Free The Billionaire's Secrets by Meadow Taylor

herself and then at him with a puzzled expression on her face .
     
     
     
    "Where did you get this?" she asked.
     
     
     
    "A private detective. I had a background check done on you."
     
     
     
    Puzzlement returned to anger , and she glared at him with the same intensity of dislike as Sophia had only a few minutes before.
     
     
     
    "You did what?!" she exclaimed. "You spied on me?!" Her green eyes flashed fire at him. "How could you do this? How long was this guy creeping around the shrubs waiting to take my picture?" she continued , shaking the picture at him across the desk. "Did he follow me too?"
     
     
     
    Gaelan didn't answer, and she threw the picture at him. "Of all the low- down , sneaky things to do."
     
     
     
    The picture fell face up on the desk in front of Gaelan . "Don't take that self-righteous tone with me," he said angrily. "It would seem you've been pretty low- down and sneaky yourself." He pushed the picture away and pointed to the open file in front of him. "Why didn't you tell Marcus you were fired from your last job?"
     

 
    Chapter 4
     
     
     
    They faced off across the desk, but whereas a moment ago she had been staring daggers at him, her eyes now wavered. Gaelan could tell she felt guilty. He recalled their first conversation and how he had thought she was keeping something from him. No doubt this was it. "Well, so why didn't you?"
     
     
     
    "Because it didn't come up," she snapped back at him defiantly.
     
     
     
    "It didn't come up," he said slowly. "Just what did you do for a reference?"
     
     
     
    "I didn't have one, and Marcus didn't ask for any."
     
     
     
    It was Gaelan's turn to hesitate. Marcus may have wanted to do some matchmaking , but surely he would still have done the bare minimum of making sure this woman was qualified for the job.
     
     
     
    "Besides," Chloe continued. "It had nothing to do with my teaching skills."
     
     
     
    "According to this, it says you were fired for incompetence."
     
     
     
    "Incompetence?" Chloe said in surprise. She grabbed the file from the desk. "Where did you get that from?"
     
     
     
    "My detective had an enlightening chat with your boyfriend, Shawn." This deception bothered him more than her being fired. Why would she pretend not to have a boyfriend unless she had hopes of putting the moves on him? And, damn it, he was disappointed - just when he thought he could start to trust someone. "I thought you told me you didn't have a boyfriend."
     
     
     
    Chloe looked up from the file. "I don't. He's my ex-boyfriend," she said firmly. Then she started to laugh. "I guess your private detective isn't so smart after all."
     
     
     
    "Then why don't you tell me the real story? " Gaelan said slowly.
     
     
     
    "I'm not sure it's any of your business," she said haughtily.
     
     
     
    "It is if you want to keep your job," he answered.
     
     
     
    "You seemed determined I should quit this job every day," she said to his surprise. "I don't know what my personal life has to do with my job."
     
     
     
    "Then tell me about your professional life. That , surely, I have a right to know about." He could see her hesitate. She really didn't want to tell him.
     
     
     
    " Fine. I was almost finished with my Master’s in Education at Boston College but I had to drop out when I lost my job at a private school due to the recession. I was desperate to make ends meet, and so when I saw the job opening at the boarding academy , I knew I was qualified even though I didn’t quite have the required degree. I must admit that I did technically lie on my resume, but I was planning to go back and finish the degree as soon as I had earned a few pay cheques. When I split up with Shawn, he got his revenge by telling them the truth, and so I was fired." She threw the file back on the desk. "That was it. End of story. It was s tupid of me , I know, but p erhaps next time your detectives should go the source instead of talking to a bitter