Kate and Lucern nodded, then watched Lady Barrow leave the restaurant—no doubt to skin a certain photographer.
Kate sighed. Lucern did too. They avoided looking at each other. They had been avoiding looking at each other ever since last night. Jodi had helped untangle Kate's sleeve from his codpiece, after which he had promptly excused himself. Kate had then settled at the table where Jodi and the other writers had tried to cheer her, while Chris had tried valiantly not to laugh. Chuck had come by twice to talk to the writers and toss glares her way. Allison had come by at least three times to reassure her that everything would be fine. Chris had again tried not to laugh.
When Lucern hadn't returned after half an hour, Kate had excused herself and gone back to their suite. Lucern had just been coming out of his room. His gaze had touched hers, then shifted quickly away as he asked if the ball was over. Kate had told him it wasn't, but she had a headache and wanted to lie down. He'd made a sympathetic comment, told her that he'd just come upstairs for a drink—from which she gathered that he'd had some blood—then had said perhaps he'd just relax in the suite, too.
Kate had merely shrugged. She felt depressed and miserable, a gigantic failure at life and wondered how everything had gone so wrong.
And that had been before her folly was plastered all over the newspaper.
She sighed again.
"I guess we should head to the hospitality suite," Lucern finally suggested.
Kate grimaced. She'd had to drag him to the blasted thing that first day; now he was all eager to go. And she wasn't. The last thing in the world Kate wanted was to go anywhere she might have to face Chuck Morgan. If the publisher hadn't been pleased with her last night, today, after seeing the headlines, he would be livid. If she still had her job by noon, she'd be a lucky woman.
But, she told herself, there was no sense in dragging it out. She might as well go learn the awful truth.
It wasn't as bad as she'd feared. In some ways, it was worse. Kate still had a job. In fact, Chuck was terribly pleased with the publicity. Lucern had made the front page, after all. As had Roundhouse Publishing. The man kept congratulating her as if her public humiliation was some sort of grand promotional scheme. Kate would have liked to choke him. By the end of the day, she decided that if he patted her in that congratulatory manner one more time, she was going to.
It was more than a relief to Kate when they closed up the hospitality suite and everyone was freed to prepare for the night's Rock 'n' Roll party.
Her gaze went to Lucern. The man had come out of his shell with a vengeance. Every time she'd looked his way today, he'd been talking to a fan or another writer. Kate couldn't be sure, but she suspected he'd done more talking since arriving at this conference than he had in the past several decades. He'd become more loquacious with each passing day, and today had been no exception.
Of course, there wasn't a single solitary conference attendee who hadn't seen the headlines. The news of the situation had also made the rounds, and while most people were terribly sympathetic with both her and Lucern, there were a few who still snickered. They offered their "You poor dears" or their "How embarrassing it must be for yous," while they chuckled nonetheless. Of course, Lucern wasn't suffering those little snickers. Everyone seemed to feel great sympathy for him, saving all their amusement for her.
Which was usually the way of it, Kate thought wearily as she walked toward the table with Lucern and the other writers; the woman always suffered the scorn and humiliation, while the man walked away with the glory or sympathy. Unfortunately, try as she might, Kate couldn't be angry at Lucern for the way other people acted. He had apologized repeatedly while Kate and Jodi had worked to untangle her sleeve from his codpiece, and she knew he really felt bad about the whole thing. But it hadn't been his fault. It had just been one of life's unfortunate incidents.
Lucern glanced at her as she approached, and Kate managed to pull a smile from the depths of herself.
"Time to go?" he asked.
"Yes." She smiled at him, then the table in general. "Time to get ready for the Rock 'n' Roll party."
Lucern stood and took her hand, his gaze moving over her face with a tinge of what she thought might be concern. "You look weary."
"It was a long day," Kate agreed with a small shrug. They left the hospitality suite. They didn't speak again until they reached their own. Chris hadn't returned yet, and the suite was empty and silent.
"What does one wear to a rock and roll party?" Lucern asked as he closed the door behind them.
"Well, I gather it's an oldies type party. Fifties. Jeans and T-shirts will do. I brought a leather jacket and boots for you to wear," Kate explained. She had said she would take care of everything, and she had to the best of her abilities.
"A leather jacket?" Lucern asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes. You know, the Fonzie look."