Too damned pretty.
Maxwell had called her up to his office to fire her.
Unfortunately, all thoughts of firing her disappeared right after he watched his office door fly open and realized…too late. “Watch out!”
The door bounced into the wall a second time, just in time for Max to watch her crumple onto the floor, causing his heart to skip a beat.
“My lady…” His voice caught. He flew across the room and dropped onto his knees beside her. “Caroline. Sweetheart, are you all right?”
Those lashes twitched, and after a few blinks, she stared back at him with eyes made up of no less than a hundred shades of blue.
How had he missed all those colors before?
“Caroline?” He smoothed a hand over her forehead, around the spot where the door hit her, smoothing silken, chestnut-colored strands away from her face. He couldn’t help but notice how perfectly her nose was shaped, but also the fullness of her lips, which were rose pink, soft, inviting.
“That.” Slim fingertips touched the corners of her eyes, and she winced. “Wasn’t very smart of me.”
She tried sitting up, but Maxwell applied the slightest pressure to her shoulder. “No hurry.”
Of course, she ignored him, making another attempt to sit up, and he resorted to glaring at her. “Not so fast. As long as you’re in my office, you’ll do as I say.” He did his best to sound threatening.
She’d taken quite a blow. Why did this woman have to be so ridiculously stubborn?
“I’m fine.” But she squeezed her eyes closed before opening them again. “Can we forget this happened?” Her voice came out small—her expression forlorn.
The picture of her standing alone at that damn ball flashed in his mind.
This girl. This woman.
She was pretty, but also sweet and surprisingly charming, and yet she’d been shunned by the ton for something utterly beyond her control. And still, she attended all the usual festivities, smiling at the cold stares and showing kindness to those in her midst.
“Just don’t do it again,” Maxwell said. “Are you still seeing stars?”
She flicked him a rueful smile, and this time he helped her sit up.
“These aren’t the kind of stars I had in mind.”
In Lady Darlington’s garden, she’d complained that there were no stars in the city.
Maxwell dropped his arm around her back, startled at how much he enjoyed touching her. “Don’t make a habit of doing that.” Truth be told, if any of the men who worked for him had done the same, they’d be out the door already.
No one barges into the publisher’s office like that—no one.
Except, apparently, Lady Caroline Rutherford.
Keeping his arm in place to support her, Maxwell lowered himself so he was sitting and waited for her to find her bearings.
He should sack her—not for barging into his office, but because she wasn’t a suitable hire. She didn’t fit in—with her sweet-smelling perfume and pretty smiles—never would. But he had an even better reason.
Reed Rutherford’s troubles weren’t going away. She’d tensed up the moment she saw the article about him. And then she’d challenged him in front of his employees.
Exposing her actual reason for seeking employment at the Gazette. She thought she was going to prevent Maxwell from printing stories about her brother.
She thought wrong.
Maxwell sighed. Her familial loyalty was commendable, really. Perhaps that was part of her appeal. If not for Rutherford’s troubles, she’d make for a loyal reporter.
But Rutherford’s troubles might as well be hers.
