AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A life away from the one he lived.
‘Were you planning on telling me?’ he asked, his eyes landing on her bra, still tossed across the arm of the chair. Just how had this gone so wrong so quickly?
Faith’s head jerked up and she met his gaze head-on, her eyes wide but steady. ‘No.’
Hope drained out of him. If she’d said anything else—that she was scared, that she hadn’t known how, that she wanted to know how he felt first...anything else at all—maybe they could have worked it out. He could have understood, perhaps.
But she’d never wanted him to know who she was. Ever.
‘Why?’
A half-shrug, one hunched shoulder raised. ‘We agreed one night. Come on. You knew I wasn’t going to stay, and you knew there was a reason. Look me up on the Internet and you’ll see why. I’m a scandal; everyone knows it. And I know you. You’d have fired me if you found out. Too much of a risk. And, more than that, you’d have wanted me to talk to my parents, to reconcile, for the good of the family name. You know you would.’
She was right. She did know him. Better than he’d ever been allowed to know her. ‘And you won’t.’ Not a question. He knew her that well, at least.
‘I don’t ever want to go back there.’ The vehemence in her voice surprised him. He didn’t know the Fowlmeres personally, but they were her family.
‘You might have to. We need to put a respectable face on this, and “runaway heiress returns home” sounds a hell of a lot better than “runaway heiress found in high-priced love nest”.’ He reached for his phone, trying to keep his temper under control. He needed to think, not react. And he needed to ignore the part of his brain that was telling him that the secrets were out now. He knew the worst of it. Maybe he could salvage something from this.
But first he had to fix it.
‘Here’s what’s going to happen now,’ he said, scrolling through his contacts. ‘I’m going to call my PR people, get them down here. I’ll sit down with them, come up with a plan. Maybe we can talk to the reporter, or more likely the newspaper owner. Maybe we can get an injunction. I don’t know. But I am not going to let your past ruin my future.’
Faith hadn’t even moved from her position by the door. ‘And what am I going to be doing, while you set about fixing my mistakes?’ Her voice was cool, calm—everything he didn’t feel right then.
‘You are going to be sitting in your hotel room, not talking to anyone, not seeing anyone, not even thinking about anyone. Do you understand me?’
Her eyes were sad as she spoke. ‘Oh, I understand. You’re going to rewrite not just my history, but our entire past.’
‘I’ve known you a week, Faith. I don’t think what we had qualifies as a past.’
‘We had tonight.’
‘And now we don’t.’
* * *
Faith felt very cold, as if someone had left a window open in winter and the icy wind was chilling her through, layer by layer. Was this how it felt to freeze to death? And, in the absence of both winter and wind, was Dominic’s coldness enough to finish the job?
‘You’re treating me like a child,’ she said, the words hard lumps in her throat.
‘I’m treating you like what you are,’ he replied. ‘A scandal and a flight risk.’
Just like his mother, Faith realised. But knowing why he was mad, expecting it even, didn’t make it any easier.
And it didn’t mean he got to take over her life.
‘I understand,’ she said again, wrapping her arms tighter around her. ‘You’d better make your phone call.’
Dominic gave a sharp nod. ‘Go straight to your room. I wouldn’t put it past that photographer to have snuck back in, assuming security kicked him out by now. He could be anywhere. I’ll call you in the morning,’ he said, and she nodded as she collected her belongings and headed back towards the door, away from him, thinking hard.
He wanted her to stay hidden. Wanted her to let him fix her life for her. Wanted her to be a good, obedient Lady Faith.
It was as if he’d never known her at all.
This would be all over the Internet by the morning, however hot Dominic’s PR team were supposed to be. And if she were going to be a story again, a scandal even, she was doing it on her own terms. She couldn’t stay with someone who was embarrassed by her, ashamed of her.
Not even Dominic.
The story was out now, and that changed everything. What was the point of hiding when everyone knew where she was? This job had been her last chance. Without it—and without her salary for the week—she was out of options. She couldn’t just hop on a flight to another country this time. Chances were, she’d be spotted at the airport, anyway.
