I CLOSED THE ARTICLE, my heart in my throat. I wanted to believe it was just this one gossip column, but if this site was reporting it, that meant it was everywhere. They didn’t bother with little stories. They always went for the big stuff.
Leaving my muffin untouched and my coffee still half-full, I rushed out. I needed to talk to Jameson.
24
JAMESON
M y face broke into a wide smile when Leah Mae came rushing into my workshop. I pulled off my leather gloves and pushed my safety goggles up to rest on top of my head.
“Hey, darlin’,” I said, but my smile quickly faded. Something was wrong.
She came in wearing one of my plaid shirts she’d asked for. But it no longer looked like mine. She’d belted it at the waist and added something that sparkled around the buttons. Her hair hung in a long braid over one shoulder and she had my Cock Spurs hat on. She looked so damn adorable, I wanted to eat her up.
But the stricken expression on her face had me scooping her into my arms as fast as I could get to her. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
She breathed in a slow breath and pulled the hat off. Looked me in the eyes. “Jameson, I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” I didn’t like the way her voice sounded. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Someone found out I’m here, in Bootleg,” she said. “The gossip columns know, and now they’re printing stories about it.”
“Well, that was bound to happen,” I said. “It’s not like you’ve been in hiding.”
“No, but someone took pictures of us,” she said. “They found out who you are, and they’re talking about you, too.”
I blinked at her a few times. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the gossip columns,” she said. “They’re saying I came out here to hide and hooked up with some local guy. And there’s stuff about you, and your art.”
“All right,” I said, trying to process what she was saying. I didn’t like the idea of being talked about in the media, but I’d known it was possible. Hoped we could avoid it, but with all the attention on her show, it wasn’t too surprising. “That’s not the end of the world, now is it? Were you afraid I’d be mad?”
She nibbled her lip and fiddled with the end of her braid. “They’re reporting things about your dad, and Callie Kendall.”
That made my back stiffen, so I took a deep breath. “Well, I guess that’s just something we’ll have to deal with.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’ve been having so much fun with you, I sort of forgot the rest of the world exists. I should have been more careful.”
I gathered her into my arms again and kissed her forehead. “This isn’t your fault. What were we going to do, wear disguises every time we went outside? We’ll just lay low for a while. Stay in more than we go out.”
She rested her hands on my chest. “I didn’t want to subject you to this.”
“I know.” I leaned down and kissed her. “First of all, you’re worth it. And second, I think we can find things to do that keep us out of the way of any stray cameras.”
She finally smiled. “I think so too.”
I kissed her again, tasting her cherry lip balm—which had recently become my favorite flavor. “Tell you what. I’ll see your bad news and raise you some good. Jonah is gone, and I don’t expect he’ll be home until late tonight. That means we have the place to ourselves.”
“I’m a little bit crazy about you, Jameson Bodine,” she said. “I hope you know that.”
“The feeling’s mutual, darlin’.”
I’D ASSURED Leah Mae that me turning up in the press with her wouldn’t be a big deal. But after a while, I wasn’t so sure I’d been right about that. Turned out, it was kind of a big deal.
They had indeed published photos of me and Leah Mae. I reckoned some nosy tourist had recognized her and snapped some pictures. Somehow they’d figured out who I was, and next thing we knew, the Leah Larkin story had a whole new level of scandal.
Not only had she supposedly tried to break up a marriage, now she was running around with the son of a man being investigated for killing a teenage girl.