Page 50 of Legal Attraction

He turned back toward her.

“There is no such thing as bad publicity,” she tossed his words back at him. “So go to the press with your scoop.”

His brow furrowed. “What scoop?”

“The truth,” she said, as if it should have been obvious. But to a man like Arte, the truth was the last thing that was obvious to him. “Tell them what you did to me.”

“Would that make amends to you?”

“You don’t care about me,” she said. He never had. “But you care about your musical. Get it some attention.”

“But I’ll be the bad guy,” he said, clearly horrified at putting himself in the position he’d forced on her. “People will hate me.”

He hadn’t minded doing that to her. She grabbed one of the magazines from the narrow foyer table behind the door. Showing the cover to him, she said, “It seems like the media likes rooting for the bad guy lately.”

Which was a sad commentary on life.

He took the magazine from her and studied it. But she knew he wasn’t seeing her face there. He was seeing his own. He nodded. “You’re right... I need to do this.”

And she realized now why those witnesses had lied for him. Some people would do anything for even a few minutes of fame. Fortunately for her, in this moment Arte was one of those people.

Finally, he glanced up from the magazine to focus on her real face. “I need to do this for you, too. I am sorry, Muriel.”

She doubted it, but she nodded as if she accepted his apology. Then she closed the door on his face and on her past. It was time to let it go. All of it.

Even Ronan. Especially Ronan—because he hadn’t let go of his own past yet. It still affected him, still influenced him. He was never going to trust a woman or let one as close as she wanted to be to him. She didn’t just want him inside her anymore.

She wanted to be inside him, as well—inside his heart. And she wasn’t sure he even had one.

No. It was time to let the past go and Ronan Hall along with it.