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He was so furious that his skin had gone pale beneath his tan. “For more than that. She’s broken at least a dozen laws. Trespassing, harassment, vandalism—”
“How many laws did you break,” Meg said, “when you vandalized the Statue of Liberty?”
“I was nine.”
“And a genius,” she pointed out, while Haley watched them, not sure what was going on or how it would affect her. “That means you were at least nineteen in IQ years. That’s a year older than she is.”
“Meg, think about what she did to you.”
“I don’t have to. Haley’s the one who needs to think, and I could be wrong about this, but I have a feeling she’s going to be doing a lot of that. Please, Ted. Everybody deserves a second chance.”
Haley’s future rested with Ted, but she wa
s looking at Meg with an expression that combined shame and wonder.
Ted glared down at Haley. “You don’t deserve this.”
Haley wiped her cheeks with her fingers and gazed at Meg. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I won’t ever forget this. And I promise. Somehow I’ll make it up to you.”
“Don’t worry about making it up to me,” Meg said. “Make it up to yourself.”
Haley took that in. Finally, she nodded—a small, hesitant motion—and then she nodded more decisively.
As Haley walked to her car, Meg remembered the nagging feeling that she’d let something important slip past her. This must be it. Somewhere in her subconscious, she must have suspected Haley, although she wasn’t sure how she could have.
Haley drove away. Ted kicked the gravel with his heel. “You’re too soft, do you know that? Too damned soft.”
“I’m a spoiled celebrity child, remember? Being soft is all I know.”
“This is no time for joking around.”
“Hey, if you can think of a bigger joke than Ted Beaudine hooking up with a mere mortal like Meg—”
“Stop it!”
The day’s tension was getting to her, but she didn’t want him to see how vulnerable she felt. “I don’t like it when you’re crabby,” she said. “It defies the laws of nature. If you can turn into a grouch, who knows what’s next? The entire universe might blow up.”
He ignored that. Instead, he hooked one of her wet curls behind her ear. “What did Spence want? Other than your rapt attention and an introduction to your celebrity friends?”
“That . . . basically covers it.” She turned her cheek into his palm.
“There’s something you’re not telling me.”
She turned her voice into a sexy purr. “Babe, there’s lots I’m not telling you.”
He smiled and touched his thumb to her bottom lip. “You can’t go running off by yourself. Everybody is trying to make sure you’re never alone with him, but you have to do your part, too.”
“I know. And believe me, it won’t happen again. Although I can’t tell you how much it bothers me that I’m the one who has to go into hiding just because some horny zillionaire—”
“I know. It’s not right.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Just stay out of his way for a couple more days, and then you can tell him to go to hell. As a matter of fact, I’ll do it for you. You can’t imagine how sick I am of having that clown run my life.”
The feeling returned without warning. The sensation of something lying in wait for her. Something that had nothing to do with Haley Kittle.
The sky had grown darker, and the wind pressed her T-shirt to her body. “Don’t you . . . Don’t you think it’s odd that Spence hasn’t heard about us? Or that Sunny hasn’t heard? So many people know, but . . . not them. Sunny doesn’t know, does she?”
He glanced up at the clouds. “Doesn’t seem to.”
She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. “Twenty women saw you kiss me at that luncheon. Some of them must have told their husbands, a friend. Birdie told Haley.”
