The Stranger: The Heroes of Heyday (Harlequin Superromance No. 1266) by Kathleen O`Brien

“If you dorks really are going to start a brawl in here, I guess I would rather be someplace else.”
    She reached over and gave him a kiss. Usually they pecked on the cheek, but this seemed to call for something more heartfelt. She pressed her lips to his, and as she straightened up she whispered, “Thanks.”
    He winked and grinned. “No problem, sweetie. But look. Here comes our resident stranger. I hear he’s your new landlord.”
    She turned quickly. It was true. Tyler Balfour had entered the Wagon. She hadn’t expected him, and, unprepared, she caught her breath, struck anew with his good looks. How had she not realized he was a McClintock the last time he was in town? Only the McClintock genes produced men this dangerously virile.
    â€œOh, yeah.” Kieran was nodding, motioning Tyler over. “He’s here to see me. We’ve got business to do.”
    Maybe that was true, but as Tyler approached his gaze seemed locked on Mallory. He was probably a great poker player, she thought. His handsome face was as blank as a mannequin’s. Clearly he had been trained to observe, and not to care.
    Well, fine, she didn’t care, either. She had been humiliatingly gullible the last time he was in Heyday. Emotionally tangled in a failing marriage, she’d beenso grateful for the calm sympathy he had projected. Over the weeks, she’d even begun to dream about him, about his comfort turning to something warmer…
    He’d kissed her once. Only once. She was still married, on paper anyhow. And the next day his story had come out.
    As he drew nearer, she gave him a deliberately fake smile. He must know she wasn’t pleased to see him. She’d managed to avoid him for a full week now, even though sometimes she was piercingly aware that they were just inches away from each other, with only a piece of drywall between them.
    Sometimes at night she could hear him on the phone in his apartment, though she could never quite make out the words. She filed that information away, though. If she could hear him, he could hear her.
    â€œHi, Tyler,” Kieran said, smiling and rising. “Thanks for coming over. I’ll be ready to leave soon, but I promised Roddy I’d wait a few more minutes. He’s going to put on a fireworks show for us.”
    Kieran seemed to remember suddenly that Tyler was a relative stranger to Heyday. “Oh, sorry. Have you had the chance to meet Roddy Hartland?”
    â€œI don’t think so.” Tyler held out his hand. “Our paths didn’t cross when I was here before.”
    Which was a polite, secret-code way of saying Roddy hadn’t been listed as a client of the Heyday Eight. Mallory felt a flush of indignation. As if Roddy, with his muscles and his millions, would ever need to buy sex from anyone! She put her hand on his arm, instinctively protective, though he obviously had no need of protection from Tyler or any man.
    Tyler saw the touch. She felt the flick of his eyes like the tip-touch of a whip. Yes, she told him with her own gaze. I was lonely back then, and you played me for a fool. Yes, I wanted to trust you. I even wanted to kiss you. But he’s the one I’m kissing now.
    Roddy must have felt the currents of tension, but with his usual composure he took her hand and, holding it, he rose and held out his other hand to Tyler.
    â€œNo, we never met,” he said, grinning. “You were in Heyday looking for secrets, and frankly I haven’t got any. With me, what you see is what you get.”
    Tyler’s focus fell slowly to Roddy’s ridiculous skirt. It barely skimmed his knees.
    â€œSo it would seem,” Tyler said. “If only that were true of everyone, my job would be a whole lot easier.”
    He smiled when he spoke the words, but Mallory couldn’t help thinking the comment had been directed at her. She hugged her purse to her side and smiled right back.
    She wasn’t afraid