“It’s just that...you know what I told Ed at the Gold Country Gazette. What he printed yesterday.”
“He hinted that we’re romantically involved.”
“Yes. And I led him to that conclusion, since I’m staying in your house and people naturally assume that, anyway. You said yourself everyone’s bought into it.”
“They have.” He indicated the profile of the woman he’d been considering. “But she isn’t from Whiskey Creek. No one in town needs to know I’m dating anyone.”
“I was thinking we should take down your profile, not use it yet. Single Central is a big site. No telling who might see it. And when the other papers pick up the story, the news that I’ve replaced Derrick with someone else—with you—will be everywhere.”
So that was why she’d backed off the online dating idea. It’d been for strictly practical reasons. He’d been tempted to hope there was something else at play, that maybe she was starting to feel some of the attraction he was. The way she looked at him sometimes suggested it.
Or maybe he was making things up...
“I could’ve been wrong when I assumed word would spread that far,” Kyle argued. He’d been wrong about the people of Whiskey Creek, hadn’t he? Plenty of his fellow citizens had approached him when he was out and about, but no one had come banging on his door the way he’d feared. “It’s possible Ed’s article will go completely unnoticed, except by the people here. Who cares what’s printed in the Gold Country Gazette?”
“Interest may seem localized at the moment. But there are services that scour the smaller papers for anything that might be of interest to the bigger papers and gossip rags. They’ll find this.” She wiped some flour from her cheek. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t consider that when I was so flip with Ed. I thought I was doing us both a favor, since a ‘relationship’ with you allows me to save face, and you to get out from under the stigma of being hopelessly in love with your brother’s wife.”
“I’m still good with that plan.” He just hoped it wouldn’t make matters worse...
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He gestured at his profile. “Go ahead and pull this down. You can help me put it up again when you’re ready to leave.”
She slid the computer over. “It’s done,” she said a few seconds later. “Thank you. The last thing I need is for someone to recognize you and notify the media that you might be as much of a cheater as Derrick. They’d say that I couldn’t keep a man or something similar.” She made a face. “The gossip rags love that type of thing.”
“The Jennifer Aniston treatment.”
“Yes.”
He couldn’t leave her exposed to more scandal. Lourdes was just beginning to relax and feel safe here. He wanted to give her the time she needed to heal. “So when’s this cake going to be done? I’m ready to have a slice.”
She got up and gave him a hug. “Soon.”
Cursing the sudden awareness that flooded through him, he moved into the kitchen the moment she let him go. If he couldn’t date—couldn’t even distract himself by searching for someone he found attractive—he could be looking at the longest three months of his life. “I haven’t told you what I heard today.”
“What’d you hear?”
“Noelle got into a fight at work and was fired last night. I’ve been told it was because she was so upset about that article.”
“She asked for that article! She’s the one who told Ed I was in town!”
“True, but calling Ed is nothing compared to what she could do. Maybe I should go over there, see if I can defuse the situation.” Noelle was the last person he cared to see, but if it would stop her from doing something spiteful to Lourdes...
“Please don’t. I’m beginning to think she’s the kind of person who’d hurt herself and say you hit her. The more I learn about her, the less I trust her.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he said. “I’m not a public figure, so I’m far less vulnerable than you are.”