A Man for All Seasons. Heather Macallister

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СКАЧАТЬ happen. He would never have picked Marlie for the type to have a techno bed. As far as he knew, she spent most of her time in her office, anyway. “Just wow,” he said, thinking Marlie had become a lot more interesting and that her ex was an idiot.

      “The bed adjusts for when you want to watch the screen.” Marlie pressed a button on the control pad in the headboard and elevated the side nearest him.

      “Each side has its own controls?” Did his voice actually crack?

      She nodded. “Go ahead. Try it.”

      Ty ignored the fact that he was climbing into Marlie’s bed and stretched out. His feet weren’t anywhere near the end of the mattress, which meant it was a custom size. “It’s comfortable,” he said, thinking of all the things he’d like to do in this bed.

      “That’s the idea.”

      “You’d think. But I’ve run across a lot of great-looking, uncomfortable furniture.” Ty ran his hands along the side of the mattress. “Good thing you didn’t skimp on the quality. This mattress has probably had quite a workout.” That didn’t sound right. “From watching movies and…stuff.”

      Marlie’s eyes met his in one of her bland looks before she picked up a remote control. Curtains whirred across the sides, blocking the light, leaving Ty cocooned in total darkness. A moment later an ocean scene appeared on the screen.

      The camera had filmed from a vantage point on the bow of a sailing ship. He heard the waves, the sails flapping in the wind, ropes creaking. Surround sound. Unbelievable. Ty half expected mist to shoot from the canopy ceiling to complete the experience.

      What an escape. Imagine coming home to this bed after work. It would be like going on vacation every night.

      Relaxing, he stared at the screen as the view bobbed up and down. Up and down. Up and—“Marlie?”

      He heard laughter and the image disappeared.

      “Getting seasick?” The curtains drew back and Marlie grinned down at him, taking him back in time.

      Today we get to go on a hike! Mom packed our lunches—peanut butter, the smooth kind. Come on! Get out of bed, Ty! If we’re late, they’ll leave without us.

      And he’d said, I don’t want to go on a stupid hike, even though he did, and I hate peanut butter, even though he didn’t.

      Marlie had stopped grinning then, which was what he’d wanted. Why should she be happy if he wasn’t?

      He didn’t want that now. A smiling Marlie was better than a crying Marlie. Smiling looked good on her, gave her a friendly, comfortable vibe. If she smiled more often, it wouldn’t take long for her to find another guy. “This is a seriously awesome bed,” he complimented her. “I don’t know why you’d ever leave.”

      “Food?”

      “Have it delivered.”

      “Uh, the thing that happens after you eat food?”

      Ty leaned over the side and checked the height of platform. “There’s room for a bedpan under here.”

      “You’re talking about a chamber pot, but still ewww.”

      He noticed something else while he was leaning over. “No way.” Pressing on a panel, he released the latch and opened the door of a small refrigerator. At the moment, it held a single bottle of no-name water and a lot of potential. He looked up at Marlie. “You are a goddess. Men everywhere should fall to their knees and worship you.”

      Ty expected her grin to widen, not fade. “What?”

      “This bed was my wedding gift to Eric,” she said, her voice flat.

      Eric seriously annoyed him. “What was he, nuts? This is the greatest bed in the history of beds. How could he leave this bed?” Too late, Tyler realized how that sounded. “You. I meant how could he leave you.”

      Her expression didn’t change. She wasn’t buying it. He wouldn’t have, either. “Because…any woman who’d give a guy a bed like this…shouldn’t be left.” Seriously? That the best he could do?

      “He never saw it.”

      “Well, there you go. If he’d—” A beat passed. “What I meant—”

      “Are you trying to make me feel better, Ty?”

      “Yes. But I am doing a crappy job of it.”

      “You are doing a spectacularly bad job of it, and yet you keep hanging in there.”

      “I should stop.”

      “No.” She sat at the foot of the bed by the screen. “I find it oddly endearing.”

      She might as well have patted him on the head. “As long as it keeps you from going over the edge.”

      “I’m not near an edge,” she said, sounding edgy.

      “Are you kidding? You’re sitting on it with your feet dangling over the side.”

      “You think I’m still hung up on Eric?” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

      “Then ditch the drama and finish telling me what happened.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I want to know.”

      “No, you don’t.”

      Did he truly want to know what caused Marlie’s broken engagement? Marlie was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. Not glamorous, but solid and reliable. A team player, not a diva. She had “wife” written all over her. A man didn’t mess around with a woman like Marlie.

      He studied her familiar, bare face and those eyes that met his with disconcerting directness. He could never lie to those eyes. No matter what he said or how he acted, those eyes saw the truth. Except, apparently, where her ex was concerned.

      So, yeah. He wanted to know what happened. “Given our past, I can see why you’d think I wouldn’t care. I didn’t figure it was any of my business. But now, I’m making it my business.”

      She didn’t say anything, but some of the hurt left her expression.

      “I want to find out what he did to turn you into a hermit who never goes anywhere and doesn’t have any friends.”

      “I have friends,” she protested.

      “Your online buddies don’t count. I’m talking about living, breathing friends you see in person.”

      “They’re back in Seattle where I left them when I quit my job and followed Eric here to Houston!”

      A little temper there. “Make new friends.” Anger was encouraging. Wasn’t it one of the stages of grief? He was fuzzy on the order.

      She glared at him. “This is about you getting the place to yourself so you can sleep with Axelle, СКАЧАТЬ