at being attracted to her sister’s boyfriend was that every other woman who met him was as well—it simply couldn’t be helped.
    Tad made no move to leave. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest and gave her a look of intense scrutiny. “So. Luna told you.”
    â€œHow could you let this happen, Tad?”
    His face, every flawless square inch of it, darkened. “Let what, exactly, happen, Mandy? Let your sister indulge her latest whim? Funny, I didn’t realize it was my job to stop her. Since you’ve been doing such a fantastic job.”
    Ouch. Direct hit. Still, even if Tad was insufferable most of the time, he rarely acknowledged what they both knew to be true: Luna had done exactly what she wanted from day one of their joint enterprise, and Mandy had never been able to stop her.
    â€œOkay.” Mandy forced herself to calm down. “Okay, look, she’s gone and we’ll have to deal with that, probably each of us in our own way, when we get back. Now I’ve got to somehow get coverage for the rest of the week, rework the schedule, make sure we can get an extra room, pack, book my flight—what time did I book the rest of you for, anyway?”
    Tad’s expression twisted briefly into a smile. He was enjoying her pain, it was clear. “Six o’clock. Out of LAX.”
    Mandy muttered under her breath. Now she remembered. Flying out of Burbank would have been so much easier, but she’d saved a few bucks by getting flights with a layover from the larger airport. She’d have to get up at three o’clock to get to the airport on time.
    But she wasn’t about to give Tad the satisfaction of seeing her sweat. “Six. Right. Of course. Well, I’ll see you at the airport, then.”
    â€œSure.” Tad hesitated, and for a moment Mandy thought he was about to say something about Luna.
    Don’t , she telegraphed with all her might. She and Tad had shared a mutual antipathy for each other from the moment they met. It would be a terrible idea to find common ground now, as satisfying as it might be to have someone to unite with against her sister.
    â€œI saw it coming,” she blurted. “You were never right for her. I’m only surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
    She’d caught him with his mouth open, about to speak. Now, he closed it, slowly, and nodded.
    â€œExactly what I was going to say,” he muttered, pushing back his chair. He was up and out of the room, trailing his air of sensual ennui behind him, before Mandy could think of a proper rejoinder.
    Outside in the cramped office she could hear Liam, her assistant, humming along to Mylie Cyrus’s latest hit. A moment later the door slammed, and Tad was gone.
    Luna. Tad. Sylvie. Jayde. Her best models, all carefully booked into the Lark shoot, one of the most important of the season. It had taken skillful negotiating to land the contract, convincing Lark of the advantages of hiring a team that frequently worked together. Now, that façade had broken apart right in front of him. And Lark was connected–he