First, unscrew any atomizer or cartomizer. The battery reading should never be above 4.2 since that is the upper limit on that cell. Since the volage reading is being taken with a light load going to the device screwed into it, there is a problem there. As TJ99959 pointed out, the center pin on your atty/carto may have pushed the center connector, in the ProVari, down and maybe with enough force to push the insulation aside so the center is making some contact with the threaded portion.
It may be possible to pull the center up with a bent paper clip. If doing this makes the battery reading normal and produces an "OP" reading for an atty resistance check (we still have not screwed anything into it since we took it out and attempted this!) then it may be possible to carefully and lightly screw another carto/atty in and see if that fixes it.
Otherwise you're probably looking at getting an RMA from Provape and sending it back in for repairs.