Page 66 of Lime Tree Hill

“We’ll make it work,” Hayden continued. “You can live in the terrace. It won’t be any different from before.”

“Why would I want a relationship with another woman’s husband? A man who sneaks away to visit me between daddy duty and sleeping with his wife?”

Mitch shook his head; murmured an obscenityunder his breath.

“It’s how half the world lives,” Hayden said. “Monogamy is an overrated concept maintained by religious dogma, and I, for one, don’t buy into it.”

“Good for you,” Tayla said. “But even if I were single, I wouldn’t come back after what happened. You don’t deserve me. And I’m done.”

Mitch had heard enough. He straightened his stance, took a deep breath, and strode through the door. He addressed Hayden. “What are you doing here?”

Tayla stood and moved to Mitch’s side as Hayden eyed him up and down. “Sorry, I should introduce myself properly. I’m Tayla’s fiancé.”

Mitch scoffed. “As if, mate. Tayla’s my wife, and I heard her say she didn’t want you in her life.”

Hayden stood and puffed out his chest but kept the table between him and Mitch. “When?”

“Just now, when I was climbing the stairs to my home.”

“Home? Is that what you call this tin shed?” Hayden frowned at Tayla. “You can’t possibly be happy here. I’m not leaving without you.”

“Tough, because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Okay, both of you calm down,” Mitch said. “If Tayla really wanted to be with you, I wouldn’t stand in her way. But it looks like she’s picked me, and I’m damn happy about that.”

Hayden ignored Mitch and addressed Tayla again. “I don’t even believe you’re married.”

Mitch crossed the room to his office and returned with a framed wedding photo. He lay it on the table in front of Hayden. “There. Proof enough for you?”

Paying no attention to the picture, Hayden’s eyes stayed on Tayla. “We fly out at four thirty the day after tomorrow. Anna would like to meet you. It might help you understand what the three of us could have.”

“Let’s get something perfectly clear,” she countered. “I am not meeting your wife. Not now, not ever. Understand?”

Mitch walked to the door and held it open. “Okay. That’s it. This little reunionis over.”

Hayden stepped toward Tayla, his expression showing a sadness Mitch understood only too well. “Please, just think about it overnight.” He turned, brushed past Mitch, and bounded down the stairs with Mitch a few steps behind. Outside, the men stood on the drive, eyeing each other.

“It seems you’re quite the flavor of the month.” Hayden pulledhis car keys from his pocket and pressed the fob. “But it won’t last. She’d never had a relationship before me, did you know that? That’s why we work. I don’t expect her to live in my pocket every minute of the day, or do my laundry and cook my meals. She’s better than that.”

“Look, Hayden, I’m an easygoing guy, but you’re trying my patience to the max. I’m asking you, man to man, to leave her alone. With her father’s illness and sorting her parents’ affairs, she’s had more than enough to deal with lately. And if you think you can come over here and throw your weight around, you can piss off back to Sydney right now.”

“So you scored yourself a virgin bride on the rebound, did you? Bully for you. Shit, she didn’t waste any time, did she?”

Virgin bride?

“Well what do you expect her to do? Live on her own while she shares you with your wife and kid? What kind of love is that?”

“You’re telling me you don’t play around?” Hayden scoffed. “That you don’t have any outside interests?”

Mitch clenched his fists at his side. He wasn’t a fighter, but he wanted to deck the guy. “Shit, mate, you really do have a screwed-up sense of reality. But, hey, each to their own.”

“I’m not your mate, and I can’t imagine you giving her the intellectual stimulation she needs.”

“My wife can get intellectual stimulation from her friends and family any day of the week. But the type of stimulation Idogive her isn’t so easily quantified. If it weren’t for your little boy, I’d have the cops come and remove you from my property right now. I want you gone by ten tomorrow morning. And don’t you ever come over here again.”

“But we’re booked until Saturday.”

“Tough. What part of piss off don’t you understand?”

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