Fugitive Fiancée Read Online Free Page A

you were planning to do in there?”
    â€œOf course not. If you want to know the truth, I was hiding out. I figured a hayloft was the last place my fiancé would look, especially since he has horrible hay fever.” She swallowed, realizing the time had come to tell him everything. Well, maybe not everything. She did have some pride.
    â€œI was supposed to be married today. But I…” Mimi’s voice quavered, and she paused a moment to gain control. “I just couldn’t go through with it. So I left him at the altar, hopped into my car and drove until it wouldn’t go any farther.”
    The memory rekindled her anger, making her voice stronger. “It didn’t matter to me where or how far, I just had to get away. As far away as possible.”
    A muscle ticked in Garrett’s jaw, but he didn’t say anything.
    â€œI walked until I couldn’t take another step,” she continued, her fingers flexing on the wrinkled skirt ofher gown. “That’s when I saw your ranch. There wasn’t anyone around but the dog, and he seemed friendly enough. I thought I could rest for a while in your hayloft. Maybe even stay the night.”
    Garrett just stared at her.
    â€œI know that was presumptuous. And I apologize for trespassing on your property.” She nibbled her lower lip. “But I really didn’t know what else to do. I certainly couldn’t walk right into your house, unlocked or not.”
    She swallowed again, her throat dry. “I’d only been up in your hayloft for about thirty minutes when you arrived.”
    The way Garrett was looking at her made her increasingly uneasy. Raw emotion smoldered in his eyes.
    â€œWell,” she said after a long, uncomfortable silence, “don’t you have anything to say?”
    â€œYes.” His voice sounded low and tight. “Get the hell off my ranch.”

CHAPTER TWO
    M IMI FLINCHED as the front door slammed. Garrett had ordered her to leave, but he’d been the one to stomp out the door. Men. She’d never understand them. Her father was just as unfathomable. Not to mention prickly and stubborn.
    Today she’d also learned he was a liar.
    Her chest tightened, and Mimi sat up straight on the sofa, suddenly unable to breathe. Frantic fingers clumsily worked the silk buttons running down the back of her gown. The fabric ripped, and she gasped for air until she was finally free of the confining garment.
    She stood up, shimmying out of the voluminous gown and letting it pile at her feet. Then she stepped out of it, still decently covered from ankle to collarbone by her white silk bridal slip. She kicked the gown into the corner, then sat on the sofa, placing her head between her knees to regain her equilibrium.
    Not a full-fledged panic attack, but close enough. A sign that her life was spinning out of control. Again. It had first happened when she was a freshman in college. A silly infatuation with a charming upper-classman had turned her life upside down and almost caused her to quit school.
    Then, two years ago, her father had been diagnosedwith colon cancer. Mimi had immediately left her job with the Archives Department of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center and moved home, devoting herself to her widowed father’s care.
    An astute businessman, Rupert Casville was suddenly faced with his own mortality. His illness and frailty terrified Mimi.
    He lost all interest in Casville Industries, leaving everything in the capable hands of his business attorney, Paul Renquist.
    Without his business to occupy his time, her father had focused on continuing the Casville legacy. He soon became obsessed with having grandchildren, and since Mimi was his only child, it was up to her to provide them. Rupert’s obsession only got worse after his remission.
    She bit her lip, remembering her father’s wistful pleas for a grandson. But despite her empathy for him, she’d kept her secret. A