No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,29

of her face, “I’ll put you back before Congress without blinking.”

As he’d hoped, his words had coaxed a reluctant smile from her.

“As long as you had more of these muffins, I’d be okay.” Her smile faded and she picked up her red hold-all bag. “I have to get back to the office. Graham’s waiting to hear how it went.”

He handed her the leftover muffins. “Are you going to tell him about Marnie and Angelica?”

“I’ll have to. They’re his employees,” she said, her gaze on the paper bag she’d accepted from him.

The cynical part of his brain was still sure she was covering for her stepfather. Graham Boyle was at the top of this chain of deceit, Hayden had no doubt. What he wasn’t sure about was whether Lucy’s willingness to help with the investigation was part of her plan to ensure she was on the scene once he found the evidence on Graham. Perhaps she even hoped to influence him into discarding that evidence.

He hated thinking that way, wished he could just be open with her, but he had to be realistic. Her information had been invaluable so far, but she was an employee of ANS and Graham Boyle’s stepdaughter. Her loyalty would always be with him. Hayden understood that. Didn’t mean he couldn’t protect his investigation where he could.

“Don’t tell him yet. Come back tonight after work and we’ll make a plan for interviewing Marnie and Angelica again. I’ll see what I can do with Ames and Hall in the meantime. Tell Boyle when we know more.”

She bit down on her lip as her gaze swept the room, probably remembering the last time she had been in this room at night, and he thought she was going to say no. His gut clenched. Then she said, “Okay, tonight,” and everything inside him leaped as much as it had when they’d made the breakthrough on the case just moments earlier. He cursed under his breath. Seemed working on Ames and Hall wasn’t the only work he needed to do today—he also needed to shut his body into lockdown before Lucy knocked on his door again.

* * *

When he opened the door to Lucy that evening, there was an awful formality between them. Only his son seemed to make her relax. Josh squealed from his place on the lounge and reached his arms out, and Hayden felt a stab of envy—he wanted to hold his arms out to Lucy, too.

As he watched her with Josh—both of them talking and laughing—he couldn’t tear his gaze away.

Then Hayden’s cell rang and he was almost relieved by the distraction. When he picked it up, the number that flashed on the screen was unfamiliar.

“Hayden Black,” he said.

“Mr. Black, this is Rowena Tate. I’m Senator Tate’s daughter.”

The senator had mentioned today that his daughter was in town, but Hayden hadn’t met her, so the call was something of a surprise. “Good evening, Ms. Tate.”

“I’ve been following the congressional committee’s investigation,” Rowena said. “As you know, my fiancé has an interest in the proceedings.”

The senator had also mentioned Rowena’s engagement to Colin Middlebury, a British diplomat who’d worked with Senator Tate to have Congress ratify a privacy treaty, and had helped the senator form the committee looking into the phone hacking in the first place.

“What can I do for you?” he asked as he tracked Lucy’s progress across to his kitchenette to get a glass of water, Josh on her hip.

“I have a suspicion about one of the key players at ANS that you might be interested in.”

His attention snapped back to the phone in his hand. “I’m listening.”

“Any chance you can meet me tonight at the airport? I’m flying back to L.A. in a couple of hours.”

“Tonight?” he repeated, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck. It was almost Josh’s bedtime and he hated the idea of dragging a sleepy boy out in the dark of night. “Tonight might be difficult.”

Lucy moved into his field of vision. “If you have to go out,” she whispered, “I can stay with Josh.”

“Hang on a minute, Rowena,” he said, not taking his gaze from Lucy. Then he put his hand over the receiver. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Is it about the investigation?”

“Yes.”

“I’m helping you with the investigation,” she said, sweeping an arm toward the piles of documents they’d been sorting through. “Staying with Josh is simply part of that.”

“But it’s his bedtime in about an hour.”

“He’s had dinner, hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” he said, running a finger