Cause For Scandal (Dynasties: The Elliotts #3)(11)
Author: Anna DePalo

“Yes,” she acknowledged, then added, “Did anyone recognize you when you came in?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear the squeals and screams up on the eighteenth floor.”

She stared at him in astonishment.

“Worried?” he asked, unable to resist toying with her. Only after a deliberate pause did he explain, “This is New York City. Of course, anyone who recognized me was too blasé to care. That’s why celebrities love New York.”

When they got to the conference room, she shut the door behind them, and he sat on the edge of the conference table and folded his arms.

“Now, where were we?” he asked with outward pleasantness. He raised a hand as if to stop her reply. “Oh, yeah, you were about to explain how you forgot to mention you’re a reporter, why you snuck out of my hotel room in the middle of the night and why you happened to be dressed like Scarlet.” He added, focusing at the diamond ring on her finger, “Not to mention the fact that you’ve got a fiancé hidden away somewhere.”

“He isn’t hidden away. He’s on a business trip.”

“Even better.” He felt a stab of jealousy. “I wonder how the future Mr. Summer Elliott will feel knowing his fiancée lost her virginity in a hotel room to a man she’d known only a few hours.”

She flushed.

He cocked his head. “A little extreme, don’t you think? Losing your virginity for the sake of a reporting assignment? Or was this just some prank that you and your sister concocted—sort of the last hurrah before the wedding?”

“Stop it! It’s not the way you’re making it seem.”

“‘Stop it,’” he mimicked. “Is that the best that you can do? Come on, Summer, let go of the uptown girl. Let’s hear you really swear.”

He was furious with her and even more furious with himself. He, who had a reputation for bad-boy ways and a sullen sulk, had been used and abused by Ms. Prim and Proper. The newspapers would have a field day.

“I don’t need to swear,” she snapped back. “And you’re one to talk. Do you jump into bed with a different groupie every night?”

“Jealous?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

He decided not to enlighten her about his promiscuity or lack thereof. He wasn’t a monk by any stretch of the imagination, but the news reports about him were usually overblown.

Besides, what could he say to explain jumping into bed with her last night? Whenever I see you, I hear a symphony? How corny was that? Not to mention that The Supremes had made it a hit song long ago. Yet, it was close to the truth. If only he could get that damn song down on paper…

Aloud, he countered, “You lied to me. Twice. First not telling me you’re an heiress, now this.” He gestured at her hand. “You’re engaged.”

“I didn’t lie.”

He chuckled cynically. “Really, Caitlin?”

“That’s my middle name. Summer Caitlin Elliott.”

“And do you usually go by your middle name?”

Her shoulders lowered. “No, but I was only trying to buy a little time—”

“A little time till when?” he interrupted. “Until we were in bed together? Until the newspapers picked up the story?”

She threw up her hands. “Okay! You’re right, I’m wrong! Is that what you want to hear?” She blew out a breath. “If you’d just let me explain.”

“So explain.”

She squared her shoulders. “I’m just a copy editor here, but my goal has been to become a reporter. Everyone knows you’re the hottest thing in the music world right now. You’re always getting mentioned in The Buzz and in other entertainment magazines. I thought that if I could convince you to do an interview…except I knew that you rarely granted interviews—”

“That’s because I prefer to let my music speak for me.”

So, he’d been right. She had been after an interview. Screwed for an interview. He shook his head. Great. There was a song in that, he could feel it.

She twisted her hands together. “I know it all sounds bad.”

He quirked a brow. “Honey, it doesn’t only sound bad. It is bad.”

He’d begun to calm down, but being alone in the same room with her had his body humming. There were also things that still didn’t make sense to him. For starters, she’d been a virgin. Now that he’d started to think logically about all that had happened and all that he’d found out so far, that piece of the puzzle just didn’t fit. Unless, of course, she’d been swept away by lust, too.

Keeping his voice even, he said, “You still haven’t explained how dressing like Scarlet figures into the picture.”

She sighed. “I tried to approach you after the benefit concert on Wednesday night, but I couldn’t get by security. Scarlet suggested I’d have better luck if I pretended to be a groupie.” She paused. “Of course, I left my engagement ring at home.”

He had one other question. “And sleeping with me?”

She flushed. “That wasn’t part of the plan. It—I—It just happened.”

Not the satisfaction that he was looking for, he thought, but it was something. He had every reason to be furious at her for misleading him and not revealing she was engaged. Yet, there was something about her that soothed his soul even as it inflamed his lust.

Besides, he figured her engagement couldn’t be much of an obstacle if she’d been a virgin until last night. And, then there was the matter of the song. With that thought, an idea started to take hold.

She blinked rapidly. “I owe you a big apology. I never meant to mislead you. I was waiting for the right moment last night to tell you why I was there, but that moment never came.” She drew a quivering breath. “I’m sorry.”

He looked down for a moment, then back up at her. “What if I said I’ll agree to do the interview?”

Her eyes widened. “You will? B-but why?”

His lips teased upward. “Maybe I’ve never had someone go to so much trouble just to get within speaking distance of me.” Or, for the matter, he added silently, into my bed.

She looked uncertain for a moment.

“Well?” he said. “How about it?”

“We slept together!”

He shrugged and made sure to keep his voice neutral. “So? That’s in the past—” albeit, the very recent past “—and it’s not as if we have an ongoing relationship. Besides, this is the entertainment business, not global geopolitics. No one hesitates to use every connection, no matter how it comes about. And anyway, the press thinks I was out with Scarlet last night, not you.”