A Grizzly Kind Of Love (The Mating Game Book 3) Read Free Page A

we divorced several years ago. I have no idea where he is right now. He just sent me a text saying that if the Shepherds ask where he is, I should say I don’t know – which would be the truth.”
    “Well. That’s awfully convenient for him, isn’t it? One might almost say suspicious. Basically, your ex-husband apparently defrauded the Shepherds of five hundred thousand dollars, and he may have left you on the hook for half. We’d probably have to go to court to prove that the contract was a forgery.” He shook his head. “Well, hopefully we could prove that.”
    “Incorrect use of hopefully!” Gillian yelled from the other room.
    Wynona ignored her. “I see. Is there any good news here?”
    “Certainly,” Roland said, and she brightened. “Since I’m indebted to you for introducing me to my lovely bride, I’m happy to offer my services at fifty percent of my usual rate.”
    Great. His usual rate was a ten-thousand-dollar retainer and seven hundred dollars an hour.
    “Thanks, Roland, that makes my day,” she said with a grimace. “Well, I’ll call you.”
    Minutes after he left, Cecily called her at the office.
    “Yes, your process server found me, and she’s just as slimy and devious as you are. This is all a scam – it’s a set up,” Wynona fumed at her.
    “Well, you can certainly take it to court,” Cecily said, sounding so amused that Wynona wanted to reach through the phone and slap her. “I imagine that the publicity won’t be that great for your business. Also, it’s a criminal matter, because you committed fraud. We haven’t gone to the district attorney yet; that’s tomorrow. However, all you have to do is agree to spend three weeks getting Zane civilized enough to start courting Tiffany, and we will let you off the hook and we won’t press charges. I will have a contract delivered to your office, spelling out our terms.”
    “You’re saying that this mating is worth a quarter of a million dollars?” Wynona said incredulously.
    “It’s worth considerably more than that. Besides, we’ll just pursue your ex-husband, and we’ll say that the whole thing was his idea. His family will have to pay up.”
    “If this contract even exists, then it was all his idea,” Wynona said indignantly.
    “Whatever.”
    Wynona pondered the idea. Zane, from what she’d heard, was a rude jerk, and Tiffany was a spoiled twerp. She didn’t think it was a great idea to pair them up, but they were both adults, and it sounded as if they were both willing to enter a mating of convenience.
    “Are you sure she really wants him as a mate?” she asked.
    “She doesn’t care who she mates, since it will be a mating of convenience. Her clan wants it. There is considerable prestige attached to being a Shepherd. The Shepherd males are known to be the physically strongest among all bear shifters. And our family name goes back generations; we’re among the First Shifters of Virginia.”
    Wynona let out a disgusted sigh. “Fine,” she said. “Send the paperwork over and I will have my attorney take a look at it.”
    She hung up and saw that Gillian was standing in the doorway.
    “You’re going to go ahead with it?” Gillian asked.
    Wynona shrugged. “How bad could it be?” she said.
    * * * * *
    Pretty bad, it turned out.
    After the contract was signed, Cecily showed up at her office the next morning with Tiffany in tow, along with two of Tiffany’s personal assistants, whose names Wynona instantly forgot, and Tiffany’s yappy purse dog, a long-haired Chihuahua named Sprinkles.
    The assistants were middle-aged women who fawned over their employer as if she were royalty. Tiffany was reed-thin, with frosted blonde hair styled in an artful razor cut that hung around her narrow face. She wore a billowy Dolce & Gabbana ankle-length dress with a red and black geometric print, and tottered on stylish red platform shoes. She glanced at Wynona, who was wearing a flower-print dirndl dress from Target, with a