Sea Glass Island (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,105

idea?”

“That’s what the paper said.”

Samantha felt a cold chill spread through her body. There was only one reason anyone would label her a stripper, the incident at Boone’s bachelor party. What on earth had made her think no one would ever learn the humiliating details of that night? While she doubted anyone had brought a camera to record the night’s events, every single person there had probably had his cell phone out seconds after Ethan had pried open that catastrophe of a cake, and she’d popped out in her revealing bikini.

“The paper?” she echoed with dread.

“Sure thing,” Debra said happily, clearly delighted to be the bearer of bad news. “Boone’s a big deal around here, and this wedding of his is getting wall-to-wall local coverage. If you ask me, though, that picture doesn’t do you justice. You’re much prettier. I think they caught you at a bad angle. And the lighting was all wrong.” She beamed. “I’d have done a much better job with that.”

Samantha’s knees felt as if they might give way. Though it was pretty clear what had happened, she kept trying to make sense of it. “There’s a picture in the paper?” she asked to be sure.

“Uh-huh. Haven’t you seen it?” Debra grabbed her copy and shoved it in Samantha’s direction.

It struck Samantha that Debra seemed a little too pleased to show Samantha the humiliating photo. In fact, her attitude bore all the traits of a jealous woman eager to get revenge on the competition. That, however, was something Samantha would have to explore another time, not in the middle of a very real crisis.

Samantha stared at her image. On the front page, no less. At least it was a local weekly. The bachelor party must have squeaked in right under their deadline. It was probably much more titillating than the wedding itself would have been.

“Oh, sweet heaven,” she murmured as she saw herself being scooped out of that ridiculous cake by Ethan, who looked as if he had all sorts of preferably dire fates in store for her. This was not a hero rushing to the rescue. It was a man operating on his last frayed nerve. He had been awfully testy, now that she thought about it.

Panic set in. Ethan had wondered about skeletons in her closet. Apparently he was going to be caught smack in the middle of this particular one. That night might have been totally innocent, but the newspaper’s spin sure made it sound otherwise.

“Where’s Ethan? I need to see him.”

“He’s off this afternoon. He’s always off on Thursday afternoon. It’s his day with the kids.”

Samantha stared at her blankly before it dawned on her that Debra was referring to the kids he worked with. She just hadn’t realized which day he’d designated for the outings.

“Of course. I should have remembered,” she mumbled.

It was clear, though, that Debra wasn’t buying her quick attempt at recovery. The girl gave her a pitying look that said she couldn’t possibly mean much to him if she didn’t know about his schedule.

“Surely he’s mentioned Project Pride,” Debra said, though the gloating in her voice suggested a level of superiority that she knew things that Samantha did not. “Today they’ve gone to see the wild horses up at Corolla.”

“I see,” Samantha said, though she didn’t see anything. She gestured toward the picnic basket. “Just give him that when he comes in and tell him I stopped by. Tell him we need to talk.”

The receptionist suddenly looked vaguely guilty for having given her such a hard time. “Won’t the food spoil? Maybe you should drop it off at his place later. Or you can meet the van when they come back from Corolla. That’s probably better. It should be here about five.”

“Sure,” Samantha said, eager to get away. “I’ll come back.”

Or not. Maybe today wasn’t the best time to see Ethan, after all, not with everyone in town probably ragging on him about that newspaper photo. She’d be lucky if he ever spoke to her again.

Another thought suddenly struck her. This was exactly the sort of thing that Regina Gentry had worried about when she’d warned Samantha that her behavior needed to be above reproach. That blasted picture and its implications could be just enough to sabotage all the plans she’d been starting to make for her future.

And if they were ruined because she’d done a stupid favor for her sister, Emily was going to be overcome with guilt when she found out. Just one more wrinkle in

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