No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,18
investigation into ANS, and believed Graham was guilty. The last thing she needed was to become emotionally involved with Hayden Black.
She pulled her legs up and tucked them underneath her, and reminded herself of the rules.
Flirting, okay.
Emotional attachment, not okay.
She would just have to try harder to keep the line where it needed to be. Still, if she didn’t remember, then Hayden probably would. He seemed to have a very firm grasp on where the lines should be.
And why did that thought rankle so much?
Four
Lucy dropped the strawberry back into the container and dusted her hands on her skirt. “So, about this investigation. What do you want me to do?”
Hayden didn’t answer right away; he regarded her with that intense, steady gaze, as if he could see inside her soul and knew exactly what she was doing by changing the subject away from herself. Then he nodded once. “I’ll be speaking to Marnie Salloway next, since she was the producer on the story that aired.”
Lucy let out a relieved breath. They were back on solid ground instead of the slippery slope of potential emotional entanglement. “What about Angelica Pierce? Seeing as she was the journalist who fronted all the follow-up stories, she could be the one.” She said the word one carefully—she might have accepted the probability that someone had helped Troy Hall and Brandon Ames, but there was no way there was a chain of people leading up to her stepfather. The sooner this investigation proved that, the better. But Hayden either didn’t notice, or was choosing to ignore her inflection and its meaning.
“I’m not as worried about Angelica at this stage,” he said, absently laying a hand on Josh as he slept on the blanket. “Or Mitch Davis for that matter, since both were handed the scripts—Mitch for the announcement at the inaugural ball and Angelica for the stories that followed. But Marnie is different. She could easily be the person who ordered the phone hacking, or filtered the order down from higher.”
The gentle breeze from the river blew a strand of Lucy’s hair across her face and she tucked it behind her ear as she watched him. “You’re not worried I’ll tip Marnie off?”
“Will you?” he asked, with only curiosity in his eyes—no trace of concern.
“No.” She was on board with this project, believed in its goal to find the rat in ANS so she could protect Graham. Undermining it wasn’t on the agenda.
“Even if you do, she’ll find out in the morning when I call to make a time with her. And she has to be expecting that she’s under suspicion, so I’m not telling you anything that’s a state secret.” His broad shoulders lifted then dropped in a casual shrug. “What’s your take on Marnie?”
“This is off the record, right? Just background.” Marnie would love an excuse to complain about her to Graham, to dig the knife in as deep as it would go, and Lucy would rather not give her the ammunition if she could avoid it.
“Off the record,” he agreed.
She could say this directly or sugarcoat it, and she had a feeling Hayden would prefer plain speaking. “Marnie is rude and self-important.”
His expression didn’t alter, as if he’d been expecting as much. “She treats you badly?”
“She doesn’t treat anyone below her well,” she said, trying to be as balanced in her assessment as she could. “But she makes a special effort to make my life unbearable.”
Something in his eyes changed, sharpened. “Is she the only one?”
“There’s a club. They have T-shirts,” she said with a half smile to cover the faint sting of rejection. It wasn’t the first time in her life she’d found herself the target of others’ thinly veiled jealousy or venom, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. She’d learned to not let it get to her a long time ago. Mostly she was successful at that.
“Have you told Graham?” he asked quietly.
Tell Graham? She almost laughed. Oh, yeah, that would go down well at the office. “Just because I’m related to the owner doesn’t mean I can run to him when I have problems.”
“Sounds to me like the opposite is happening. You’re being treated worse because you’re related to the owner.” Deep frown lines appeared on his forehead. “Any other employee would have the right to complain about being harassed, so if you don’t feel you can make that complaint, you’re suffering discrimination.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said and found a carefree smile. She didn’t need his sympathy, or