No Stranger to Scandal

Six



Hayden scanned the crowd in the airport terminal until he caught sight of Colin Middlebury in a café. He headed over and held out his hand. Colin and the woman at his side pushed their chairs back and stood.

“Thanks for coming, Black,” Colin said, shaking Hayden’s extended hand.

“Good to see you again, Middlebury.” He’d met the British diplomat when he’d first taken on this job, but hadn’t met Rowena before.

“This is my fiancée, Rowena Tate.” Colin put an arm around Rowena’s shoulders and beamed at her.

The willowy blonde smiled first at the man beside her, then across at Hayden. “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

“It’s no problem,” Hayden said, trying not to think about Lucy looking luscious on the sofa back at his hotel suite.

Colin indicated a third chair at their table, and they all sat, both men turning to Rowena and waiting.

“We won’t take much of your time, Mr. Black. I asked you to come because I didn’t want to discuss this over the phone, given the nature of the investigation.”

“Sensible.” He knew his cell was safe from hacking, but he couldn’t be sure about anyone else’s. He glanced around—no one was sitting close enough to overhear. “So what’s your suspicion?”

“It has to do with Angelica Pierce.” She leaned closer over the table, and lowered her voice. “She’s always seemed oddly familiar, but I saw her on the TV reporting a story and the camera caught her at an unusual angle, just off to the side. And I was suddenly struck by her similarity to a girl I went to boarding school with, Madeline Burch. Different-colored hair and eyes, and, if it’s her, she’s had a nose job and some other work. While she was still on the screen, I called a friend who went to Woodlawn Academy with us, and she thinks it could be Madeline, too.”

Interest piqued, Hayden took a small notebook out of his shirt pocket and wrote the name Madeleine Burch. “Any reason a reporter changing her name to something more appealing is suspicious?”

“Madeline was...unbalanced is probably the best word. Always bragging that her father was someone big, but she never said who. Apparently he’d paid her mother some hush money so they couldn’t mention his name. And if anyone challenged her on it, she’d lose it.”

“Define lose it,” he said, suddenly very interested.

“One time she’d had argument with another girl. I can’t remember what it was over. And that night when we went back to our rooms, the other girl’s clothes were all over the floor, cut into pieces.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Anything done about it?”

“They had no evidence.” Rowena shrugged one shoulder in a gesture of helpless frustration. “Madeline told the teachers she saw a younger girl sneak into the dorm room, which was a lie. That girl wouldn’t have hurt a mouse.”

He rubbed his chin as he considered the woman before him. Rowena was showing no signs of lying—she seemed confident and open. On the current evidence, he was inclined to believe her.

“Was that an isolated incident?” he asked, taking notes on what she’d said so far.

“Unfortunately, no. She was unpredictable and vindictive. And even though we always knew it was her, she’d try to blame her crimes on someone else. Even conning younger girls to confess a couple of times. We pretty much gave her a wide berth whenever we could. Until the day she was arguing with another student about her ‘secret father’ and the other student called her a liar and a freak. Madeline attacked the girl and was finally expelled.”

His pulse picked up speed as bits of information fitted together like interlocking puzzle pieces. “Did you see her again?”

She shook her head. “When all this came up recently, my friend Cara Summers and I searched the internet and couldn’t find a trace of Madeline after she was expelled. And, oddly enough, Angelica Pierce doesn’t have much of a trail before then. I’m not sure if it will help, but I decided it was better to tell you than not.”

He nodded at the couple, his poker face in place despite the way his mind was racing. “I’m glad you did.”

Rowena handed over an envelope. “These are the results of our research, such as it is. Mainly basic information, and we suspect that much of it is falsified. I’m sure you have other channels to go deeper. But there is one photo of Madeline that Cara managed to track down from another old school friend.” Hayden thanked both Rowena and Colin, said goodbye and made his way out through the airport. If Angelica was Madeline Burch, she could have set up Troy Hall and Brandon Ames to carry out the plan then take the fall—that would fit the pattern of Madeline’s school days. His blood pumped faster as his investigator’s senses twitched. Something about this felt right.

Variations of possible scenarios played out in his mind on the trip back to the hotel and, as he used his key card to open the door, he was still buzzing with the new directions his investigation could take. This was a lead that could break the case wide open and point the way to solid answers.

Everything in the suite was silent, so he quietly walked behind the sofas to peek into Josh’s room. His little boy was sleeping peacefully. Relieved, Hayden smiled as he shut the door. He’d have to thank Lucy later—

Then he saw her curled up asleep on the sofa and his breath stilled. Despite the temperature-controlled room, his skin heated.

She was so achingly beautiful, with her blond hair falling over the creamy curve of her cheek. Memories of touching her bare skin assaulted his senses, of the fragrance of her hair, the shape of her hip. Of her fingers touching him, feather-soft at first, then urgently when she needed him. Without realizing he’d moved, he was beside her, crouching down, close enough to feel her breath fan gently over his face.

His heart frantically battered at his rib cage, and a distant part of his brain screamed to move away before she woke, but he didn’t pull back. Couldn’t. He swallowed hard. Her skin was porcelain smooth, her lips slightly parted as she dreamed. Would he be in those dreams? She’d certainly been in his.

He leaned forward just a few inches and kissed her lightly. Sweet torture. His eyes drifted closed. He’d pull back any second now. He would. Just as soon as he committed this moment to memory.

With the softest of moans, Lucy moved her lips languorously under his and her eyes fluttered open. Now was the time to move away, now, but she smiled against his mouth and threaded her fingers through his hair and he couldn’t summon the will to allow any space between them.

“Hayden,” she murmured, then kissed him again. As she lifted herself up on an elbow, he slid an arm around her, dragging her against his chest, silently cursing the fabric between them. He was lost, drowning in her. The musky scent of warm skin surrounded him, curled through his mind, luring him to the edge of sanity, to a place where the reasons this was wrong didn’t exist.

Yet a tendril of awareness remained, a slow-blinking warning light in the peripheries of his mind. He tried to push it away, to give himself over completely to the lushness of the woman in his arms, but deep down he knew...

Thrusting a hand up to cradle the back of her head, he kissed her one more time, a kiss tinged with desperation, before wrenching his mouth away and sitting back on his heels.

“Lucy,” he said, his voice barely audible through a tight jaw. “I’m at breaking point.” He dropped his forehead to rest on hers, holding her more tightly. “I want you—I can’t tell you how much I want you—but making love again would be wrong on so many levels.”

She pulled back and moistened her lips, unknowingly daring him to throw caution to the wind again. She blinked up at him, as if she was only now truly waking up, then she relaxed and smiled sleepily. “It’ll be fine. Come down here. After last time I know there’s enough room for two.”

Frustration clawing through his veins, he speared the fingers of both hands through his hair, then tangled them together behind his head. “There’s nothing I want more in this moment, but you know we can’t.”

She pushed herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. The movement just made him want to draw her into his arms even more, so he forced himself to go over to the other sofa, creating something of a safety barrier. Though if her pink tongue peeked out and wet her lips one more damn time, that distance would provide no obstacle at all.

She tucked her legs up beneath her and nodded. “Okay. Let me make a proposal.”

“Sure,” he said. It would need to involve a suit of body armor for one of them if it had any chance of effectiveness. Or perhaps separate cities.

“Here’s how things stand.” She held up a closed hand, ticking the points off by raising a finger for each one as she went. “We have some undeniable chemistry. You’re only in D.C. for a short time. You don’t have space in your life for a relationship. Your work won’t allow for a relationship with me in particular.”

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 he 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.