The Boss's Fake Fiancee Read Online Free PDF Page B

Venshiner, thanks to the cease and desist letters that Mark’s attorney had sent to try to keep Melissa from working for Solen Labs. Still, he hadn’t realized the two had been romantically connected.
    Garth had only met Mark in person a few times. He’d been left with the general impression of an arrogant blowhard who thought far more of himself than his intelligence and skills deserved.
    An image of Venshiner grabbing Melissa’s arm the day before appeared in Garth’s mind, and he felt a surge of protective anger. Venshiner had a reputation as an academic who liked his graduate students young, pretty, and na ï ve. Garth hadn’t liked the man before. He liked him even less now.
    “Yes.” Melissa paused. “It didn’t end well.”
    “So you told him we were getting engaged? Because you had a thing that ended badly?”
    “No, no, it wasn’t like that.” She shook her head, and a few strands of long dark hair, highlighted with flashes of golden honey, escaped from the loose knot on top of her head. She tucked them behind her ears. He couldn’t help but notice her hands were shaking.
    Garth tried to shake a surge of defensiveness at the obvious tremor of fear. He wasn’t the one who caused this mess—she was. So why did he have the sudden urge to apologize? To tell her everything would be all right?
    “I just, sort of, well, implied that we were seeing each other,” Melissa said. “I never said we were engaged.”
    “Then where did the story come from?” He kept his voice even. Calm.
    Melissa got up from her desk to peer out of her window. The narrow line of her body looked vulnerable, silhouetted by soft morning light. “I don’t know for sure.” Her voice shook, and she cleared her throat. “When he left me yesterday, Mark was pissed. Really pissed. I was trying to make him jealous, and I think it worked. I shouldn’t have done it, I know that. But I had no idea he’d take it this far.”
    “You think he called a reporter and made up this whole story because he was jealous?” Garth stared in astonishment. “That’s absurd. Who would do such a thing?”
    “Mark,” she said, still looking out the window.
    Garth narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you weren’t the one who talked to the reporter? If you were trying to make Venshiner jealous, this would have been right up your alley.”
    Melissa spun around, her mouth falling open in surprise. “You think I planted the story? That’s crazy. Besides, if I’d done something that dumb, I obviously wouldn’t have told you about it.”
    Garth shrugged. “Forgive me, but nothing about your story is particularly rational.”
    He regretted the words the minute he saw Melissa’s back snap straight, and her face flush. Damn it, how could the simplest observation make women so emotional?
    “The guy cheated on me, okay? I was hurt and embarrassed. I wanted a little revenge. Haven’t you ever done anything crazy because you were hurt?”
    His gaze flickered to the full lower lip that she’d caught between her teeth. Something about the curve of that lip made it hard to maintain his anger. “I still don’t understand why he would have said anything to a reporter,” he said, forcing his gaze back to her bright blue, pleading eyes.
    “Mark knows how private you are,” she said. “He must have figured if he spread a story like this, it would piss you off, and you’d make some public statement about how we aren’t together. He wanted to humiliate me, and he figured this was the best way to do it.”
    Garth pictured Nan’s eager face when she held out the paper. He gritted his teeth at the renewed flare of anger. “Did you have any idea how much trouble you could cause? Didn’t you think for a minute about who might be affected by this?”
    “I thought it was a harmless story.” Melissa spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m sorry for causing problems for you, but it’s not like this isn’t causing problems for me, too. I have no doubt my