“I’m an independent woman. I run a restaurant—which is not an easy business, my friend—and I wrote a book that soared to thetop of the bestseller lists. I don’t need a relationship with a man to validate my existence.”
“I know that. I’m sorry. I know some of the tabloid sites portrayed you in an unflattering light.”
“If they’d shown you in the same light, I don’t thinkunflatteringwould quite cover it. You should read what your fans are saying about me.”
“I understand how you feel. But I’ve dated around a lot, so of course everyone’s going to assume that come tomorrow you’ll be yesterday’s news.”
She exhaled a deep breath. Now that she’d vented, she felt a little better. “I know this isn’t your fault. You have no control over what they say, and this was bound to happen, I guess. I just didn’t expect it to affect me so much. Shoot, you must deal with this all the time yourself.” Half of what they’d said about him probably wasn’t even true. Guilt pricked. She’d judged him pretty harshly before she’d met him.
Something shifted in his eyes. He leaned forward. “Look, I know this doesn’t feel very good. But it’ll self-correct, you’ll see.”
She studied him—the concerned knot of his brow, the flash of fear in his eyes—and softened a bit. “Yeah, how’s that?”
“The tone of the conversation will soon shift because you and I will have the one thing I’ve never had with any other woman.”
He’d raised her curiosity with that one. “What’s that?”
“Time.This will appear to be our third date—a real rarity for me. Then there’ll be a fourth and a fifth and before you know it, you’ll be the one who finally captured my heart.”
His words stole some of the starch from her posture, tweaked her heartstrings just a little. Man, he was good. But what he was saying made sense. Surely he knew what he was talking about; he wasn’t new to this whole scandal business. She sure hoped he was right, because being dismissed felt pretty crummy. Some of his fans had even claimed their meeting must’ve been strictly business—that hecouldn’t possibly be interested inher. That hit a sore spot. Nobody liked falling short.
“Just be patient, okay? This will work out, but we have to give it some time.”
Her gaze flickered to Liam’s left, where a twentysomething customer peeked around her friend to stare at Liam. “I think you’ve been made.”
“That’s okay. Most people just stare or snap a photo. They usually don’t approach me.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Are we good on this? You’ll give it more time?”
She pursed her lips. “It had better turn around for both our sakes.”
“It will. You’ll see. You ready to get down to business? I’ve been thinking about Ledger since we talked yesterday. Loyalty is probably a top attribute for anyone seeking a partner. But can’t a person take loyalty too far?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what if, for instance, Cate didn’t return his feelings? Wouldn’t Ledger’s loyalty to her then be kind of... pathetic or even stalkerish?”
“But she did return his feelings, so it’s a moot point.”
“But how did he know that?”
“Because he’s intuitive enough to see through the walls she’s built around her heart.”
A woman appeared at Liam’s side.
“Hi, y’all. I’m so sorry to interrupt, but aren’t you Liam Hamilton? I heard you’d be in town for that movie, and I saw you sitting over here and just had to pop over and say hi. I’m Savannah and this is my friend Leah.”
Liam rose, wearing a friendly expression, and shook their hands. “Nice to meet you both. This is Chloe—she wrote the book the movie’s been adapted from.”
The attractive women barely glanced her way. They must’ve been tourists because Chloe didn’t recognize them.
“When does the filming start?” Leah asked.
“A little over a week. Just getting the lay of the land for now.”
Savannah touched Liam’s arm. “Well, if you have some time to fill, we’re staying in a beautiful home over on Culver’s Cove. We’d love to take you out on the sailboat. Leah’s been sailing since she was just a wee thing.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m kind of booked up.” He tossed an intimate smile Chloe’s way, but that didn’t deter Leah from handing him a card with her number on it.
A few long minutes and two photos later, they left and he sat back down. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”
