Fool for Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

bar, drink in hand. Working his way through the crowded tables, he assured himself Luke was wrong. The sweet-natured woman who’d knocked Devlin’s food basket and guarded heart for a loop could not be the same reckless free spirit who manipulated rich men and snowed dotty old women like Gram. Curiosity warred with dread. Either Melon Girl was someone other than Miss Madison or Miss Madison was even more dangerous than he’d first assumed.
    *   *   *
    “All I know,” Chloe continued in mid-thought as Monica returned from the ladies’ room, “is that I’m fed up with bossy men.”
    Her celebration dinner had turned into a bitch fest, soon after they’d toasted her “special honor.” All Chloe could think about was the graduation cake she’d baked and how Ryan had ruined her day with his betrayal. Yes, she’d spewed to Monica on the phone, but it wasn’t the same as face-to-face. At least tonight she was calm. She didn’t cry. Didn’t even raise her voice. She even refrained from cursing the other woman. Mostly, she was bitter because she’d given up a life she’d loved, along with a good many friends, because Ryan had convinced her it was time to settle down and commit personally and professionally. Something her dad had been preaching for years, only it had sounded different coming from a guy she was crazy about.
    “So you said, although I never really thought of your dad as bossy, hon. Even though he’s always been distant, he caters to your whims. Or at least he did before you moved in with Ryan.”
    “My point exactly,” Chloe said as they picked at the appetizer smorgasbord. “He thought he could bully me into walking away from the man I loved by cutting me off financially.”
    “Well, you showed him.”
    “I suppose.” She hadn’t missed the money, because Ryan had insisted paying the majority of their rent. But she had missed the weekly phone calls. They’d talk about his life in Indiana and her life in New York. They’d had an amiable long-distance relationship. Now they only talked once in a blue moon and it was always strained.
    “When are you going to tell him Ryan split?”
    “When I’m ready to hear a big fat I told you so. ”
    “Which intimates never.”
    “I’ll tell him. When the timing’s right.”
    “Which intimates never.”
    “I’ll call him in a few days,” Chloe grumbled while finishing her second glass of champagne. “After I’m settled in at Mrs. Monroe’s. I just … I want to feel somewhat stable when he offers to fly out to help me pick up the pieces of my life.”
    “Spin it so that he focuses on the fact that you’re putting your diploma to good use. You found something you excel at, something you love, and something you’re sticking with. Right?”
    The hesitance in that last word wounded Chloe, though she tried not to show it. Even her best friend questioned her ability to commit to a profession. “Right,” she said, and she meant it. “Although I wouldn’t call cooking meals for Mrs. Monroe a great use of a diploma from the Culinary Arts Institute.”
    “Think of it as a segue,” Monica said with a tender smile.
    Chloe smiled back and, eager to shift the conversation, sampled the Baked Onion and Apple Soup. The contrasting flavors danced on her tongue and initiated a sigh of pure bliss. “You’re right. Beyond scrumptious.”
    Behind Monica’s rectangular glasses, her brown eyes rounded. Leaning in, she whispered, “Speaking of scrumptious…”
    “Ladies.”
    Chloe glanced over her shoulder and nearly spit soup at the shock of seeing Sausage Guy. He’d changed into a fresh shirt, but other than that he looked exactly as she remembered—handsome and thigh-sweat sexy. Embarrassed for ogling, she flushed head to toe. “Hi.”
    “Hi.”
    She opened her mouth to add something pleasant or witty, but nothing came out. Her brain clogged with a collage of erotic images and thoughts. Good Lord.
    “Mind if I join you?”
    Monica, who’d