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Eyes widening, Mia pressed a hand to her chest, too frightened to even breathe.
"He’s married," Mandy bellowed. "To me! And we have three children together. Three beautiful, perfect—"
The rest of her words were muffled behind a door as Drew picked her up and manually shoved her inside, pulling the portal shut and then placing his body in the entrance to bodily block it.
As the trapped woman started to pound and demand her release, screaming, "Drew! Let me out. Let me out right now," he sent a guilty wince Mia’s way.
"She’ll cool off pretty soon," he assured, though he didn’t look too confident.
Mia could only gape. Finally, air exited her lungs and she was breathing again, breathing enough to gasp, "You’re married?"
Chapter Four
The door locked from Mandy’s side and no matter how much of his weight Drew braced against the closed portal—which was all of it—his sister still threatened to bulldoze her way out. His body lurched forward a couple inches after one of her mighty shoves.
"Drew! You low-down, rotten man." Mandy’s voice echoed all too clearly through the thick wooden panel. "If you want to live through the rest of the day, you’ll let me out … right … now."
"I’ll let you out as soon as you settle down."
In answer, she shoved against the door so hard she very nearly succeeded in throwing him off it. What followed was a stream of gutter talk so crude he was shocked to learn his sweet, naive sister even knew such words.
She directed every one of them at him too.
Attempting to ignore her, he focused on Mia. She stood in frozen horror, gaping at him with one hand fisted to her chest and her big grey eyes blooming wide with disappointment.
"You said you weren’t married," she choked out in an accusing voice, looking devastated.
He frowned. "I’m not."
"Drew," his banshee of a sister screamed. "Are you talking to her? Don’t you dare talk to that witch. I’ll never let you see my children again if you so much as look at her."
Even as Mia took another cautious step back, her eyes narrowed on him. "Well, she certainly seems to think you’re married."
"What?" he said, blinking back his confusion. "Mandy doesn’t think—Oh. Oh, no. No! She’s my sister. I’m not the man married to her."
"Your sister?" Her shoulders slumped in relief, but in the next moment, Mandy started pounding again, making her jump. "But …"
"She’s my sister," he insisted. To prove it, he slapped the palm of his hand against the door behind him. "Mandy," he called. "Tell her I’m your brother."
"No," Amanda yelled back. "I disown you, you dirty rat. We are no longer related." She shoved at the door, making him grit his teeth against the pain that spiked up his spine.
Sending Mia a rueful smile, he said, "See."
She shook her head. "No, I don’t see. I don’t understand what’s going on at all."
"Let me out," Amanda called. "I’ll make her understand."
Mia jerked back at the threat, and Drew lifted both his hands, keeping the door braced with his back. "Okay, here’s the deal," he confessed. "I haven’t exactly been honest with you."
Mia’s lips parted. "So, she is your wife?"
He sighed. "No. She’s really my sister. But … I … She …" He closed his eyes and pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead. "She thinks her husband’s cheating on her."
"She … " Shaking her head, Mia frowned in confusion.
"With you," he finished.
He could tell that caught her completely off guard, and it did his heart good because it upped the possibility she was completely innocent of all wrong-doing.
