Free Deadly Proposal (Hardy Brothers Security Book 4) by Lily Harper Hart

phone.”
    Mandy couldn’t stem the flow of tears as she watched him walk out of the bedroom without a backwards glance.
     
    BY TEN , Mandy had worked herself up into a frenzy. James had showered and then secluded himself in his downstairs office, not bothering to climb the stairs to check on her even once throughout the morning.
    Something was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.
    Mandy just didn’t know what that something was.
    When she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, she hobbled over to the couch and picked up a magazine so she could pretend James’ rejection of her this morning was the furthest thing from her mind.
    When the door opened, she glanced up, forcing her face to remain neutral. The face that appeared over the threshold didn’t belong to James, although she did have the same chocolate eyes.
    “Hey.”
    “Hi, Ally,” Mandy said. “I see you finally managed to get past the gatekeeper.”
    “It was actually easier than I thought it would be,” Ally said, closing the door and dropping her purse on the circular kitchen table before joining Mandy on the couch. “I thought I was going to have to bribe him – or threaten him – to get up here. He sent me right up, though.”
    For some reason, Ally’s admission filled Mandy with dread.
    “What’s he doing?” Mandy asked.
    “He’s just working on his laptop,” Ally replied, clearly oblivious to Mandy’s mood. “It must be a relief not to have him hovering for a change.”
    A relief? More like a disaster. “Yeah, it’s great.”
    Ally shifted forward, fixing her brown eyes on Mandy. “What’s wrong?”
    Mandy thought about lying, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She needed someone to talk to, and Ally had been her best friend since they’d discovered boys in middle school.
    “He’s going to break up with me,” Mandy announced.
    Ally’s eyebrows shot up to the middle of her forehead. “What?”
    “He is,” Mandy said, a tear slipping down her cheek. “He’s already distancing himself. He’s just staying now because he thinks I can’t take care of myself.”
    “What makes you say that?”
    Mandy unloaded a week’s worth of misery on Ally, finishing with this morning’s episode. By the time she finished, she was crying freely.
    “Oh, Mandy,” Ally said, shifting closer to her on the couch and wrapping an arm around her friend’s shaking shoulders. “Are you sure you’re not just reading more into this than you should be? You’re an emotional mess – and no one blames you, least of all me. I think you’re jumping to conclusions.”
    “He can’t even look at me,” Mandy said.
    “That’s probably because you look like hell,” Ally said. “No offense, but try brushing your hair, girlfriend.”
    “Oh, God.”
    “I was just joking,” Ally said, running her hand down Mandy’s snarled hair. “You look fine. Great even.”
    “He thinks I’m ugly now,” Mandy sniffed. “Look at me. I’m just this awful pajama creature he’s been forced to take care of against his will.”
    “That is not true,” Ally protested. “He wants to take care of you.”
    “No,” Mandy countered. “He feels guilty. I think he was going to break up with me before the explosion. That’s why he didn’t want to go to the party. I’ve been thinking about it, and it makes sense.”
    “Didn’t he show up at the party and apologize?”
    “Only because he felt guilty,” Mandy said. “He’s been planning this for months, I think. He’s just too nice to tell me the truth.”
    “I think you’re completely blowing this out of proportion,” Ally said. “My brother loves you. I’m not sure about a lot in this life, but I am sure of that.”
    “He doesn’t touch me,” Mandy said. “He stays as far away from me as he can. He tries to pretend like everything is okay, flirting from afar when I force the issue, but he’s done. I know he’s done.”
    Mandy was practically wailing now, the noise causing Ally to