Besides, the Chamber of Commerce Spring Banquet was that evening and she wanted to spend the day relaxing and getting ready for it at leisure. Several times she’d peeked into her closet at the dress that hung there. Every time she saw it, she felt like Cinderella going to the ball. Even though she’d been to a few ornate parties, she didn’t think she’d ever owned a gown quite that dazzling in her life.
She pulled a cover up over her when she heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called out.
Gary opened the door and poked his head through. “I had a feeling you were sleeping in today.” The cover slid off to one side and exposed one of her slender legs to his view and he quickly looked away. Then he looked back. A lot.
“I have to plan my great farewell speech for Ms. Mark, you know.” She wasn’t awake enough yet to notice the look in his eyes at first.
“Ah.”
Then she noticed. It was as if nowhere he looked was right, and he didn’t know where to rest his gaze. He could see the silky skin around her neck and collarbone now, too, and her glossy brown hair was wild around her, but she didn’t change positions.
“Gary?”
“Be ready by six-thirty.”
Hayely smiled as he shut the door. Was he as on edge as she was about the banquet that evening? After all, as soon as they arrived, the news would spread like wildfire and everyone in the city would know her as Mrs. Tarleton. She’d been very comfortable with her lifelong anonymity.
She crawled out of bed and walked into her bathroom in search of her toothbrush. She’d never spent a day alone in the mansion before, but she’d filled it up with enough grown-up toys that she couldn’t imagine anyone being bored there for even a minute.
There was an entire media room upstairs with a movie screen that slid down at the touch of a button. Next to the exercise room downstairs, there was a smaller room with a billiards table, dartboard and a shelf full of board games. But then, she might just curl up on the sofa and watch TV all day. The luxury of doing absolutely nothing was quite the temptation.
Still in her nightshirt, she walked leisurely down the halls. In another month, she’d have every room completely furnished, painted and arranged just so. The atmosphere definitely improved each week and Hayely was far ahead of schedule.
She went downstairs and looked into Gary’s den. Had he brought in something new of his own? She stepped inside and crossed the room to the far wall for a better look. There in matching gold frames were three pictures hanging in a row. There was a photo of Gary and Charlie as boys standing together in front of a dilapidated car. Even so many years ago there was no mistaking their expressions—Gary with his serious scowl and Charlie with a wide grin that made his ears look too big for his head.
The next picture showed an elderly couple whom Hayely had never seen before. They were holding hands in front of a large hotel-like building and she supposed they had to be Mr. and Mrs. Bellmark. But the third picture was the one that startled her, the one she couldn’t stop staring at. It was one of the shots taken in front of the fountain. The photographer had captured the two of them turned toward one another, his hand on hers, smiles lighting their eyes—who would ever guess they were only play-acting? Gary’s hazel eyes even looked like those of a man deeply in love.
Hayely’s own eyes misted over and she marched straight toward the kitchen, the place she felt most at home in the house. Out came the mixer, the cutting board and half a dozen random ingredients. Instinctively she chopped and stirred her way into a therapeutic calm. Cherry-chocolate éclairs was the solution for all her problems. Or so she wished.
She put down her spoon as tears threatened to well up again. “Nothing in my life is real right now,” she said to herself as she looked around the big kitchen. “I think I might miss this place when I’m gone. What’s worse, I might even miss Gary.”
She shook her head after venturing the words out loud. Lately it seemed that everything she said or thought made the reality of her situation more solid and terrifyingly real. She’d fooled herself into thinking her emotional struggles had been entirely caused by an uncertain career path, when the truth was that Kathy Mark didn’t concern her nearly as much as she had anticipated. A career would come. Her thoughts were on Gary for the moment, and she had the fleeting feeling that life was passing her by while she did her best to be straight-laced and professional.
After a while, she put the éclairs into the refrigerator and headed back upstairs to get ready for the banquet. She lighted a large vanilla-scented candle on the edge of her bathtub and turned on the water into the shiny porcelain and gold oval. She hadn’t done much to decorate this particular bathroom, but it was next on her list. She tugged her nightshirt off over her head and slipped into the water. It was only a little after noon and she could soak like this for hours if she liked. She didn’t even bother to turn on the bathroom lights. Let the candlelight lull everything bad away, she thought as she closed her eyes.
•
Downstairs, Gary clicked the front door shut and flung his boots with the round laces scattering messily into a corner. He couldn’t think of the last time he hadn’t worked straight through lunch, but he couldn’t get Hayely’s image to leave him alone. He almost couldn’t sleep at night knowing she was in the next room. Sure, he could eat—she saw to that with all her amazing recipes, but sleep was out of the question.
All he did the night before was toss and turn, and she might as well have been a million miles away as just on the other side of that wall. The whole thing was maddening. He had never had time for this kind of distraction, much less met a woman who could hold his interest long.
He’d even asked her to stay on after the six months were up, and she’d rejected his offer without even giving it a thought. But then the next day she’d turned to him for reassurance and even let him comfort her. He couldn’t understand her for the life of him.
He breathed in the air around him and knew she’d been baking again. But there weren’t any lights on in the house. Maybe she’d gone on in to work after all. For Hayely’s sake, he hoped not. Gary jogged up the staircase toward his room.
The door to Hayely’s room stood wide open. He almost passed by, but then he thought he saw something flicker, something beckoning to him in the mirror above her dressing table. A candle burning in the adjoining bathroom cast its reflection through the open door and into the mirror. And there was just enough light to illuminate the bathtub it sat on.
Gary couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t even move for fear Hayely would notice him. All he could do was stare into the ornate glass at the vision it held. Hayely’s brown hair floated loosely in the water around her shoulders. Her head rested against the back slope of the tub and her long eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks. Thousands of bubbles hid the rest of her from view, and she giggled as one of them fell through the air and landed on her nose.
He tiptoed slowly back the way he’d just come. He would be late for his hair appointment if he didn’t leave now anyway. And it wouldn’t do Hayely a bit of good to think he’d been spying on her. But it had done him good. Every time he saw her, he saw something new in her to think about.
•
Hayely’s grey eyes fluttered open at the creaking sound outside the door. She didn’t move a muscle at first and then slowly pulled the plug on the bathtub. She’d been thinking of Gary even though she thought she shouldn’t. Was he really there? No, he couldn’t be.
She took a long time to blow her hair dry and then brought it up into a sophisticated twist high on her head. She’d found some tiny hairpins with pearls attached to the top. When she held her hair in place with them, all anyone could see was a delicate interlacing of pearls against her rich brunette hair.
She took the dress off its hanger and stretched it out across the bed. It was the white-gray color of moonlight captured in a fine chiffon-like fabric she’d never seen before. Satiny royal blue flowers flowed down the material, demanding to be show
n off during a warm spring evening.
Hayely picked up the dress and held it against her in front of the mirror. The halter style top would fasten behind her neck with three slick blue buttons and cause the fabric to fold in soft, low waves across her chest while leaving her arms completely bare.
Her back would also be exposed. She’d never been bold enough to wear a backless gown before. It was cut out all the way to a scoop below her waistline just before it found her curves and glided sleekly the rest of the way down to her ankles.
The clerk, Carla, had talked her into a satin choker necklace and elbow-length blue satin gloves that matched the shade of the tiny flowers in her dress. Pure glamour, Hayely thought, pure Cinderella secretary going to the ball with her handsome construction worker prince. Fitting. It was all a fairy tale anyway. At the stroke of midnight, or six months in her case, everything would change.
When she’d procrastinated long enough, she slipped into the dress and buttoned those three little buttons at the back of her neck. She tucked her feet into a pair of strappy little royal blue shoes with what she thought was a very trendy heel. With a tug and a snap, the necklace and gloves were in place.
She inhaled deeply, loving the way the faintest shadow of cleavage showed over the folds of fabric when she did. She left the room that was still hers for a while longer, and descended the staircase with great care not to catch her hem under a heel. When she looked up, she saw that her deliberate pace had been well worth it.
Charlie and Gary both stood at the bottom of the stairs in their tuxes, looking ready to whisk her away to the banquet. She smiled at Charlie first and then turned her attention to Gary. He was freshly shaven and his hair had been trimmed shorter in a new cut that was very, very attractive on him. Without all the usual stubble and grime, the god-like planes of his face were even more captivating than in the picture she’d seen on the Internet.
•
“Wow,” was all Gary could say. Hayely really did look like a movie star from days gone by. Her bare skin glowed where she must have rubbed some kind of shimmery lotion into it, something that smelled divinely of sweet spring flowers. And that berry-colored lipstick stained her mouth a particularly kissable shade in his opinion.
Charlie elbowed him and said, “You look stunning, Hayely. You’ll turn the whole town on its ear tonight.” He elbowed Gary again. “Say something,” he encouraged.
“Wow.” Gary caught Hayely’s gloved hands in his. He grinned proudly at Charlie. “To all of society, this is my wife.”
Gary placed his warm hand at the small of her back and led her outside to where a shiny black limo awaited the three of them. Seated closely beside her, Gary held onto Hayely’s hand tightly as the limo moved smoothly over the driveway pavement and out onto the road.
Charlie watched the two closely. There was no doubt in his mind; Gary and Hayely had something passing between them that had nothing to do with business. Hayely couldn’t stop touching Gary, whether a fingertip on his arm or her knee resting beside his leg, the contact was never broken.
When Charlie had first met Gary in the orphanage, he knew he’d behaved like nothing better than a scraggly, red-haired tag-along. But in no time flat, Gary had informed him he’d seen Charlie’s gift for details and wanted him to run a corporate office one day.
That was Gary’s gift—giving people self-respect, security and a sense of purpose. It was high time someone could return the favor to him. He just had to wonder if Gary would recognize the opportunity even if she walked down the stairs and into his limo.
“Are you ready for the big public appearance?” Charlie asked at last. “The great unveiling?”
Gary nodded. “What’s in the old bag of tricks for this year?”
Charlie laughed. “I don’t know how we’re going to top last year’s pink fiasco. Maybe this year I’ll tell them all you like women who really know how to slather on the make-up. Or, you know, I’ll bet we could triple Nevada’s cosmetic surgery market with a single comment.”
•
Hayely looked at Charlie in shock as she realized the impact of their practical jokes. “You guys are terrible. You’ll have the whole town scraping off eye shadow with chisels by next year’s banquet. And I don’t even want to think about that other inspiration you just had.”
Gary squeezed her hand again. “Just a guess here, but I think the news of our marriage is probably going to be enough entertainment for this year.”
The limo pulled up at the guest entrance to the hotel at which the event was always held. Coming in through the side door gave the appearance of a much lower-key evening than Hayely knew awaited them. That illusion was shattered as Hayely, Gary and Charlie handed away their coats and walked inside a ballroom artistically converted for the occasion.
At the head of the room, a long table set up for the Chamber of Commerce officers sat empty except for a few well-placed microphones and crystal pitchers of water with condensation rolling down the sides. Flowers cascaded from corners and pillars. Ice sculptures glistened on the hors d’oeuvres tables. The great remainder of the room was speckled with round tables draped in white linen, but there seemed to be no particular assigned seating.
At the back of the room around the dance floor and near the bar, hundreds of people mingled, talked and sipped from champagne flutes. Others sat here and there at some of the empty tables.
“I’ll go on in and grab us a table,” Charlie said.
Hayely rested her hand on Gary’s arm in her best imitation of a wifely gesture. “You go on ahead, too. I’m going to visit the restroom first. I’ll find you.”
•
Gary nodded and followed Charlie to a table with a mediocre view of the main table. They didn’t want to be too conspicuously up front in case they found a way to slip out early. Charlie ordered a glass of wine from a waiter as his friend sat down beside him.
“So have you told her your feelings for her aren’t so businesslike?” Charlie asked quietly.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“And have you asked her to forget that insane agreement and try being with you just because she wants to?”
“There’s nothing going on, Charlie. You’re pushing your luck again.” Gary paused for a moment in thought. “Actually I did ask her to stay past the six months and she said no.”
“You did? And she what?”
Gary’s voice got even lower. “Apparently she doesn’t want to become an interior designer.”
“You mean you sounded like a boss extending an employee’s contract,” Charlie said flatly.
“What more could I do? It’s a touchy situation. She could sue me if I cross the line. Or go to the media.”
“Aw, come on. I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous come out of your mouth.” Charlie paused as Gary looked at him. “Don’t try that Tarleton glare with me. I’m the only one around you who’ll tell it to you straight and so I’m going to. You’re going to let something precious slip by if you don’t wake up and pursue it.”
“This isn’t the place for this discussion. Someone could overhear you.” But Charlie’s words nagged at him. They mingled with the memory of the brief kiss on their wedding day, the image of Hayely’s skin glistening in the bathtub, the sound of his heart thudding in anticipation of her hand touching his arm throughout dinner.
As soon as Charlie and Gary settled into their seats, the crowd at the fringe of the room seemed to shift. Suddenly, all the tables around the two men filled with guests. Had they actually been waiting to see where Gary Tarleton would sit before choosing seats of their own? Gary flinched and ordered a cup of coffee just as he saw a flashbulb go off from somewhere across the room. As he set the cup down, the intrusive flash from an unseen camera went off again.
“Let the festivities begin,” he muttered dimly and looked back to the doorway for some sign of Hayely.
•
Hayely emerged from the ladies room and wove her way through the crowd
. The amount of people in the ballroom had increased greatly in only a few moments and the scattered tables that had been empty before she’d left Gary’s side were now filled. A trio of violinists stood at the back of the room playing a soothing tune and the volume of laughter and animated discussions rose considerably.
“Excuse me,” she said more than once as she turned first one way and then the next. Where was he anyway? Maybe Charlie’s thick red hair would be easiest to spot. She stopped and scanned the room before ducking past another cluster of guests.
As Hayely took another careful step, the crowd parted slightly in front of her. There, standing right before her eyes, was the one person she hadn’t considered running into—Kathy Mark. From the look on her boss’ face, she’d seen Hayely as well. Sternly, critically, the older woman inspected Hayely’s expensive gown as if mentally picking it apart seam by seam.
Kathy approached Hayely with a frozen smile on her face, but there was no mistaking the absolute rage in her pale blue eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she demanded through a frozen smile.
Hayely was stunned, temporarily at a loss. “I’m going inside to the banquet.” Where was that speech she’d started rehearsing in her head? She couldn’t remember a word of it. All that bubbled into her mind were words too foul to say aloud in polite society. And where was Gary? If ever a rescue was in order, it was now.
Kathy stepped toward Hayely and her anemic yellow satin suit rustled as she moved. “I did not invite you to attend with K. L. Mark Enterprises. We are well represented by professionals who won’t embarrass us. How dare you show up uninvited?”
Hayely looked up behind Kathy. Darryl stood sheepishly a few steps behind his mother. A gold chain showed underneath his partially opened tuxedo shirt and the heavy scent of aftershave couldn’t hide that he’d already become well acquainted with the bar. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried desperately not to look at anything other than his shoes.
A Wife by Accident Page 8