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‘I’m not here to debate semantics, but to offer a practical and mutually beneficial solution to your problems.’
Anna rubbed a hand across the tight muscles in her neck and slowly lifted her chin from her chest, where it had dropped, to look at him. On one level she was aware that being able to appreciate the strong, chiselled lines of his amazing face when her life was falling apart said something about her; she didn’t push further down that particular road of self-analysis.
‘This will die down,’ she said, willing him to agree and growing angry when he didn’t. ‘There will be another scandal.’
‘Sure, riding out the storm is an option...but why put yourself through that if you don’t have to? And you being here and valuable to any long lens is just going to feed the interest, prolong it.’
She sat down with a bump as her legs suddenly folded.
Her eyes closed, she sensed rather than heard him move away.
‘Brandy.’
‘I’m already falling over.’
‘Because you’ve not eaten, but don’t worry, the food should be here soon.’
‘What food?’
‘I ordered takeout when we arrived, supper from the Grove.’
‘The Grove as intheGrove?’ The multi-Michelin-starred restaurant had a mile-long waiting list of celebrities who wanted to say they had dined there; also she understood the food was good.
He nodded.
‘They don’t do takeout...’ She stopped—maybe they did if you were Soren Vitale. Without thinking, she picked up the glass and took a swallow of the contents, the glance she threw him carrying the same defiance as the gesture, and then spoilt it by choking.
‘I don’t like spirits,’ she said hoarsely, but the warm feeling was a lot better than the taste.
‘Take it slowly.’
The concern that roughed the edges of his dark bitter-chocolate voice brought an unaccountable lump to her throat. Embarrassed by her overreaction, Anna nodded and lowered her lashes to shield herself from his disturbing blue stare.
The alcohol had made her panic recede a fraction, but it had also lowered her emotional barrier. What she needed was her own bed and to cry herself to sleep in the dark.
‘This is all so surreal. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up.’
‘My advice—’
‘I know what your advice is.’
‘Being here and available,’ he reiterated, ‘will just fuel the story.’
‘Me not being here would not make the police happy.’
‘That will not be a problem. You have a good lawyer.’
She shook her head. ‘He’s not my lawyer, he’syourlawyer. You are being so kind to me...’ Her voice broke as the emotion totally occluded her throat.
‘So you will take the job?’
‘I didn’t say that,’ she protested, thinking this was going way too fast.
‘Well, when you do... I’m flying back tomorrow, so if—’
‘Tomorrow?’She was startled at the suggestion.
He arched a sardonic brow. ‘Would that be a problem?’
