Next to her brother, Dee looked torn between making a bawdy joke and taking a step forward to stand beside Kathy. She shifted uncomfortably in a knee-length black and white sequined swing dress that fit too snugly through her broad shoulders. Her sandy blonde hair now had short bangs that were striped with whitish highlights. Guess she found her way to the hairdresser, Hayely noted grimly.
“I’m not here for K. L. Mark,” Hayely said with a great deal of calm in her voice. From the outside, she appeared unruffled and confident with her head held high when she spoke. Her uncomplicated beauty had already caught the attention of several people in the room, and they all turned to watch with interest at what was obviously a confrontation in the making.
“No, you most certainly are not,” Kathy interrupted with a tone reminiscent of a hiss. “I can’t believe I ever hired someone of your incompetence.”
Hayely folded her hands neatly in front of her, the blue gloves lending a manner of poise to her stance. “As I was saying, I’m here with my husband.”
“Your husband?” Kathy nearly snorted as she opened up her mouth to say something cruel. Hayely fully expected to hear the words “you’re fired.” She could almost see them hanging in the air attached to a cartoon balloon over Kathy’s head when the woman’s expression suddenly changed and her mouth snapped shut. In place of the villainess Hayely knew so well, appeared a simpering woman who all at once batted her lashes and gestured with great lightness.
As Gary took his place near Hayely’s side, a hush ripped through the crowd. “Something wrong?” His glittering hazel eyes bored into Kathy’s washed-out grey-blue ones.
Kathy smiled sweetly and flitted her hand in the air toward him. “No. It’s just that decent people are so hard to find these days. You know how it is, don’t you, Gary?”
Hayely virtually held her breath. Should she say something? No, she didn’t need to. Gary would tell Kathy what he thought of her, what they both thought of her. Maybe he’d turn and declare to the whole party all the shady things he knew about Kathy’s business practices. Then the realization stuck Hayely—no one at the office had any idea that Gary Tarleton was her Gary. Even Kathy hadn’t put two and two together yet.
With a smug smirk, Gary slid his powerful arm around Hayely and pulled her close to his side. The lustrous metal of his wedding band shone with an unabashed gleam on his hand as he ran his fingers smoothly down her bare upper arm and back to her shoulder. Hayely leaned securely against her husband, her curves fitting into his masculine angles so perfectly that the connection was obvious. The hush that had previously taken the room now shifted to a high-pitched dissonance of understanding.
Kathy’s smile fell sickeningly from her face and her eyes widened, then narrowed just as quickly. She took a single step backward as the horror of the situation drifted over her. Hayely felt as if she were watching her boss’ reaction in slow motion. Then with amazing calculation and control, Kathy replaced her mask of amiability.
“I was speaking of someone else of course. We love our Hayely, don’t we?” She turned toward Darryl and Dee who nodded enthusiastically in support.
Without a sound, Gary turned Hayely toward him. She saw outright amusement in his eyes before he kissed her softly on the lips for all to witness and guided her away toward their table.
“See. Who needs words?” he asked with a roguish grin.
Hayely released her breath. “That was priceless. Thank you.” She couldn’t express the warmth and appreciation she felt under the protection of Gary’s public support. But then, she wouldn’t have expected anything less from him. Honorable to the core.
Gary and Hayely joined Charlie at the table just as dinner arrived. Waiters suddenly covered the room, working in efficiently orchestrated rows to place a meal on a white china plate in front of each guest.
“But why didn’t you yell at her? Or tell her off?” Hayely asked quietly. If her father had been in Gary’s place, she was sure his not-so-dulcet tones would have been heard for blocks.
“Why didn’t you?” he countered with curiosity in his voice.
“I just couldn’t. I wanted to hurt her, to get revenge somehow, but I just couldn’t. Not even to her, especially in public.”
“So you took the high road. She wouldn’t have,” Gary assured. “The path she’s on leads nowhere. Let her walk straight into her demise all by herself. You’ve done all you could to get along with her in that office. Let it go.”
Hayely bit into her bland chicken and swallowed thoughtfully. “What am I going to do now? I don’t have a job.”
Charlie took a swig of wine. “Easy. Cook, decorate, swim—whatever you want until you figure out what sort of career to start.”
“You make it sound so simple,” she said.
“It should be. I don’t think Gary minds a bit if his wife works.”
Gary glared at him and whispered, “Of course, you could also stay on with me past the six months.”
Hayely smiled wistfully and sawed off another bite of chicken. To listen to Charlie talk, a person might think she and Gary had a chance at something. Their act had fooled even him on some level. After looking around the room, who there would guess that she and Gary would live together, laugh together from time to time—all for just a matter of a few more weeks.
“Hey, congratulations, buddy.” A man Hayely had never seen before patted Gary vigorously on the back. “I had no idea you’d tied the proverbial knot. Way to go.” He walked away after winking at Hayely.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“No idea. Might be a salesman I met last year. Don’t worry, you get used to that sort of thing after a while.”
As the meal wound down and people felt free to move around again, the line finding its way toward Gary and Hayely grew. Hayely didn’t recognize anyone. She was in a room full of strangers who all seemed to know her.
“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Tarleton.”
“What wonderful news.”
“I’m so happy for you.”
Hayely found herself receiving handshakes and hugs as if she were in the reception line at a wedding. The screech of a microphone being dragged along the front table brought the socializing to a slow halt.
•
The members in charge of the local Chamber of Commerce took their places at the front of the room. Someone repeatedly clinked the edge of a butter knife against one of the crystal pitchers until the guests settled back into their seats. With the attention directed toward him, the president pulled the microphone up higher as he stood.
He said, “Before we start the awards ceremony, I think we have some special news to announce. It seems while we weren’t looking, someone near and dear to us, a favorite past Chamber president no less, went off and got himself hitched. Gary and Hayely, why don’t you stand up?”
Gary stood, pulled Hayely’s chair back and helped her proudly from her seat. Here you go, Nevada—my wife, he thought. The more he thought the word, the more intimidating it sounded to him. Then an entire lifetime with Hayely stretched out ahead of him for just the blink of an eye, and the thought startled him.
Together they smiled and nodded to the room.
“Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to present Mr. and Mrs. Gary Tarleton!”
His heart filled his chest to capacity. The announcement. Those words. They felt perfectly right somehow.
•
The room erupted in applause and whistles before the evening became a complete blur for Hayely. Everything happened happily and fast in the ballroom. All the awards were given out before she knew it, and she could hardly smile enough when Gary’s firm walked away with Business of the Year.
True to form, his acceptance speech was brief and humble, but Hayely could have wept when his appreciative gaze never once strayed from her as he spoke. She didn’t see how anyone else in the room could have missed it either.
With the golden plaques distributed, everyone moved to the dance floor and the bar. She encounter
ed people of all motivations as she mingled through the crowd with Gary, once again giving her best impersonation of a wife. Some people shot her looks of open jealousy. Others seemed genuinely pleased about their marriage. But most assessed Gary as if he were a commodity. She thought he deserved so much more.
When they neared the edge of the crowd, Gary let go of her hand and his fingertips slid down Hayely’s palm as they lost contact. Yet something else connected in that moment and Gary turned to look down at Hayely. There was a gleam in his eyes that told her volumes when she met his gaze.
For a minute, the crowd seemed to fade and all that was left was the realization of the very real, heated fascination that passed between her and this beautiful man who didn’t look at all as if he were pretending.
“Hayely—” he began and then didn’t seem to know what to say.
“Let’s go home,” she whispered into his ear. “Haven’t we put in enough of an appearance?”
If it weren’t for his keen instincts where character was concerned, Hayely couldn’t imagine how Gary could exist in such an assemblage. Would they have gravitated toward him so if he were only a middleclass construction worker? She knew she would. With one look at him, she knew she would. The blatant desire in his eyes sent a ripple through her.
For the time that passed during that look, Hayely and Gary shoved the world away. He took her hand again as they made their way to the exit.
On their way out the door, Charlie took on an impish look. “I can’t resist,” he warned his companions. He leaned slightly out of his way to catch Kathy’s attention as she gossiped with a friend near the door. “Please see that Mrs. Tarleton’s final paycheck is sent to the house,” he said brightly to her, loving the emphasis he placed on the two words that would undoubtedly set Kathy’s teeth on edge.
Without waiting for a response, Hayely, Gary, and Charlie headed home.
Chapter Seven
When they arrived at the mansion the night before, Hayely had been exhausted in the utterly complete way only wrought emotions can bring.
Her entire life was changing from week to week, and her situation had improved slightly in her estimation. At least now she’d gotten rid of the thing she didn’t want—a job she loathed. Only now she was left missing what she wanted, and that wasn’t simply a career calling anymore. Her pretend marriage to Gary weighed heavily on her. The night before, their interaction had felt so comfortable, so vibrantly real that it was easy sometimes to forget the nature of their six-month relationship.
After the banquet, Hayely had fallen into bed exhausted. If only she could erase her recollection of him asking her to stay on as an employee after the six months were up. He’d been honest about his expectations all along. Was it too late to want more? She doubted a little shared time alone would take his original intentions and flip them one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.
Well into mid-morning, Hayely opened her eyes and knew she was alone in the big house. Gary was always awake with the dawn and gone to work before her own internal body clock stirred her. As she sat up, the entire Chamber of Commerce Banquet sprung to mind all in one quick memory. She moaned and then laughed out loud at the same time. There was no hiding it now—her secret was out. At least with no job to speak of, she didn’t have to awaken to the ring of an annoying alarm clock.
Hayely padded downstairs in a pair of slippers that resembled stuffed teddy bears and picked yesterday’s mail up from the table in the foyer. When had Gary added her name to everything? From bills to the newspaper, her name joined his on the label. Curious, she walked around the house surveying rooms. Just as she’d suspected, someone had hung up still more pictures of the two of them together—a large one in the living room and another in the unfinished library. The decorative frame stood out awkwardly beside the columns of empty bookshelves.
When the telephone rang, Hayely nearly jumped out of her slippers and her heart thudded wildly against her thick blue terrycloth robe. In all the time she’d spent in the house, never once had she heard the phone ring.
“Hello?” she answered cautiously. Was she or wasn’t she entitled to answer the phone in what the rest of the world thought was her own home? What was the correct protocol?
“Hayely, it’s me.” Gary’s voice rolled to her from across the line, caressing her all the way down to her toes just by speaking her name.
She breathed in to still the flutters in her chest. “You surprised me, Gary.” She’d almost called him something like “honey” in return and thought the better of it.
“Should I come home for an early lunch?”
Hayely held the phone silently to her ear for just a moment. “Yes.”
“I’ll be there.”
Hayely ran to the kitchen as fast as her teddy bear feet would allow. What could she find? Bacon and tomato sandwiches, French fries and a side salad would have to do on such short notice. She measured a scoop of lush smelling grounds into a filter and turned on the coffeemaker.
Hayely scrambled to find the drawer in which she’d accidentally put the tomatoes inside the massive refrigerator. With bacon sizzling in the frying pan and sourdough bread in the toaster oven, she’d have lunch ready in no time. But she’d witnessed Gary’s lead foot and knew the office wasn’t too far down the freeway from home. Quickly, she pulled the French fries out of the deep fryer before they turned one too many shades of golden brown.
Just as Gary walked into the kitchen, Hayely plunked down a plate full of food on the table. “Ta da!” she announced with a smile and a grand gesture.
She drew in a breath and looked up at him. His dark hair was styled neatly and barely a trace of stubble covered his chin, but the telltale signs of construction dust hung in his hair and on his shirt. Her heart made an out of synch thud just from the mere sight of him and the sensation stopped her in her tracks.
Gary approached the table slowly and without even glancing down at his food, growled, “I think I might have to make it a to-go order. We need to talk.”
Hayely blushed furiously as the reason for his visit home came to her. Last night. He remembered that look just as vividly as she did. She tugged the belt to her robe a little tighter around her and sat down. She was in the middle of the kitchen in broad daylight wearing nothing but a robe and a pair of not-so-attractive slippers.
“I should have gotten dressed, but I was in a hurry.”
“So was I.”
•
Gary slid his chair closer to Hayely until he could see every tiny thing about her face. With her disheveled hair and eyes still bright from sleep, she looked more attractive to him than ever. That she had settled into this home so easily brought him a joy he hadn’t noticed before. She just seemed to fit.
“Hayely,” he said as he toyed with the ends of her bathrobe belt and pulled her closer to him. “My pretty Hayely.” He bent nearer, the look in his eyes telling her that the kiss he intended to give her would be nothing like the harmless ones he’d given before.
•
Hayely senses spun. She wanted the kiss. She did. But for the first time, the term “marriage of convenience” rang true on an entirely different level to her and that level troubled her. Oh, but she wanted that kiss.
Hayely put her hand against Gary’s chest. Should she push him away? Try to go back to the way things were before? Just as she had decided, the noise of the front door opening took the need for action away from her.
Charlie sauntered into the kitchen with a newspaper curled under his arm. “Nice bear feet,” said as he tossed the paper onto the table. “I tried to call, but you had your cell phone off. What gives?”
Gary growled, “You’d think that would be a hint.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and crossly sat down in front of his lunch.
“Look at this.” Charlie looked from Gary to Hayely, shrugged as if some great meaning had been lost on him, and feigned that he had noticed nothing. He opened the newspaper to the society section and tapped the pictures there for emphasis.
Hayely leaned slightly over Gary’s shoulder. “Oh my.” Her hand fluttered to her mouth as she read.
There, on the first page of the section, were pictures of her dancing with Gary, standing with Gary as the Chamber of Commerce president announced their marriage, and a larger professional shot of the two of them that looked suspiciously like one the photographer they’d hired must have taken in the garden.
Gary scanned through the accompanying article. “They didn’t waste any time, did they? Sure did their research.”
“How did they find out my parents’ names?” she asked in bewilderment. “They even have my age and where I’m from.”
“Reporters,” Charlie answered. “It doesn’t take a lot of effort for them to dig up a person’s background. Lucky you’re not a criminal or they’d be all over that, too.” He winked at Hayely playfully.
“We need to talk to your parents,” Gary said matter-of-factly. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting my new contract in-laws anyway. No time like the present.”
Charlie closed the newspaper and handed it to Hayely. “I imagine you’ll want to keep this.” He wondered if fifty years down the road, they would look at that newspaper and treasure it.
Hayely’s throat choked shut. What would her father say? And her poor mother? At least the chances of them finding out about the nature of the business arrangement were slim. They’d just believe she’d gotten married. Straightforward as that. But the thought of facing them so soon—maybe they didn’t know. Maybe they hadn’t seen anything in the media. Maybe she could stay happily in her cocoon of denial and put off talking to them just a while longer.
Charlie turned to Gary. “The real reason I wanted to reach you on your cell was that you got a call at the office a little while ago. Just after you took off in such a hurry.”
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