No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,21
it.” He slashed a hand down to rest on his thigh, hoping he appeared more decisive than he felt. “Never let the topic come up again.”
“Can you do that?”
“Yes.” Sure, he could avoid mentioning it, but the look on her face now in the dim light of the car interior would be burned into his memory, and there was nothing he could do to avoid thinking about kissing her. Dreaming about it.
She picked up her hold-all handbag from the floor and held it close to her chest. “I should probably go inside.”
“Yes,” he croaked. Then he cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes, that would be best all around.”
“Okay, then.” She opened the car door with only a brief glance over her shoulder.
By sheer force of will, he let her walk up the three concrete stairs to her front door instead of drawing her back, keeping her beside him for even a few moments longer. Once she’d let herself in, he dropped his head to the steering wheel and cursed. He’d been stupid, stupid to let his guard down and consider kissing a key witness. What kind of investigator was he?
His cell phone rang and Lucy’s number flashed on the screen. He drew in a fortifying breath and thumbed the talk button. “You’re in?”
“Safe inside, with the door locked.” Her voice was smooth velvet, enfolding him in the dim lamplight. His eyes drifted closed, shrinking his world down to just the cell at his ear and Lucy’s voice.
“Good,” he said, which was about all he could manage.
“Hayden, about that conversation we shouldn’t have had...”
He knew he should hang up the phone now, knew he would regret this, but he couldn’t stop himself from replying. “Yes?”
“I’m glad we did.” He could just imagine her biting down on her luscious bottom lip as she paused, and his pulse spiked. “Though I would have been even happier if you had kissed me.”
His head swam. Hang up the cell, Black.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and summoned his willpower. “Good night, Lucy.”
“Night, Hayden.”
He disconnected, threw the phone on the passenger seat and started the car. If he wasn’t careful, this investigation might just kill him.
* * *
Three nights later, Lucy was in Hayden’s suite, sitting cross-legged on one of the sofas, reams of paper, scribbled notes and printed photos spread around her. Hayden sat on the other sofa a few feet away, his long legs stretched in front of him, ankles crossed on the coffee table, going through a different pile of evidence.
Hayden glanced up at her, his hair haphazard from dragging his fingers through it. “Did you talk to the receptionists?”
Over the past three days, Lucy had spent time with everyone she could corner who worked in support roles at ANS—people who might have had the opportunity to notice things that didn’t add up, and would have been treated badly by Marnie and her friends. Today she’d asked Graham’s secretary, Jessica, to have lunch with her and the other executive assistants, after telling her that being Graham’s daughter was making it hard to make friends.
“I heard a lot of gossip about who’s sleeping with whom—I had no idea it was that much like a college dorm.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Any interesting connections?”
“Why? Fancy someone at ANS?” she asked with as much innocence as she could muster.
The heat that had been lurking in his eyes for three days blazed to life, but his voice was even. “I was thinking in terms of the investigation. Which you knew.”
She did know, but flirting with Hayden Black was dangerously alluring. Like touching a naked flame.
“If we’re talking about the investigation, then apparently Marnie had a fling with Mitch Davis. Since we don’t think Mitch had anything to do with the story besides being handed the toast to give at the inauguration ball, it’s probably not relevant.”
“Ames or Hall sleeping with anyone?”
“Brandon Ames was seeing one of the accountants, but she dumped him when she found out what he’d done. And I’m not sure if an accountant would have been much use with phone hacking, so I doubt she was involved.”
“Hall?” he asked, leaning forward.
“No one had heard anything. If he was seeing someone, it was probably outside ANS.”
Hayden swore under his breath. “Maybe it was too much to hope for a sexual link to lead us to the other perpetrators. But thanks for trying.”
“I’ve made friends with one of the custodians—or rather, Rosebud has—and I’m hoping to run into her tomorrow night again. She might know something