A Proper Wife

“Come on, lady,” a male voice called out, “tell the guy you accept his apology!”

“Yeah,” another voice said, “tell him it’s OK.”

The man with the green eyes grinned. “You hear them,” he said softly. “Come on, love. Let’s kiss and make up.”

He reached out, cupped her chin in his hand, and bent toward her, his eyes on hers, that damnable smile still on his handsome face. He had to be joking, Devon thought desperately, he had to be....

She looked into his eyes and saw that he wasn’t.

Without hesitation, she jerked back, balled her hand into a fist, and slugged him, right in the jaw.

Holy hell, Ryan thought.

He staggered back, shaking his head against the sudden buzzing in his ears.

“Ryan?”

He blinked.

“Ryan? Are you OK?” Frank’s hands closed on his shoulders. “Dammit, say something!”

Ryan touched his hand gingerly to his jaw. “She hit me,” he said in wonder.

Frank began to grin. “I’ll say.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “OK,” he said. “OK, I’ve had enough.” He pulled away from Frank and turned toward the girl, who hadn’t moved. “That’s it,” he said grimly. “I’ve tried to apologize but you wouldn’t accept that. I admitted I behaved like a jerk and that wasn’t good enough, either. But if you think I’ll let you get away with slugging me, you’ve got another—”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean—”

“Miss Franklin! What is going on here?”

Devon blanched. “Mr. Deauville,” she said quickly. “I—I can explain, if you’ll just—”

The manager turned to Ryan. “What happened here, sir?” Ryan glanced at the girl again. Her face was white as paper, her eyes huge and dark. Hell, he thought again, and he blew out his breath.

“Nothing happened,” he said.

The little man’s jaw tightened. “Sir, I appreciate your chivalry, but if Montano’s is to maintain employee discipline—”

“And I appreciate your concern,” Ryan said. His smile was polite. “But really, nothing happened. This young lady and I had a misunderstanding, and—”

“She slugged him,” a delighted voice called out.

The man with the mustache turned pale. “She did what?” He whirled toward the girl, his eyes flashing. “Miss Franklin?”

Devon swallowed hard. Two weeks of pounding pavements, searching for a job; two weeks of hearing Bettina tell her what a fool she was for looking for “demeaning” work....

“It... it isn’t the way it sounds,” she said desperately. “If you’d just give me a moment—”

“Did you strike this gentleman or didn’t you?”

“Mr. Deauville, please—”

“You’re fired, Miss Franklin!”

“Wait a minute, Deauville.” Ryan stepped forward, frowning. “You can’t just fire her.”

“Butt out,” Devon snapped. She swung toward Ryan, her face flushed. “Haven’t you done enough for one day? You’re the cause of this fiasco, you... you stupid, hypocritical jerk!”