Callum wanted to know more. ‘First of all, who’s Dale Mackie?’
‘Riley’s manager,’ Tasha explained.
Callum saw by Tasha’s face that she wasn’t surprised this manager had arranged something underhand. ‘But why would he do this when Riley was hoping for privacy?’ It didn’t make sense as far as he was concerned. ‘Surely his manager is there to protect him from people like him.’
‘Hey, there’s no need for that.’
Aware he had been rude, Callum frowned. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be offensive but you must admit what you’ve done is annoying at the very least.’
‘I’ve done nothing I wasn’t asked to do.’
Tasha turned on him. ‘Don’t give me that nonsense. You were hiding in a bush for at least the last hour or two. Nobody hides unless they’re doing something they know others won’t approve of.’
The man shrugged. ‘Fair enough.’
She stepped forward and Callum realised she hadn’t finished. ‘I want those photos wiped. Now.’ She folded her arms when the man didn’t react. ‘And I want to check that they’ve gone.’
Before the photographer could answer, Riley called out, ‘Anything the matter, Tasha?’
She sighed and turned to respond. Callum gazed at his sister to try and gauge how she was doing. She seemed OK, he noticed with relief.
Just then he heard a car slowing down, quickly followed by a voice yelling from the other side of the wide border. ‘Quick, let’s get out of here.’
The four of them turned to the drive in time to see the photographer slink away through the flower bed and into a blue hire car that seconds later sped up the driveway towards the entrance gates. The driver was laughing and waving at them.
Callum clenched his teeth together, furious to have let the photographer go without having deleted the photographs of Riley and his sister in each other’s arms. ‘Damn, that’s done it.’
‘Will one of you kindly explain what’s just happened?’ Erin asked, looking from Tasha to Callum.
‘It seems,’ Tasha began, ‘that Riley’s manager decided to pay for a photographer to come here in secret and take photos of you.’
‘Why the hell would he do that?’ Riley snapped. He slipped his arm around Erin’s shoulders. ‘Sorry, Erin, but I have a feeling those photos will be in several newspapers tomorrow.’
‘Yes, and no doubt splashed all over the internet,’ Tasha grumbled. ‘We’ll probably be finding them in various magazines over the next few weeks, too, I expect.’
‘What?’ Erin glanced at Callum.
Callum wasn’t certain but he thought he noticed a hint of delight mixed in with the shock on his sister’s face.
‘You mean photos of us kissing?’ Erin asked.
Turning to face her, Riley placed a hand on each of her shoulders. ‘I’m so sorry, Erin. Unfortunately, this sort of thing tends to be a part of my life more often than not.’ He glanced at Tasha briefly. ‘Although I never expected it to happen when we’re somewhere like this and far away from public view.’
Riley scowled at Tasha, clearly furious. ‘Why didn’t you get him to delete the photos when you had the chance?’
‘I was about to do so,’ she said. ‘But you called out to me and he took that opportunity to run off. Now he’s gone.’ She stepped closer to Riley. ‘Anyway, never mind me, it was Dale who arranged all this. If you want to blame anyone then ask him what he thought he was doing setting this up.’
‘Dale? But why would he?’
Tasha gave Callum an apologetic smile and he knew their evening together was at an end. ‘I’m sorry, Callum, but we’re going to have to go back to the cottage.’
‘I think you’re right,’ Riley agreed. ‘Sorry, Erin,’ he said, giving her a peck on the lips. ‘I need to get in touch with my manager and find out what he thinks he’s playing at.’ He looked at Callum. ‘I really am sorry about all this. I never would have given permission for your grandfather’s party to be used in this way.’
Callum saw the sincerity on his face and believed him. ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t.’ He hugged Tasha and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘You go off and do whatever you need to and maybe we can catch up sometime tomorrow.’
‘I’d like that,’ she said, making him feel a bit better. ‘I’ll be able to give you an update then,’ she said to Erin. ‘But I’m afraid I can’t see that we’ll be able to stop those photos being published now. They’re probably already being uploaded at various newspaper offices as we speak.’ She smiled at Callum. ‘I’ll pop round when we’ve finished work for the day.’
He nodded. ‘Great.’
