No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,15

so tender, so filled with love, it was heartbreaking. Eyelashes of darkest brown lay in a fan, almost resting on his cheeks as he gazed down.

He shook his head slowly. “Lucy, it’s inappropriate to socialize with you.”

“What if we use the time to plan what I’ll be looking for at ANS?” she said as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “A briefing for your spy, so to speak, and Josh gets an outing as a bonus.”

He scrubbed his hands through his hair, then let them rest low on his hips. “Okay, sure. But bring pen and paper, because we will be working.”

A burst of nervous anticipation skittered up her spine. He’d agreed. Part of her hadn’t believed he would—the same part that wondered now if she’d bitten off more than she could chew. Wondered if spending a day in a social setting with Hayden—and all his brooding testosterone—was akin to playing with fire.

She bit down on her lip. No, this would be fine. It was still a good plan. The best plan she had. Plan A.

She drew in a full breath and tried to calm her racing heart. “You can pick me up Sunday morning. Say, ten?”

“Ten’s fine.” A faint frown line formed between his brows, showing he wasn’t convinced he should have accepted. He wasn’t alone.

She glanced around for a piece of paper. “I’ll write down my address for you. It’s not far from—”

“I know where you live,” he said, his voice a low, solemn rumble.

“Of course you do,” she said wryly—he probably knew more about her than many of her friends did. Having spent her first eleven years living with her media magnet of a father in something of a fishbowl, she preferred now to be the one controlling the news story—the journalist instead of the target. So it was surprising that Hayden doing background research on her didn’t worry her as much as she would have predicted. There was something strangely safe, something honorable and decent about Hayden Black, despite his investigation’s potential for disaster for her family.

He guided her out of the bedroom with its playpen, toward the desk where he’d been grilling her just a few minutes ago. “We’ll wrap it up here for today.”

She gathered her things and tucked them in her bag, glad to have a task to hide how restless her hands suddenly were. “I’ll see you Sunday,” she said and looked back at Hayden. His forehead was lined and she felt cold apprehension filling her veins. She hesitated, and he opened his mouth to say something, but before he could cancel, she turned and slipped out the door.

* * *

Two days later, Lucy sat with Hayden on the shady banks of the Potomac River, a sleeping boy on a blanket between them. They’d fed the ducks, strolled around and now, as Josh was recouping his energy, Lucy and Hayden had fallen into an almost comfortable silence. From the moment he’d picked her up, it was as if they’d both been warily circling the social component of the day. Hayden had been unfailingly polite, if distant, and she’d followed suit. In the past, her social skills had been strong enough to cope with conversing with the rich, the royal, the famous and the powerful. But those same social skills faltered with Hayden Black. They’d mainly talked to, or about, Josh.

It wasn’t just the investigation—though that was enough to make things less than comfortable between them—it was the unfailing awareness she had of him as a man. She could feel where he was, and when he’d been close she could smell the masculine musk of his skin. She’d lost the trail of something Josh had been saying more than once because she was paying more attention to his father at her side. And there were still those unguarded words she’d said the last time they’d been in a park together that were hanging between them—she was no closer to knowing what he thought about them.

Though there were a few things she did know more about now. The digging she’d done for the exposé in the past two days had focused on his company—it seemed working in the security business was lucrative. Or it was if you were as good as Hayden Black. The company he’d started only a few years ago now took in several million dollars in fees a year, and his personal wealth was estimated to be in the millions and growing. He’d come a long way from the boy