His physical scars had healed but the emotional scars on his soul would never go away.
Turning away from the bar, he took a sip of his drink and thought again that it would be a shame to miss Kayla’s reaction to Sybil’s column in the morning.
But then again… A smile rose to his lips.
Reaching into the pocket of his pants, he pulled out his cell phone. The number he wanted was already programmed in, having been used both before and after countless dates: Bloomsville Florists.
The following morning, Kayla’s first sign that something was wrong was the large bouquet of red roses parked on her desk in her cubicle at the Boston Sentinel’s headquarters.
At first she thought there must have been some mistake. She glanced around the office, then put her purse down and reached for the note that was tucked among the flowers.
After pulling the card from the envelope, she scanned the contents: “Kayla, thanks for a wonderful evening.”
Confused, she turned the card over and then looked at the envelope, but there was no further clue as to who had sent the flowers and why—not even the name of a florist.
Hmm, interesting. Who could have sent the bouquet? She hadn’t had a date in a couple of months, ever since she’d gone out with a radio-show producer before quickly deciding they had no chemistry.
Frowning, she sat down and logged onto her computer. She’d e-mail the receptionist; every visitor had to sign in at the front desk.
Out of habit, however, she first surfed to the news sites to check out the day’s headlines and, more importantly, to scan the society pages. She made it a practice to read her rivals’ gossip columns just to keep up with what the competition was doing.
When she got to the Boston World’s gossip page, Sybil LaBreck’s years-old, black-and-white photo stared back at her along with the headline Dangerous Liaisons: Noah Whittaker’s Secret Relationship with Gossip Maven Kayla Jones, aka Ms. Rumor-Has-It.
She froze, blinked, and then stared.
No. But the headline was still there, staring at her, taunting her.
She scanned the rest of the article while a sickening feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.
Sybil alleged that Noah and Ms. Rumor-Has-It had been secretly involved for some time. The column went on to disclose a lovers’ row that they’d had at the book-launch party last night. It ended by toying with the delicious possibility that Kayla’s skewering of the millionaire playboy in her column had been a smoke screen for her own clandestine relationship with him.
Kayla’s mind raced. Had Sybil witnessed her argument with Noah last night and wrongly concluded she’d been privy to a lovers’ spat? Or—a more ominous thought intruded—had someone led Sybil to believe it was a lovers’ spat?
She looked up from her computer screen and caught one of the Sentinel’s health columnists giving her a curious look. Had Sybil’s headline already been making the rounds?
Kayla’s eyes went to the flower bouquet again. Now that she’d read Sybil’s headline, the flowers suddenly made sense.
Noah. The rat. Whether he’d started the flames or was just fanning them, she had a thing or two to tell him.
Using the Internet, she located the main number for Whittaker Enterprises. Once she dialed it, she was quickly transferred to Noah’s secretary.
“May I ask who is calling?” the secretary intoned once Kayla had asked to speak with Noah.
“It’s Kayla Jones.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Jones, but Mr. Whittaker isn’t in the office yet this morning. May I take a message?”
He wasn’t in the office yet? Probably due to his late-night carousing, she thought acidly. Her eyes strayed to the clock on the wall, which indicated it was just after nine.
As she looked down and started to tell Noah’s secretary that she’d call back later, her gaze landed on the man striding toward her.
Noah Whittaker, smiling sunnily.
“Never mind,” she said absently into the receiver. “I’ve found him.” She couldn’t believe he had the nerve to show up at her office! Planning to milk this baseless rumor for all it was worth, was he?
She hung up and straightened, rising from her chair just as Noah came to a stop in front of her.
He nodded to the impressive arrangement of red roses. “Glad to see I got my money’s worth.”
“You snake.” She kept her voice low, not caring that her tone sounded furtive. The last thing she needed was for someone at the Sentinel to overhear her conversation. Fortunately, it was still early enough that a lot of the staff hadn’t rolled in yet.
Noah chuckled. “Now is that any way to thank the guy who’s come to apologize for our lovers’ quarrel?”
“You know it was no such thing!” she exclaimed in a low tone, catching another curious look from the Sentinel’s health columnist.
“I suppose,” he returned placidly, “you’re about to express outrage and claim bloody retribution.”
She looked at him. He seemed so smug, and he was so infuriating. “You planned this,” she accused. “You let Sybil think we were…involved.” She could barely get that last word out. “You sent the flowers to make it seem as if Sybil’s story held water.”
“Not only did I let Sybil think we were involved,” he replied, “I told her we were.”
“What?” she squeaked. That was the best she could manage without drawing attention. Inside, however, she felt like screaming.
“Right after you left last night, I had an unexpected run-in with Sybil. Apparently she witnessed enough to know we’d been arguing.”
Kayla closed her eyes. It was a nightmare, a complete nightmare.
“I’ll say this for her,” Noah continued, “that woman has a nose for gossip like a bloodhound on a scent.” He regarded her blandly. “Anyway, I made some sarcastic remark about a lovers’ spat, and she took it seriously. I was going to correct her when I realized it would be much more fun to make the most of the situation.”
“So instead of letting her believe we were arguing, you told her that we were involved?” she asked incredulously.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Uncomfortable being the subject of rumors? Not too pleasant, is it?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “I’ll admit to some grim satisfaction at being handed an opportunity to even the score.”
She grabbed her shoulder bag and her blazer. “Let’s discuss this somewhere else.”