hair back into a high ponytail.
She looked like the heroine from one of the computer games they used to play—ready for combat.
The subtle charge of anticipation swept through him. “This morning’s opinion piece.” That was why he was here. Not to find out if she was married or how she’d been doing in the past three and half years, or … if she wanted to go out to dinner tonight. There was, after all, more than one way to skin a cat.
No. Not going there again. Max pulled himself up short.
Her kick-ass demeanor had beguiled and fooled him once into thinking it meant she didn’t want those things he shied away from, that she wasn’t looking for emotional intimacy and a future together. And Max was a man who learned from his mistakes.
Gillian perched on the edge of the second armchair, as though ready to leap back to her feet. Her expression was shuttered. Still, just because they were on opposite sides of this issue didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy locking horns with her. “It’s libelous,” he said quietly, leaning toward her.
“No, it’s not.” She shook her head, smiling. “It’s an opinion piece. And every opinion is backed up by cold, hard facts.”
“You call labeling Rafe Cameron an angry teenager who’s grown into an angry man with an ax to grind and the money to grind it well, a fact?”
“I didn’t call him that. It’s a direct quote.”
“From a real person?”
“Of course.” He’d pushed a button with that one. “As real as Emma Worth was.”
And she pushed a button right back. Max’s jaw tightened. Emma Worth’s father, Ronald, had founded Worth Industries and was revered in the town. So when Gillian had quoted his skeptical daughter in a piece two months ago, the townsfolk had sat up and taken notice. And not in a good way. In the interim, Max had brought the focus back round to the good work Rafe was doing in the town, specifically the charity, Hannah’s Hope, he’d founded to improve the literacy skills of the town’s workforce, many of whom were migrant workers with limited formal education.
He had scored something of a coup in using Rafe and his half-brother Chase’s connections to secure the involvement of superstar musician Ward Miller. The community was justifiably enthusiastic, almost excited. And interest in the upcoming fundraising gala was strong and building. Negotiations with a number of other celebrities were proceeding nicely.
But celebrities were notoriously sensitive about their public images. They were rightly cautious about what and whom they were linked with.
Gillian and her opinion pieces could end up scaring some of his best prospects off for no good reason. “You at least gave Emma a name. I had no doubt she was real. Today’s source …” He shrugged to express his doubts.
“Emma insisted I use her name because she knew it would give weight and credence to her comments. The source I used for today’s piece didn’t feel the same way. And I agreed with him. But that doesn’t mean he’s not real or that he didn’t have specific, verified examples to back his opinion up.”
Max leaned back in his chair and studied her, trying to gauge just how sure of her position she was. “You’re skating on wafer-thin ice, Gillian. Our lawyers will be taking a good hard look at each and every word you’ve written.”
“They can look as hard as they want.” Defiance lifted her chin. And he found he was the one doing all the “looking.” Her hair, her skin, her figure, the fire in her green eyes that picked out flecks of amber. He cataloged her features, remembered how he’d liked so much—everything, in fact—about her, but it had been her eyes, the intelligence and passion they hinted at, that captured his attention most.
He wouldn’t be distracted by the battle light in them now, although he could admit it stirred reactions in him that he’d had no intention of allowing. But there was no denying she was beautiful, all the more so when the passion for one of her causes was stirred.
Once, he’d had no trouble making passion, of an altogether different kind, stir.
He’d never met anyone quite like her, either before or after their time together. And he so didn’t need to be going down that track now. He tapped his fist on the newspaper. That was why he was here. “You’re unnecessarily inciting uncertainty, fear and anger. Cameron Enterprises is putting a lot of resources into Hannah’s Hope and the upcoming gala, with the aim of giving something back to the community. The charity can do a lot of good for the town, but not if you scare people off it.” He deliberately didn’t try to tell her his boss’s takeover of Worth Industries would ultimately be good for the community. Or that Rafe was behind the charity for any reason other than to improve the public image and perception of his business till his plans for the future of the business were finalized.
Rafe could still jump either way with those plans.
“I’d say it is necessary to give voice to the opinions in that piece,” she said. “The citizens of Vista del Mar ought to be uncertain. They ought to be angry and afraid. They ought not to trust in the goodness of Rafe Cameron’s heart.”
“Seems to me you’re letting personal animosity impact professional integrity.” Even if she was right.
For a second, her jaw dropped. “There’s nothing personal about this.”
“You’re not using this as an opportunity to get back at me?”
Her laughter was short but the amusement real. “You flatter yourself, Max.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. I call it as I see it. If I suggest some questions that the people of Vista del Mar might like to ask your Mr. Cameron then that’s just doing my job, regardless of who he employs as his spin doctor.”
“And if our lawyers have some questions they want to ask you and the paper’s owners, they’ll just be doing their job.”
“I have the complete backing of the paper’s owners.”
“Nobody likes to be sued,” he said quietly. “It’ll be easy enough to call them off. All you have to do is to stop writing such aggressively provocative pieces. Stick to the truth and the facts.”
She tilted her head, frowning. “Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m just letting you know what you’re getting into. Giving you the facts.”
She shook her head slowly. “Have you forgotten that much about me, Max? Do you really think threatening me, because that was a threat, not a helpful passing on of information, is going to make me shirk my duties as a voice in this community?”
“I am trying to help you. You need to know how things stand. Rafe Cameron doesn’t let people get in the way of what he wants and he doesn’t mess around.” He hoped, for her sake, that she believed him.
“Can I quote you on that?”
“No. This is a visit between old … friends.” Any other word was too loaded. “I can, however, get you quotes on and from Rafe himself. An interview if you’d like.”
A smile spread across her face. It seemed, in fact,
