Beauty and Her Boss

But she couldn’t stay away.

To Gaby’s surprise, the morning after she’d left the Santoro estate, the complaint against her father had been formally withdrawn. He was free and clear. There was no reason for Gaby to ever see Deacon again—but seeing him was exactly what she had planned.

She owed Deacon an apology. Instead of helping him with this fund-raiser, she’d only made things worse for him. QTR had issued a series of malicious articles about Deacon. She recalled the morning’s headlines on the QTR magazine. It was all over the newsstands, grocery stores and internet: Beast Hides from Public & Justice.

It appeared that QTR was intent on running a series of damning articles about Deacon. It killed her to read how they’d stolen her words. QTR had twisted the facts and made up other things. They’d embarked on an all-out campaign against him. No wonder she hadn’t spotted Deacon amongst his guests. The fact that he had even let the fund-raiser go forward amazed her.

When he’d banished her from the estate, she’d worried that he would once again hide away in his darkened office and keep

everyone outside the tall estate walls. And after those atrocious headlines, she wouldn’t blame him if he cut himself off from the outside world.

She didn’t care what Deacon said, she knew he had a good heart. She couldn’t—she wouldn’t—accept that he’d recklessly taken her aunt’s life. It had been a horrible accident. End of a very sad story.

She’d been talking frankly with her father—something she should have done before things had gotten out of control. And the fact that her father had agreed to attend the fund-raiser with her was the first step on the road to forgiveness, even if her father would vehemently deny it. He said he was only here because Gaby had planned the event. He refused to acknowledge that the event had anything to do with Deacon.

Her gaze scanned the enormous crowd of finely dressed people. Was Deacon really somewhere among them? She had to try and fix things. She at least had to try. She didn’t like the way they’d left things.

“Hey—” Newton nudged her “—isn’t that the guy that acts in The Screaming Racers?”

She hadn’t seen the action movie, but she had seen the previews on the television in her father’s living room. “Yes, I think it is.”

“What do you think he’s doing here?”

“Supporting a good cause.”

“I don’t know. He’s a big star. Why would he come here to the beast’s lair?”

“Newton, don’t start.”

“Hey, it’s what they called him in the headlines. You know, the story you helped write.”

She gave Newton a stern look. “I only agreed to bring you here because you insisted that my father might need help getting around. But we could leave now—”

“Okay. Okay.”

He pressed his lips together into a firm line. But his eyes told a different story. If she wasn’t careful with him, he would make a scene. She sincerely regretted bringing him. As soon as she placed some tickets in the raffle baskets, she’d gather her father and Newton and they would go.

“Go find my father. You know, the reason you’re here?” she said. “I need to go buy some raffle tickets.”

“I’m hungry. Maybe we’ll get some food.” Newton walked away.

With Deacon nowhere in sight, Gabrielle made her way over to the table where they were selling the tickets for the twenty-five elaborate baskets that had been generously donated by area businesses.

Gabrielle couldn’t help but smile as she observed all of the people gushing over the beautiful baskets and buying an arm’s length of tickets at a time. This event was turning out better than she’d ever imagined. She wished Deacon could find some comfort in knowing that these people were in attendance in spite of the nasty headlines. That had to mean something, right?

With guests still streaming through the gates and the press along the road photographing the event, this was certainly going to give Deacon some positive spin. She pulled her cell phone from her purse. She clicked through to the different social-media sites to find that Deacon’s name was trending. And this time, his name was linked with positive news.

Her lips lifted into a broader smile.

She’d done it. She’d kept her word to Deacon. The fund-raiser appeared to be a smashing success. But this event wasn’t nearly enough to make up to him for the lies that were lining every grocery store checkout and splattered on the internet. If only she could explain properly, maybe he’d believe her.

But where was he? She’d already worked through the crowd of guests and walked the whole way around the estate. And now, she was back where she’d started, in the garden. There had been no sign of Deacon amongst the pink tea roses, the purple climbing roses and the many other varieties of blooms that took root in the impressive garden.

The truth was she shouldn’t have left when he’d told her to. She should have...well, she wasn’t sure what she should have done. But leaving hadn’t been the right answer. Because every minute she was away from him, the gap between them yawned even wider. She hoped it wasn’t too wide for her to cross. Because she missed him with every fiber of her body. Life wasn’t the same without him in it.

And then she remembered something her aunt had told her way back when she was in elementary school. There had been some trouble between her and another girl. Her aunt’s sage advice was that a gentle word or a kind action could be more powerful than the strongest objection or the harshest retaliation. Her aunt had been a gentle soul. And Gabrielle had a feeling that her aunt would understand why she was doing what she was doing with Deacon. Or at least she hoped so.

“Hey, Gaby! Wait!”