Something Borrowed. Jule McBride

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the reality-show staff from wrestling him out of his beloved jeans. She glanced around. Where were the other contestants, anyway? Had they exited by another doorway? And why wasn’t he saying anything?

      When he finally did, he said, “You’re not Edie?”

      She hated to disappoint him. Feeling a twinge of guilt, she rushed on. “Uh…I know I look like her tonight. I mean, with the blown-out hair and makeup.” She was even wearing panty hose. “But…” In mid-sentence, her mouth went dry again. He really was incredibly good-looking. Somehow, she managed to repeat, “Uh…no, I’m not Edie.”

      He said the last thing expected. “Uh…no shit, Marley.”

      Her heart fluttered. “You knew?” Oh, this made everything so much worse.

      “Uh…yeah.”

      She squinted. “So, why did you look surprised?”

      “Uh…I thought you knew that I knew that you weren’t…” His voice trailed off.

      At what exact point had he known? She had to ask. “When? Before or after?” The kiss.

      He rubbed a jaw that was turning dark with five-o’clock stubble, his equally dark eyebrows knitting together. “I suspected all along,” he said in a slow drawl. “But I wasn’t sure until you kissed me. Let’s just say…you two don’t kiss alike.”

      “TMI,” she managed to say, not about to encourage anything more about her sister’s kissing habits.

      “TMI?”

      “Too much information.”

      “You asked me,” he pointed out.

      “I didn’t kiss you, though. You kissed me.” Big difference. How could men be so deluded? Marley hated to generalize, but it wasn’t just Cash who seemed too full of himself. Lots of men overestimated their prowess. Marley was hardly the first woman to notice, either. History was full of astute women who had managed to pick up on this. “I did nothing,” she clarified, hoping he understood. “I sat there in stunned silence.”

      Those inky eyes, so alive with shadow, widened. “Really?”

      Why didn’t he seem to believe her? “Just now—” Marley jerked her thumb back toward the studio. “When you kissed me,” she continued, placing correct emphasis on the pronouns, “my mouth dropped open in shock. Maybe you saw more into that than it really was, Cash.”

      “Maybe so,” he said, the words running together like molasses, his lips pursing pensively, “and since I pride myself on paying close attention, Marley, I have to apologize. I don’t know what confused me more, the way you flung your arms around my neck, or the way you went at me with all that tongue action.”

      “Do men really say things like this?” she muttered. “Tongue action?”

      He looked like he was fighting a smile. “Apparently, some do.”

      Had she used her tongue? Had she wrapped her arms around his neck? Shutting her eyes briefly, she tried to remember, but she drew a blank. Surely, he was wrong. She’d remember if she’d kissed him back. “Look,” she began diplomatically, opening her eyes. “On this issue, let’s agree to disagree. Apparently, we each have our own version.”

      Before he could contradict her, she quickly cleared her throat. “And my being on the show wasn’t intentional,” she plunged on. “Edie had nothing to do with it. She doesn’t even know. She asked me to come here, but not to be on the show with you. I mean, it’s not like we were trading places with each other, the way we did when we were kids.” He was looking at her expectantly, so she added, “It’s a long story….”

      “I’ve got all night.”

      “Well, I don’t,” she assured quickly.

      “If you’re in a hurry, I’m all ears.”

      Still trying to ignore the fact that they’d kissed at all, much less on national television, she took a deep breath and said, “Edie’s been trying to call you all day.” She tried to keep the accusation from her tone, but still, if Cash had made himself available to his own girlfriend, none of this would have happened. “She said you disappeared, but she wanted you to know she had second thoughts about being on the show.”

      “She couldn’t come?”

      “She got hung up.” When he didn’t look convinced, she added, “Really. She had to pick up ring designs from Bridget before she met the Dardens for a wedding-planning meeting.”

      “So she sent you?”

      “Sent would be strong,” Marley corrected, hardly about to divulge her own plans to interrogate him. “She asked and I agreed.” She wouldn’t have it implied that she took orders from Edie. “I tried to call your hotel and your cell phone, but there was no answer. I came here to leave a message, but one thing led to another. The male and female contestants were separated,” she explained, “and before I could stop them, the staff pushed me into the green room.”

      “Even after you said you wanted off the show?”

      She nodded. “I was trying to make them stop putting on makeup…”

      He looked at her as if noticing the eye shadow for the first time. “Understandable.”

      “And nails.” She held up blood-red talons. “They seemed to think lots of color would play well for the camera—” Pausing, she scrutinized him. “I can see now that only women were targeted, and the men were spared.”

      Cash deadpanned. “You don’t like my blow-dry?”

      “You even got to wear jeans.”

      “They said I had cowboy appeal.”

      “Cowboy appeal?”

      He shrugged. “The boots.”

      “The only thing about me they liked was Edie’s hairdo.” Puffing her cheeks, she realized Cash’s eyes had locked on to hers. Whew. Some eyes. How come Edie hadn’t responded to this guy? Suddenly, everything went still. She registered the people milling around them and the fact that, despite the crowd, she felt as if she were alone with him.

      “I like you better in sweatpants.”

      Marley wished he hadn’t said it. “You like sweatpants?”

      “Not so much as the sports bras and ripped midriffs that go with them.”

      “Hmm.” This was the guy whom Edie had sworn lacked testosterone? Granted, Marley tried to stay out of her sister’s love life, which was easy, since it was virtually nonexistent, but still, she’d gotten roped into at least one conversation about Cash’s supposed deficiencies. Definitely, she had to draw some very firm boundaries here. “Well, you’ve probably noticed that, uh, I’m not very available.”

      “You’re abrupt,” he agreed, a slow, sexy smile saying he didn’t mind in the least. “Downright rude the day I offered you a ride.”

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ