Page 30 of Under His Skin

“Anyhow, I’d better get on the road. Come on, Jasper,” Poppy said, bringing the dog back to the door. “Nice meeting you, Waverley.”

“Nice meeting you, too.”

She watched as they left, bemused by the tiny woman with a decidedly confident and slightly bossy manner.

Hmm. Community center. She wondered if that was within walking distance from her place.

She was just mapping out where the center was when her cell phone started buzzing on the desk. She peeked at the caller ID and immediately stilled.

This couldn’t be good.

But it would be even worse if she let him go to voicemail.

Taking a deep breath, she answered.

“Waverley, it’s your father,” he announced, as if she hadn’t known that when she answered the phone.

“Hello, Dad. How are you?”

“I’m doing fine, Waverley. But I could be doing better. It seems that you have been pretty busy out there in Blue Hill.”

“It’s Blue Haven, Dad.”

He paused. “Blue Haven then. I just got an interesting call from Lucinda Asherton. She seems to be under the impression that within a week of moving out there you’ve already started up a relationship with some fellow that no one seems to know anything about.”

That was faster than she’d expected.

Dang. How had she not foreseen this?

People in their world talked. And if the comments and likes on her solitary update to her personal profile were any indication…a lot of people were already talking about it.

Her first instinct was to come clean. To explain the ruse as a way to track down Spencer.

Only, if her father knew the truth, he’d never go along with it, and he certainly wouldn’t lie on her behalf if someone asked him about it. Then this whole thing would be for nothing.

“Is that true, Waverley? Are you seeing someone already?” he asked when she didn’t answer.

Leaving her to say the only thing she could. “Yes, it’s true.”

“I see.” Volumes were spoken in those two tiny words. “Have you given any thought to how this looks, Waverley? Not just how it portrays you, a woman who has only recently been divorced so scandalously, but how it portrays the family? We don’t know anything about this man, this RJ Reynolds. What does he do, who are his people, his connections? According to Lucinda, he’s into computers and security. What kind of career is that?”

She hadn’t paid attention to what Reynolds claimed was his job on his phony profile, so she wasn’t in a position to admit or deny it.

It also didn’t seem like her father was looking for an explanation as he continued, “Really, Waverley. Announcing the relationship so publicly like that is beneath you. Especially having not given me the benefit of meeting him. An issue we are going to have to rectify immediately.”

Say what?

“Oh, it’s still too early for that. There’s no reason for you to take time out of your busy schedule to meet him.”

“Which is why I’ll be expecting you both for brunch on Sunday. You know the time.”

The front door opened and Reynolds walked in as Waverley was trying to get her head around her father’s request.

“I really don’t know if that’s possible,” she said, keeping her tone even and calm, a monumental effort considering the mild panic attack that had her heart racing. “He might already have plans and I’m in the middle of—”

“Waverley. This isn’t a request,” her father said imperiously.

Waverley looked up to find that instead of heading into his office as was his usual style, Reynolds had paused in front of her desk, probably picking up on something in her tone or the fear in her eyes that she couldn’t hide.

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