Hired by Her Husband Read Online Free PDF

her midsection had Sophy jumping back. “Was that the baby?” She looked at Tallie, wide-eyed.
    Tallie laughed. “Yes. My girl likes her space.” She rubbed her burgeoning belly affectionately. “This one’s a girl. But more about her later. It’s so good to see you.” She gave Sophy another fierce hug, but was careful to move back before the baby kicked again. “George should get run over by trucks more often.”
    “No.” Even for the pleasure of seeing Tallie again, she didn’t want that.
    “Well, not really.” Tallie laughed with a shake of her head. “But if it brings you home—” She beamed at Sophy.
    “I’m not ‘home,’” Sophy said quickly. “I’m just…here. For the moment. I got a call from the doctor last night. When George was unconscious they needed his next of kin’s permission for any medical procedures, and because we’re not officially divorced—yet—that was me. And so—” she shrugged “—I came.”
    “Of course you did,” Tallie said with blithe confidence. “Besides, it’s about time. How is he?” Her smile faded a bit and she looked concerned. “He wouldn’t let me come see him last night.”
    “He looks like he’s been hit by a truck,” Sophy said. IfTallie hadn’t seen him yet, Sophy wanted to prepare her. “Seriously. He’s pretty battered. But coherent,” she added when Tallie’s expression turned worried.
    “He flat-out refused to let us come last night. Well, there’s only Elias and me around. Mom and Dad are in Santorini. And none of the boys—” her other brothers, Theo, Demetrios and Yiannis, she meant “—are here. So he was safe. He probably wouldn’t have contacted me at all if he hadn’t needed someone to take care of Gunnar.”
    “Gunnar?”
    “His dog.”
    George had a dog? That was a surprise. “Did he rescue it?” Sophy asked.
    Tallie frowned. “I don’t think so. I think he got him as a puppy. Why?”
    Sophy shook her head. “Never mind. I was just—never mind.” She could hardly say, Because George rescues things. Tallie wouldn’t understand.
    George’s sister shoved a strand of hair away from her face. “He said to go to his place and feed Gunnar, put him out and absolutely don’t come to the hospital. He didn’t need me hovering.” She shook her head.
    “George is an idiot,” she went on with long-suffering sisterly fondness. “As if I would hover. Well, I will. But at least I waited until this morning. I’ll go annoy him for a few minutes, just to let him know he can’t push me around. And because the rest of the family will fuss and worry if someone hasn’t set eyes on him in the flesh. But now you’ve come, you take the keys.” She dug in the pocket of her maternity pants and thrust a set of keys into Sophy’s hand.
    “Me?” Immediately Sophy tried to hand them back. “They’re not mine,” she protested. “I can’t take George’s keys!”
    “Why not? Because you and George are separated? Big deal.”
    “We’re not separated! We’re divorcing. I thought we already were,” Sophy said. “Divorced,” she clarified.
    “But you’re not? Good. Easier to work things out,” Tallie said with the confidence of someone who had done just that and was living happily ever after. “Elias and I—”
    “Were not married when you went your own ways,” Sophy said firmly. “It is not the same thing. And I can’t take George’s keys.” She tried to hand them back again, but a yawn caught her by surprise and so she ended up covering her mouth instead.
    “You’re exhausted,” Tallie said. “How long have you been here?”
    “Not that long. A couple of hours. I got into LaGuardia before dawn.”
    “You took a red-eye? Did you get any sleep at all?”
    “Not really,” Sophy admitted. “But I’m hoping I will on the way home.”
    Tallie looked appalled. “On the way home? What? You’re going home now?”
    Sophy shrugged. “He doesn’t need me here. Or want me here. He made that quite