No Stranger to Scandal

by Rachel Bailey

  He winced. Said aloud like that, their situation sounded even more hopeless than it did in his head. But he nodded slowly, prepared to hear her out. “I’m with you so far.”

  “Then we’ll have a secret fling,” she said, smiling, seeming pleased with herself.

  Everything inside him tightened, ready to accept her offer, but he frowned. “What is that? Just sleeping together?”

  “Purely physical,” she confirmed. “Completely under the radar.”

  Was she serious? His body might already be on board, but the idea was insane. However, Lucy didn’t seem to be joking. “The investigation—”

  “We’re both already compromised—this will hardly make it worse. Tell me,” she said, tucking strands of blond hair behind her ear, “has sleeping with me convinced you of Graham’s innocence?”

  “No.” Graham was guilty, he had no doubt, and nothing but irrefutable evidence to the contrary would change his mind about that.

  She tilted her head in acknowledgment of his point. “Are you at all likely to alter your findings because of our intimacy?”

  “Not a chance.” It was inconceivable that he’d ever alter his findings. Integrity was everything in this business, to say nothing of his own sense of right and wrong.

  “Then we’re good,” she said and nodded. “We can have a fling.”

  “A fling,” he repeated. He really didn’t have enough blood in his brain for this conversation. It had all headed south at the first touch of her lips, and now he was struggling to follow Lucy’s reasoning.

  “It solves everything. It’s a great plan,” she said, holding upturned palms out as if this was obvious.

  He stood and stalked to the window, hoping the movement and view of nighttime D.C. would bring clarity. It didn’t.

  “You’re okay with this?” he finally said. “A purely physical arrangement.” He might want her more than he wanted any woman, but he wouldn’t use her. It went against everything inside him.

  Her blond brows drew together and she glanced down at her hands, as if deciding how much to confide. “I don’t want anything serious right now. You say that your focus is on your son and your business—well, my focus is on my career.” She paused and the skin around her eyes pulled taut. “Because of who my father and stepfather are, I have to work twice as hard as anyone else to prove my independence, prove myself. And to be honest, after the work I’ve already put in, the last thing I need is a relationship with a rich older man who has a high profile and connections.”

  He drew in a long breath, suddenly struck by her meaning. He’d been worried about his reasons for not getting involved, but hadn’t thought about it from her side before. She had as much to lose as he did. Yet she still wanted him enough to propose this plan.

  He crossed to the sofa she was perched on and sat on the armrest, taking her hands in his. “We’ll have an affair with an end date of when I leave town, both of us going in with our eyes open.” He managed to keep his voice even, but his entire body was straining forward at the thought.

  “So you want to?” she asked, her voice surprisingly uncertain.

  “Lucy, I want to more than I can say. But I have conditions.” He released her hands and stood again before he consigned his own conditions to hell and took her there on the sofa. “First, we keep the rule we already made about secrecy. No one can know we’re doing this. And the rule about us not letting our involvement influence us.”

  “Done,” she said simply.

  An electric shiver raced down his spine. This was really going to happen. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Also, no making love here in my suite. It’s the center of my investigation, I keep research here and I meet people here. We only sleep together at your place, and only during the day when Josh is with his nanny. The geographical distinction will keep a firm boundary in our minds so we don’t compromise the investigation.”

  “Makes sense,” she said, her face serious but voice breathless. “I’m good with that one.”

  He knelt down in front of her, wanting there to be no misunderstandings on the next point. “And if it becomes awkward or too much for you, promise me you’ll say so.”

  Nodding, she laid her hands on either side of his face. “I’ll promise, if you will.”

  “Sure,” he said, barely able to form the word when she was so close and touching him.

  “I can work from home tomorrow.”

  Blood sparking as if it carried an electric current, he mentally ran through his schedule. “I don’t have any appointments in the morning. I’ll be over at nine-thirty.” She moistened her lips and he groaned. “Though if you don’t leave this second, we’ll start right this minute.”

  With a look of mischief, she grabbed her bag and practically scurried out the door, and Hayden was left alone and wondering how he’d make it till nine-thirty.

  * * *

  At ten past nine, Hayden answered a knock at his hotel-suite door. The only appointment he had this morning was to see Lucy in twenty minutes...to begin their fling. His skin heated. He’d been dressed and ready for the day—for Lucy—since eight. The nanny had come for Josh at nine, and for ten minutes Hayden had been restlessly shuffling papers, willing the hands on his watch to move faster.

  When he pulled the door open, Angelica Pierce stood there in a figure-hugging red dress, pulling her Botoxed lips into a plastic smile. “Hayden, darling,” she said brightly.

  “Good morning, Angelica.” His training came to his aid, allowing him to smile and be pleasant without betraying either his annoyance at being delayed from seeing Lucy or his increased suspicions about Angelica after meeting Rowena last night. “Did we have an appointment?”

  “No, no,” she said as she brushed past him and into the room. “I was in the area and I thought I’d touch base. See if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “You want to help?” he asked mildly, digging his hands into his pockets.

  “Of course I do! These awful crimes tar all journalists with the same brush in the public’s mind. The sooner it’s all cleared up, the better for news broadcasters everywhere.” She sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her. “Come and sit next to me, Hayden, so we can talk about it.”

  The sight of Angelica on the sofa where he’d kissed Lucy less than twelve hours ago was jarring. “I’m sorry, but I need to leave for a meeting.”

  “Oh, darling, I think you’ll make time for me.” She stretched her neck to one side and lowered her shoulder, and the sleeve of her blouse fell down her arm, revealing a perfectly tan shoulder, unencumbered by a bra strap.

  Despite his urge to throw her out, Hayden regarded her pose analytically. It was a clear invitation, and from what he knew of Angelica already, if he handled this badly she might overreact. And if she did, that might make her slip up and reveal something...

  “Angelica,” he said, finding a polite but firm tone. “I really do have to leave.”

  She pushed herself up from the sofa and slinked over to his side, standing too close. His skin crawled. When he stepped away to create a little distance, she followed.

  “Hayden, let’s not waste words.” Her smile was part sex kitten, part great white shark. “I know you’re interested in me, and I’m attracted to you, too.”

  “Angelica,” he said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s not going to happen. Not now, not ever.”

  There was silence for a long beat. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, she roughly grabbed her sleeve and tugged it up, her aqua eyes sparking with rage.

  “This is because of her, isn’t it?” A finger with a fire-engine-red nail jabbed the air in the direction of the door.

  Hayden stilled. “Who?”

  “Lucy Royall,” she spat with more venom than a rattlesnake. “She was all you wanted to talk about the other day. You have a little crush on her, don’t you?”

  A trickle of unease seeped down his spine. He’d thought she’d turn her anger on him, not Lucy. Had h
e put Lucy in the line of fire?

  Angelica must have seen something on his face that gave him away, because she smiled, satisfied.

  “Don’t worry, darling, all the men do. It’s the princess act she’s perfected. But let me give you a friendly word of advice.” She paused, a devilish gleam in her eyes. “Your little crush is doing an investigation into you. Gathering material for an exposé that will air soon on ANS. I heard it directly from Graham Boyle last night.”

  An icy hand crept over his heart and squeezed. Lucy had played him? Was working on an exposé when she’d told him she wanted to help his own investigation? No, he refused to believe she could be that manipulative. Although...how well did he really know her? Nausea roiled in his stomach, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. Maybe she was capable of planning this. And, if so, was her idea of a fling all part of the scheme?

  Whatever was going on, he wasn’t sharing a thing with the woman in front of him. “I think it’s time you left, Angelica,” he said and strode over to the door.

  “Sure.” She’d morphed again—this time into a sincere confidante. “When you’re ready to talk, let me know. I’m the one who can help you, remember that. And in the meantime,” she said, slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading out the door, “don’t give that Royall actress anything you don’t want to see on prime-time news.”

  Three minutes later, Hayden was in the rental car on his way to Lucy’s place. This morning’s visit might have been planned as a romantic liaison, but now they’d use the time for Lucy to give him some information. The truth would be a good place to start.

  Seven

  It was almost ten o’clock when Lucy saw Hayden’s car pull up. With butterflies in her belly, she looked down at her soft cream wraparound dress—easy to remove—which covered lacy lavender lingerie. The ensemble had seemed appropriate for the start of a fling, though she’d changed outfits twice already, and had been having second thoughts about this one for about ten minutes. If he hadn’t arrived now, she would have darted back upstairs and changed again.

  Pulse jittery, she opened the door to him. “You’re late, Mr. Black,” she said in her best saucy voice, then registered his thunderous expression. Her heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?”

  He pushed past her, strode into her living room, then turned to face her with hands low on his hips. “You’re doing an exposé on me?”

  All the air rushed from her lungs. “How do you know?” she asked in a raspy whisper.

  “Rules about secrecy, rules about a fling.” His coffee-brown eyes flashed fire. “One we forgot to add was a rule about not gathering material for an exposé while we were sleeping together.”

  Her knees wobbled, but she stepped forward. “Hayden—”

  Ignoring her attempt to explain, he walked across the room and leaned a hand over the window frame, looking down on the small courtyard at the back. “At least I was up-front about my investigation. You knew what I was doing from the start, and I told you I suspected Graham and that you were covering for him.” He swiveled to face her again, eyes narrowed. “Apparently I don’t deserve the same courtesy.”

  “Okay, you’re angry,” she said, slowly crossing the room toward him. “I get that. And I’ll allow that you have a right to be.”

  He coughed out an incredulous laugh. “Generous of you.”

  “But your investigation could ruin a man’s life. An innocent man.” Her stepfather, who’d been nothing but kind and generous to her for ten years. “Graham could lose his company, his reputation, even his freedom. And there are people in ANS who would set him up to ensure that happens. You don’t think we’d have a plan B in this situation?”

  “That Boyle and ANS would have a plan? Sure. That you’d be leading it?” He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze pinning her to the spot. “It’s a rotten way to treat a man you’re sleeping with, Lucy.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.” She sank down into the overstuffed sofa and pulled a cushion into her lap, suddenly bone-weary from all the different directions she was being pulled. “But you have to understand that when Graham asked me to do the piece, I’d only met you once. I didn’t know if I could trust you.”

  He held up a hand. “Do you trust me now?”

  “Yes.” She sighed. “I’m not sure when that happened, but I do.”

  “So why not tell me yesterday? Last week? After we slept together?”

  It was a fair question, one she’d been asking herself. “I guess I was hoping you’d uncover the ringleader of the phone hacking and your investigation would be over before the exposé was ever needed.”

  “And what if the timing didn’t work like that, if I took longer?” He paced across the room, then turned on a heel to face her again. “Were you going to tell me before the show aired? Or let me find out along with everyone else?”

  “I would have warned you, I swear. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Hayden. But put yourself in my shoes for a moment. My boss—my stepfather, a man I love—tells me to work on a secret project that could save him. I only met you a few weeks ago. Are you saying I should just switch my loyalties like changing socks?”

  He winced as the point hit home. “You were stuck between your family and your lover.”

  Her shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch. “This thing between us is crossing boundaries left and right, isn’t it?”

  Hayden blew out a breath, seeming to deflate somewhat, and came over to sit on the coffee table in front of her, their knees brushing. “Yeah, it is. I’ve been thinking I should hand the case to someone else in the company.”

  “No,” she said, grabbing his hands. “Please don’t.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “But I think Graham is guilty. It could be better for you to try your luck with someone else.”

  “You might think he’s guilty, but you’re honest and honorable. As soon as we find the evidence that exonerates Graham, you’ll respect that. You’re our best hope, Hayden.” Every word she’d said was true, but there was something else, something even stronger pulling at her insides, demanding she not let him go. Not yet. Please, not yet.

  He looked at her for a long moment and she held her breath, waiting for his decision. Finally, he nodded once and relief flooded her veins. Even as she smiled her gratitude and released the tight grip she had on his hands, somewhere in the back of her mind was a niggling voice saying her reaction was too strong for simply having an investigator stay on the case, but she brushed it aside.

  Hayden rubbed a palm over his closely shaved jaw. “You said before that people in ANS are setting him up. Why would you think that?”

  This was better—stick to the investigation and Graham. Safer. She rose and padded on bare feet across the carpets to the kitchen, filled two glasses with sparkling water and handed one to Hayden. When she saw him leaning against the island counter, her mouth dried. His dark, masculine beauty was emphasized by the pale marble countertops and white cupboards. She didn’t tend to have people at her place very often—she usually met friends out—so Graham was the only person who’d spent much time in her kitchen. Maybe if she’d had more men here, she wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed by Hayden’s presence. He wouldn’t seem to dominate it so much. But she doubted it—that was Hayden’s effect wherever he was.

  She took a sip of the sparkling water to moisten her throat so she could speak. “You said yourself that someone was pulling the strings. Whoever that is, they don’t plan on going down for this. Passing the buck up the ladder is the perfect alibi.” She took another sip, thinking back over the clues they had, then stilled. “Who told you about the exposé?”

  “Angelica,” he said, distaste clear in his voice. “She just came to my room, tried to seduce me then gave me a friendly warning not to trust you.”

  Lucy’s heart skipped a beat at the tried to seduce me comment, but she managed not to let her personal reaction affect her professional interest in the development. “It’s Angelica behind this whole thi
ng. I know it is.”

  “I think you’re probably right.” He put his empty glass in the sink, then leaned back against the counter again.

  I think you’re probably right? Had he seen the truth? “So you think Graham is innocent.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “He still must have known what was going on, perhaps worked with her on it, but I suspect Angelica masterminded it.”

  She crossed her arms under her breasts. “You’ll see about Graham. By the end of the investigation, we’ll have the evidence that he’s innocent.” Graham’s nature was to push as far as he could go, but once he hit the edge of legality, he’d stop. He wasn’t the first man to believe in an employee who turned out to be bad.

  “Listen,” he said taking her hand and interlacing their fingers. “Something else about Angelica’s announcement bothered me.”

  “The attempted-seduction part?” She grinned, inordinately pleased at the thought of Hayden rebuffing another woman’s advances.

  He shook his head as if that was inconsequential. “No, that was easy to fend off. It was the venom she has for you. She didn’t even try to hide it.”

  “She’s always hated me.” Lucy shrugged. It was something she’d accepted within a week of joining ANS. Angelica treated everyone below her badly and seemed to take special pleasure in targeting the boss’s stepdaughter. She wasn’t the only one—Marnie and Mitch had been the same way. Par for the course with a last name like Royall and a stepfather who owned the network.

  Hayden tugged her closer with their joined hands. “This was something beyond hate. Way beyond.”

  His gaze was intent, and this wasn’t a man who spooked easily. She swallowed. “Oh.”

  “Why would she hate you specifically?” He traced a pattern over her hands with his thumbs. “You’ve never had a run-in?”

  “I don’t know. I always thought it was because I was the stepdaughter of the network’s owner. They resent having me in their workspace.”