Momentary Marriage Read Online Free Page A

his ears acutely attuned to Kelsey’s murmured conversation. He’d slipped into her office quietly, wanting to catch her off-guard.
    “…an awards banquet. It’s tomorrow night. Short notice, I know….” She fiddled with an editing pencil, tapping it against her desk.
    Watching her, Jared wondered what she was up to. Ever since he’d come back into the room, she’d been busily trying to find a date for the banquet she’d claimed she already had a date for.
    He knew she often went out with Doug, so why was this event different? Perhaps, his stirring the pot with Amy was having an effect, as he’d hoped.
    Kelsey’s attitude toward commitment intrigued him. What scared her so much about letting a man make her promises? Anything but a wallflower, she shook hands with a firm grasp and met his gaze openly, a faint impudence in her bearing.
    Working his way into Kelsey’s arms and life might call for a little maneuvering, Jared knew, welcoming the game.
    “No, no, Michael,” Kelsey laughed. “You can’t ask your fiancée if we can go out ‘one last time.’ But I appreciate the offer and wish you two the best of luck. Okay. Bye.”
    Still chuckling, she hung up the phone.
    Jared shuffled the ad layouts.
    Kelsey glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were there.”
    “Don’t worry about me,” he replied easily. “I just want to double check the ad. Go ahead with whatever you’re doing.”
    She turned slowly back to her address book, reluctant, he guessed, to make personal phone calls in front of a client. Then again, maybe she didn’t want him to hear her angling for a date.
    “Go on,” Jared urged her.
    “Okay.” Kelsey dialed again. “Is Stan Samuel in? Stan! How are you? Oh, really.”
    Jared’s amusement and interest grew as he listened to her work her way through the last part of the alphabet. No doubt about it, if she lived in a smaller town, she’d have exhausted the male population.
    A less confident man might have felt intimidated. Jared felt challenged. She intrigued the hell out of him.
    “Ron Tompkins…. No, I understand.”
    “David Vanagas?”
    “No! Bill, if the Wallace family is having a family reunion and your dying grandmother will be there, you have to go.”
    “Sam Yancy. Tell me you’re not busy tomorrow night. Not one, but two dates?” Kelsey raised her hand in protest. “No, don’t cancel them for me. Please.”
    What Jared couldn’t understand was the fact that she kept coming up empty. A few times, she’d muttered a name to herself and then shook her head decisively. She had standards, apparently, and some of the guys in her book didn’t measure up. Two names even merited her searching for an eraser.
    “Is Tom Zmikis there?” Kelsey asked wearily, closing her address book. “Out of town…South Africa for three months? Okay, thanks.”
    “No luck?” Jared asked when she put the receiver down.
    “No,” Kelsey sighed, leaning back in her chair with a rueful smile on her face. “Ten million people in the naked city and I can’t find a date for tomorrow night.”
    “If you didn’t really have a date, why did you lie about it to Doug?” Jared asked, mild curiosity in his voice.
    “Because Doug would have insisted on taking me if he knew I didn’t have an escort lined up and my sister doesn’t like being left home alone while the guy she’s in love with runs me around.”
    Bingo. Bless Amy. He suppressed a smile.
    “I didn’t know Doug and your sister were dating,” Jared said, bending the truth.
    Kelsey’s face turned sardonic. "That’s part of the problem. Amy’s really interested in him, but Doug’s not getting a clue.”
    “Really. And all this time I thought Doug had a crush on you,” Jared said, letting amusement glimmer in his tone.
    A little sympathy and some fresh mocha roast was all it had taken to get the low down from Amy on the situation between Kelsey, her sister and Doug.
    An expression he couldn’t interpret