The Boss's Fake Fiancee Read Online Free PDF

it’s perfectly natural that someone might dream up a story like this.”
    “It’s like talking to Nan,” Garth muttered to himself, eyes raised toward the ceiling. He blew out a breath. “Let’s rewind, okay? We’ve got a situation here and I don’t really care how plausible it is or isn’t. Someone told a reporter we’re getting engaged. Apparently, everyone in the free world has already heard the story, and it’s only—” he made a point of checking his watch— “nine-thirty in the morning.” He resumed pacing.
    Melissa nibbled on the end of one fingernail, her bluster seeping away as she recalled exactly how the rumor had likely begun. “You’ve probably dealt with this sort of thing before, right? I assume if we just ignore it, in a few days the story will disappear completely.”
    And if it does, you’ll never need to know who started it in the first place.
    “Well, actually, that’s what I need to talk to you about.” Garth stopped pacing long enough to bury his hands in his pockets. His eyes slid away from hers, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “We might need to…ah…play along for a little while.”
    “Play along?” Melissa repeated. “What do you mean?”
    Garth dropped into the chair beside the desk. He paused, as if collecting his thoughts. “What if I told you I had a reason why I needed to keep the story going, just for a few weeks?”
    Melissa laughed. “I’d say you were crazy.”
    He stared at his hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. “Great. So after that, what would you say?”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Melissa stared, unable to believe what she was hearing.
    “No. I’m not.”
    “Garth, we can’t pretend to be engaged. That’s, that’s…” she sputtered, unable to complete the thought.
    “Crazy, yeah, I got that. But it doesn’t have to be that big a deal. We play along with the press for a couple of weeks, and then we get unengaged.” He shrugged, spreading his hands to indicate how incredibly unimportant the prospect of getting married was. “Simple.”
    Melissa gave a short laugh, hardly believing his nonchalance. “Garth, most people make a very big deal out of getting engaged. They make announcements. They tell their friends. They get engagement rings, and have parties and tell their parents.”
    “I’m not most people,” he noted.
    “Well, that’s clear,” Melissa said. “Why in the world would you want to do this? You hate publicity. I assumed you were furious about the story.”
    “I was. And am. Whoever planted that story is going to pay, believe me.” He paced the room, flexing his hands in frustration. “You don’t have any idea who might have said something, do you? Usually, these things start somewhere.”
    Melissa shivered. She had hoped that they might be able to ignore the whole thing, and her involvement would never have to come to light. But evidently, Garth was not going to let this story fade away without finding out the truth. And as terrified as she was to tell him the truth, the prospect of hiding it and having him find out later was far worse.
    “Actually, I think I might,” she forced herself to say.
    He straightened. “Really?”
    “Yes.” Feeling like she was plunging into a deep abyss, Melissa continued. “It was me.”
    …
    Garth froze. It took approximately twenty seconds for the surge of anger to travel from his gut to his brain. And then explode from his lips. “You? You planted the story? You told Stanley we were getting engaged?”
    “No, no, no!” Melissa said quickly. “I never talked to any reporter.”
    “Explain,” he bit out.
    How had he missed the signs? Why had he trusted her, even for a minute?
    Melissa swallowed twice, in rapid succession. “You remember how I was talking to Mark Venshiner at the conference yesterday? Well, the thing is, he and I were pretty serious for a while.”
    “You were involved with Venshiner?” Garth’s lip curled. He’d known Melissa had worked for