Page 41 of A Scottish Highland Hideaway

I made a show of noting something else imaginary down. My fingers trembled as they gripped the pen. “The poor woman probably just wants to live quietly and start over. Isn’t she entitled to that?”

“Of course she is, but when there’s a potential human-interest story like this, it deserves to be told.”

“Does it? Whose interest?” I bit back. “Hers or yours?”

Zach’s eyes shone back at me. He angled his head to one side. “You seem very interested.”

I whirled my pen around and around. I tried to make my voice sound airy. Every word I was saying sounded brittle. “Heather Moore isn’t exactly a throbbing metropolis.”

“Precisely. So, it could well appeal. Somewhere inconspicuous to live her life. It makes sense.”

My heart revved up so hard against my ribs, I thought they would splinter.

A steely edge gripped Zach’s handsome features. “When it comes to a story, I’m never deterred.”

I dropped my gaze and rattled my pen on my desk for something to do. It spun this way and that on the polished wood. If I continued to fiddle with the pen any longer, it was in danger of exploding ink everywhere. This was agony.

Zach eyed me from across my desk. “In my line of work, dogged determination is everything, as is telling the truth.”

I set my pen down. “And does that go for blowing apart people’s lives too?”

“It depends what they’ve done. If you’re talking about exposing the rich and powerful for being manipulative and behaving like they’re above the law, you mean? Yes.”

I unscrambled what was going on inside my head. My cheeks stung.

“So, this guy told you he was going to dish some dark secrets, did he?” I asked. “Has it occurred to you he might be lying? That he just wants to make some money?”

Zach smiled. “Sure, he could be lying. I mean no one really knows why the marriage didn’t go ahead. Her family’s PR made sure of that.”

“Hmm.” I gave him a fake smile back. “And you’re just assuming that she’s the villain?”

He let out a cynical bark of laughter. “I’d put money on it,” he said. “A lot of folks who live very privileged lives lie and deceive with impunity. They don’t consider anyone but themselves, and they’re not the ones who suffer.”

He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Believe me, I should know.”

This was morphing into a nightmare. Zach couldn’t have got it more wrong, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it without revealing my true identity. I could see my new life evaporating in front of my eyes – and Ezra’s too.

I rose to my feet, my head pummelled by thoughts.

Zach towered over me. “Stories are like buses. Nothing good for ages and then two come along at once.”

“Oh well,” I bit back. “Good to see you’re changing the world one celebrity gossip scandal at a time.”

His eyes never left my face. “You have a very dim view of me.”

I straightened my back.

“I’m a good journalist with an ethical code.”

My eyebrows shot upwards.

“You’re judging me without knowing me. I want to reveal the crooks, the liars, and the cheats. I want to give people a voice who don’t have one. They deserve to be heard loud and clear.”

“By writing about people’s private lives and dragging their names through the mud?”

Zach looked like he wanted to say something else. He opened his mouth and closed it again. “It’s nothing personal. It’s my career.”

I struggled not to be captivated by his eyes, even though he was at risk of upending my entire life. I didn’t want to become an exhibit here. I was happy with how I was moving things on. I didn’t want to be the centre of a pity party or have the locals think I’d deceived them in any way. I didn’t want to be back in the papers, splashed across the pages, having my past dissected and my previous life choices examined. I’d done enough of that myself. I didn’t know what Declan was planning to spill, but it would be a pack of lies.