An Independent Wife Read Online Free Page B

and the more dangerous it was the more she enjoyed it. It wasn't an act, either. Her eyes would sparkle and the color glow in her cheeks whenever the going got difficult.

    "Let me get this straight," he muttered. "He doesn't know that you work here?"

    "I wouldn't think so," she replied cheerfully. "We haven't been in touch in six years."

    "But you're still married. Surely he sends you support checks-" He stopped at the outraged look on her face, and sighed. "Sorry. You refused support, right?"

    "After I could support myself, yes. When Rhy left I had to fend for myself and somewhere along the way I acquired a backbone. I like doing for myself."

    "You've never asked for a divorce?"

    "Well ... no," she admitted, her nose wrinkling in puzzlement. "I've never wanted to remarry and I don't suppose he's ever wanted to, either, so we just never got around to a divorce. He probably finds it convenient, having a legal wife who's never around. No ties, but it keeps him safe from other women."

    "Would it bother you? Seeing him again?" Greg asked roughly, more disturbed than he cared to admit by the idea of Sallie being married to Rhydon Baines.

    "Seeing Rhy? No," she said honestly. "I got over him a long time ago. I had to, to survive. Sometimes it doesn't even seem real, that I was-that I ammarried to him."

    "Will it bother him, seeing you again?" persisted Greg.

    "Certainly not emotionally. It has to be over for him, too. After all, he was the one who walked. But Rhy does have a temper, you know, and he might not like the idea of his wife working for him, even under a different name. And he might not want me around to cramp his style. I have no intention of interfering in his private life, but he doesn't know that. So you see, it would be a good idea to send me on assignment and keep me away from him, at least at first. I don't want to lose my job." She topped all of this off with a sunny smile and Greg shook his head.

    "All right," he muttered. "I'll find something for you. But if he ever notices that you're his wife I know nothing about it."

    "About what?" she asked, playing dumb, and he wasn't able to stifle a chuckle.

    Sallie knew better than to push her luck with Greg, so she left him with a quick, heartfelt "Thanks!"
    and went back to her desk. Brom was gone and she was relatively alone, though only a partition separated their little cubicle from the others, and the clatter of typewriters and hum of voices were as plain as if there was nothing between her and the rest of the office.

    By the time Brom returned with a steaming cup of coffee she felt more relaxed, her anxiety eased by Greg's promise to help keep her out of Rhy's sight. She finished the article she was writing and felt pleased with the end product; she liked putting words together to form ideas and felt an almost sensuous satisfaction when a sentence turned out as she had planned.

    At ten o'clock the buzz of the office ceased momentarily, then resumed at a lower hum and without raising her eyes Sallie knew that Rhy had entered. Cautiously she turned her head away and pretended to search for something in the drawer of her desk. After a moment the buzz resumed its high pitch, which meant that Rhy had left after taking a quick look over the office.

    "Oh, God!" a female voice cried over the others. "Just think, a hunk like that is single!"

    Sallie grinned a little, recognizing the voice as that of Lindsey Wallis, An exuberant office sexpot with more mouth than brains. Still, there was no doubting that Lindsey was serious in her appreciation of Rhy's dynamic good looks. Sallie knew as well as anyone the effect her husband could have on a woman.

    Fifteen minutes later her phone rang and she jumped on it, an action that raised Brom's eyebrows. "Get the hell out of the building," Greg muttered in her ear. "He's on his way to meet everyone. Go home.
    I'll try to get you out of town tonight."

    "Thanks," she said and hung up. Standing, she collected her purse