The Substitute Millionaire by Susan Mallery

Author:Susan Mallery [Mallery, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Million Dollar Catch, Category
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2009-06-03T20:20:32+00:00

“ I love bagels,” Marina said as she emptied the bag. “ I love the smell of them toasting, slathering them with cream cheese, taking them out onto the patio and eating one while sipping coffee and reading the Sunday paper.”

Julie glanced at Willow. “ Okay, I’ m suddenly hungry. How about you?”

“ Starved. Mom won’ t be back for another half hour or so. We could snack.”

“ There’ s plenty to choose from.”

In one of those unexpected quirks of fate, Julie had finished up all her work on Friday and hadn’ t had to go into the office on Saturday morning. With nothing to fill her time except brooding, she decided to go to the farmer’ s market and wander around. She’ d indulged herself with tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, a sinfully gooey Danish and a baker’ s dozen of fresh bagels that she’ d shared with her sisters.

Marina pulled out the three bagels she would take home with her and put them in a separate bag. “ So how are you feeling?”

“ Good.”

“ Not that I need to know,” Marina continued as if her sister hadn’ t spoken. “ I’ m used to you keeping things from me.”

Julie groaned. “ I invited you to join Willow and me last week, but you had that microbiology class.”

“ Inorganic chemistry, but thanks for being interested.”

“ Marina, come on. I told you as soon as you got home.”

“ Yes, you did.” Her sister smiled at her. “ So I still love you.”

“ Great. Another conditional relationship. What happened to unconditional love forever?”

“ We put it in the recycling bin,” Willow said helpfully. “ It’ s too late to get it back. They’ ve already picked up.” She dumped the container of blueberries that had cost a fortune from the colander into a bowl. “ Berry?”

“ Thanks.” Julie grabbed a handful as she sank onto a stool by the center island.

“ What’ s wrong?” Marina asked. “ You seem, I don’ t know, not yourself.”

“ I’ m fine. Sort of.”

Willow wrinkled her nose. “ That doesn’ t sound good. Are you sick? Too much queasiness?”

“ No. I can handle that. It’ s just… ” Julie hadn’ t decided if she was going to mention Ryan’ s stupid proposal, but suddenly she couldn’ t keep it to herself.

“ He came to see me yesterday,” she began.

“ Ryan?” Marina asked helpfully.

Julie nodded. “ He made an appointment. He’ s dangling his company’ s China business in front of me and I don’ t like it. One of the partners met him and now sees flashing dollar signs. It would be a lot in billable hours.”

“ Which sounds good,” Willow said cautiously. “ So what’ s the problem?”

“ I don’ t trust him. What if he’ s just playing another sick, twisted game? What if he sets this all up and then disappears, taking his billable hours with him? I would look stupid in front of the partners. It wouldn’ t be good for my career.

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