Somehow she didn’t think that would be the case. She glanced down at the wallet with bite marks. She supposed it was a little late to come clean considering Jackson knew the truth about her.
“I see you found the wallet,” Jackson said. “I rescued it from Gizmo. I think he was planning to hide it.”
“He is a bit of a thief. You better watch your stuff.” How did she say this? Did she just apologize for keeping her true identity a secret? Would he understand?
Jackson said something.
“Hmm...” She’d been lost in her thoughts and hadn’t caught all he’d said.
“I said your secret is safe with me.”
It wasn’t until her gaze met his dark, pointed stare that she knew she was in trouble. He was angry with her for keeping her identity from him. She didn’t know what to say to undo things.
“I... I’m sorry,” she said, but the words didn’t seem to faze him. “I have a hard time trusting people.”
“Do you know that there’s a search on for you? It appears that your fiancé is heading it up. His face is all over the media sites begging for information about your whereabouts.”
Her hands balled up at her sides. How dare Shawn act like he cared? It was all a show—just another way for him to benefit by linking himself to her.
“He’s not my fiancé. We were never engaged—not even close.”
Jackson’s brows rose. “That’s not what all of the tabloids are saying.”
“Shawn would do anything for headlines, including feeding false information to the press. He doesn’t like me, much less love me. I’m just a stepping-stone to his goals.”
“Really?” Jackson sounded skeptical. “Why don’t you tell people the truth about him?”
“Do you think they’d believe me? Anything I say will be twisted and blown up into an even bigger scandal. I just want it to all die down and go away. I want him to go away. I wish I’d never met him.”
Jackson wore a puzzled expression. “And that’s what you’re doing here—hiding until the story dies?”
“In a manner of speaking.” She didn’t actually consider it hiding, but she wasn’t going to argue semantics with him.
“From what my agent was telling me, the story is growing with every day you’re gone.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “It might be good to let someone know that you’re alive and safe. Some tabloids have even surmised that you’re dead. Others think you’ve been kidnapped.”
“Seriously?” She shook her head and sat down at the desk. “Can’t people mind their own business?”
“Is there anything I can do to help? Perhaps my agent could release a statement to put everyone at ease—”
“No. No statement.”
“Okay. So what? You’re just going to suddenly reappear one day?”
“Something like that.”
She pulled up the tabloids on her laptop. The headlines were ridiculous. And below the headlines was a photo of a distraught Shawn. Her stomach churned. When was that guy going to get on with his life? She would give him this much, he was a great actor. Because if she didn’t know that he was lying, she might have believed his show.
Unable to take any more of the lies and sensational journalism, she closed the laptop. “Listen, I’m sorry I wasn’t up-front with you.”
“I understand. At least now I do. When your driver’s license fell on the floor, I wasn’t very happy with you.”
“I... I don’t know what to say. I came here to be alone and then I thought—oh, I don’t know what I thought. I should have told you, but I hadn’t worked up the courage. It isn’t easy for me to let people into my life.”
He nodded as though he understood. “You’ve lived your entire life in front of the cameras. You don’t know who you can trust. And with my occupation, I’m sure that didn’t help things.”
“You’re right. It didn’t. I was afraid that once you found out who I was, you would make me a headline on your morning news show.”
When frown lines bracketed his eyes, she knew that she’d said too much. That was the thing about letting people get close. She wasn’t sure how much to say and how much to hold back. At least when she was acting in front of the camera, she had printed lines to follow. She didn’t have to figure out what to say, how much to say and when to say it.