“You going to introduce me, Ty?” Mandy said as she drew alongside the two. The man behind the counter had made himself scarce.
Miss Sugar turned her blond head to look at Mandy. Big blue eyes stared at her from over a perfect little nose. A frown creased the woman’s once-smooth brow. The pointed chin rose. “Yes, Ty, introduce us,” she drawled. She didn’t move an inch from her spot melded to Ty’s side.
With some awkwardness, Ty set Miss Sugar away from him. “Mandy, this is Kendall Parker. Kendall, this is Mandy…Martin. My wife.” He practically choked on the last words.
She would have admitted those words sounded odd to her too, except she was too caught up in gauging Miss Parker’s reaction to the news.
“Your wife?” Kendall said the words with obvious skepticism, as if someone were playing a bad joke. “Honey, you don’t believe in marriage.” She shifted her gaze to Ty.
He held up his hands. “She’s my wife, Kendall. We were married a few days ago.”
Kendall looked Mandy up and down, obviously trying to gauge what Mandy had that Kendall didn’t. The scowl on Kendall’s face said she hadn’t come up with anything.
Annoyed, Mandy stepped to Ty and twined her arm in his, like the loving couple they weren’t.
“I don’t understand,” Kendall said. “You said you were working on a project, not marrying some strange woman. Did you get drunk in Vegas or something?”
“Mandy. Her name is Mandy. We’ve known each other for ten years.” The twitch in Ty’s jaw belied the steadiness in his voice. He rubbed a hand down his face.
Kendall’s eyebrows arched. “Just when were you going to tell me?”
“Yes, Ty, when were you going to tell her?”
If eyes could spark fire, Ty’s would have burned a hole right through her. “Mandy, I’d like to have a few words with Kendall.”
Mandy arched her brows but didn’t move. She’d no reason to make this easy for him.
“Alone.”
She forced a smile. “Fine. And when you’re done, you can have a few words with me. Alone.”
Mandy stepped away, crossed her arms, and watched from a distance as her husband tried to explain things to a woman far more beautiful than she was.
Ty could tell by the resolute way Mandy walked to the car that he was in for it.
“So I’m a business project? I thought you were going to tell her we were married.”
Ty searched his mind for an explanation she would buy. He came up empty.
“What would I say? I’m married but not really married, so check back with me in six months?” Ty had also texted the same message to the other women in his life. As far as everyone knew, he was on a special project.
“So you intend to go back with her when this is over?”
He shrugged. “I left the door open. She’s nice enough.” Kendall didn’t ask much from a man other than good sex and a nice gift once in a while. Her preference was jewelry.
Mandy’s mouth had flatlined. “And that’s all you require.”
It had been. “I suppose.” Although being with Mandy, he’d come to enjoy matching wits with her—business-wise and otherwise. Too bad she was so much work. Kendall was no work at all.
“And will she…be around after six months?”
Kendall had not taken the news well. And he hadn’t offered any explanation for this change in his circumstances, because there was none he felt anyone would believe, not to mention it was complicated. “Doubtful.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I guess.”
“No need to be.” He’d never had a problem finding willing women.
But was that all he required? Someone who didn’t demand anything from him? Who just wanted sex and a gift now and again?
He glanced over at Mandy. She walked with her arms crossed and her body rigid. Could she be upset by Kendall? Could it matter to her? That was an intriguing thought.
*
“You’ve got to put some clothes on,” Mandy said as she turned toward the wall to avoid the sight of a naked Ty, towel drying his hair, fresh from the shower. The man apparently had no shame…and a very nice body.
They were ensconced in his hotel suite, the room with just one California king bed. She’d been so distraught over the prospect of staying again in her grandfather’s house, she’d failed to ask if they’d have to share a bed if they stayed in his suite. This was the price she paid for that mistake.
Of course, being a mere hotel room, there was no space for her collection of boots or most of her clothes. She’d have to keep her stuff at her mother’s and live out of a suitcase. Sounded as temporary as her marriage.
“No, I don’t.”
“Then I can’t stay here. I can’t sleep in the same bed.”
The wall was decorated with a curlicue patterned paper, and she began to trace the design in her mind to distract her from the hammering of her heart.
“Your choice. But you void the terms of the will and then…well, what was the point of getting hitched?”