Скачать книгу

and her family’s reassurances good enough. Typical, on his part. But she didn’t feel inclined to protest about his assumptions now.

      “So drop off your stuff here,” he said. “Get settled in your room, have coffee, sunbake on the deck, whatever you want.”

      “Type up something on your computer and fax it to Ohio?”

      “Sure. I’ll leave you my cell number in case you have any trouble with the machine.”

      “Okay. Thanks.”

      “Then it would be…really useful…if you could meet me at the marina office, in a very public way, and we can go for lunch at the bar. That’s pretty casual. Tonight, dinner at Nautilus would be great, and that’s dressier, so if you didn’t bring the right clothes I can give you the names of a couple of boutiques and you can shop for something this afternoon.”

      “Okay.”

      “I’ll cover the tab, of course. Tomorrow—shades of irony, here—I’m dining with the mayor, who’s a friend, and it’ll be pretty formal, so if you could get a second dress—”

      “How about you print out the full program for me with wardrobe requirements, as a handy reference,” she cut in.

      He stopped with his hand stretched to open the door leading to the double garage, and looked at her.

      She glared at him. “Don’t say that thing about sucking on a lemon again, okay?”

      “Actually, I was going to apologize.”

      “For the lemon thing?”

      “For bull-dozing you too much. Do you need more time? Are you committed to this?”

      “Are you offering me an out?”

      “We’ve both agreed on an out where it counts, with the marriage.”

      Not “our” marriage, she noticed. Just “the” marriage. As impersonal as you could get. Not that she wanted to argue with that. But it was…sad. Even after so long.

      “I’m committed,” she said.

      Maybe if they could spend a few civilized, conflict-free days together, she wouldn’t go home to Ohio with quite such a sense that they’d both failed. Maybe she would discover why his admission of need seemed important.

      “Great!” he answered. “We can make this work exactly the way we need it to, I know it.” Sierra would have liked a couple of words added, like “thanks” and “I really appreciate it,” but she wasn’t surprised when they didn’t happen.

      In his garage, she discovered the silver Porsche, holding pride of place right in the middle, with plenty of space on all sides. The poor, loyal old decoy sedan was relegated to a stretch of raked gravel at the side of the house, where anyone snooping around would see it and think it belonged to the yard man or the cleaner.

      They roared back into town in the Porsche, and when Sierra went to the hotel’s front desk to check out after Ty had roared off again, the man at the desk asked her at once, “You a friend of Mr. Garrett’s?”

      “Sort of,” she said. Not the answer Ty would have wanted, so she added, “His wife, actually.” She saw the raised eyebrows across the desk, but didn’t deal with them because she was too busy dealing with the strange feeling inside her.

      Ty’s wife.

      She’d said those words so proudly and so happily for four years, all through college. Then she’d gotten her first teaching job and he’d left town, and she’d never said them again.

      Who knew it would churn her up so much, saying them now?

      Chapter Three

      Ty’s marina office was crowded when Sierra arrived back there and let herself quietly in the front door, at just on twelve-thirty. She’d changed into black stretch pants, open-toed shoes and a pretty pink top. She’d also let her hair fall loose down her back, painted her toenails to match the top, and put on dangly earrings and a gold bracelet, in the hope that she looked right for her new role as the wife of a wealthy man in a casual waterfront town.

      She counted eight women milling around the space, after their morning sailing class. Six of them were young, skinny and gorgeous, while the other two would have passed for young, skinny and gorgeous in a softer light. There was also a single, solitary male, around twenty-five, who looked as if he couldn’t believe he’d been so lucky today. Cookie stood behind the desk, dealing with questions and the phone.

      “So fun!” said a tanned blonde.

      “I’m going to take a week of full-day classes,” replied someone else.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4RqcRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgADAEAAAMAAAABAzkAAAEBAAMAAAABBLAAAAECAAMAAAADAAAA ngEGAAMAAAABAAIAAAESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEVAAMAAAABAAMAAAEaAAUAAAABAAAApAEbAAUAAAAB AAAArAEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAeAAAAtAEyAAIAAAAUAAAA0odpAAQAAAABAAAA6AAAASAA CAAIAAgALcbAAAAnEAAtxsAAACcQQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTNiAoV2luZG93cykAMjAxNDox MToxNSAxMTo0NjoyMwAAAAAEkAAABwAAAAQwMjIxoAEAAwAAAAH//wAAoAIABAAAAAEAAAH0oAMA BAAAAAEAAALXAAAAAAAAAAYBAwADAAAAAQAGAAABGgAFAAAAAQAAAW4BGwAFAAAAAQAAAXYBKAAD AAAAAQACAAACAQAEAAAAAQAAAX4CAgAEAAAAAQAAGRYAAAAAAAAASAAAAAEAAABIAAAAAf/Y/+0A DEFkb2JlX0NNAAL/7gAOQWRvYmUAZIAAAAAB/9sAhAAMCAgICQgMCQkMEQsKCxEVDwwMDxUYExMV ExMYEQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMAQ0LCw0ODRAODhAUDg4OFBQO Dg4OFBEMDAwMDBERDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAz/wAARCACgAG4D ASIAAhEBAxEB/90ABAAH/8QBPwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAwABAgQFBgcICQoLAQABBQEBAQEB AQAAAAAAAAABAAIDBAUGBwgJCgsQAAEEAQMCBAIFBwYIBQMMMwEAAhEDBCESMQVBUWETInGBMgYU kaGxQiMkFVLBYjM0coLRQwclklPw4fFjczUWorKDJkSTVGRFwqN0NhfSVeJl8rOEw9N14/NGJ5Sk hbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2N0dXZ3eHl6e3x9fn9xEAAgIBAgQEAwQFBgcHBgU1AQAC EQMhMRIEQVFhcSITBTKBkRShsUIjwVLR8DMkYuFygpJDUxVjczTxJQYWorKDByY1wtJEk1SjF2RF VTZ0ZeLys4TD03Xj80aUpIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9ic3R1dnd4eXp7fH/9oADAMB AAIRAxEAPwDnsSm7JvZj0N33WHbWwQC487Wz+ctMYOXQbRa0NfiloyG72F1ZeC6pt1bXOfU61rf0 e9ZdIc1wcHFrmkOY5hLXBw1a5j2+5j/3XtVnANl7nZljXC9wZi5WRa5725FlJc77ZeB/pqfs1X+l f6WRZZb611lysylIEDSi4ox4ZYskiZCcKqj6fX8n6P8AjN4FxEF3PbumxqnOssaDGjTJMDk+EOV1 mRXtI3sx5gAMJdUdzg1zTU/E9aluxz3+r9ovf7FBrsIVOcLWhz6xua5j9X7i70d/ou9H0Nn85/h3 /mehao8hiYS016N3koyiY62PBBawtG3ce4hmgj81Y/VGfo65B3EjcCZOoP5v8lblgpcXPdk0hpdr trtaAJax21javb7d1n6JU+rO6aMcupbU21h/Rm0vscQ1+5rQPQay6y2tm/It3+n6FteLj/4d6oxB 4tSHZkRwaAvOub4HQ8gq21p2t+A/Ig3OPIABLZ04E9lqVUNLGHxa0/eJV7lDrL6NPPoA0Qwp9jlp DGaonHk6BXrDV1aGwpi2NSr/ANnjlI4wII8fKUrU0WgO417qXpnwV1mMGySdxPeAP+p/lInotjhK 1P8A/9DnawdwPitGlktGpkaN/LH4qlS0gDxV+h+wtJ11Vwh5rIbNdLdHGr3VGRzrqi1wN2mgGg8y UMZLWEsdo0gHTmAZ7pm5+PZu9Nrtwkvkac+zWfpKDJ8knW5IEGAWuYDu9pcSeJAH/fvoysnq9dQp oLG6bQXO5kuEtGv9taj7nOJAaGnQ+7XT6P8ABZXWnh+OxsBoDoadSfo7WrPHzO5rwfRyLrB6fA93 MDUFbVTg6qtzRDSxpA8NBosUsgBpgkHUcj7ytHp3UasixmM9pZY07QXGQ/0yGv8Ad+bu9qu8vIDi JamcGXCA3muA+kQBzJ8tXH+yuX6h1i7Osc0OdXicMqb3A/PtiN7n/wDQXS9YxWnFfjUW7cq+aMWs avsueav1ZurdjrGb2e5cZXVkeo6rY5r2kh1bhDmlv0xDo2vYnZsvFoNlRxyhQOp8G/idSysT2V2F rHaOLgHCOPoP9vtXR9OtHUat9AG9kC6sT7XfySfpVv8A8GuWw8S25zSW2NrcNXNbM6xtZ/xn8pdw 1uRj4Qr6Wyk3V1QWxJLma+idm1m9s2O9/wCe9Rwz+1eoA63tcmWPLHLV

Скачать книгу