Page 46 of Cinderella Hired for His Revenge

The warning erupted into a full-blown alarm that sounded off in her head. She and Grant had so much to discuss, from whether there was anusto what he wanted to share with people.

“No,” she said firmly with a smile to take the sting out of the word. “Mr. Santos and I met one summer when I was in college, but that was a long time ago. He’s very attractive,” she agreed with a wink, “but he’s just my boss.”

The dejected expression on Ellen’s face would have made her laugh if she hadn’t felt like a cornered animal.

“Oh.” Her eyes brightened. “Maybe he has a secret crush on you!”

Alexandra forced a chuckle. “I doubt it. He’s not my type, and vice versa. Can you imagine Mr. Santos and me together? I don’t think so.”

Before Ellen could continue her relentless questioning, a silver-haired man dressed in a white shirt and matching shorts appeared at the end of the hall.

“There you are, Ellen.”

“Oh, hey, Dad. I’ll see you later at the picnic,” she said to Alexandra. “Thank you again!”

Then she was gone, leaving Alexandra in the darkened hall. She released a sigh of relief. Hopefully, Ellen wouldn’t say anything to anyone else about her romantic suspicions. She would need to talk with Grant as soon as possible and tell him what had happened.

A door creaked behind her. She jumped and whirled around.

“Grant!” Her hand flew to her chest as she smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t even see the door there.”

In the dim light it was hard to see his expression. But she could feel the anger rolling off him in thick, palpable waves. She reached out, then stopped herself, her hand falling back to her side. It wouldn’t do to be seen touching the man she’d just sworn she had no personal interest in.

“Is everything okay?”

“Come into my office.”

She quelled the sudden spurt of panic in her belly and stepped inside. Grant shut the door behind her, keeping several feet between them as he moved to a window overlooking the side yard. Silence reigned between them. The distant clink of glasses and murmur of guest voices seemed magnified tenfold.

Then, finally, “You and Ellen became acquainted fast.”

“She’s nice.” She frowned. “Are you upset because I agreed to do her wedding?”

The look he shot over his shoulder could have frozen Hell.

“Why would I be upset?”

“I don’t know. It’s the only thing I can think of since I haven’t seen you since...” Her words trailed off as her face heated.

“Since we had sex?”

Panic morphed into a hard ball of nauseated forbidding that lodged in her chest. The coldness in his tone, the borderline loathing as he threw out the wordsex;all of it set off alarm bells that something was terribly, dreadfully wrong.

“Grant, what is going on?”

He whirled around so quickly she stepped back.

“What’s going on is that after the last few days, I thought things had changed between us.”

Confusion swamped her.

“I... I thought so, too.”

“Then why did I overhear you denying our past to Ellen? Don’t lie to me.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but the last four words whipped out with such ferocity she felt their sting from her head to her toes. “I heard every word. That we met once long ago? That I’m not your type?”

Her lips parted. “Grant, it’s not what you think. I was worried—”

“I’m sure you were worried. Worried to be associated with the Brazilian immigrant? Worried that people like Ellen Friedman might not want to work with someone who carries on a romance with the man who used to mow her father’s lawn and plant his roses?”

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