prohibited from entering the country without a visa.”
“I didn’t want to wait to get one, so I used my Canadian passport.”
God, I am such a liar.
“We met, and I fell in love with her. I know the people expected me to marry a girl from Anglefell, but the heart wants what the heart wants. In time, they’ll see the beautiful, brave woman I fell in love with.”
I grit my teeth as Liam barfs out this syrupy nonsense to poor Kate, who looks like she’s totally eating it up.
“Well, I think I have enough material for now. Could I please get a photograph for the article?”
I don’t think I could smile even if someone pointed a gun to my head. Every part of me is waiting for time alone with Liam so I can scream my head off.
Kate decides she wants a candid photo of us enjoying afternoon tea, so I lunge forward to grab the pot. Liam smiles handsomely for the camera, gazing at me in fake adoration. I pour the hot water into my empty cup, watching his face twitch as I dunk the same tea bag in the cup. He’ll bitch at me later for committing some kind of major tea faux pas, but right now I couldn’t care less.
“All right!” she says after snapping a few photos. “Daisy, it was lovely to meet you.”
“It’s always a pleasure, Kate.”
He shakes hands with her, and then Kate fishes a business card from her bag. I take it from her.
“Feel free to call me whenever you like. Thanks so much for having me, sir.”
The beaming smile on Liam’s face evaporates the moment Kate turns her back. I get up immediately, anything to get away from him. He catches up to me quickly after throwing a few notes on the table.
“Will you slow down?”
“No.”
He grabs my elbow, forcing me to relax my pace, and I rip my elbow out of his grasp.
“Three. That’s how many spankings you’ll get when we get back to the car.”
“Go to hell!” I snarl.
His eyes narrow. “Four.”
Liam barely has a chance to open the door for me as I approach the exit. The crowd waiting outside has doubled, and some of them are carrying posters.
Go Home Yankee
“Smile. Damn it, smile. People are watching.”
I smile, or at least, I stretch my lips over my gums. They scream at both of us as we exit the café, but there’s so many of them I can’t make out a single word. Hateful posters demanding me to leave glare at me in every direction, and Liam ushers me to the waiting black Lincoln. The windows are tinted, but I can still hear dozens of angry voices calling for my head. A gasp hits the back of my throat as I read a sign: AMERICUNT!
Liam is still smiling like a robot until the moment the car door shuts. Then he sighs as he reaches forward to close the partition between the driver’s seat and the back.
“Okay,” he begins in a measured voice. “First of all, you never put the hot water in a cup first. You put the tea bag in first and then pour the hot water over it. We seriously need to work on your etiquette.”
“You need to work on yours!” I whirl around, hating the very sight of him. Everything from his perfect shoes to his perfect hair and the perfect way he balances his ankle on his leg.
Fuck him. Fuck his tea.
“I did you a huge favor back there, and you embarrassed me on purpose.”
“You were being a complete ass. Thanks for springing my dead fiancé on me, by the way. I really appreciated that.”
A strange look flutters across his face. “I found out about him the day you were arrested. Looking into prisoners’ backgrounds is pretty standard.”
“You shouldn’t have brought him up.”
“It had to be done,” he says in a quiet voice.
“Ben doesn’t deserve this. He was a wonderful man, and he would’ve hated to be used like this to justify our fake marriage. How dare you throw him in my face like that?”
Shame looks so odd on his face. “They’re going to throw him in your face every day, love.”
“Who?”
“The paparazzi. The tabloids. If I hadn’t addressed it, they would have found out about him and used him whether you approved of it or not. This way, we control the narrative, not them. The people needed to hear why, and we’ve given them why.”
I point outside. “You mean the ones calling me Americunt? Those people?